"My wife and I are serious birders from the USA. We frequently find ourselves in Bangkok for work assignments, and one of our favorite birding destinations while in Asia is Peninsular Malaysia. There a tremendous variety of quality birds and habitat within a few hours of a major international airport at Kuala Lumpur. There is also a fantastic guide, Weng Chun, based out of KL, who can maximize your success in the area. We have now taken two birding trips in Malaysia with Weng in the past thirteen months. Both trips have been very good; the first trip being our introduction to birding in this country, and the second being aimed at a broader range of habitats and the goal of picking up some of the tougher species not seen on the first trip. I sent Weng a long list of targets and he came up with a detailed plan that was very successful. Weng has an extensive knowledge of the area and knows specific places that yield specific birds; he also is a great 'ear-birder' and never misses a vocalization - I frequently record songs and calls while birding and then compare with xeno-canto after (and share them there if they are high enough quality) - and verified that Weng was always spot-on with his IDs. And importantly for me, he has the patience to help me find obscure or well-hidden birds that challenge my poor eyesight. We will be in Bangkok for the rest of 2018 and will certainly go out with Weng again. Very highly recommended." - Michael, USA
2nd birding trip with Michael and Claire! It's always nice to have birders coming back and be able to guide them again. We only had a day in Fraser's Hill during our 1st birding, but this time, Michael gave me a list of birds that he wanted to see. I recommended Krau / Bukit Rengit and Fraser's Hill. In the morning, we managed to get a good species off from the target list which include Large-tailed Nightjar, Black Hornbill, Little Green Pigeon, Stork-billed Kingfisher, Blue-crowned Hanging Parrot, Little Bronze Cuckoo, Banded Bay Cuckoo, Sooty-capped Babbler, Black Magpie, Grey-and-Buff Woodpecker, Banded Broadbill, Black-and-Yellow Broadbill, and a few others.
It was almost middle of the day, so we took a short break at the bird hide and joined a part of 7-8 bird photographers there.
Upon arrival at Fraser's Hill, we wasted no time and headed to the spot for Malaysian Partridge. We were not alone. This partridge is an attraction to many bird watchers and photographers. There were 6 photographers with us for almost 1.5 hours but they left after not getting any response from the partridge and it started to drizzle. We were the reluctant birders! We stayed on ..... then I heard Large Cuckooshrike and quickly alerted Michael and Claire. We retraced our steps back to the "blind" and got a better view of Emerald Dove. Suddenly the partridge called! and it popped up and gave us a few minutes look at it.... well worth the wait. After dinner, we nailed 2 Grey Nightjar. No owl....everything so quiet....very windy. We called it a day.
In the morning after breakfast, we drove towards our birding stop.....unfortunately a tree fell and blocked the road. It was a very....very....very windy last night and this morning. So we had no other choice but turn around and use the other way to reach our birding stop.
This is the look from the other side of the road. Anyway, I told Michael and Claire to stay focus on our targets. We just need a White-tailed Robin. But Mugimaki Flycatcher came out first, got chased away by Rufous-browed Flycatcher. Large Niltava was calling but never show up. Then, Claire pointed out a silhouette of a bird at a distance. Can't see much details ... I had to take out the scope and luckily the bird was still there. It was an Orange-headed Thrush (unexpected but it is inside the list of targets). After a few more minutes, The robin showed up! Great view!!!! can't complaint. Drove down to the Gap and back up the hill station in the next few hours. It was pretty quiet. Although we managed to ticked a few targets. Then, I suggested that we depart early to the airport and stop by a botanical park to get Pitta(s). They agreed because they have never see a Pitta before (who would ever say NO to Pitta).
We walked quite a bit to reach the stakeout for the Blue-winged Pitta and yes, like any other birds, we waited for a while...entertained by a family of Dusky Leaf Monkey. Next, our target is Hooded Pitta which requires to walk a little bit more but along the way, we ticked Grey-breasted Spiderhunter and Spectacled Spiderhunter. After getting the Hooded Pitta, we also had Little Spiderhunter and Green-backed Flycatcher. That ended our birding chase for this time. Hope to see Michael and Claire again after they completed their planned trips to several countries in Southeast Asia.
