Panti :: 31st Oct 2010

Panti surprised me on Sunday with an unsually tame Red-naped Trogons along the bunker trail. It   perched under a extremely dark canopy but its loud and persistent calls easily gave it away just after mins of looking.

Red-naped Trogon (Harpactes kasumba)

Kesumba Tengkuk Merah * 红枕咬鹃 * アカエリキヌバネドリ

The peculiar thing about the male RNTs is that they have a very distinctive centre folded line along the breast, making them looked like their bodies are made of two halves. (See closely on the top two pics )

The Red-napeds are quite frequently seen last year, but in the past 10 months I have only seen the female twice. 

This particular RNT seemed so attached to me that after photographing it for 30mins, it perched on a swing for an hour just above my head at the bunker trail.  I ended up spending more than two hours with it.  I tried to get closer just to find out how much closer I could get and obviously I have no problem within 20'. 

OK, so i got greedy, i wanted 10' for a super duper closeup portraiture shot and as i moved in slowly with a friendly smile, the bird wasn't panicked at all, but a speeding car along the trail with a friendly loud horn scared it away. 

And I always wonder why they are called Hairy-backed Bulbul when they have silky feathers behind their back, as their Chinese name implies? :)

Hairy-backed Bulbul (Tricholestes criniger)

Merbah Bulu Tengkuk * 丝背鹎 * エリゲヒヨドリ

I have not ID'ed the Bulbul abv and it looks like Cream-vented/Buff-vented to me. 

And the Tiger Shrikes in Panti are getting too much of my attention nowadays. I was dying for a record shot last year but it looks like they are here in abundance this year. 7 were sighted on Sunday.

Tiger Shrike

Yellow-breasted Flowerpecker.

Lizard at the temple trail

Below is pic of the female Red-naped Trogon taken last year in Panti.

Female Red-naped Trogon

Video capture of the Red-naped Trogon