Today I went birding with my last guest for year 2016 and so, this makes him my first guest of the year. We were already up in the highland even before sunrise on the first day of 2017! However, we were greeted by the wind and rain upon our arrival. Not giving up so easily, we waited for the visibility to improve to allow us to get our first birds for the new year. Moths were plenty and soon, the feast begins. Our first (few) birds were a pair of Mugimaki Flycatcher, Mountain Leaf Warbler, Oriental Magpie Robin, Long-tailed Sibia, Grey Wagtail, Stripe-throated Bulbul, Mountain Bulbul, Malayan Laughingthrush, Spectacled Laughingthrush, Streaked Wren-babbler, and Rufous-winged Fulvetta.
As we moved down to lower altitude, there was an incredible "bird wave" which consist of Blue Nuthatch, Orange-bellied Leafbird, Blyth's Shrike-babbler, Spectacled Laughingthrush, Sooty Barbet, Black-browed Barbet, Lesser Racket-tailed Drongo, White-throated Fantail, and also Black Laughingthrush (which concluded our Laughingthrushes without much serious effort). Before we depart from the site, I heard a Banded Kingfisher but unfortunately, it did not show itself.
Down in the lowland, we targeted for Rufous-backed Kingfisher and we managed to secure the target which was well hidden. In this forest, we also found Black-and-Yellow Broadbill, Ferruginous Flycatcher, Dark-sided Flycatcher, Green-backed Flycatcher, Checker-throated Woodpecker, Crimson-winged Woodpecker, Buff-rumped Woodpecker and so on....
We tried to look for the Malayan Night Heron which I saw with in my previous trip but no show. Anyway, it was a good start for the year.
