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

Panti :: 24th Oct 2010

I always believe if you reach your destination with a lot of  birds show up before you, that would be a lucky day with few lifers. Phenomenon like this normally those rusty spare CFs would gratefully get their turns before noon.

But I was so wrong yesterday! When I reached Panti at 8am, my pet bird (a fully grown up CHE now) greeted me at the gate, 2 Crimpson-wing woodpeckers were busy pecking at mid-storey near the car park, and half a dozen of Hill Mynas were roosting at a tree barely 30’ from me. Tiger Shrikes were at the usual spot again seemingly begging for a portraiture shot at eye-level.

I didn’t fire a shot for I was late for an appointment with a rare species 3kms away. Halfway down the trail a gorgeous Black-caped Babbler was sighted just 2m away on my left, It was too close I couldn’t get it as I need a min of 10’ for my 500mm lens. It would have been be a lifer on my sensor then.

Orange-bellied Flowerpecker (Dicaeum trigonostigma)

Sepah Puteri Dada oren  * 橙腹啄花鸟 * オレンジハナドリ * Chim sâu ngực xá

Then a huge bird waive came, a couple of pigeons, flowerpeckers, and probably the whole population of Olive-winged Bulbuls! A few quick shots and on seeing nothing special I went for my target, but unfortunately for hours it didn’t show up.

Little Green Pigeon (Treron olax)

Punai Siul  * 小绿鸠 * チビアオバト

Olive-winged Bulbul (Pycnonotus plumosus)

Merbah Belukar * 橄榄褐 * アカメヒヨドリ

And for the rest of the day, nothing was seen along the 8km bunker trail.  I checked my CF card and realized only 30 shots were fired. So it looks hard to beat my last year's record of 6 fired on a miserable Buff-vented Bulbul.

Not so bad after all!