Koel. Asian (Tuwu)

After friday prayer, before coming back into the office, if got some time, I'llstop by an empty lot behind the jati apartment. There are a lot of bird in the overgrown disused lot.

at afternoon time, always can see birds taking their afternoon break perhaps.. always perching..

like this female asian koel.



after a while it fly away then came back panting. maybe the weather was hot..



when it cooled down, can see it scratching and preening.



scrathing its head using its left feet.


preening

Hunting Cuckoo Style

One day I saw the Chestnut-winged Cuckoo flying to the tree, perch on a branch but keeps moving its head from side to side then fly to another bushy branch. This i have observe a few time on this species.

Sewah Berjambul (Malay)
Chestnut-winged Cuckoo
Clamator coromandus

The Chestnut-winged Cuckoo is drying its wing after rain.

then another day, I notice something slithering in the branches, looks like the cuckoo.. then it vanishes.. Movement of leaves tell me that it's still there.. I move my head sideways imitating the cuckoo, then I can notice the shilouette of the cuckoo in the shadows. Now I understand the purpose of the head shaking.. angle of view changes slightly when moving head from left to right revealing things missed from the other angle.

here another pic showing the chestnut coloured wings resemble the fruit.


so the antics of the cuckoo during hunting does have its reward.


With its prey, somekind of bug

Scaly-breasted Munias Nesting

Today is Aidilfitri night and I am at my parents house.

Have I told you there is a flock of Scaly-breasted Munias nesting at the itcy palm trees also known as Pinang Gatal in Malay (Actinophoeus marcarthurii) in my parents lawn. First I discover it at May 2009, I saw some munias busy collecting nesting material. By coincidence, The Malay name for it is Pipit Pinang, Pinang is the similar looking betel nut palm tree

most of my pics are taken without flash, so you can see the actual colour seen with the naked eyes.

The nest are composed of dried lalangs( I suspect) losely woven around the palm fronds. as the nest has been the for some time, my father told me that some old nest have fallen down with the leaves when it dried up. Typically on this site, the nest is about 15feet up.

anyway here a pic of a nest

now, I can hear some nestling chirping when a parent bird comes back. Its the same chirping like the Baya weaver. It is Sept now, and I wonder; are the munias breed all year round?

The Interceptor - Beeeater.Blue-tailed

"Landing strip clear, arrestor wires ready..You are cleared to land!"

Flaps down, wire in sight...


"Contact!"

No arrestor wires, no landing strip, just a single barbed wire. Now, that is I called precission.

what does the Blue-taled Beeater catch in the air?


a bee of course..


Hey, this time its not a bee. its a flying ant.

All caught in the air, impressive!

common birds we see around the house just half an hour after the rain

Why, if it rains on tengahari or evening, after the rain the birds will be out looking for food. Cuba imagine the feeding compressed than a few hours to maybe an hour after the rain. Opportunities to see the birds will be more happy ..

Here is what we usually between burung2 lihat2 around the house that I took in a period of only half an hour after the rain.

A Murai Kampung Males. (18:12:54)

Coming Tiong Buffalo Shepherd is trying to dispel these Murai Kampung (18:14:13)

Then, came the same pair Murai (18:27:03)

Apparently, the child was the magpie is all around the place. (18:35:59)

Dark-necked Tailorbird

Perenjak Neck Black (Dark-necked Tailorbird)

A female, one look, kind Perenjak Banana (Common Tailorbird) sake only.

Perenjak Leher Hitam

Dark-necked Tailorbird

Orthotomus atrogularis

Perenjak Pisang
Common Tailorbird/Long-tailed Tailorbird
Orthotomus sutorius

Perenjak Neck Black males prefer to be identified with a portion of a clearly visible black neck.

some interesting action

The best views to see the black portion on the neck, unfortunately blurry picture, Bird perenjak is very active.

Let's look at the actions of stretch

Stretching the legs and tail .. eeewah!

Stretch the wing also .. hhe..

Black Neck Perenjak ni can be found at the edge of low land forest.

More lifers at Bukit Cerakah

I went again to Buit Cerakah(Taman Botani Negara) for birding, since its the nearest place to my home.

Today I decide to take the trail at the arboretum. The birds are quiet and it starts to rain.. I quickly move to the hut in the middle of the trail.. just as i reached the hut, it starts to rain heavily.. very furnate indeed because i forget to bring my raincoat.

After the rain stop, I went to the trail around a hill, which loopes back to the hut, again... no birds seen.. sigh...
.
so i took a trail leading to the taman buah-buahan (fruit garden) junction heard a bird call..

seems so far away but actually much closer.. but the bird is quite small..


Yellow-rumped Flycatcher
Sambar Belakang Kuning

haha, i id it as a warbler, a red alert bird too..furtunately i post it at photomalaysia and got the corrected id

ok... at least got one bird, reach the juction and took different trail back which i saw this spiderhunter..


Little Spiderhunter
Kelicap Jantung Kecil

This is full frame, but too blur.. pity pity!


At one muddy patch on the trail, I saw what I think is a cat track printed on the mud.


I check this
site and I think it is a cat track. It is quite a big track about 10cm across.

upon reaching the park entrance, near the seismic data collection, saw the Black Magpies(Gagak Kambing)... one decides to put a hat..


how cute...

as I was chasing the magpies, the place seems to fill with bird calls, apparently a bird wave is following the magpies...

among them


Asian-paradise Flycatcher
Murai Ekor Gading


Artic Warbler
Cekup Daun Artik


Large Woodshrike
Rembah Kayu Besar


Black Drongo
Cecawi Hitam

The black drongo was calling loudly, I recorded it using my mobile phone VGA camera. Dont know how it turned out..

maybe a video capable dslr camera would come in handy..