A Malaysian Birder: July 2014

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Another Blue-eared Kingfisher Shot

Posted by wengchun Thursday, July 10, 2014

Finally, managed to get a decent shot of the Blue-eared Kingfisher. Within this morning birding, there list of birds is not long since I spent most of the time observing this kingfisher. Several species spotted include Yellow-bellied Prinia, Common Myna, Javan Myna, Peaceful (Zebra) Dove, Spotted Dove, Yellow-vented Bulbul, Black-naped Oriole, and House Crow.

Silver-eared Mesia

Posted by wengchun Wednesday, July 2, 2014

Lovely and colorful. This is the unofficial mascot for Little England (Fraser's Hill, Malaysia).

Silver-eared Mesia

Nikon D7000 + Sigma 500mm f4.5

Silver-eared Mesia

Nikon D7000 + Sigma 500mm f4.5

Shrike-babbler from Fraser's Hill

Posted by wengchun

At my favorite spot, I waited for the White-browed Shrike-babbler. A pair came after a short wait but they were rather shy and moving about up in the canopy. No choice, had to wait longer and for a short moment, they came lower just for some record shots.

White-browed Shrike-babbler (Male)

Nikon D7000 + Sigma 500mm f4.5

White-browed Shrike-babbler (female)

Nikon D7000 + Sigma 500mm f4.5

Ashy Tailorbird

Posted by wengchun

Unexpectedly, the Ashy Tailorbird appeared infront of me. Although it was some distance away from where I was sitting, I could not resist shooting this lovely and cooperative bird.

Ashy Tailorbird

Nikon D7000 + Sigma 500mm f4.5

Ashy Tailorbird

Nikon D7000 + Sigma 500mm f4.5

About Me

Hi! I love watching birds, taking photographs (and video), and guiding people through nature. Welcome to my blog, A Malaysian Birder. I'll be sharing all the great birds I see and the photos I take right here on this blog. I got into bird watching when I was in university studying parks and recreation management. I used to work in parks and gardens, teaching people about the environment and organizing birding walks. Whenever I go out to look for birds, I always bring my binoculars and spotting scope to help me see them up close. Sometimes, I even bring a microphone to record their calls. It's always an adventure out in the field!

In the past, I will have my Kowa BDXD 8x32 binocular, Zoom H2N recorder, Kowa TSN-501 and my favorite Nikon1 V1 with a 70-300mm lens. This is the lightest setup I have tried and owned. From then onwards, I have used Omicron 8x26 binocular (and i bought 4 units), Leica Ultravid 8x32 binocular, Kowa Spotting Scope TSN773 with 20-60x eyepiece, Panasonic Lumix G7, Panasonic Lumix G9 with a 100-300mm lens and currently experimenting with Sony ILCE-A6700 and Sony SEL 200-600mm F5.6-6.3 G OSS lens.

Bird Watching Tours

There are quite a number of birding groups from Australia, United States and United Kingdom that come over to Malaysia annually visiting the traditional key sites that include Kuala Selangor, Fraser's Hill and Taman Negara. There is not doubt that the 3 sites are the preferred birding sites in Peninsular Malaysia. So if you are coming over for birding and intend to hire a guide, you can send me an email at nature2pixel@gmail.com and go over to posting section to view photos and summary of trip reports with testimonials from past clients.

Besides following the traditional route, I also customized trip according to clients needs, preference and interests. So there are some local patches that I can introduce to all bird watchers, digiscopers and photographers.

Here are a few of my favorite birding spots around Kuala Lumpur.

• Kuala Selangor - the habitats include mangrove forest. Good for woodpecker and kingfisher. Some amount of walking is required on flat terrain.

• Fraser's Hill - one of the traditional key sites for birding in Peninsular Malaysia and still the best place to visit. Elevation between 900 - 1200m above sea level. The species found here are different from the city of Kuala Lumpur. Targets may include Trogon, Woodpecker, Partridge, Laughingthrush, Leafbird, Spiderhunter and Sunbird.

• Hulu Langat - one of the most visited birding spot due to its proximity from the city centre. Walking is required but on easy terrain in this lowland forest. Sometimes need to wait at fruiting trees. Generally a good spot for Broadbill, Kingfisher, and Babbler.

• Bukit Tinggi - An alternative spot if you do not want to spend too long hours travelling to Fraser's Hill. It's about 900m to 1,000m above sea level and you get a combination of lowland and highland species at this elevation. Walking is required but just a short distance. Traditional known for Broadbill, Hornbill, Partridge and Pheasant.

• Gombak-Ampang - Generally recommended for photographers targeting Blue-eared Kingfisher and at times during fruiting season, it attracts many species of Bulbul and Barbet. Located in urban area.

• Putrajaya - If you are staying in any hotel in Putrajaya, it's a good place to look for herons, egrets, bittern and storks.