French Birders - May 2018

"I had the opportunity to come to Malaysia for a second time around mid-May 2018 as a side-trip to a professional visit to Singapore for a conference.  My daughter Pauline (22 yo) came along, she was finished with her exams and was glad to seize this opportunity to try her new Nikkor 18-300 mm lens on exotic wildlife.  We choose Cheong Weng Chun as a guide because we knew him from our previous visit to Taman Negara back in 2013.  I provided Weng Chun with the list of regional birds that I had missed on other occasions and he built a trip to maximize our possibilities to fill up the “gaps”.  I must say that he did an outstanding job, succeeding in finding a great number of my missing species, including some difficult ones.  He worked relentlessly from early morning (before dawn!) until late at night, making sure that not a single minute was wasted.  His talents to detect bird calls (even while driving!) and his knowledge of the places where he took us were impressive. He was also very helpful for the identification of mammals (monkeys, squirrels, palm civets, otters…) and reptiles. He provided Pauline with excellent photographic opportunities. As every “twitcher”, I appreciated very much this dedication to make sure that my bird list would be as good as possible in the end.  If you are an avid birdwatcher, I highly recommend relying on Weng Chun as a guide to optimize your chances to find the greatest possible number of species during your trip."

For 1 week, together with father-daughter from France, we covered Fraser's Hill, Lanchang / Krau, Bukit Tinggi and Hulu Langat to look for specific target species. We did not manage to cover all species due to limited time to cover all birding sites in Peninsular Malaysia, however, we did a pretty awesome job covering some of the difficult birds as well seeing some unexpected species too!

From the airport at night, we drove up to the highland for overnight. Early morning, as we were walking towards the stake out, we nailed the first target in Silver-breasted Broadbill. I heard the call nearby and whistled a few times. It responded and showed up well, not eye level but still pretty good view. Next, we waited for the Mountain Peacock Pheasant which took some waiting time but we still managed to see but dipped on Ferruginous Partridge. Met another small photography tour group at site (and which we met again at a lowland forest and in Fraser's Hill). After lunch, we headed to the lowland forest and track down a few more targets. We came back to the same forest the following morning to add a few more into our trip checklist. Simply wonderful session! Babbler, trogon and woodpecker! We continued our birding in Fraser's Hill where we stayed for 3 nights. More woodpecker and trogon. We spent another night in Kuala Lumpur and finally got them their first ever frogmouth! Both were extremely happy and we finished the trip with short stop at Putrajaya. Nothing new but they were still amazed with the number of nesting birds in the heronry.

Admiring the nesting birds in Putrajaya Heronry

One of the many photos from their camera

Violet Cuckoo with iPhone SE + Kowa TSN-501

I stepped on many ant trails and yes, I got bitten by the ants alot on both legs. For the past few days, the bites were very itchy and still are (at the time of writing this post).

Weather in Fraser's Hill wasn't perfect all the time, we experienced rain during our stay. no problem...we still able to get most of the targets.

If it still rains, then no choice, just watch the birds at the feeder

Waiting patiently for an elusive bird under the light shower

It is usual to see bird waves in the hill station while going out birding

Yes, everyone is required to look up the tree canopy for birds sometimes

Just wait and wait calmly......and at the end rewarded with a family of partridge

Its not just about birds. We also stopped the car by the roadside for primates. Here in particular, we saw a family of Siamang. Amazing!

What was behind the leaf? It was perching so low to the ground, we had to kneel down to see it!

We walked through the dense forest to hunt down a Diard's Trogon

Wait and more waiting....that's part of the game isn't it?

A rewarding morning session! Mountain Peacock Pheasant!!!!