Langkawi Birdwatching: Friday Gloom

22nd September 2017 early morning and half of the islanders are still in bed. It was drizzly, windy and cloudy. Nice :) I was up early trying my luck on any rare shore birds coming in. 

Starting from Teluk Ewa, Langkawi, only two Pacific Reef Egrets were seen feeding on the sandy beach and there no other birds around. 

Pacific Reef Egret Egretta sacra dark morph, our resident wader

When I looked across towards the Dangli Island, there were about thirty fishing boats lining up behind Dangli to take shelter from the bad sea condition out there. 

At Dangli Island

The sea did look calm from where I was standing. The backdrop is Tarutao Island, Thailand.

The drizzle turned heavier and I decided to take shelter in my car and had my packed nasi lemak for breakfast. Meanwhile, these two elderly couple caught my eyes. While is windy and cold out there, there were in the water putting out the fishing net. Nice to see their hard work did not go to waste.  

They were beating the water to chase the small fishes into the netting area.

After being a "paparazi" for awhile, I moved on and made a detour to check out the mangrove area. I parked my car and just less than 10 meters away, guess who was waiting quietly. It didn't seem to be bothered as I gently place my umbrella on the ground.

Brown-Winged Kingfisher, our resident kingfisher and star bird of Langkawi

Pelargopsis amauroptera allowed me to get closer

And then the drizzle got heavier

It was beginning to look slightly grumpy now as the rain started to get heavier.

From drizzle to rain and pouring harder.

...it can't take it anymore and it decided to look for shelter

Armed with my little umbrella, I walked around the area and suddenly a tiny fella flew in front on me and disappeared into the trees. I knew what it was! A Common Kingfisher. Alas! A migrant for the gloomy morning! Yay!

I walked around the area for awhile before returning to that spot when this Common Kingfisher came out for a short perch.

A 16-18cm female Common Kingfisher Alcedo atthis, our migrant kingfisher perched on the stilt root of a Rhizophora genus

Moving on from there towards Pantai Kok. No shore birds except for some tourists at half past eleven.

I continued my aimless journey and went into Telaga Harbour Park. A wagtail like zipped past my car! And it is not the regular Grey Wagtail. I chased it around from the scrubby bit to the car park area.

An uncommon Forest Wagtail Dendronanthus indicus trying to run away from me.

Constantly moving in and out of the vegetation...aii!

Our migrant wagtail stopped for awhile to wag its tail. It must stop with its bum towards me! And my camera setting was not right. Overexposed...AAAaaaRRRggggGGHHHHH!

From Pantai Kok area to the nearby paddy fields. Only our migrant Pond herons were around. Apart from that, absolutely boring rice field on that day.

No migrant shore birds! At least I went home with a Common Kingfisher and a Forest Wagtail. Ta!

Langkawi Birdwatching Tour: Burnice and Hans Pitta Quest

Welcoming back Burnice Starkey of svbrahminy blogger to Langkawi after one-month of her adventure holiday in Nepal!  ooo... I am so jealous! I love the mountains and countryside of Nepal.

Burnice was in such joy when she saw her first pitta in Nepal which was the Indian Pitta, on her birthday! Congrats, Burnice! Her adventure story is here on this link.

Questing for more pittas, Burnice and Hans are back in Langkawi and have seek my guiding service for the second round. On that early morning, we headed off to the North West of Langkawi to the mangrove habitat. From here, we are hoping for any presence of the Mangrove Pitta Pitta megarhyncha or the Ruddy Kingfisher Halcyon coromanda. It was a rather quiet morning to start with while we were walking on that road leading to the local jetty. We caught a glimpse of a pair of Orange-Breasted Green Pigeons flew above us. I noticed a pair of sunbirds were zipping back and forth across the road into the mangrove. And I thought to myself, those may be the Copper-Throated Sunbirds.

After ten minutes standing by the jetty, we found ourselves staring at the batch of Baler shells Melo Melo attached to the fisherman's net casually put aside on the gabion. No sound of any pitta nor the kingfisher except for the Common Mynas. Must be the chirping sound of a sunbird that made Burnice turned to the direction of a tree belonging to a Rhizophra genus. Burnice murmured something which I cannot recall. But I do remember spotting something else that she didn't see it perched slightly below the sunbird. Taa-daa...

Brownie... on the tree top!

Even though the Brown-winged Kingfisher is not on Burnice's wishlist for that morning as she has seen that bird before, it was a nice treat for Hans who hasn't seen it. Just when this kingfisher is not a wanted list, it was posing itself for a long time! It flew and perched on the cable next to the road for some time before flying over to another tree which was even closer to us!

Just as we were feasting our eyes on this Brown-Winged Kingfisher, guess who finally revealed itself to us?

A male Copper-Throated Sunbird with his sparkling colours!

Hans and Burnice feasting their eyes on the sunbird!

This Copper-Throated Sunbird distracted us and when we wanted to see that Kingfisher again, it left that perch. As we were walking back towards the car, a Ruddy Kingfisher was heard from afar. The call got louder as we were walking towards the end of the road. Unfortunately, it was reluctant to show itself after waiting for fifteen minutes.

What great appetizers for the morning and we decided to proceed to our main course. Moving on to the remarkable rainforest located in the North West of Langkawi, this is one of the habitats for the Blue-Winged Pitta Pitta moluccensis. We did a few stops along the main road with our ears switched on for any slightest call of this pitta. 

I spotted a pair of pigeons which were relatively larger than the regular Green-Pigeons and Burnice had a glimpse of them flying away. From my binoculars, the details that I have picked up were pale grey throat all the way to its belly and the green wings likely fit to be the Green Imperial Pigeon Ducula aenea. And again, where is your camera, Wendy!?? AAaaaRrrrrrrrrGgggHHHhhhh! Oh well, I have seen it and it will be a tick on my list!

About half an hour strolling on that road, I picked up a faint call from a far distance in the forest. Is here! The call came closer as we walked further down the road and we finally arrived at that point where we were one step away from Burnice's quest. It didn't give us that quest easily as it was constantly flying above us, zipping back and forth. It did show itself very briefly and hid into the scrub before Burnice had a really good look at it. We felt we were teased by this fella. 

What was Burnice doing??? LOL!!

I cannot recall how long we spend on that section of the main road. However, I can clearly remember we were crossing the road countless times. While Hans seemed a bit birded out, Burnice was still very much determined to have a good look at it. 

Burnice is not giving up while Hans seems like taking a break

Until it was calling in the scrubby bit near the road, we decided to squeeze through the scrub to find it. Perching at the mid level of a tree, we found ourselves looking at its bum! 

Different location, different tree, different individual of the same species. A Blue-Winged Pitta for Burnice who wanted to see this #pitta on our recent #birdwatching tour. We did chase for it and thankfully it cooperated. #langkawi #wcpitta

A post shared by Wendy Nature Guide (@langkawi.natureguide) on Jun 12, 2017 at 10:16pm PDT

Burnice happy to see her pitta! #langkawi

A post shared by Wendy Nature Guide (@langkawi.natureguide) on Jun 12, 2017 at 10:20pm PDT

And phew! I was happy that Burnice's quest for a pitta on that morning was quenched. Their main course ended with a male Ruby-Cheeked Sunbird Chalcoparia singalensis as the dessert.

The feathered friends Burnice and Hans have seen were:
1. Orange-Breasted Green Pigeon   
2. Common Myna
3. Greater Racket-Tailed Drongo     
4. Little Heron
5. Collared Kingfisher                  
6. Brown-Winged Kingfisher 
7. Copper-Throated Sunbird
8. House Swallow
9. Ashy Drongo
10. Brahminy Kite
11. Asian Fairy Bluebird
12. Dollarbird
13. Blue-Winged Pitta
14. Dark-Necked Tailorbird
15. Ruby-Cheeked Sunbird
16. Orange-Bellied Flowerpecker

Congrats, Burnice and Hans! and thank you to our feathered friends on that morning.

And thank you for the review, Burnice. Link to the review here.

Langkawi Bird Watching Tour: A Wet Birding Day

Langkawi has gone through the peak of the rainy season this year a few days ago. With only little pockets of sunshine, the rest of the days were heavy rain to light drizzle and the cycle continued on for three days. This is a yearly affair for the island and it is normal. I personally look forward to this moment every year. Simply love it! This much needed rain brings the heat down and bringing Langkawi's waterfalls back to live! I have yet to visit the Temurun waterfall and maybe I should. Temurun waterfall will be at its fullest by now. This place will be crowded from tomorrow onward as it will be the public holidays together with the local school term break for a week.

We did have some rain back in August 2016 after a long dry spell. Mandy and her friends went on my birdwatching tour and they had a wet morning. They decided to carry on after an hour of waiting for the rain to slow down to drizzle. When we got to a location for the kingfisher, the rain and wind returned and we were kind of prepared for the morning shower in the outdoor.

Ted, Mandy and El were very well prepared indeed! Can you see the coconut tree behind them was swayed by the wind? My scope was not under the brolly....aargghh!!

They gracefully accepted the laws of nature and went on with the birding on high spirits. On our way to another location for the kingfisher, we did couple of stops by the wetland and reeds area. Under the shelter of our little umbrellas, they had their morning feast of Grey-Headed Swamphens running around on the bed of wet grass with the Red-Wattled Lapwings, Wood Sandpipers standing on the swamp looking pretty wet and cold and those birds dressed in whites, the Cattle and Great Egrets.

What's next for them? 

Excursion Report: A Packed Week of Birdwatching and Kayaking

Tour bookings have picked up for me after a very slow period of May, June and July. Even though my pocket was not happy, I must say that I am  quite thankful for that very slow period which has allowed me to have more time to explore, solo birdwatching, take moment of shots, work on my blogs and and plenty of time with my furkid for long walks. I finally got my business cards designed and printed! Woohoo! The designing part took me awhile as I had so many of my photos to pick!

Birds of Langkawi kayaking langkawi langkawi birds

In the first ten days of August, there have been kayaking in the mangrove for me, birdwatching tours and of course, fantastic moments with my guests and my camera lens! I have kayaked close to a total distance of 20km in the mangroves for that entire week and the joy of going against the current! And yet, my two-pack is still not close to transforming into a six-pack! HaHaHa...

Many thanks to the kind recommendation of Dr Louisa Ponnapalam and Vivian Kuit of Marecet for referring their contacts to me as my kayaking guests. 

It is an honour having two biologists on a different day doing the mangrove tour with me on a very low impact to its surrounding. We didn't use any boats at all. They preferred my recommendation of an early start to avoid the busy time in the mangroves. The only challenge they must face is the kayaking back to the jetty against the strong current. As the first week was in a spring tide, they have been advised on the strong current and they accepted the challenge. Most of the mangrove boat tours start from 10am onwards. 

Aniko and David were my first guests doing the kayaking and that day was on the new moon! 

Aniko giving hope to our mangrove by giving some hope to this propagule

"Treasures" collected from the mangroves with some help from Aniko/David. This is my way of paying rent for using the mangroves.

While Moon and Hwa came three days later and they were lucky that the current was more kind to us. And so was the kind weather! 

We were racing with the mighty rain cloud and nature wins, of course!

We pushed off with the kayaks as early as the tide can bring us in. The temperature was cool and the mud flat was exposed allowing us to admire the mudflat creatures. We had to kayak for about 1.5 hours before entering the narrow tributaries. By the time we got to the section of the narrow bits, we had enough water to explore further. 

The challenging part was after the fun exploring in the narrow tributaries, that was when Aniko/David and Moon/Hwa have no choice but to paddle back to the jetty against the current. The hot sun was with Aniko/David throughout the journey while Moon/Hwa were fortunate to receive showers of blessing on our way back. This was lucky for Moon/Hwa as the final lap of kayaking was not so tiring due to the cool and wet weather. I love it!

Risking my camera getting wet by snapping this "action" moment in the showers of blessing

The others were more of relaxing nature tours. Birdwatching, a boat cruise and relaxing kayaking. 

Welcoming  Sophie and Carole back to Langkawi! 

Both of them looking clean and fresh before the swamp tour!

Both of them had me for two days. Sophie and Carole are my return guests and a year ago, they did two days of nature tours with me. Both of them are birdwatchers, photographers and nature enthusiasts. For that week, I planned for them a one full day of birdwatching combined with a mangrove boat cruise and another day of kayaking to the salt water lake and mangroves.

Sophie and I with the mangrove background

A candid shot by Sophie. Geezz...why did I look so serious there? Birding is a serious business.

Sophie can't seem to stop smiling...I wonder why?

...and Sophie was still smiling after twenty minutes! OMG! 

Completely awesome and exciting to have these two ladies back on the island to explore more!

This was Carole's secret wishlist ... Buffaloes in the wallow. This is why I so love Langkawi's scene, her lay back "kampung-style"

To sum up my packed week, these are my nature kodak-moments for the first two weeks of August:

Magical mangroves of Langkawi

What a poser! Thank you :)

A happy Brown-Winged Kingfisher with its breakfast

This crab seems to be waving..."buzz off flies!"

A large fiddler crab Uca genus

A fiddler crab closing its hole to the burrow at rising tide. We were fortunate to capture this moment (with Moon/Hwa) as we had more time on our kayaks next to the mudflat. I managed to video the closing of the fiddler's hole and I need more time to do the editing. 

An exhausting week and yet a very satisfying one indeed! Thank you all :)

Additional note of appreciation: Sophie Wellstood has kindly given me a review. Sophie's review can be viewed here

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.