Starting off from KL, we drove towards the coastal open field with patches of Mangroves in the early morning. Found most of the birds we wanted but missed a few. In the afternoon, we went up to Fraser's Hill which we spent 3 days. The hill station proved to be a challenge with the low birding activities throughout the day and night. We managed to find 2 out of 3 targeted owls, but again, the Collared Owlet is rather quiet just like any of my previous trips. Brown Wood Owl was difficult, we only managed to find it on our last owling session up here. The Mountain Scops Owl was not easy either, many birders would agree that even though you may got near to a Mountain Scops Owl, does not necessary mean you will get even a split second look at it. But luckily we did pretty well. The scops owl stayed long enough for record shots with the camera. Red-headed Trogon requires 2 days of searching and waiting but we finally got 1 female and 2 male. Lots of Common Green Magpie, we saw them every day while we were there. Other highlights from the hill station include Malayan Laughingthrush, Malayan Partridge (7 of them), Malayan Whistling Thrush (heard only), Slaty-backed Forktail and Bushy-crested Hornbill (we saw 4 flying by). After Fraser's Hill, we covered a nearby lowland forest in the late afternoon and morning the following day. The highlights from this forest were (but not limited to) Black-throated Babbler, Black-capped Babbler, Short-tailed Babbler, Ferruginous Babbler, Chestnut-rumped Babbler, Rufous-collared Kingfisher, Rufous-backed Kingfisher, Banded Woodpecker, Crimson-winged Woodpecker, Buff-rumped Woodpecker, Buff-necked Woodpecker, Hairy-backed Bulbul, Grey-cheeked Bulbul, Spectacled Bulbul, Cream-vented Bulbul, Buff-vented Bulbul, Red-eyed Bulbul, Stripe-throated Bulbul, Black-and-Red Broadbill, Black-naped Monarch and not forgetting the most tricky of all, a Chestnut-backed Scimitar-Babbler. Next, we drove up to the hill of Bukit Tinggi for overnight. The next morning, we waited for our targets but only one appeared while the other target is no where to be found. However, we saw a star bird of the trip. We also found Scaly-breasted Bulbul, Blue-eared Barbet, Yellow-vented Pigeon, and Large Woodshrike. For our final destination, we covered the lowland forest near KL where we managed to include Rufous-backed Kingfisher, Pale Blue Flycatcher, White-chested Flycatcher, Banded Kingfisher, Red-bearded Bee-eater and few others.
