The New Jet Fighters of Langkawi - Asian Openbills

Langkawi welcomes a new species member in her list of feathered friends back in 9th November 2019 which is the Asian Openbills Anastomus oscitans. My first sighting of a huge flock flying above us was back in late October 2015 when I was with my birding friends at Khao Dinsor Chumphon, Thailand for raptor watch.

Asian Openbills when they fly in big flock and thermalling. Dont't they look like jet fighters to you?

I was awed but didn't get to see the whole bird until I was in Perlis in April 2019 with Jane Miller. These gigantic stork is considered a migrant for Peninsular Malaysia but they have stayed longer.

Asian Openbill in Perlis

When I first saw the E-Bird submission of this species for Langkawi, I couldn't believe it. Upon my request, Esteban Martinez followed up with a record shot of seven individuals perched on a tree and therefore, it is confirmed. Congratulations to Esteban, a foreign visitor, for sighting this new record for Langkawi. What a lucky find for being at the right place at the right time! That tempted me to look for these birds too! As I had a second session of  birdwatching tour with Ruth and Simon Smith on the next day, 10th November 2019, it didn't take much effort for me to convince them to search for these birds too! And so we followed the location marked by Esteban, which was close to Langkawi International airport. On a very hot afternoon, we found ourselves walking on a path in between the airport and a scrubby field. After 30 minutes we turned around. No Asian Openbill but we managed to see two Black Drongos which are migrants too. And of course, birds fly! I wanted another chance. Again, it didn't take much effort for me to convince Ruth and Simon to give ourselves another try. We drove around and ended up on this village road close to the airport. Simon was driving and I was scanning. And then some huge birds perched on on a tree caught my eyes. SSSssssssssTTTTtttttOOOOOoooPPPPPPPP! We rushed out of the car with our equipment and click, click, click. There were eight of them!

Photo courtesy from Ruth Smith

I can't describe my feelings on how we were constantly out there looking for any new species and it takes one tourist to find a rare or new species. To console me, Simon Smith told me it is Sod's Law. There I learned a new term.

Can you spot the smile on my face? :) Photo credit by Ruth Smith

Posted on my Instagram on 1oth December 2019

In Malay, this bird is known as Upih Paruh Sepit from the awkward looking closed bill with a small slit pincer shape which is adapted to cut open  the operculum of snails. The distribution of Asian Openbills covers Indian subcontinent, Central Thailand, Cambodia and Cochinchina (Vietnam), however, it is vagrant to Malay Peninsula at that time it was recorded.

The first official sighting was an adult in a harvested sugar plantation in Chuping, Perlis on 1st and 2nd March 2008. Thanks to Dave Bakewell and Terence Ang for the first record info. I was informed that they can still be seen in Perlis even when it is off the migratory season. Have they decided to stay on due to the right condition that has been provided for them in our Peninsular Malaysia? Singapore has also recorded thousands of Asian Openbills in December 2019. According to Dr Yong Ding Li, an ornithologist at BirdLife International, the drought and the dry weather in countries like Thailand could have reduced the number of snails. You can read the news link here.

These huge storks are indeed a sight to behold especially when hundreds of them thermal in the sky and looking for suitable perches. They are particularly more active flying around in the hot afternoon and late afternoon due to the rising thermals.

This is how they look like close up in flight.

Can you see the opening when the bill is closed?

When I was with Dr Ken Ng and family on their birdwatching tour, we saw a bigger flock in the second week of January 2020.

Are you able to count them?

As at my blog post now, they are still here in Langkawi. I bet they are very happy to conquer the skies with much lesser air traffic, planes flying in and out of Langkawi due to Covid-19 pandemic.

Birds migratory check with Mandy and we saw Asian Openbills on 18th May 2020 with Gunung MatChincang as a backdrop

On 18th May 2020, we headed out to check on any remaining migratory birds. The Oriental Pratincoles, Blue-Tailed Beeeaters were around and surprisingly, Whiskered Terns in breeding plumage. We counted at least 70 individuals of Asian Openbills and will they continue to stay on this island for good?

Here's a video compiled during our separate days of observations:

(If you are unable to view the video on the phone, you can click on this link)

References:

1. Jeyarajasingam, A. (2012). A Field Guide to The Birds of Peninsular Malaysia and Singapore. New York, NY: Oxford University Press

That Bird I Spotted And Didn't Capture

The car I was driving came to an immediate halt when something caught the side of my eye. After reversing a bit to check, I knew what it was and said calmly to Sue and Robert inside the car, "Banded Kingfisher". Sue got excited very quickly as she turned towards the door.

"Everyone stay inside the car!" I whispered loudly when Sue had her fingers on the door latch waiting to jump out. And then Sue got her...click click click

And where's your camera, Wendy? In the damn boot! What?

AAAAaaaaaRRRRRrrrrrrrrrGGGGGgggHHHhhhHHHH!!!!!!

This Banded Kingfisher female was perched under huge leaves with low light condition. Sue's first few shots were dark and showed no details at all. When I moved the vehicle a meter forward, this bird has a nice green background. Beautifully captured, Sue! A meter forward made a whole lot of difference in the lighting and background. 

Thank you for sharing this awesome capture to our audience here.

I am still drooling until now 😋😋 and still beating myself up for having my camera inside the boot! Oh well...Sod's Law!

A birdwatching tour recently in March with returning guests Sue Dall and Robert. Their second time with me before their farewell to Langkawi. They had a wonderful bird sightings on that day with closeup of Great Hornbill and witnessing close to a hundred of Asian Openbills in the air. Even the birds came to greet farewell. 

A Mysterious Dainty Charadrius Plover of Langkawi

Langkawi generally lacks big mixed flock of migratory waders even though we have some coastal mudflats, reeds and mangroves. It has a very low variety of wader species and not a great place to study varieties of migratory waders. Having said that, the island occasionally does have a couple of individual waders that are either rare or vagrant. My wader highlight on the previous bird migration was the Red-Necked Stint and as far as I know, this stint has not been previously recorded for Langkawi. It was a delight to find a rare among the common ones.

On the third week of February 2019, I noticed a solo dainty wader walking up and down along tide line of a sandy beach at the Four Seasons Langkawi, Tanjung Rhu at midday. That was not my first time noticing this sort of lone plover along this beach. I have seen one a couple of times on different migratory seasons years ago. At that time, it was either I did not have my binoculars or my camera with me and that bird didn't give me a chance for a decent record shot. Until that day. 

These images have been sitting in my SD card of my Panasonic bridge camera for months until I recall this dainty plover now as I am currently updating the bird list of Langkawi.

After some cropping and editing of these two record shots, my first impression was a Kentish Plover Charadrius alexandrinus. A comparison with my field guide has raised some doubts. The noticeable differences were:
1) The bill of this dainty plover is slightly longer and heavier

2) Broader white lore and brow than the Kentish plover (I have yet to see a Kentish plover)

3) Lighter or paler legs colour

And so it is not a Kentish. Or it is a Malaysian Plover Charadrius peronii? 

My image did have some resemblance to a Malaysian Plover but I am still doubtful especially on the colouration on the upperparts. And so I needed some help. I turned to Choy Wai Mun for help. Wai Mun is a passionate Penang birder/bird photographer/guide and also the E-bird reviewer for our Northern states of Peninsular Malaysia. And so, it is a White-faced or Swinhoe's Plover Charadrius alexandrinus dealbatus, a subspecies of Kentish Plover. My lifer! Yeah!

Wai Mun also pointed out that a Malaysian Plover has "scales" on the upperpart or variegated upperpart. That was my initial doubt. Thank you for this, Wai Mun.    

  

White-Faced or Swinhoe's Plover Charadrius alexandrinus dealbatus. Note the legs colour, size of the bill and broad lore as compared to a Kentish plover

Based on the old records, Kentish Plover was recorded at an unknown location with the mudflats and sandy shores on unknown date. (Gregory-Smith 1995; Medway and Wells 1976). While Malaysian Plover nesting was recorded on 19 March 1995 on an unknown location here. An adult male was collected on 23 April 1911 (Robinson and Chasen 1936). At that time when Yeap's journal was published, the status of our Malaysian Plover was reported as Rare and Threaten. For the past decades, there isn't any report on the sighting of Malaysian Plover on Langkawi. Could this species has extinct due to development on our beaches or the increased of predators such as feral animals like dogs, cats or even crows? Malaysian Plovers are considered as rare resident and their eggs are laid on the ground.

Armed with the species identification of this plover, I went on to dig further because this subspecies of Kentish Plover is not found on my field guide that I am currently using. The search based on the species keyword has led me to this blog on Swinhoe's Plovers in Beijing and subsequently to an article which is more than a decade ago by David Bakewell and Peter Kennerly on Surfbird's Malaysia's Mystery Plover

Initially, I was ecstatic about this plover being another new record for Langkawi but when I stumbled on Thaibirding.com which posted an article on Rediscovery of a long-lost Charadrius plover from South-East Asia, obtained from Forktail journal of  Oriental Bird Club (OBC), my excitement was diminished instantly. Surprisingly, there were samples taken as far back as in 1899. Holy! That was after the period of our Legendary Mahsuri and the last Siam invasion. 

Here are two screen shots from the article:

Specimens of Swinhoe's (White-Faced) Plover collected from Langkawi

Specimens collected in months 1899 and 1963 which is the migratory season for Langkawi

My mysterious dainty lone plover on the beach has finally been identified and I have entered into our E-bird for Langkawi's record keeping. We had Kentish Plovers in Langkawi's E-bird submissions from foreign birdwatchers previously. Could those be the dealbatus species? For future E-bird submission, it is best to attach a record shot so we know exactly which type of Kentish Plover. At input, you can click on the "Change Species" tab to obtain the Kentish Plover (White-Faced) Charadrius alexandrinus dealbatus.

Even though this species isn't a new record for Langkawi, it is a still lifer for me. I look forward to seeing this species here again and the next time with the Kentish Plover together one day.

A White-Faced Plover foraging. Notice the broad brow and supercillium giving him a "white face" look. The black band on the forehead denotes a male in breeding

References:
1. Gregory-Smith, R. 1995. Birds of Perlis and Kedah, Including Langkawi. An Annotated Checklist. Sarawak: Universiti Malaysia Sarawak. 
2.Yeap C.A (2005), Report on Birds of Langkawi Archipelago. Malayan Nature Journal 2005, 57(1),107
3.  Robson, C. (2011), A Field Guide to the Birds of South-East Asia,New Holland
4.  Bakewell, D. N. and Kennerley, P.R (2007) Malaysisa's mystery plover, http://www.surfbirds.com/Features/plovers1108/malayplovers.html
5. http://www.thaibirding.com/ornithology/lostplover.htm
6. (2012) https://birdingbeijing.com/2012/08/07/swinhoes-white-faced-plovers/

Hooded Pitta Visited Langkawi

Being an island detached from the Peninsula, Langkawi currently have two species of Pitta belonging to Pittidae and can be seen especially on their breeding season. These two species are the Blue-Winged Pitta Pitta moluccensis and Mangrove Pitta Pitta megarhyncha. The first one can be both a migrant breeder and resident. While the latter is the island's resident bird.  Click here for my story on Blue-Winged Pitta's newly fledged.

There is another species of Pitta that have yet to be properly recorded or photographed which is the Hooded Pitta Pitta sordida. I have yet to come across any documentation of its confirmed sighting on Langkawi. There were a couple of sources that I have received claiming on the sighting and hearing the call of Hooded Pitta but these have not been confirmed or properly recorded. Hooded Pitta is like the Blue-Winged Pitta, which is both resident and migrant breeder.

Earlier this year, an occupant of a residence at Kedawang area, Ms Neoh send me this image taken from a hard copy photograph found in a file. 

Hooded Pitta Pitta sordida - I want this pitta!!

Upon receiving this image, I thought it was a joke and at the same time, I was stupefied especially when this source came from a non-birder. After Ms Neoh explained how this bird was photographed then only I am convinced with the visitation of this pitta. Though Ms Neoh is not a birder, she was interested to know the species of bird and she got a bird book too! A general nature lover, Ms Neoh often videoed and photographed some of the spiders around the property and shared them with me. 

This pitta caught the attention of the owner of this property back in 2011 while they were having a drink at sundown. Madeleine managed to photograph before this pitta took off. Pittas are usually skittish especially if they have not been tamed through feeding. Some areas on the mainland, the Blue-winged Pittas are often baited for the bird photography tours. From the look of this picture, this pitta looks lost and unfazed with the presence of the people nearby. Could it have flown in and hit the glass window without causing much damage to the bird? According to Ms Neoh, it flew away after that. Meaning, it must have survived. 

As at now, this sighting is considered as confirmed and vagrant as per my record. I will be keeping a lookout for this pitta and will be my lifer soon.

I sincerely thank Ms Neoh for being interested and sharing this image with me for Langkawi's record.

Reference:
1. Yeap, CA (2005), Report on Birds of Langkawi Archipelago. Malayan Nature Journal 2005, 57(1), 124
2. Robson, C (2011), A Field Guide to the Birds of South-East Asia. UK: New Holland

Migration Check 2018-2019: Red-Necked Stint

I felt like someone out there has robbed me the hours that I should have for one day. It doesn't feel like twenty four hours in a day anymore. The last birds migration for Langkawi ended towards the end of April 2018, felt like days ago. Time rocketed too quickly and it is scary. I have yet to complete the summary for the last migration and the new season has started. Just barely three months have past, our migrants, a Barn Swallow and a Grey Wagtail were spotted on 15th July 2018 on my birdwatching tour. Then later towards the third week of July was a Common Sandpiper and Wood Sandpiper in the first week of August. Early arrival?

Our rainy season is now and it didn't feel like our ordinary rainy season. The weather for the past three weeks was sunny, hot, humid and occasionally hazy. Thankful in a way, otherwise our nature tours will be cancelled. After three weeks of hot and humid, a storm came with a big gust on Sunday 19th August 2018 afternoon. This had helped to cool the temperature down. And as well as an opportunity to check out any birds on migration may be possible blown off course during the storm out at sea.

I headed out to my favourite swampy field and reeds to look for any migrants which have checked in. This vast area is a reclaimed land near the airport runway and I would say it is the final habitat in Langkawi for waterbirds. A shelter and feeding ground and as well as hunting ground for the poachers. 

It was back to hot and humid yesterday and a short walkabout had two Brown-Winged Kingfishers calling from a distance. 

Can you spot it?

Yeah! It finally revealed!

One was seen after coming out from its hideout and the other was calling somewhere. This would be my first time encountering two Brown-Winged Kingfishers in this area at the same time. Good news?

A Little Heron attempting to camouflage itself by posing like a stick!

As I walked further towards the sea, I startled a huge raptor. I only managed to capture record shots of it flying away. It came back and settled amongst the trees. 

Oriental Honey Buzzard took off

Bye! 

Flew into the trees to take shelter

An early record of this Oriental Honey Buzzard has arrived. According to Lim Aun Tiah, our senior birdwatcher with vast knowledge and experience on Malaysian raptors, it is very early for this Oriental Honey Buzzard to fly in at this time of the year. It is a good record for Langkawi indeed. Did this buzzard got blown off course during the storm?

I arrived at the patch of swampland and expected my Lesser Sand Plovers to be there. They were there! Not many though, about eight of them scattered around the swampy patch. Do bear in mind that Langkawi is extremely poor with waders life as compared to the mainland.

Plovers and sandpipers parading

Lesser Sand-Plover

Lesser Sand-Plover

Other waders were Little Ringed Plovers, Wood Sandpipers and Common Sandpipers scattered around the area too.

Little Ringed-Plover

Wood Sandpiper

Suddenly, something big flew in. Guess who has checked in?

Grey Heron in flight

It was close to 10am and already starting to get very hot. Twenty minutes after the Grey Heron has flew past above me, I spotted our local raptor, White-Bellied Sea-Eagle drying its wings. 

White-Bellied Sea-Eagle sunning itself after yesterday's heavy rain

While on the last scan of the area, I spotted something else that looked like new to this neighbourhood. From where I was standing while looking at it with my binoculars, I couldn't work out what it was. It was walking in and out of the grass where a Wood Sandpiper was. I gave it a couple of record shots. And then after, I lost it!

A heavily  cropped photo showed a stint-like. I am not familiar with stints and the only stint I have seen here would be the Long-Toed Stint. As this stint was near to a Wood Sandpiper and just to be sure that I am not photographing another Wood Sandpiper, I asked for help from other birders on the mainland who have done a lot more wadering than me. Dave Bakewell, our wader sifu, responded and threw me couple of questions leaving me to figure out. What did I come out with? A Red-Necked Stint! Woohoo!! My lifer and possibly a new record for Langkawi! Thank you for the id confirmation, Dave. Check out Dave's blogs here and then you will know why he is a wader sifu to me.   

A Red-Necked Stint, possibly a new record for Langkawi. 

I probably lost that stint after this big raptor came flying in and distracted me. Ahh...it was just another White-Bellied Sea-Eagle - with a fish in its talons!

White-Bellied Sea-Eagle juvenile with a fish in its talons.

It turned around!

This juvenile White-Bellied Sea-Eagle did a circle above me before it decided to fly past over me.

Looked like it was about to dive!

Then it was pursued by the other White-Bellied Sea-Eagle which was sunning itself earlier. I was ecstatic as my first thought was, it is a courtship? Then I realised it was going for the fish instead. The attacker looked like it is turning to the sub-adult plumage.

The juvenile managed to evade the attacker

This juvenile did not give up easily

Still chasing...

What a stunning performance by these Sea-Eagles before I left the swampy area. And like magic, the Red-Necked Stint disappeared. 

Weather on that morning

A fruitful morning indeed and here is my list from that area:
1. Red-Wattled Lapwing  Vanellus indicus
2. Yellow-Vented Bulbul  Pycnonotus goiavier
3. Lesser-Whistling Duck  Dendrocygna javanica
4. Black-Naped Oriole  Oriolus chinensis
5. Paddyfield Pipit  Anthus rufulus
6. Little Heron  Butorides striata
7. Brown-Winged Kingfisher  Pelargopsis amauroptera
8. Collared Kingfisher  Todiramphus chloris
9. White-Throated Kingfisher  Halcyon smyrnensis
10. White-Bellied Sea-Eagle  Haliaeetus leucogaster
11. Oriental Honey Buzzard  Pernis sp.
12. Wood Sandpiper  Tringa glareola
13. Lesser Sand-Plover  Charadrius mongolus
14. Common Sandpiper Actitis hypoleucos
15. Grey Heron Ardea cinerea 
16. White-Headed Munia  Lonchura maja
17. Cattle Egret  Bubulcus ibis
18. Little Egret  Egretta garzetta
19. Barn Swallow  Hirundo rustica
20. Spotted Dove  Spilopelia chinensis
21. Pied Fantail  Rhipidura javanica
22. Brahminy Kite  Haliastur indus
23. Common Myna  Acridotheres tristis
24. Greater Coucal  Centropus sinensis
25. Grey-Headed Swamphen  Porphyrio poliocephalus

26. Purple Heron  Ardea purpurea 

27. Red-Necked Stint  Calidris ruficollis
28. Snipe sp  Gallinago sp.

Looking forward to more interesting migrants this season!

Langkawi Birdwatching: Recent Highlights Part I, HK Birders

Thank you for being so patience with me in waiting for my next blog post. For the past two months, I was switching between busy period and a non-busy period of nature tours. When I had a period of no tours, that was the time for me to gallop towards meeting the deadline of my overly insane amount of administration work. Somehow, I managed to sneak in a week of break during the second week of May. A much needed holiday!

This first part of my blog post is a compilation of my bird photos taken during our Birdwatching and Bird Photography tour in Langkawi. The selection of my photos here are my highlights during the tours. And I am very sure that my highlights are also the same for my guests.

Starting with Grace Wong and Lindsay from Hong Kong who came with me for a two and a half day of Birdwatching tour, a night tour and a Mangrove Boat tour. They are very much keen in taking photos of birds and at the same, they are also contented with just having to see the bird even if no photos were captured. 

Lindsay and Grace

I love the fact that Grace gave me all her terms and conditions on her Mangrove Tour at Kilim that I happily complied. Her terms and conditions were very simple ie no eagles/monkeys feeding, no monkeys swimming, no crowded places and no Bat Cave (but they were happy to see the Flying Foxes at Dangli Island) and of course, I had a list of their target birds. 

A colony of Flying Foxes, genus Pteropus

Grace and Lindsay didn't have a close look of our iconic Brown-Winged Kingfisher Pelargopsis amauroptera on their first day of birdwatching tour. However, luck was on their side on the second morning. They had an intimate moment with this Brown-Winged at another location. It stayed a long time for them with some diving moments and preening too.

Burst shot modes of a Brown-Winged Kingfisher splashing out of the water after a dive!

Other bird highlights for us:

An uncommon migrant, Large Hawk-Cuckoo Hierococcyx sparverioides at the peak of Gunung Raya. This individual was an incidental spot. A flycatcher-like flew past and I followed till it disappeared into the top of a tree. While we were trying to find this bird, Lindsay spotted this cuckoo perched at the lowest branch of that same tree. He was very pleased to spot this uncommon migrant. Well done, Lindsay!  

A female Banded Kingfisher Lacedo pulchella, flew in and took a quiet perch while we were looking at a Crimson Sunbird Aethopyga siparaja:

The undoubtly elegant female Banded Kingfisher posing for us

Not only birds, Grace is also keen in photographing other wildlife too like butterflies and mammals. It is a bonus to spot a Colugo at daylight for them while birding in our lowland rainforest!

A female Flying Lemur or now better know as Colugo

A kaleidoscope of butterflies

Another couple from Hong Kong, Taison and Mandy who also had close moments with the Brown-Winged Kingfisher and a Plaintive Cuckoo Cacomantis merulinus before our tummies cried for lunch. 

Can you spot their Brown-Winged? Close enough for decent shots

A male Plaintive Cuckoo

The depressing part of our tour in the morning was to find my favourite mangrove spot at Temoyong slain for the development of a coastal road. I took Taison and Mandy there in hope of showing them our Langkawi's special bird, which is the Brown-Winged Kingfisher. It was a feeling of dismay and disgust as we entered the narrow path. 

I felt that place was like a burial ground for the dead and deep in my heart, I was mourning. Why can't they build that road sustainably? Must they sacrifice the whole lot of trees? 

Most of the trees belonging to the mangroves along the path were slain! Only a few trees were left standing. It was easy for me to point out the position of the bird on that morning when I spotted one perched. I recall telling them, "That tree, the only tree there" as compared to those good old days when I had to do lengthy description to point out the exact location of the bird.

Mandy and Taison will just have to make do with whatever there is in this graveyard of the forest

Only the Ashy Drongo, Pied Fantails, Black-Naped Oriole, Collared Kingfisher, Yellow-Vented Bulbul, Little Heron, Brown Shrike and Common Mynas perched for awhile on the few trees left standing amongst the graveyard of their comrades.

We saw the forested hill behind the mangrove was being cleared that morning

No sighting of Brown-Winged Kingfisher and its call that morning at Temoyong. We had no choice but to find another location for them to see this Kingfisher.

Once a pristine mangroves destroyed for a shrimp farm and now it is rehabilitating after the shrimp farm has failed. I am glad that some of my previous guests like Jane Miller, Chris and Sheena White, Janis Meeks, Sylvia and James Crain, Carl & Ann-Mari and many more who have seen the Brown-Winged Kingfishers at this site and now it is only memories to be cherished. Will this Kingfisher return to this site?

As Taison and Mandy are both vegans, we ended up with Indian banana leaf rice for lunch. It was still pretty much hot and humid after lunch time and the only suitable place to bird will be under the canopy of our lowland rainforest. We had good view of a Crested Goshawk Accipiter trivirgatus which sneaked high up behind us.

The Great and Wreath Hornbills were seen but the distance of the fig tree was far for close shots. Being birdwatchers, they were pleased with whatever were presented.  

Birders from HK, Taison and Mandy

I must say that my Hong Kong birders had a lot of stamina in birdwatching. "Thor Cheh" for your great support and enthusiasm. Both couples have kindly wrote their reviews and you may view them on my Facebook page

To be continued...