Run Swamphen Run!

Hey Swamphen! Why are you in such a big hurry??!

Swamphen says, "It is the long school holidays now! I am running into my hideout."

Our local school holiday for the final term started yesterday and will be end on the first week of January 2018. Langkawi will be busy and jam packed especially at the touristy sites like the cable car, Kilim jetty, Pantai Cenang and Pulau Dayang Bunting. The road to the Kuah Ferry Terminal will be congested or heavy traffic jam. Plan your itinerary well to avoid the crowd. I will definitely avoid going to the ferry terminal.

How to go about on tours especially Langkawi nature tours without having to be stressed out dealing with the crowd? If you are clueless and not the type of doing D-I-Y tours, how about booking your private tour with a local guide that can enhance your travel experience here on Langkawi? Also, if you are not travelling with kids, it is best to avoid December...unless you have booked your flights. If you haven't book your accommodation yet, it will be very wise to do it now. Just like this Swamphen here. Early bird gets a hideout!

This Grey-Headed Swamphen is finally contented and happy in it's hideout

This is our shy and skittish resident bird of langkawi, Grey-Headed Swamphen Porphyrio poliocephalus, which can be found in our marshes and paddy fields. 

Wendy can be contacted for private nature tours such as Langkawi birdwatching, kayak mangrove, rainforest walk or any customised nature tours. Click here for contact details.

Langkawi Bird Watching: Birds With Long Red Skinny Legs and My Lifer

This was about two weeks ago and it was a rainy week like this week. Bek, Rishad and Mark had me for four days to do casual birdwatching and some sight-seeing. Due to the rainy weather, we drove around Langkawi a lot and observed our feathered friends being soaked in the rain while we watched them...sigh...what a life..

The rain is indeed good for the rice paddy fields as the water is much needed in most areas for ploughing and replanting. As well as the wet paddy fields bring in the birds activities. I do think that Mother Nature has her ways in setting the season that favours the waders or water birds as they arrive here during their migration period. As these waders were on their migration route from the Northern hemisphere to the South, they would be able to find abundance of food in the wet fields.

As we were driving on a narrow stretch of road through a patch of rice paddy field, I was telling Mark to keep a lookout for Black-winged Stilt Himantopus himantopus. Black-winged Stilt was spotted in the month of October and November last year. And I missed it! And this year, I was wishing to see a Black-winged Stilt.

My gut feeling somehow told me to make a stop in the middle of the road. The rain has stopped and I told everyone to come down from the car to take some landscape photos. Mark and I were scanning around when he suddenly said calmly, "There is the Black-winged Stilt". That got me really excited. Without even looking at it with my binoculars, I dashed to the car and grabbed my camera...and the excitement got me carried away...my apologies, my bad :P 

Taa..daa...The photos of Black-winged Stilt at a far distance, not only one but two:

One of the Black-winged Stilt feeding. This individual was far away.

The other one was flying back and forth. This one here displaying the pair of black wings.

On flight and with loud "keek" and "kee'it"

I love their long, skinny red legs :)

Another lifer for me in Langkawi before 2016 ends! Thanks, Mark!

Black-winged Stilts breed from Central Asia to South and continental South-East Asia. The northern breeders migrate to South, probably like these two here. They feed in open inland marshes, rice fields, coastal and estuarine mudflats. Their diet mainly consist of aquatic insects but also take on molluscs and crustaceans. Like many shore birds, they don't swim for food. They feed by pecking for food items while wading on shallow water. 

The scientific name Himantopus, from specific name Charadrius himantopus Linnaenus, 1758, Black-winged Stilt. himantopus in Latin refers to wading bird now generally identified with the Black-winged Stilt. 

I am unsure if there is any record of this sighting before year 2015 for Langkawi. Whether there is or not, it is great that they are back for this year. In 2015, that individual which was spotted didn't stay long. It was not seen since mid-November 2015 until now.

Not too far from the Black-winged Stilts, I spotted another migrant wader has returned. The Grey-headed Lapwing Vanellus cinereus seems to be back here regularly now. There were two together.

Grey-headed Lapwing...Welcome back!

A snipe, another migrant was spotted next to the Grey-headed Lapwing.

And the rest of the photos of birds on the rice paddy field are here: 

Four individuals of Common Redshank Tringa totanus seen feeding together! Another species of wader with skinny red legs but shorter than the Black-winged Stilt.

Record shot of an uncommon migrant raptor, Black-winged Kite Elanus caeruleus which was far away.  

Our common resident wader, a Red-Wattled Lapwing Vanellus indicus

Overall for that day, Awesome!

References:

1. Jobling, J.A. (2010). The Helm Dictionary of Scientific Bird Names: From Aalge to Zusli. A & C Black p. 192

2. Bhushan, B., Sonobe, K. and Usui, S. (1993). A Field guide to the waterbirds of Asia. Tokyo: Kodansha International. p. 116, 124, 138

3. http://www.birdsinbackyards.net/species/Himantopus-himantopus, [Accessed 31 October 2016]

Contact Wendy for guiding services on birds of Langkawi.

Langkawi Bird Watching Tour: Ruddy Day, Tough Browny

That was my toughest day in looking for Langkawi's iconic Brown-winged Kingfisher Pelargopsis amauroptera. Mark Burgess and Mizuho Takai booked a private bird photography tour with me and their priority was Kingfishers. Initially, they didn't ask for any specific kingfisher and I suggested the Brown-Winged. Mark was advised about the chances of getting the Brown-Winged due to the tide level in the morning. However, the early mornings tend to have better chances of seeing kingfishers and Mark took my suggestion.

We had a good start for a kingfisher while we were in the vehicle not too far away from their hotel. It was the White-Throated Kingfisher Halcyon smymensis. That was easy. Our first stop was at a fishermen jetty nearby. 

Mark Burgess keeping a look out

Except for the Collared Kingfishers Todiramphus chloris making loud noises in that area, there was another bird calling across the river. It was a Little Bronze Cuckoo Chrysococcyx minutillus. This cuckoo was hiding very well from us. Apart from these birds, Brown-Winged was neither to be seen nor heard. We decided to move on to another location.

On our way out of the jetty on the minivan, something caught Mark's eyes. Mark quickly signalled us to stop. Our driver reversed his minivan very slowly. This birdie that I always wanted to see it perch finally made a nice appearance. As always, when one is not expecting to see a bird, it appears! Ruddy Kingfisher Halcyon coromanda or aka shobin in Japanese. Thank you to Mizuho for that name in Japanese. According to Mizuho, aka shobin is very difficult to see in Japan. Well, same here for Langkawi.

Mark kindly shared his photo of the aka shobin. Mark thinks this image is not good enough and I wish I was the one who had taken this photo with my camera! 

We travelled round the island with three stops for this Brown-Winged. The same bird seem to follow us on every stop. Collared Kingfisher! It is a Collared Kingfisher day indeed!

The day got very hot and humid towards the afternoon. It was about 32-33C and it felt like 39C.

Having not satisfied with the morning session, I invited Mark and Mizuho to come out again in the late afternoon.

My Langkawi Today: Woody Woodpecker Morning

LANGKAWI TODAY: Another birding day today on my no-tour day on a rainy day. The place today? Kubang Badak mangroves.

I have a few occasions of seeing a Ruddy Kingfisher in this area and the previous time was a sighting of  two individuals. On that day, I spotted one individual perched right at the top of a tree and another one flew across the road. As I was guiding, my camera was inside my pack and by the time I reached for my camera, the Ruddy dived into the bush. Sigh...

And so I do not have a good photo of Ruddy until now.

Another gloomy morning today and I do like days like this to be honest even though it is not a preferred day for photography. When I arrived, a bulldozer was there doing some road works. Then I thought that there is no way the Ruddy will show up this morning. And so, I decided not to hope for Ruddy and will take whatever comes.

I walked around for five minutes and tit..tit...tit..., the call echoed from above and followed by two woodpeckers flew above me.

They perched not too far away which enabled me to follow them. The presence of the woodpeckers startled a Little Heron and the heron flew out to another nearby tree. Why not? My first shutter clicking for the morning.

Little or Striated Heron Butorides striata

The pair of Greater Flameback Chrysocolaptes lucidus were moving up and down, pecking on a tree belonging to a Rhizophora genus. They did well, at least for me. I got close enough to have a few shots.  

Anybody wish to guess which is the female and the male?

Both woodpeckers were on the same tree at the same time and the original images were taken separately. In order to make a fun comparison of the gender, this image was edited. I simply love to play around with digital images with a photo editor. Not a lucky shot, I am afraid.

Within the one and a half hour I was there, a pair of Copper-throated sunbird Leptocoma calcostetha was sighted.

MY LANGKAWI TODAY: Jerdon's Baza

LANGKAWI TODAY: Jerdon's Baza Aviceda jerdoni revisitation and I was so lucky to encounter this spectacular migrant raptor. Jerdon's Baza is not commonly seen. This individual here was spotted soaring above the rainforest of Gunung Raya, Langkawi. It descended quickly and disappeared when two Crested Serpent Eagles Spilornis cheela were presence. Crested Serpent Eagles are resident to Langkawi.

I have recorded sightings of Jerdon's Baza in 2014 and early 2015. It is also nice to see it again. However, I am not sure if it is the same individual.

This is my opportunity to give a big shout out to our raptor sifus, Lim Aun Tiah and Lim Kim Chye for their help in confirming raptors identification. There are still a lot to learn from these two sifus.

A Photographer's Bad Hair Day

Walking along the quiet road at the edge of the rainforest, this little elusive bird dashed out of the scrubby bit and found itself on the ground. I knew this was the one I have been waiting to photograph for a long time. And very quickly, I shot it...click click click. Three shots. Wait a minute. That clicking of the shutter didn't sound quite right. I looked at my camera's setting. Under Manual mode, the exposure time at 1/500, f5.6 and ISO 400. I pressed the review button immediately and after a quick glance at one of the image, I pushed the ISO number higher. Aimed my camera at that same spot and it was gone. AAAAAARRRrrrrrrrGgggHHhhhhhhhhhh!!!

This was my shot!! 

This is when life presents someone an opportunity and that someone screwed it up! Luckily, there is such a thing as "Second Chance". 

I was not pleased with myself at that moment and was so tempted to delete all those careless shots immediately. Wait a minute. Let's bring them on the computer and maybe there's hope. Using a photo editor to do some adjustments on the exposure, contrast and removing some noise, this is the final result of the image.

Female of an Emerald Dove

Emerald dove Chalcophaps indica is also known as Common Emerald Dove in some places. However, the Emerald doves in Langkawi are not common at all. They are very shy but they tend to come out of the scrub or secondary forest and wonder along the side of the road in quiet places. If you see it, you are in luck!

When things are screwed up for the first time, sometimes we are given a second chance. For this case, thanks to the technology of digital imaging and software!

Langkawi Birdwatching Tour: Hornbills Galore

When asked for their target birds, they told me that they have seen a Orange-Breasted Green pigeon Treron bicinctus on their own and they were happy to see any birds that come by. 

When one does not have an expected list of target birds... Hornbills galore! 

This Swedish couple had a fascinating morning in viewing a strangling fig tree with matured figs next to the road of Gunung Raya. All three species of hornbills were present on this nice tree. There were the Great Hornbills Buceros bicornis (about ten of them spread out), the Wreathed Hornbills Rhyticeros undulatus (a pair and a juvenile, but were chased out by the Great Hornbills after awhile) and a Oriental Pied Hornbill Anthracoceros albirostris who stayed for couple of minutes.

An overview of this strangling fig tree. Can you see the figs surrounding this female Wreathed Hornbill?

A male Wreathed Hornbill tossing a fig

Can you spot another hornbill in the background?

A female Great Hornbill (left) and a male Great Hornbill (right) staring at each other.

The female descended to the male and they did this...hmmm

This pair looked contented now

I never get bored in looking at them.

This particular strangling fig tree is still available for these amazing Hornbills to feed on for the next few days. Hurry while stock lasts!

Solo Kayaking: A Quest For The Blue Rock-Thrush

The skipper on my mangroves boat cruise spotted something and pointed it out to us. I looked over my shoulder and caught a quick glimpse of this blue bird before it dipped down and disappeared behind the rock. The skipper said, "I have not seen that bird before." I may have and suspected that we have seen a male Blue Rock-Thrush Monticola solitarius in breeding. Blue Rock-Thrush is considered as uncommon for Langkawi though I have seen them on the wall of a limestone area in Ipoh, Perak where a cave temple is located.  

I wanted to see this bird again. I was thinking about getting to this spot without having to rent a boat. Aha!! The cheapest method would be on a paddle, with some physical workout, getting myself wet and sweaty.

As there was no tour for me on the following day, I checked the tide level on the night before and thought that it would be an ideal time to head out. And so I was at the pier the next morning equipped with my life jacket, a paddle, cameras and the rest of the gear.

I knew I started out late on that morning and told myself that I will not get any birds at all! Oh well, I will still be happy being out there alone with nature.

Paddling out to the coastline on a breezy sunny morning with some occasional gusts and very light waves. 

Kayaking in between these rocky islands

I got to the exact spot where the skipper pointed that thrush to us. No sign. I waited and took more pictures of the surrounding while waiting for this bird to show up. 

I noticed small crustaceans scuttling away when I got close to the rocks. Certainly one cannot miss these colourful crabs! It wasn't easy to photograph one when they were so skittish and I was trying to keep the kayak still at the same time! 

This crab below is very likely a Sally-foot-crab Grapsus albolineatus based on the patterns and markings on the carapace.

Sally-foot-crab Grapsus albolineatus was probably playing dead and gave me a chance to photograph it. 

Thank you to these websites which led me in getting the identification:

1. http://www.amoenitas.co.uk/marine/marine.htm

2. www.wildsingapore.com

Admiring the karst landscape on the kayak

No sign of this blue birdie still after more than one hour of waiting and kayaking around that island for couple of times. I decided to move on and paddle to my favourite spot, a hidden cove to chill.

The tide level was not very high on that afternoon when I got there. I looked around for the perfect path to kayak in. Luckily the water level was high enough for the kayak to get around the rocks without hitting the rocks below. 

Enough water to get in without hitting the rocks below. Yay!

Ahh... stretching my legs and cooling off with a dip in the swallow water

Alone with nature, my nasi lemak daun pisang for lunch and the kayak...Bliss! 

I left the beach with my footprints everywhere and took nothing but photographs with more rubbish that were washed up on the beach.

On my way back to the pier, I decided to stop at the spot where these bats are roosting. I didn't have clear photos of them the last time and so this was my opportunity. It is a challenge to photograph them without using any camera flash and some of these bats were about 5 to 6 meters above me. Added on to the challenge were the sea current and waves from the speeding tourist boats. It was impossible to keep the kayak still and I had to paddle back and forth many times to get a few shots.

A decent photo of this colony of Black-Bearded Tomb Bats Taphozous melanopogon. My gratitude to Dr Juliana Senawi of UKM for helping me to identify this species.

I decided to leave the bats in peace after kayaking back and forth for half an hour.

About five hundred meters from where the bats were, I kayaked pass a small rocky island and heard the call of a sunbird. I stopped to determine the species. 

A bird appeared and I thought that this bird doesn't fit the figure of a sunbird at all. But the call was a sunbird! And so I took a shot of it. And then more shots of it.

This image was not cropped yet. 

After cropping the image...

I have checked the details from the bird guidebook and indeed this is female non-breeding of a Blue Rock-Thrush Monticola solitarius. A record shot for me.

It was tricky to have a good photo of it when my kayak was swept away by the current. I paddled back to that spot and she was gone. Then came a male Olive-Backed Sunbird Cinnyris jugularis tweeting away.

And so, I didn't go home empty-handed. Happy to be out there with nature and very thankful to this female appeared unexpectedly even though I didn't get the male version.

References:

1. http://www.amoenitas.co.uk/marine/marine.htm

2. www.wildsingapore.com
3. A Field guide to the Birds of South-East Asia by Craig Robson

Thank you Rain and Our Feathered Friends!

I love the rain. Two to three hours of rain will make the wildlife scene more active. Even better if the heavy rainfall is in the night and the sun returns to shine in the morning.

I had a bird watching tour yesterday with a couple from Singapore. The weather was extremely hot and humid with clear blue sky. Great weather for many but not the bird life on the mountain. It was quiet and not even a call of the Puff-throated babbler Pellorneum ruficeps from the forest. However, we were lucky to photograph a Mountain Hawk Eagle Nisaetus nipalensis on flight.

An unexpected heavy rainfall at 2:45am that night brought the temperature down a little. It was nice and cooling. 

Thankfully, the weather cleared up the next morning and so I was able to meet a family from Tunisia for their birdwatching tour with me. 

On their wishlist was the Brown-winged kingfisher Pelargopsis amouroptera, so I took them to the nearest mangroves from their resort. 

The Brown-winged kingfisher was already waiting on the branch as soon as our vehicle arrived at the car park area. They had at least a good twenty minutes to photograph this kingfisher and there were two of them! As the tide level was very favourable, this family was very fortunate to see this kingfisher without having to wait. 

I joined them to photograph this special kingfisher of Langkawi. Our highlight was observing and photographing this individual with a crab caught in its beak. 

Brown-winged kingfisher with its crunchy breakfast

It smashed the crab on the tree branch and quickly devoured it. Due to its hard smashing, the crab split into another smaller portion and it dropped on the mud. 

In the next minute, it descended onto the mudflat as if it has learned not to waste any food. 

Kingfisher on the mudflat. Can you see the silvery shining object? Part of its breakfast

It didn't pick up that portion of crab immediately. It turned to the right as if looking out for something.

And then it turned again to look behind. Very funny...

I think it finally felt secured to move forward to pick up its food

Got it!

Burp!

This would be my first time photographing a Brown-winged kingfisher on a mudflat and it is not common for me to see this. Within the area, the Ashy Drongos were there and one Oriental Pied hornbill flew past. A Common Sandpiper and a Little Heron were spotted feeding on the another section of the mudflat.

And we had the joy of watching this Little Heron Butorides striata with its big fish!

Little Heron with a fish possibly a spotted garoupa

Nothing is too big for this Little Heron to handle

A very good start for the morning indeed. Thank you Brown-winged kingfisher and its associates! We then headed towards the mountain.

Gunung Raya was surprisingly more alive than yesterday! I would say it was the magical rain last night that made the difference. A pair of Wreathed Hornbills Rhyticeros undulatus flew out from the canopy and they were cooperative. They perched! The honking calls of the Great Hornbills Buceros bicornis were echoing through the forest. And alas! The singing call of the Puff-throated babbler Pellorneum ruficeps. The Singaporean couple were in my thoughts when I heard the babbler's call. They were looking for this bird yesterday.

While the Tunisian family were delighted over the Great Hornbills feeding on the strangling fig tree, I was ecstatic to see this migratory Brown Shrike Lanius cristatus lucionensis subspecies at the same area. I quickly ran back to the vehicle to grab my camera and luckily it was still there. This subspecies can be easily mistaken as the Grey-backed Shrike Lanius tephronotus. Even though I was excited seeing this lucionensis subspecies because it is uncommon here, I was also hoping that it was the L.tephronotus. Hopefully next time.

Brown Shrike Lanius cristatus lucionensis 

Brown Shrike Lanius cristatus lucionensis  with its prey that looks like a grasshopper

The family saw a few other species of birds on this mountain along with mammals like the Black Giant squirrel Ratufa bicolor, a troupe of Long-tailed macaques and Dusky leaf monkeys. 

The mountain was getting quiet when noon arrived and it was time for us to descend to the rice fields. The family were so gung-ho to shoot the Red-Wattled Lapwings Vanellus indicus as close as possibly they can get, they walked down to the swampy area. While looking at a White-throated Kingfisher perched far away, they discovered a few unwanted guests crawling up on their shoes. Leeches!! They became restless and the mission of spending longer time on the swampy patch was abandoned. All of them were taking off their shoes checking for leeches and I helped to pick the leeches off them. 

I got my lifer on that rice field area...Yay!! A Cinnamon Bittern Ixobrychus cinnamomeus flew out of the overgrown field and disappeared into the grass after about 10 meters of flight. A migrant with beautiful uniform rich cinnamon-rufous which is a very distinctive feature as compared to the Yellow Bittern Ixobrychus sinensis. However, I was not prepared with my camera and so no photo of my lifer. 

The Yellow Bittern did show up in the end. Same like the Cinnamon, flew up and back into the field very quickly. The Common Kingfisher Alcedo atthis was very cheeky. It flew towards us and perched on a stick where we were less than five meters away. It made us overly excited till we were fiddling with our cameras. It took off in less than two seconds of perch. Oh well... that's wildlife photography in its natural setting...

The Mejri's bird sightings for this day:
1. Brown-winged Kingfisher   2. Brahminy Kite
3. House Swallow                     4. Common Sandpiper
5. Little Heron                           6. Ashy Drongo
7. Crested Goshawk                  8. Common Myna
9. Oriental pied Hornbill        10. Spotted Dove
11. Wreathed Hornbill       12. Greater Racquet-Tailed Drongo
13. Great Hornbill                    14. Thick-Billed Green Pigeon
15. Dollarbird                            16. Brown Shrike lucionensis sp.
17.Scarlet-backed Flowerpecker
18. Chestnut-headed Beeeater
19. Cattle Egret                         20. Little Egret
21. Red Wattled Lapwing       22. Great Egret
23. White-throated Kingfisher     24. Cinnamon Bittern
25. Black-naped Oriole           26. White-bellied Sea-Eagle
27. Blue-tailed Beeeater         28. Scaly-breasted Munia
29. Common Kingfisher         30. Intermediate Egret
31. Yellow Bittern  

I would say that it was a productive morning and we graciously thanked the rain from last night. 

Reference:
A field guide to the Birds of South-East Asia by Craig Robson