Sunday 26 March 2017

LANGKAWI BIRDWATCHING TOUR: Burnice's Bird Blog

Burnice's bird wishlist for Langkawi would be the Hornbills, all three of them. She wasn't chasing after the Brown-Winged Kingfisher as she has already seen it while kayaking nearby Pulau Dayang Bunting. That would mean the priority was to head up to Gunung Raya, the highest peak of Langkawi.

Burnice and Hans are currently on their sailing adventures with their sailing boat all the way from Australia. Having to spend some time at Rebak Island, they made their way to Pekan Rabu after sailing through rough wind condition. We met at the Pekan Rabu pier on our birdwatching morning.


The birdwatcher is Burnice and Hans will enjoy whatever that is presented to him. Little did I know that Burnice is also a blogger like me and I got lots to learn from Burnice's blog. Like me, Burnice will take photos of birds so she can share her images via her blog:  https://burneysbirdblog.wordpress.com/



Below are some snapshots of her blog. Please click here to read Burnice's entire post about her birdwatching experience in Langkawi and her bird list. 






The leaping lizard that Burnice mentioned in her blog was a gliding lizard, Draco spp. I spotted it gliding about 10m across the Gunung Raya road while driving. It landed on a tree and it was just nice for us to observe it through my scope in which I managed to set it up before it was gone. 


The above picture is the juvenile raptor that I was looking for. I managed to snap a photo while it was circling before making a perch into the dense forest. It hid itself very well. We waited for it to fly out again but it didn't. My suspicion at that moment was a juvenile Oriental Honey Buzzard. But I was still doubtful due to lack of details of a Oriental Honey Buzzard such as the prominent tail bands and black tip on the primaries. Just to be sure, I forwarded this image to the raptor sifus in the Raptor Study Group. Thank you to Liung and Aun Tiah for their quick response confirming that it was a juvenile Oriental Honey Buzzard due to its pigeon-like head. I likely think it may be a juvenile female.

The reward for us stopping there for awhile is the appearance of the male Wreathed Hornbill not too far away and it was posing for us.

Many thanks for the nice review on your blog, Burnice. Looking forward to seeing you back on Langkawi for more lifers and your birds stories in Thailand. Bon Voyage!