Northern Peninsular Malaysia 13-17Jan18

From Con

I met Gim Cheong in Penang and had 5 days birding in Kedah.

Juvenile Pied Harrier at Chuping

13 Jan

Chestnut necklaced Partridge at Penang

14 Jan

Long day not so many ticks. Streak breasted Woodpeckers no photo. Wallace’s Hawk-eagle. No photos. Completely dipped on Dusky Eagle-owl at Bukit Wang. Then onto Chuping for rarities. Just got two birds not possible in the south. Asian Pied Starling and Streak-eared Bulbul. Plus a small handful on Malaysia country ticks but no lifers.

Drizzling rain most of the day. But I can see that Chuping is essential for boosting your Malaysia ticks. The area is huge. We visited the Manchurian Reed Warbler spot but no Manchurian reported this year.

Chuping is changing fast. 6 years ago these 2000 hectares were all sugar cane. Now all being converted to rubber plantations. Once the rubber trees are high enough I can imagine all the harriers and grassland birds may be gone.

15 Jan

Just got Dusky Eagle-owl!!

16 Jan

A pair of mating Brown Fish-owls. Quite rare for Malaysia. About 15 years ago in mainland Penang for the last record. This pair is in Alor Star.

Summary

Final tally. 13 new Malaysia ticks including 2 global lifers. However of these 13 ticks only 6 are true Northern birds.

• Chestnut necklaced Partridge
• Indian Roller
• Streak eared Bulbul
• Asian Pied Starling
• Dusky Eagle Owl
• Brown Fish Owl

Changi 02Nov13

From Con

Female Indian Cuckoo

Male Red Avadavat?

From JS

Female Pied Harrier flying high

Batang Tiga 08-09Jan13

From Con

I arrived at about 7:45am yesterday and after some time bumped into a digiscoper from Melaka who helped point out some of the eagles. Later another couple of birders came. Finally found a hotel after the Melaka birders treated me to lunch. I stayed on the beach. Went back in the later afternoon but the eagles retreated soon to their roosting tree and the light was really bad anyway.

Had a nice dinner with the local birders and Ang and Ong joined as well.

In the morning I got to Batang Tiga just after 7am, walked into the paddy and set up hide by 7:30am. The eagles didn’t come until 8:30am but settled on a different tree than the one I was staking out. Oh well. I stayed until 9am hoping they would change to the tree I was aiming for but no such luck. Then I packed up and went back out.

By now there were 4 birders from KL and one from Ipoh. They pointed out the large flock of Asian Openbills which had arrived while I was in the hide. The openbills stayed around for about another hour before moving off down the coast towards Muar. I wonder if this is the same flock Graeme saw in Penang yesterday?

Anyway, it seems everyday the Malaysian birders are coming from Penang, Ipoh, KL, and other points to see these rare raptors. Especially for them, the Steppe Eagle is even more rare than the Imperial Eagle.

http://www.pbase.com/con_foley/batang_tiga

Coney Island, Pulau Punggol 7Nov11

From JS

Here's a short summary of today's birding.

Lor Halus/Coney Island - The latter being a new site for Con, my father and I.

Raptor Sightings:
1) Black Baza (>11)
2) Oriental Honey Buzzard (2)
3) Changeable Hawk Eagle (1)
4) Black-winged Kite (2)
5) Brahminy Kite (2)
6) White-bellied Sea Eagle (1)
7) Japanese Sparrowhawk (1 probable)
8) Chinese Sparrowhawk (1 adult male)

Other noteworthy sightings:
1) Whiskered Tern (3)
2) Little Tern (>35)
3) White-winged Tern (>13)
4) Hodgson's Hawk Cuckoo (1)

Pulau Punggol

Raptor Sightings:
1) Black Baza (4)
2) Oriental Honey Buzzard (1)
3) Brahminy Kite (1)
4) White-bellied Sea Eagle (2 adults)
5) Osprey (1)
6) Chinese Sparrowhawk (1 adult male, 1 juvenile)
7) Booted Eagle (2 dark morph)
8) Pied Harrier (1 juvenile was sighted crossing the channel at mid-story before thermaling upon reaching Casuarina forest. Last seen heading westwards of Singapore. This sighting would confirm that this site is an entry point for this land-bound raptor like the Booted Eagles.)

Juvenile dark morph Booted Eagles at Pulau Punggol.

Non-juvenile dark morph Booted Eagle at Pulau Punggol.

Osprey (with fish) at Pulau Punggol.

Juvenile Pied Harrier at Pulau Punggol.

Juvenile Chinese Goshawk at Pulau Punggol.

Pencil Hill 19-26Oct10

From Con

Our second full day at Pencil Hill drive up from Phuket took 7 hours. Car park at the hill is 166 meters, summit is 352 meters. So a good hike up. Earth's Camp a very nice low cost place to stay only 3 km from the hill. Got Black-capped Kingfisher in the resort.

First day we went all the way to summit with 300's. Unfortunately we didn't get much blue sky. Mostly white clouds :( Today we are just staying in car park with 600's. Weather the same. White clouds :(

Plenty of birds though and many more species than Tanjong Tuan at Port Dickson. Still OHB and sparrowhawks are the most common. But Grey-faced Buzzards, Shikras, Black Eagles, Black Kites, Pied Harriers and more have been seen recently. Lots of migrating bee-eaters too.

Oct 24 was the first day Black Bazas have passed Pencil Hull this season. There were thousands of them. Easily the most numerous species migrating today.

Sungei Balang 20Nov09

From GC

Sightings for Sg. Balang, Johor, 201109.

Migrants

1. Greater Spotted Eagle, 2 juveniles
2. Pied Harrier, 1 juvenile
3. Eastern Marsh Harrier, 1 adult male
4. Oriental Honey Buzzard, 5
5. Black Kite, 2 juvenile
6. Black Drongo, 1
7. Intermediate Egret, many
8. Little Egret, 3
9. Oriental Pratincole, 5
10. Brown Shrike, 2
11. Wood Sandpiper, 3
12. Pacific Golden Plover, 8
13. Barn Swallow, 4
14. Blue-tailed Bee-eater, 8
15. White-winged Tern, 4
16. Pond Heron in winter plumage, many
17. Snipes, several

Residents

1. Lesser Adjutant, 10
2. Changeable Hawk Eagle, 1 dark morph
3. Black-winged Kite, 2 adults, 1 juvenile
4. White-bellied Sea Eagle, 1
5. Brahminy Kite, 2 adults, 2 juveniles
6. Large-billed Crow, 2
7. White-throated Kingfisher, 2
8. Pied Triller, 1
9. Red-wattled Lapwings
10. White-headed Munnias
11. Black-headed Munias
12. Scaly-breasted Munias
13. Spotted Doves
14. Peaceful Doves
15. White-vented Mynas
16. Common Mynas
17. White-breasted Waterhens

Changi 18Nov09

From GC

Migrants
Pied Harrier, 1 juvenile
Eastern Marsh Harrier, 2 adult males, 2 juveniles
Peregrine Falcon, 1 juvenile
Osprey, 1
Brown Shrike, 1

Residents
Changeable Hawk Eagle , 1 pale morph juv and 1 dark morph adult
Black-winged Kite, 4
Brahminy Kite, 3 adult 1 juv
White-bellied Sea Eagle, 1 adult
Large-billed Crow, 1
Long-tailed Shrike, 1
Lesser Coucal, 2
Purple Heron, 1 juvenile
White-throated Kingfisher, 1
Blue-tailed Bee-eater, several
House Crow, several
BN Oriole, 2
Spotted Dove , many
Zebra Dove, many
Red-collared Dove, 4
White-breasted Waterhen, 1
Zitting Cisticola, 3
WV Myna, many
Common Myna, many
Scaly-breasted Munia, small flocks
Black-headed Munia, small flocks
ET Sparrow, small flock
Cattle Egret, several
Yellow-vented Bulbul, many
Paddyfield Pipit, several

juv. Peregrine Falcon

juv. Pied Harrier (far away, 100% crop)

Changeable Hawk-Eagle (far away, 100% crop)

Sungei Balang 25Nov08

From GC

Spent a day at Sg Balang on 25 Nov 08.

There were a total of 20+ raptors, mostly juveniles, including resident Brahminy and Black-shouldered Kites.

1. Greater Spotted Eagle - 1 juv
2. Pied Harrier - 1 female and 1 juv
3. Eastern Marsh-harrier - at least 2 juv and possibly 1 male
4. Black Kite - 10, mostly juveniles
5. Brahminy Kite - 1 adult, 1 subadult, 1 juv
6. Black-shouldered Kite - 3
7. Lesser Adjutant - 8
8. Black Drongo - several
9. Wood Sandpiper - 2
10. White-winged Tern - 10
11. Common Greenshank - 1
12. Grey Wagtail - 1
13. Yellow Wagtail - 1
14. Cinnamon Bittern -1
15. Chinese Pond-heron - several
16. Yellow Bittern - 3
17. Asian House Martin - several
18. Blue-tailed Bee-eater - several
19. Pacific Swallow - several
20. White-headed Munia - a flock
21. Scaly-breasted Munia - a flock
22. Paddyfield Pipit - several

Greater Spotted Eagle, juvenile

Eastern Marsh-harrier, juvenile

This one looks like a dark Eastern Marsh-harrier, juvenile

Pied Harrier, juvenile

Black Kite, juvenile

Lesser Adjutant - this one is huge, bigger than the biggest raptor!

1st montage shows the prominent white rump, grey tail with dark bars and barred upper wing. 2nd montage shows the pale leg/lower belly feathers and a bit of pale underwing. All pics of the same female Pied Harrier.

Sungei Balang 15Mar08

From GC

Con shot these female Pied Harrier and Black Kite. There were also one flock of about six OHBs thermalling overhead.

Black Kite

Female Pied Harrier

Swinhoe's Snipe

Changi, Pulau Punggol 01Mar08

From KH

The weather wasn't great, but the birds were - both at CC and PP (Pulau Punggol). Did not have a chance to check out the waders at CC due to the heavy rain. But had a great time chasing harriers. We had 3 Pied Harriers as well as 3 Eastern Marsh-harriers. Harrier photos by Lau JS.

Female Eastern Marsh-harrier

Male Eastern Marsh-harrier

Immature male Eastern Marsh-harrier

Female Pied Harrier

Juvenile Pied Harrier

The crakes and buttonquails did not make any appearance at PP, but a thermalling Booted Eagle and a beautiful Chestnut-winged Cuckoo were great company. Following three photos by Lau JS.

Pale morph Booted Eagle thermalling

Chestnut-winged Cuckoo

CC
1 Grey Heron
2 Purple Heron (1)
3 Little Egret
4 Cattle Egret
5 Black-winged Kite (several pairs nesting)
6 Pied Harrier (2F, 1 juv)
7 Eastern Marsh-harrier (1M, 2F)
8 Lesser Sand-plover
9 Malaysian Plover
10 Pacific Golden-plover
11 Common Greenshank (1)
12 Zebra Dove
13 Spotted Dove
14 Red Collared-dove
15 Lesser Coucal
16 White-throated Kingfisher
17 Blue-tailed Bee-Eater
18 House Crow
19 Long-tailed Shrike (1)
20 Siberian Stonechat (h)
21 Javan Myna
22 Common Myna
23 Barn Swallow
24 Pacific Swallow
25 Yellow-vented Bulbul
26 Zitting Cisticola
27 Yellow Wagtail (5)
28 Paddyfield Pipit
29 White-headed Munia (hundreds)
30 Scaly-breasted Munia
31 Eurasian Tree Sparrow

PP
32 Striated Heron
33 Osprey (1)
34 Black Baza (3)
35 Brahminy Kite
36 Booted Eagle (1)
37 White-bellied Fish-eagle
38 White-breasted Waterhen
39 Long-tailed Parakeet
40 Chestnut-winged Cuckoo (1)
41 Asian Koel
42 Collared Kingfisher
43 Dollarbird
44 Common Flameback
45 Coppersmith Barbet (1)
46 Black-naped Oriole
47 Brown Shrike
48 Oriental Magpie-robin (1)
49 Common Tailorbird (1)
50 Yellow-bellied Prinia (h)

Changi 02, 07Feb08

Con on 2 Feb

Here are a couple of my shots of the Red-necked Stint today.

A couple of the dark morph CHE.

My first flight shot of the Malaysian Plover!

Lapwing on sentry duty.

Juvenile Pied Harrier.

A couple more from SC. Left: blue-tailed bee-eater. Right: Dark morph changeable hawk-eagle.

Con on 7 Feb

On first day of CNY I tried to enter CC through the KTC construction entrance, but no luck, the guard was on duty so I went to Ubin instead and found plenty of Copper-throated Sunbirds.

Today, following the posting by Simon, I went to try CC again. Once again, the KTC entrance was guarded. So I went to the Airshow Entrance and said "I'd like to go birding". They said okay and gave me a Visitor Pass !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It was a slow start to the day. Low tide was 6:35am, and by the time I got to the beach at 7:45am there were still plenty of waders but I was looking directly into the sun without a scope so it was difficult. I drove around, the Lapwings were still there, but the fresh water pools had dried up and the Wood Sandpiper and the "Green" Sandpiper were gone. At 10:00am the female Pied Harrier came out for breakfast and I followed her around a bit. I think she is the same one that has been at Changi for the past couple of months.

At 10:30am I noticed two folks on the sand bar that looked like birders so I drove over and it was Subaraj and Martin "............." They had just been on the sandbar and found 8 "white-faced plovers", some males, some females, some indeterminant. Subaraj said they are bigger than Malaysian Plovers. So I went out on the sandbar to look and sure enough the flock of 8 was right were Subaraj said it was. But it was too far for a decent photo, and when I tried to get closer the flock flushed.

Leaving the sandbar I flushed 2 Savanna Nightjars. The first two pictures are consecutive and of the same bird. The third picture might be the other bird, not sure.

Then I went to the Eastern Most Point of Singapore, and the Red-necked Stints where there again, and also one Yellow-fronted Canary (escape from Africa) was singing his heart out on one of the Casuarina trees.

Male Savanna Nightjar ©Con Foley

Oriental Honey-buzzard ©Fang SC