Black Magpie, finally!

26th Jan 20100`

I am still excited over the capture of Black Magpie yesterday because I have been waiting two years for this opportunity. They are not rare but they love to hang around tree tops, the Black Magpies never perch low, at least not in Panti. The only regret was it only stayed for less than 10ses and I only managed to capture two shots!

Black Magpie (Platysmurus leucopterus)

Burung Kambing * 白翅鹊 * クロカケス

Geai à ailes blanches * strakana cepcová * นกกาน้อยแถบปีกขาว

Weather was terrible in the morning and in fact, after taking pics of the Leafbird I spent more than 3 hours (napping, literally) in the car due to the heavy rain.

Blue-winged Leafbird (Chloropsis cochinchinensis)

Burung Daun Sayap Putih * 蓝翅叶鹎 * Chim xanh Nam bộ

Verdin à tête jaune * zelenácik modrokrídly * นกเขียวก้านตองปีกสีฟ้า

But despite the occasional drizzles in the afternoon, many species of birds were still very active but I spent much time watching them in the car.

The Tiger Shrike was sighted when I actually stopped for a breather when the rain had stopped momentarily.

Many of them have moved deeper into the forest as their calls can be heard regularly, as compared to two months ago they were frequently seen along the main bunker trail.

Tiger Shrike (Lanius tigrinus)

Tirjup Harimau * 虎纹伯劳 * チゴモズ * Bách thanh vằn

 Pie-grièche tigrine * strakoš velkozobý * นกอีเสือลายเสือ

@1st Stream.

The Duskys must be familiar (and mad) with my car by now as they were making loud frantic calls on my arrival. And within mins, the Black Magpie made a brief appearance (pic on top) and a bird wave soon followed, both the Chestnut and White morph Asian Paradize Flycathers (Long-tailed) were spotted in a mixed flock of White-eyes and Minivets but a sudden heavy downpour kept me in the car drooling,....  

When the rain stopped 30mins later I took a walk between the 1st Stream and  3oom after the 2nd Yellow Sign Board, I found these.

Banded Woodpecker Picus miniaceus

Pelatuk Merah * 镶红绿啄木鸟 * シマベニアオゲラ * 

 Pic minium * žlna pásikavá * นกหัวขวานแดงลาย

 Chestnut-breasted Malkoha

Drongo Cuckoo (Sumiculus lugubris)

Burung Hamba Kera * 乌鹃 * オウチュウカッコウ * Cu cu đen

Coucou surnicou * kukucka drongovitá * นกคัคคูแซงแซว

Female

Red-naped Trogon (Harpactes kasumba)

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

 Trogon à nuque rouge * dravcík kasumba * นกขุนแผนท้ายทอยแดง

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

Tiger Shrike

15th Oct 2010

Tiger Shrike (Lanius tigrinus)

Tirjup Harimau * 虎纹伯劳 * チゴモズ * Bách thanh vằn

I made a last min quick dash to Panti this morning for the Tiger Shrike and I was not disappointed, it was at the usual spot at the end of the visitor’s car park. 

It must be hungry as it was constantly hunting for prey in the 30mins I was there . But I missed the shot of it with the giant praying mantis.  In fact every time it catches a prey it would perch far away from me, smashing the prey to death and looking at me cautiously before eating it.

It is good to know that this year the Tiger Shrikes came early and in much bigger number compared to last year. My rough estimate so far is about 20 just along the bunker trail alone. their calls can be heard very often.

( What is this again ? Edible? )

Strange that when I was a kid, I used to work in the farm during school holidays, and mum and dad would ask me to try pinching an unknown fruit and taste the juice with the tip of my tongue, if it is sweet eat it, if bitter, don’t eat. Wish I have the courage to tell the same thing to my kids now.

And this tasty looking little squirrel was just right in front of me when I was about to pack up for lunch and leave.

Panti :: 26th Sept 2010

8:00am

When we reached the 1^st Yellow Sign at 9:00am, we could only drool when we saw a Blue-eared KF was perching low and still and merely 2-3m on our right. We knew that there was nothing we could do as the gear was still in our bags behind the seats, and the BEKF gave us a 30s stare then flew away.

So, a big mistake on my part, as I usually would have my gear setup and place on my lap when taking a ride. And if I drive, the whole setup would be on the window sitting on a big-fat tailored made bean bag, ready to fire on anything that moves, and now I have to keep reminding myself all these simple rules once and again!

( Carlson Hong and GCWong were having a good time with the obliging FBTBs)

By the time we reached the 1^st stream, we saw Dusky Broadbills were roosting high up at their usual spot. Must be the heavy rain earlier, the DBs looked tired and only one of them perched low, but far away with much blockage.

So the FBTB’s were called into service and they responded within mins, and we all have lot of fun doing their close-up portraiture shots, all three in a row singing happily in rhythm to our mp3's tune.

Fluffy-backed Tit-babbler

Grey-cheeked Bulbul (Alophoixus bres)

Merbah Sampah * 灰颊冠鹎 * ハイガオカンムリヒヨドリ

I walked away and toward the slope later to check out an unfamiliar bird calls, I saw a Grey-cheeked Bulbul on a fruiting tree, so the calls must be something else. Just as I squint hard into the foliage hoping for a lifer, 2 Velvet-fronted Nuthatchs landed on a tree trunk just besides me! And they started charging upside down without caring of my close proximity.

Lifer !

Velvet-fronted Nuthatch (Sitta frontalis)

Patuk Dahi Hitam * 绒额䴓 * アカハシゴジュウカラ * Trèo cây trán đen

With much excitement, I fired immediately in a point-and-shoot manner hurriedly, hoping that at a preset iso of 1600 my shutter speed should be ok since the lighting was bright, for these birds are really tiny and actively fast!

Panning sideway and upwards are easier or logically make sense for most photographers I guess!! So the VFNs are usually birders nightmares, for their habit of crawling downwards rapidly in a spiral pattern in hunt for tree worms, and they hardly stop moving, or least i have never seen a Nuthatch that perched longer than a sec before.

I remember a well-known birding photographer once said in a forum

"when you see a Nuthatch, just keep firing and hope for the best", and I did just that...

But when I viewed all the imgs later at night I was shocked to see that many were not in good focus, some were with only the tails at the bottom of the frame, and some w/o anything at all in the frame, meaning by the time i snap with downward panning the bird had already gone further down!

So I was glad to have a few good imgs out of the 30 shots in the brief encounter with the VFNs. Few shots because half the time it simply disappeared from my viewfinder and i have to locate them with my naked eyes before i could aim and frame it in the viewfinder!

The VFNs are quite active recently and are often seen lately along the bunker trail, 200m before and after the 1^st stream.

( all these while, I wanted a shot like this....but this img is not sharp though)

12:00pm

While heading towards the 3^rd stream, a Tiger Shrike* flew across us and perched still on my left, allowed me to snap a few shots from the car, so lesson leant, always have your gear ready while in the car!

We got out the car immediately hoping for more but it had already gone deep into the forest, and surprising, a friendly Red-bearded Bee-eater was calling non-stop and loudly just a stone throw away! The RBBEs are among some of the frequently seen species in Panti this year.

Tiger Shrike (Lanius tigrinus)

Tirjup Harimau * 虎纹伯劳 * チゴモズ * Bách thanh vằn

Red-bearded Bee-eater (Nyctyornis amictus)

Beberek Tunggal * 赤须夜蜂虎 * ムネアカハチクイ

By 2:00pm, we were ready to go home but another two RBBEs and a TS show up by the sides of the bunker trail, near the temple trail and the Ponduk/hut respectively, so the trip was delayed unexpectedly for another 2 hours….

(seen about 200m after the Ponduk/hut, same location as last year's sighting)

4:00pm

While on our way out, we spotted another 2 VFNs on a broken branch far away and probably at 100’ high! It was an active nesting and with the 8x36 bino I could see something like a chick sticking its head out occasionally while the adult bird perched next to the hole, now, if only I own a KATO crane…..

* - Tiger Strikes are migrant species, year 2009 I spotted only 2 along the trail, hopefully to see more of them this year!