Crimson Sunbird
Nikon V1 + Nikkor CX 70-300mm VR
Me and Thomas has been talking about White-vented Myna for several weeks. So today, we were lucky. We nailed the boogie bird along with other species which include Black-and-Red Broadbill, Crimson Sunbird, Plain-throated Sunbird, Pied Triller, Plaintive Cuckoo and Hooded Pitta (which is very elusive today). So what did we missed out in our target list? Let's see....Purple-throated Sunbird! Only missed out 1 target bird for today.
White-vented Myna a.k.a. Great Myna
Nikon V1 + Nikkor CX 70-300mm VR
Actually, we were just chatting while driving towards the birding spot and jokingly I said there could be White-vented Myna among all those Javan Myna by the roadside and neither of us believe our eyes when 2 different looking Myna landed on the grass. What else? I quickly stopped the car by the roadside and both of us pull out our binocular and camera to record our 1st bird of the day (a lifer for Thomas!).
While in the garden, we walked towards the Broadbill nesting site after a tip-off from other bird photographers several days ago. No effort was necessary as 1 Black-and-Red Broadbill flew past me and perched on a tree branch near where Thomas was standing. We only spent the next few minutes at the open area observing another bird perching at the opposite side of the lake before we resume our walk to look for the remaining targets. Some where near the Bottle Brush tree, we heard a Pied Triller calling. After a few seconds, there were movement up on a Melaleuca tree....a Pied Triller!!!! lifer for Thomas. Then, we walked back towards the broadbill nest. Numerous sunbirds were heard and seen with one unusually dark sunbird high up on a tree caught our attention. After carefully observing the bird, we noticed that it was not dark but reddish! That's our target - Crimson Sunbird! Hooray!!!! Somewhere near the broadbill nest, a Cuckoo was calling. We looked up, and got another lifer for Thomas in the form of Plaintive Cuckoo. And the bird really went cuckoo for several minutes before flying away. We tried hard for our next sunbird target but no avail. We just could not find or catch a glimpse of a Purple-throated Sunbird. Nevertheless it was a good day.
Before we ended our morning session, we drove to another bird stakeout for Hooded Pitta. What was suppose to be easy target turned out to be really difficult one. The Pitta didn't appear at the stakeout nor did it call. We walked around and waited.....there were Spectacled Spiderhunter and Grey-breasted Spiderhunter but still no Pitta. Knowing that the time is getting late, we walked back to the main entrance and suddenly heard the Hooded Pitta calling. It was testing our patience. We walked around and continue searching for the bird among the dried leave and logs. After few minutes, Thomas finally manage to see the bird well while I only managed a glimpse. It is still a good to end the day with a boogie bird.
Plaintive Cuckoo
Nikon V1 + Nikkor CX 70-300mm VR
