Labrador Park 29Jun14

From Danny

This is the Tanimbar Corella/ Yellow-crested Cockatoo pair taken at Labrador boardwalk. The tree in the background hosted the fledged nest of a pair of WBSE, well seen at the first look-out from the direction of the MRT station.

Taman Negara 22-28Jun14

From KH

Con, Danny and I went to Taman Negara, not through the Kuala Tahan entrance, but through the Merapoh and Kuala Koh entrances.

The highlights:

1) A pair of Large Frogmouths at Merapoh at day roost.
2) Large Green Pigeons, Bamboo Woodpeckers and Large Wren Babblers at Kuala Koh
3) Great Eared Nightjar at Merapoh, apparently a first for Taman Negara.
4) Long-billed Spiderhunter, one at Merapoh and one at Kuala Koh.
5) Jungle Mynas at Tasik Kenyir.
5) Gold-whiskered Barbet at Merapoh.
6) A raptor at Merapoh along Rentis Negeram is most likely a Wallace's Hawk Eagle.
7) A group of munias at Kuala Koh restuarant area are most likely White-bellied Munias.

Merapoh

On Day 1, we reached Merapoh early in the afternoon. My first lifer was a Gold-whiskered Barbet shortly after the chalet. ©Tan KH

The Green Broadbill is a common bird here. This juvenile was making a lot of noise, most likely begging for food. ©Tan KH

We got a pair of Large Frogmouths at day roost on Day 2 morning! Although a known spot (Sungei Relau bridge), people have mostly been seeing the bird at dawn or dusk. This pair stayed on the same perch throughout the day. ©Tan KH

The Black-naped Monarchs were still nesting. Left male, right female. ©Tan KH

The resident Blyth's Paradise-flycatcher were also showing well, including a white morph male. Below is the female. ©Tan KH

A pair of Oriental Honey-buzzards over-staying. ©Con Foley

Banteng! This herd was released at Merapoh. The dark one is the male, the rest females and juveniles. ©Tan KH

Prevost's Squirrels can be found right at the chalet area. ©Tan KH

While Con was having a siesta, we heard a wail. Then we saw this - a monitor with a frog in mouth. ©Tan KH

Kuala Koh

This is the third entrance to Taman Negara. The specialties here were Bamboo Woodpeckers at the resort. Besides Large Wren Babbler, the other lifer that we got here was Large Green Pigeon, including this male. ©Danny Lau

A Long-billed Spiderhunter showed up at the chalet area ©Tan KH

This weird looking crow had us scratching our head - Large-billed or Slender-billed? ©Tan KH

Tasik Kenyir

"Tasik" means "lake". We dropped by Lake Kenyir Resort which is outside Taman Negara National Park. Part of the lake is in the national park, but a boat ride is necessary to get to that part (the fourth and last entrance). Danny and I got a lifer - Jungle Myna! We only stopped for a few hours in the morning and then it was time to head back to Singapore.

Trip list

KJ = Kuala Juram, RN = Rentis Negeram

		Merapoh		Kuala Koh		Lake Kenyir
1	Crested Partridge	2	1 pair (RN)	1	female
2	Red Junglefowl	1	male
3	Malaysian Peacock Pheasant	1	heard	1	heard
4	Great Argus	4	heard	2	heard
5	Black-thighed Falconet	1
6	Oriental Honey Buzzard	2	1 pair
7	White-bellied Sea Eagle					2
8	Lesser Fish Eagle	1	(KJ)
9	Crested Serpent Eagle	1		1
10	Changeable Hawk Eagle	2	1 dark, 1 pale
11	Wallace's Hawk Eagle	1	1 at (RN) is probably this species
12	White-breasted Waterhen			1	oil palm
13	Spotted Dove	>3	oil palm	1	oil palm
14	Zebra Dove	1	oil palm
15	Large Green Pigeon	1	male	21	1 male perched and a flock of 20
16	Wedge-tailed Green Pigeon	1	(KJ)
17	Blue-crowned Hanging Parrot	>5		>6
18	Moustached Hawk Cuckoo	1	heard (RN)
19	Malaysian Hawk Cuckoo	1	juvenile heard
20	Banded Bay Cuckoo	1		1	heard
21	Plaintive Cuckoo	1	heard	1
22	Rusty-breasted Cuckoo	1	heard	1
23	Asian Drongo Cuckoo	1	heard	1	heard
24	Asian Koel					1
25	Raffles's Malkoha	1	heard
26	Short-toed Coucal	1	heard	2	heard in forest
27	Greater Coucal			1	heard at chalet
28	Barn Owl			1	oil palm
29	Large Frogmouth	2	1 pair
30	Great Eared Nightjar	1	(RN)
31	Swiftlet spp.	many		many		many
32	Silver-rumped Spinetail	8				1
33	Brown-backed Needletail					2
34	House Swift					many
35	Grey-rumped Treeswift	2	nest	1
36	Whiskered Treeswift	2
37	Red-naped Trogon	1	(RN)
38	Diard's Trogon	1	heard (KJ)	2	heard
39	Rufous-collared Kingfisher	1	heard
40	Banded Kingfisher	1	heard	1	chalet
41	White-throated Kingfisher	1
42	Rufous-backed Kingfisher	1
43	Red-bearded Bee-eater	1	heard	1
44	Oriental Pied Hornbill	1	heard	4	carpark	6
45	Rhinoceros Hornbill	2
46	Helmeted Hornbill	1	heard (KJ)
47	White-crowned Hornbill	1	heard
48	Lineated Barbet					1
49	Gold-whiskered Barbet	1
50	Red-throated Barbet	2	heard	1	heard
51	Yellow-crowned Barbet	>3	heard
52	Rufous Piculet	1	(RN)
53	Banded Woodpecker	1	heard
54	Crimson-winged Woodpecker	1	heard	1	heard
55	Checker-throated Woodpecker	1	heard	1	heard
56	Bamboo Woodpecker			2	chalet
57	Maroon Woodpecker			1	chalet
58	Buff-rumped Woodpecker	3
59	Buff-necked Woodpecker	1		3	chalet
60	Asian Green Broadbill	4	2 seen, 2 heard	2	heard
61	Black-and-red Broadbill	1	heard (KJ)	3	chalet
62	Banded Broadbill	1	heard	1	heard
63	Black-and-yellow Broadbill	1	heard	1	heard
64	Banded Pitta	1	male (RN)	1	heard
65	Garnet Pitta	2	heard	1	heard
66	Rail Babbler	1	heard
67	Common Iora					1	heard
68	Bar-bellied Cuckooshrike	1	(RN)
69	Scarlet Minivet	1	female
70	Dark-throated Oriole	1	heard	1	heard
71	Black-naped Oriole	1	oil palm	1	chalet
72	Bronzed Drongo	2		4
73	Greater Racket-tailed Drongo	1		1
74	Black-naped Monarch	5	1 nesting pair, 1 family of 3	1	heard
75	Asian Paradise Flycatcher	2	1 white, 1 rufous
76	Crested Jay	1	heard
77	Black Magpie	1	heard (RN)	5	1 flock
78	Large-billed Crow	2	1 pair (chalet)	>20
79	Pacific Swallow	3				>3
80	Black-headed Bulbul	2
81	Yellow-vented Bulbul	4	2 oil palm, 2 chalet
82	Olive-winged Bulbul			1
83	Cream-vented Bulbul	1	(KJ)	2
84	Red-eyed Bulbul	1		4
85	Spectacled Bulbul	2		1
86	Hairy-backed Bulbul	>5		2
87	Buff-vented Bulbul	3
88	Streaked Bulbul	1
89	Finsch's Bulbul	1
90	Grey-cheeked Bulbul	1		2
91	Yellow-bellied Bulbul	2	(KJ)
92	Common Tailorbird	1	heard	1	heard	3	heard
93	Dark-necked Tailorbird	2	heard	2		1
94	Rufous-tailed Tailorbird	2	heard	1	heard
95	Yellow-bellied Warbler			1
96	Black-capped Babbler	2	heard	1
97	White-chested Babbler	2	(RN)
98	Abbott's Babbler	1	heard	1
99	Horsfield's Babbler	2	heard
100	Short-tailed Babbler	1	heard
101	Moustached Babbler	1	heard	1
102	Sooty-capped Babbler	2	1 adult, 1 juvenile
103	Scaly-crowned Babbler	2		3	1 pair distracting us from juvenile
104	Rufous-crowned Babbler	8		4
105	Large Wren-babbler			2
106	Rufous-fronted Babbler	1	heard
107	Grey-headed Babbler	1	heard
108	Black-throated Babbler			1
109	Chestnut-rumped Babbler	2	1 seen, 1 heard	1	heard
110	Chestnut-winged Babbler	2		1	heard
111	Pin-striped Tit-babbler	2		3
112	Fluffy-backed Tit-babbler	1		1	heard
113	Brown Fulvetta	5		3
114	White-bellied Yuhina	3
115	Asian Fairy Bluebird	2	1 male, 1 female
116	Asian Glossy Starling	many	chalet
117	Common Hill Myna	2	1 seen, 1 heard	1	heard
118	Common Myna	2	oil palm	1	oil palm	1
119	Jungle Myna					9
120	Javan Myna	1	oil palm	1	oil palm
121	Rufous-winged Philentoma	2	(KJ)
122	Oriental Magpie Robin	>3	chalet	>3	chalet
123	White-rumped Shama	3		1
124	White-crowned Forktail	3
125	Tickell's Blue Flycatcher	2	1 female seen, 1 heard	1	heard
126	Grey-headed Flycatcher	2	1 seen (RN), 1 heard	2	heard
127	Greater Green Leafbird	2
128	Lesser Green Leafbird	2	male
129	Blue-winged Leafbird	1
130	Yellow-breasted Flowerpecker	1
131	Crimson-breasted Flowerpecker	2	1 male, 1 juvenile
132	Yellow-vented Flowerpecker	1
133	Orange-bellied Flowerpecker	1	heard	1	male
134	Plain Flowerpecker	2
135	Plain Sunbird	2
136	Brown-throated Sunbird	1	male (chalet)
137	Ruby-cheeked Sunbird	2
138	Purple-naped Sunbird	1		2
139	Thick-billed Spiderhunter	1
140	Long-billed Spiderhunter	1	(KJ)	1
141	Eurasian Tree Sparrow	many	chalet	many	chalet	many
142	White-bellied Munia			>2	those at chalet are probably this species
1	Siamang	many	heard
2	Dusky Langur	1
3	Cream-coloured Giant Squirrel	1	heard
4	Plantain Squirrel	1		1		1
5	Prevost's Squirrel	1	chalet
6	Slender Squirrel	1		1
7	Wild Boar	4		1
8	Banteng	5	1 male, 3 female, 1 juvenile

Austria 01-13Jun14

From Con

Con was on an all-expense-piad trip to Austria by Zeiss!

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

Singapore Strait 17May14

Attendees: Con, Danny, JS, KH, Colin, Robert Tizard, Frank Rheindt, John Ascher and ???

Today is a strange pelagic day. First, I forgot to set my alarm, hence missing the boat initially. Then there were some irregularities in the paperwork due to changes in immigration rules and I managed to get on the boat about 1/2 hour before the boat could sail.

We saw our first Water Monitor out at sea, followed by hundreds of Bridled Terns, a few Black-naped Terns, two Little Terns, a Common Tern and several Swinhoe's Storm-petrels.

However, the best birds of the day were three Short-tailed Shearwaters. Photos from Jia Sheng.

Con's write-up (including the 3 May 2014 trip): http://confoley.com/pelagic-outings-may-2014

Zoo 13May14

From KH

As the rest were recuperating from their Java trip, I did my own birding at the Zoo! The aim was the locate the purported Crested Goshawk nest.

Initially, I spent quite a bit of time at the wrong part of the baboon enclosure. Seeing no goshawk, I moved on to other enclosures. Need a toilet was a huge cotton tree and on this tree was the Purple Heron heronry reported by Danny when he was at River Safari.

On the same tree were nests of Painted and Milky Storks.

As I moved on to the rhino enclosure, a House Crow was chasing a huge bird. It turned out to be a Spotted Wood-owl.

Under a certain roof were Lesser Dog-faced Fruit Bats.

Back at the baboon enclosure, I found a Colugo on one of the trees.

Finally, at about 2:30 pm, I spotted a Crested Goshawk. However, it just perched there, doing nothing most of the time, preening away at other times. After an hour, I left the place, failing to locate the nest...

Java 4-11May14

Con, Danny and JS went to Java for birding: http://confoley.com/java-trip-report-2014

Black-capped Babbler capistratum subsp.

Singapore Strait 03May14

Attendees: Con, Danny, JS, KH, Colin, Geoffrey, Albert, Francis, Richard

This is our first pelagic trip this year. We had the usual seabirds:

1. Bridled Tern 3
2. Lesser Crested Tern 1
3. Little Tern 3
4. Black-naped Tern 1
5. Swinhoe's Storm-petrel 1 group of 4 sitting on the sea

Today, we did something different, we disembarked on Pulau Hantu. Sure enough, a pair of Mangrove Whistlers were at the "summit".

So was a Great-billed Heron at the breakwater.

Next, we headed to Pulau Salu for the Pied Imperial Pigeons. Sure enough, three were seen fluttering at the tree top.

Jia Sheng saw a sea turtle, as well as some Ocean Sunfish!