Guided 2 birders from India. We went to the hill station. Weather was not the best but we still managed to get good looks and photos of the target species up there.

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Another 2 birders from Singapore. However we only spent half a day in Hulu Langat. 

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Today, I took Henk up to the highland. We walked the road for quite a bit and managed to get some new species including Bar-throated Minla, Eyebrowed Thrush, Silver-breasted Broadbill and Mountain Leaf Warbler. 

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My first visit to famous spot for Sunda Scops Owl in Singapore. Thanks a bunch to John! We tried looking for the owl upon arrival, no luck. Then, we walked the whole park and saw several other birds including Crested Goshawk and Oriental Pied Hornbill. We bumped into Alvin, the most regular birder in the park and he tipped us on the current spot for the owl. We went back to the area and finally John found the bird! Alrighty!!!

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It feels good to be back in Singapore and join the bird race after a lapse of 14 years (I think). Time flies. 

This time I teamed up with Dr Yong, Jamie and Darrel. We followed Dr Yong's suggestion and covered 3 birding sites. In the end, we saw 60 species, although not enough to win the race, it was good fun. 

....till next time, Singapore....

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I went down to Singapore a day before the bird race. Coincidentally, there were sightings of 2 species - the first is a Fairy Pitta and then a Daurian Redstart. With the help of my team members for the race, we headed to the trail for Fairy Pitta before dawn. Dipped on this one. Next, we tried the Redstart and we nailed down this one.

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This trip we were supposed to cover Fraser's Hill and the lowland forest of Hulu Langat but due to unavoidable reasons, we only birded in the hill station. The most memorable session is when we were testing our luck with a pair of Red-bearded Bee-eater. 

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From Kuala Lumpur, we started our birding in the morning. We stayed a night before ended our short trip in Johor. It was another memorable photography trip.

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Going up north from KL always have me the opportunities to observe a few species that I don't usually see in my common birding sites in the central region. This trip we covered the ex tin mining areas around Ipoh and Taiping, as well as the mangrove of Kuala Sepetang and the surrounding habitat of Maxwell Hill. 

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In the morning, we went to Bukit Tinggi for the usual targets followed by an afternoon session in Hulu Langat.

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Went up to the birding sites in the northern region of Peninsular Malaysia. It's been a while since my last visit to Taiping and Malim Nawar. 

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This is Pamela's first trip to the lowland forest of Krau reserve. In the above photo, she is busy admiring and taking photos of the Rufous-collared Kingfisher.

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Spent 2 days with Raj up here in the hill station. 

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This birding site is one of my favorite spot to look for the Blue-eared Kingfisher. And yes, we were successful with our mission today. 

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Visited the 10th Asian Bird Fair in Kuching, Sarawak recently.

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It's been over 10 years since the last meeting. Nice to see them again. This time we headed to Bukit Tinggi, Taman Negara and Fraser's Hill.

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Schneider's Pitta (male)

It was an offer that I can't simply reject. When Bernard invited me to join him for a birdwatching trip to Sumatra, I felt this must be a good opportunity for me to explore Indonesian wildlife. Previously (and my only) visit to Indonesia, was about 10 years ago. It was my honeymoon in Bali. No birding at all. For this trip, Bernard mentioned that the main target would be Sumatran Ground Cuckoo, so I did some research and get in touch with few birders before I finalise the plan and suggest it to Bernard. We decided to go to Kerinci where there are several target species for him. However, my favorite birds (it has to be Kingfisher) were limited to White-throated, Collared and Banded Kingfisher. I was surprised to see White-throated and Collared Kingfisher at such high altitude. 

A day before our trip to Sumatra, we went birding near Kuala Lumpur towards the airport. The next day, we took an early flight from Kuala Lumpur to West Sumatra which is a short flight but it took almost 8 hours by car from the airport in Sumatra to our birding site, Kerinci. When we finally reach homestay at Pak Subandi, we met Dwi and his assistant Suri. Dropped our suitcase in the room and quickly took advantage of the available daylight to look for some birds in the forest. Bernard had his lifer in Barred Eagle Owl which had eluded him on his previous trips to Malaysia. We also saw a Sumatran Frogmouth perching high up and a pair of roosting Sumatran Trogon.

Sumatran Frogmouth / Short-tailed Frogmouth

Day 2 & 3. We started both day pretty early and walked along the uphill trail at dawn. Not easy ....at least nothing like what I have been doing in Peninsular Malaysia all these years. 😁 We spent time walking up and down the trail as well as waiting at specific birding spots and a bird hide. Some calls are very familiar to me such as Black-browed Barbet, Fire-tufted Barbet, Lesser Shortwing, Blue Nuthatch and a few others. Found a roosting Sumatran Frogmouth on Day 3. We walked until 2,400m asl.

Day 4. We spent the whole day birding along Tapan Road (and found a guy trapping birds). I suspected that he is going after the Leafbird. We saw a Sumatran Leafbird here after he left the scene. Among the other species we saw today include (but not limited to) Blue-masked Leafbird, Cream Striped Bulbul, Orange-spotted Bulbul, Graceful Pitta, Sumatran Drongo, Sumatran Trogon, Giant (waterfall) Swiftlet, Black-and-Crimson Oriole, and others.

Graceful Pitta

Sumatran Trogon

Day 5. We need to wake up very early for a long drive to a birding spot for Sumatran Ground Cuckoo. Started the walk from the trail head at sunrise. It was another difficult uphill trail with rocks and muddy patches. Along the way in and out from the spot, we picked up Long-tailed Broadbill, Dusky Broadbill, Banded Woodpecker, Black Laughingthrush, Sumatran Trogon, glimpse of Sunda Forktail, and many more. Of course, we also nailed the main target which is a Sumatran Ground Cuckoo. We waited like 10-15 minutes for it to make a 20 seconds appearance. It crossed the path and that gave us great open view. Awesome bird! 

Day 6. Bernard discussed with Dwi that we may need to return to Kerinci since we had already got most of the targets in Tapan Road. So we drove back to Kerinci very early morning. When we return to the hide, our first bird was a female Schneider's Pitta! I stayed in the hide while Bernard, Dwi and Suri went up the trail  a little over 2,400m asl. But they didn't even see or hear a Sumatran Cochoa. Before it gets dark, we saw 2 Red-billed Partridge. Excellent view!!! But no night birds.

Day 7. We only had time for a morning birding. 3 of them decided to try for the Rimator instead of the Cochoa after we saw a male Schneider's Pitta. I decided to stay back to wait for Sumatran Peacock-pheasant but it never show up. We packed up and was already walking downhill when we heard it calling. We went off the main trail and connected with the bird. After lunch at the homestay, we took a 8 hours journey back to Padang city. Stayed a night in the city to avoid the heavy traffic and roadworks. 

• Day 8. Returned to KL.

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Went out birding with Bernard early in the morning for a predawn session which lasted until the evening. This is a warm up birding before we start our birding in West Sumatra.

Our top highlight for today is definitely a Large Frogmouth which we found with little effort!

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Andre spent 2 days birding with me to Kuala Selangor and Krau forest. 2 different habitats with various species to offer.

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Nick is no stranger to birds in Malaysia, after all he had stayed here in Kuala Lumpur about 10 years ago. He had seen some of the local species but this time around he carries camera equipment ( portable setup).

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It's been a while since I last go out birding with Malini and it's also been a long time since I last take photographs in Pulau Indah. So when I saw a raptor perching from afar, I couldn't resist that opportunity for taking photo! Here is a shot of a Changeable Hawk-eagle (pale morph) taken with Panasonic Lumix G7 and 100-300mm ii.

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I received Kanata's email some time ago requesting for assistance to look for the elusive Rail-babbler. After much discussion with him, we agreed to head towards Panti which is the most well known place on Earth to see a Rail-babbler. On 23rd evening I met up with Kanata and his friends Kento and Taiki in Taman Negara to brief them about the trip. We start early the next morning because the journey is long and tiring. We made a few birding stops along the journey and picked up a few new species. With whatever available time we had upon reaching Panti, we tried our luck for the main target. On day 2, we heard the bird several times at different spots but still unable to get a view. On the final morning, we had better luck! Good view of Rail-babbler with opportunity for photography! We were not done yet, since they couldn't get decent view and photo of a Pitta in Taman Negara, we went to 'hunt' for a Mangrove Pitta. We were very fortunate to get the bird almost immediately when we arrived at location and before heavens open.

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Yes! he is back again and this time focus more on kingfishers. We saw almost every possible species that we had planned except for Rufous-collared Kingfisher. The small Rufous-backed Kingfisher proved to be difficult these days. Maybe still need to give it more time before it can put up a good show for everyone. Hopefully soon....very soon. In this 3 days period, we covered the coastal area, mangrove, and lowland forest. We skipped the highlands because Vigleik had been to Fraser's Hill with me, on his first ever birding trip in KL.

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Had the opportunity to guide a birder from New Zealand. It's only for a day so we can only cover areas in Krau forest and Genting in a short time.

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It's been a long time since I last visited Sabah (Borneo). I made this a short trip just to cover a few species that I have not seen before. It rained quite a bit, but the strong wind and cold proved to be a great challenge for me. It rained the whole morning on the last day in Kinabalu Park, reducing my chance of seeing more species. Oh well, there will be another time.

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This is my second time taking Terry out for birding. For today's trip, we covered Bukit Tinggi and Hulu Langat forest. The morning birding was excellent both main targets we're seen before 830am and that gave us plenty of time and opportunity to look for other birds in the area. Before we reach Hulu Langat, we made a short stop for Blue-eared Kingfisher and that was done pretty quickly, not much effort required 😆. The forest of Hulu Langat was quiet but still managed to add a few more good birds including Silver-breasted Broadbill.

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"Many thanks Weng Chun for the photos. We take home happy memories of our trip with you. Ken will be putting his pix on his website. It usually takes a few weeks after a long trip like this. Your planning and organisation was great and much appreciated. 
Best wishes from us both." - Ken & Stephanie, South Africa

Wow! We got the main target on the first stop in Panti. Heard the bird calling while driving along the road. For the next few hours, both Ken and Stephanie recorded more lifers including a Mangrove Pitta from a mangrove patch further away from Panti. On our way to Mersing, we got a very good view of a low flying Wrinkled Hornbill compared to the view they got from Borneo. While in Taman Negara, we were made to work extra hard as the birds were not very cooperative and it was pretty quiet for 3 days - some of the highlights include Blyth's Frogmouth, Crested Jay, Blue-banded Kingfisher, and Straw-headed Bulbul. From the hot and humid lowland forest, we moved on to Bukit Tinggi and Fraser's Hill which provided a very comfortable temperature for birding session. In the highlands, we had Mountain Peacock-Pheasant, Ochraceous Bulbul, Malaysian Partridge, Blue Nuthatch, Black Laughingthrush, Malayan Laughingthrush, Chestnut-capped (Spectacled) Laughingthrush, Malayan Whistling Thrush, Pygmy Cupwing, and many more. For the final day, we birded in a forest just outside Kuala Lumpur and on the way to the airport, we stopped for another lifer.

 

Admiring 2 Mangrove Pitta

2 Laughingthrush species at 1 spot! 

Very happy to see Ken got close view of a Blue-banded Kingfisher

At last! a Blue Nuthatch among the bird wave / bird party / mixed flock

The boat ride in Taman Negara

Just need to move around to get better view of certain target species

Taking shots of one of the smallest raptor in the world

That wren-babbler is really giving us a hard time! 

Stephanie looking at the Peacock-Pheasant behind a mesh / netting

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