Changeable Hawk Eagle - Final Episode!

I was busy with some family matters in the last few weeks and a friend called me up and asked "So how was the shoot of the Royal Wedding in London"! Nah, he was being sarcastic and before i could explain he screamed on top of his voice "I want the pics of the CHE's chick NOW!" LOL!

OK, I didn't get the fledging shots because access to the plantation was closed due to laying of the tarmac for two weeks! The chick finally fledged on the 15th, which means 67days since it was born. It had stayed around the plantation for three days before it flew off to somewhere else, according to the owner, who was able to access his plantation via a dirt road only passable with hardcore 4WD vehicle. I should have bought a Land Rover for birding! :(

And these were shot earlier when i decided to get some close up shots with my Panasonic LX5 PnS camera. 

 "WOW! Southerwings is here!!!"

 " OMG! Comon in, I wanted to hear all about you!!

 "Have a seat here and let me get you some icy lizard juice"

 "Now where did mom hide the blender and delicious lizard again?"

 "But but I am Black, I looked like a white that is all..."

'Paul , you don't believe in me, do you?"

OK, back to London for the Royal Wedding and will post more soon....

Changeable Hawk Eagle nesting Part llI !

Three weeks of acquaintance with the CHE has made the adult dark morph more approachable  and friendly towards my presence. Now I am able to walk around the nesting site and shoot right below the perch without scaring it off. The CHE probably think I am the new owner of this durian plantation!


The dark morph's daily routine was the same on all my observations so far, perch on the nest or near the nest silently for hours between 3-7pm, by 6-7pm, it would call for the white morph to return.  I was touched to see on a few occasion that  when the harsh sunlight is hitting the chick in the afternoon, the adult would shelter the chicks for as long as the sunlight is out. 

Feeding so far is only by the dark morph. One interesting note is the carrion is always being carried to a nearby tree, tear into pieces before bringing back to feed both the chick and itself. Perhaps the adult do not want the blood to stain the nesting, or it needs a solid branch to tear the body apart hence without risking the structural rigidity of the nest.  

A short video recorded on the 30th of March

The pale morph on the other hand is still behaving cautious, and every time it shows up in late afternoon , I have to retreat to the hut/shelter or else it won't perch on the nest.  I begin to wonder now which morph is the male and which is the female On the physical size, the dark morph is slightly larger than the pale morph.

And the chick looked more like the serious Nikon-black now than the previously chubby Canon-white! So a welcoming sight of course! :)

Pic abv (taken with PnS on 90mm zoom) show my close range with the adult dark morph, ~25' away. 


And below are the pic taken in my last trip, the adult, surprisingly, was 10' below the nesting for almost two hours. 

There are more species occur in this 10-acre durian plantation than i had previously thought. And finally i managed to get the shot of the Banded Bay Cuckoo (lifer)! There are 4 of them here but unfortunately opportunity for a close and low perch shot was not given. Extremely responsive to play calls in the late afternoon or early morning. 


And last week, an experienced birder joined me for the shoot, said he heard the calls of Plaintiff Cuckoo! Now I hate him for telling me that because it looks like I will be busy visiting here after the fledging of the CHE's chick


And I ought to come often because two pairs of the White-collared Kingfishers have started nesting, at least 2 Spotted Wood Owl were seen in the last three weeks, ok I need better shot of the Black-naped Oriole......... 

Banded Bay Cuckoo

Asian Brown Flycatcher, 

 Collared Kingfisher

 Common Iora

 Pied Thriller

 Sunda Woodpecker

Zebra Dove

White-breasted Waterhen

female Pink-necked Green Pigeon

And I need help for this species, taken last week in the durian plantation.  I am still unable to ID from my sources. It was seen twice near the stream, perch like a flycatcher. and so far I have never heard its calls. 


Any suggestion will be appreciated!

The owner keeps an 'army' of 8 dogs here help keep the monkeys and uninvited guests away. This puppy was named "Southern Wings" by me, because he is the only dog that would stay by my side for hours..