Returning Home

We returned to Flagstaff on July 24th having added 259 species to the year's list. In all I saw a total of 166 species in Australia - 150 in Queensland and 50 in Victoria - and 114 species in SE Asia. I added 28 lifers - 18 in Malaysia, 2 in Cambodia and 8 in Australia.

In the one week return to Australia at the end of the trip I added 24 species to the 142 I had during the earlier 3-week stay in Brisbane: 8 on the day trip to O'Reilly's and 16 in Melbourne, mostly from the day trip to Phillip Island.

Buff-banded Rail

Philip Island

On Monday July 22nd we took a tour to Philip Island and our first stop was at the Moonlit Sanctuary Wildlife Conservation Park. This consisted of a bunch of exhibits placed around a billabong, with the 'Wallaby Walk' area consisting of several wallabies along the trail through the trees. Food was available to feed these animals. The billabong area had the usual selection of moorhen, swamphen and ducks but also a few Cape Barren Geese and a Black-tailed Native Hen. We were luck enough to see wild versions of both species later in the day on Philip Island. We had Crested Pigeons and Spotted Doves soon after we got to the sanctuary but I was surprised to find lots of Common Bronzewings on the wallaby walk. This was a bird that I had only glimpsed once before!

Black-tailed Native Hen

Cape Barren Goose

Common Bronzewing

After lunch we headed to Philip Island and saw a Swamp Harrier and a large block of corellas on the way. We stopped briefly at Woolamai surf beach where two Black-browed Albatrosses were flying over the waves some way out to sea, and then stopped at Churchill Island for tea, a sheep shearing show and the chance to crack a whip. We did not, choosing instead to wander around the area where we found Eastern Rosellas and over 30 Cape Barren Geese. We were surprised to see to Black-tailed Native Hens as we left the island.  

Eastern Rosella

The next stop was a koala conservation center where we saw Grey Currawong as well as White-naped and White-plumed Honeyeaters. After that we headed to the Nobbies where we saw sa couple of Little Penguins under the boardwalk and then saw many Swamp Wallabies as we headed to the Penguin Parade. The latter did not disappoint and we saw about a thousand penguins heading home for the night.

Little Penguins

Swamp Wallaby

Melbourne Botanic Gardens

On Sunday July 21st we spent a couple of hours in the Melbourne Botanic Gardens. We had seen a large group of Little Ravens on the journey in, and soon had an Australian Raven in the gardens. A Red Wattlebird soon followed and we got close views over a morning Devonshire tea at the tea house. The stop for tea proved to be very beneficial when I noticed a group of Rufous Night Herons just across the waters of the Ornamental Lake. We also saw several Eurasian Blackbirds in the flower beds and on the lawns. I dipped on White-plumed Honeyeater and Hoary-headed Grebe but did quite well on this short visit.

Australian Raven

Red Wattlebird

Rufous Night Heron

O'Reilly's

For a long time I had wanted to go to O'Reilly's - rain had washed out a previous plan in 2009. On Thursday July 18th, we spent about 5 hours there with Marion. Now I want to go back to O'Reilly's!

We had stopped on the way to visit a lagoon just half a kilometer out of our way. We were greeted by a flock of noisy Little Corellas and soon had a male Rufous Whistler and a few Yellow-rumped Thornbills in the trees nearby. A Shining Bronze-Cuckoo, Pale-headed Rosella, Little Grassbird and Superb Fairy-Wrens were also close at hand. The lagoon itself had Australian Pelican, Purple Swaphen, Dusky Moorhen and Eurasian Coot. A stop for a cuppa in a park nearby brought us a Wedge-tailed Eagle.

Little Corellas

Arriving at O'Reilly's we found flocks of Crimson Rosella and King Parrot at the bird-feeding area, and got to feed these birds by hand. My bare arms ended up badly scratched by these eager birds.

King Parrot

Crimson Rosella

After a walk along a boardwalk and along a set of suspension spans at tree-top level in the rain, a lunch stop found Eastern Spinebill, Lewin's Honeyeater, Satin Bowerbird and Regent Bowerbird. We then walked 2km along a trail and found Eastern Yellow-Robin, Yellow-throated Scrub-wren, Large-billed Scrub-wren, Brown Thornbill, a Wonga Pigeon, Bassian Thrush and a family of Logrunners.

Lewin's Honeyeater

Wonga Pigeon

We also saw two Red-necked Pademelons along the road and another with a joey at the campground at O'Reilly's.

Leaving Malaysia

My final birds in Bangsar were 6 Painted Storks just prior to leaving for Cambodia and then a Zebra Dove soon after we returned. I ended with around 20 species from the streets in this area.

Zebra Dove

I ended the trip - part two of the summer - with a total of 103 species in Malaysia and another 11 in Cambodia. Cotton Pygmy Goose and Greater Flying Fox, from the non-birding trip to Cambodia were my favorites. Then there were the three pittas - especially Banded Pitta - and the two trogons from my bird guide day!

Telapa Buruk

On Monday July 15th, I went with an MNS group to Telapa Buruk in Negeri Sembilan. We birded along the hill road in the morning and spent the afternoon armchair birding at Rafi and Angela's house.

We started along the road at 7:30 for a 4-hour field trip up the hill at Telapa Buruk and had a selection of forest birds when we stopped for nasi lemak just a short way up the hill. We then went to the stake-out place and played a tape to attract the Eye-browed Wren-babbler, a rare and elusive species. Unlike two years ago, the bird did not disappoint and gave us good views. This was a lifer not only for m but for three Malaysians in the group of six. A Grey-and-Buff Woodpecker was the other highlight of the morning's trip.

We got to Rafi and Angela's place for lunch around 12:30 and stayed until after 7:00. We spent much of the time resting and looking for birds from the house. This birding was slow but produced the three best birds of the day - Blue-throated Bee-eater, Red-throated Barbet and Rhinoceros Hornbill. The latter in the form of two birds heading to roost at dusk.

Blue-throated Bee-eater

Cambodia - Phnom Penh

On Tuesday July 9th we took a shuttle down to Phnom Penh. This was a journey of over 5 hours on bumpy roads reminiscent of those in Malaysia 25 years ago. The journey took us through village after village and with rice paddies large and small. But wildlife was hard to find. A couple of egrets, a few crows and a pair of Red Collared-Doves when we stopped for a break in Kampong Thom were the only new things added to the trip list. After lunch we went to the Royal Palace area where Oriental Magpie- robins were singing, but birds were few and far between.

Our hotel was on the banks of the Mekong River but we saw no birds; we walked to a lake marked on the map but which turned out to be dry and then walked around a small park-covered hill and saw nothing. We took a tuk-tuk back to the hotel;getting off I found a Black Rat within six inches of my right foot! After checking out our driver took us to the airport. Cambodia did not appear to be a very birdy place - but we did not go near the famous sites of Ton-le Sap Lake, Tmatboey or Ang Taepeng etc.

Cambodia - Siem Reap

On Sunday July 7th my wife and I headed off on a 4-day tour to Cambodia. The point of the trip was to visit Angkor Wat but we were on a tour - although it turned out that we were met by our own guide and driver and had some freedom. The descent into Siem Reap gave us a view of a huge area of lowland covered in rice paddies and hopes of finding water birds on the trip. That afternoon we were taken to some places of low interest to us and we found the town to be very low on bird life. Asian Palm Swifts at the airport, Streak-eared Bulbuls at a killing fields memorial site and Germain's Swiftlets from our hotel room were the only birds of note; in the morning we added Olive-backed Sunbird feeding on the flowers of a pomegranate tree.

On Monday July 8th we had a full day visiting the temples of Angkor Wat, Ta Prohm and Ankor Thom. Again we found the area to not be very birdy. We had our best luck at lunchtime when our restaurant was beside a small lake on which we first spied an Oriental Darter on the water and then saw several Little Cormorants and half a dozen Cotton Pygmy-Geese. The latter had been a bird I'd looked for in Cairns in 2009 and which had been on my Thailand wish-list in 2011. Coming out-of-the-blue this was my best bid of the Cambodia trip. In the afternoon we had a large group pf Red-breasted Parakeets flying around Angkor Thom and a pair of Greater Raquet-tailed Drongos when we stopped to take some photos.

We had an Asian House Gecko in our room, had seen a skink, a frog and Long-tailed Macaques during the day, but we were treated to a spectacle not on the usual tour itinerary - a large roosting colony of Greater Flying-foxes. We also got to see these dispersing at sunset; clearly there were several hundred of these mammals at the park just a few minutes walk from our hotel.

Fraser's Hill

On Thursday July 4th we headed to Fraser's Hill for an overnight stay. My goal was to see how many species I could find in a 24-hour period. I had seen about 40 species with my Bird Race team mates in 2009 and then about 60 with the contest winning team in 2011. I was interested in seeing how I would do without Malaysian help. Things did not go to plan when others decided not to stop at the Gap and it was decided that we would stay in a bad spot and not where I'd planned. Plans fell further into ruin with rain falling throughout the first day - sometimes light enough to bird in but at other times too hard to be out in.

On arrival at the Gap I had just a few minutes to walk the road before we joined others at the top. I then had tea at Shahzan Inn in a spot that overlooked the feeders, but the rain kept most birds away. I then walked up and down Jalan Lady Guillemard and then back through the town center before the rain got too heavy. The rain persisted through the evening and the hopes of seeing Brown Wood Owl were dashed as we were too far from the normal spot. I ended the day with about 20 species. We did see a couple of Spectacled Leaf Monkeys, some Giant Millepedes, and interesting pill bug, a katydid, a brown dragon and a tree frog but I did not see any birds of note.

On Friday July 5th I awoke early and headed to the well-known early morning spot at Jalai Highlands Resort to find a group if photographers already in place. We were entertained by groups of Brown-capped Laughing Thrush, Silver-eared Mesias, Long-tailed Sibias and the more industrious Black-throated Sunbird and Streaked Spiderhunter but the highlight was a single Fire-tufted Barbet. I then wandered back to the bungalow for a second breakfast. I then headed back through town to do the Telekom Loop and the Hemmant Trail before we left almost exactly 24 hours after we had arrived. In all I had just 28 species - my boys had seen a green pigeon on the way up from the Gap and my wife had a Paddyfield Pipit on the golf course. So if we had stayed as one group we may have made 30 species. I had hopes for me. Most surprising was the fact that I saw no woodpeckers at all. But then again birding in the jungle with vegetation everywhere is not as easy as most places I am used to.

Bukit Tinggi, Krau and Port Klang

On Monday July 1st I hired a bird guide to find some hard to find birds within a short drive of Kuala Lumpur. Lee picked me up at 6:15 and we spent 12 hours traveling and looking for birds. In a sense this was not my kind of birding with much of the time standing around playing tapes and hoping birds will come into view. But I have seen most of the common species and the only way to get the hard ones is to stay in one spot playing calls and being patient.

We spent the first two hours at Bukit Tinggi, mostly at a spot with a Japanese flavour that Lee had taken me to in 2009. We began at a fruiting tree which had Thick-billed Pigeon and three species of barbet, including Blue-eared that I'd asked Lee to find for me. I had counted this bird in 2009 but was not happy with the short, distant view. The view this time was much better. Lee then started playing the Orange-breasted Trogon tape as he did 4 years ago, but this time the bird eventually came close enough for good views. This was another jinx bird off my list as I'd been with Swee Seng and Carol when they saw the bird 2 years ago. We then spent a while trying without luck for Mountain Peacock-Pheasant. A Maroon-breasted Philentoma and a Banded Yellownape (woodpecker) were unplanned lifers before we left the area.

After an hour's drive to Krau we spent two-and-a-half hours in the lowland forest there and Lee was able to call in three more of the day's targets - Diard's Trogon, Garnet Pitta and Banded Pitta. The trogon was very cooperative, the Garnet Pitta required a hike off the road into the jungle - I had my leech socks on! - and it took three attempts to finally see Banded Pitta, actually a  pair of these lovely birds. As at the first stop, I added two further lifers - a Red-billed Malkoha and another woodpecker - this time a Chequer-throated Yellownape. It was only 1:30 and we had found the day's four targets! Over lunch at the Elephant Conservation Center we decided to go after my final target - planned to be saved for another day - and we drove to Port Klang.

We drove through a heavy downpour but reached the site - a well-known stake out - and found two photographers set-up at the spot. Within five minutes a Mangrove Pitta hopped into view, flying back and forth several times during our visit. Having dipped on this bird at Kuala Selangor in 2009 and having decided I was jinxed with pittas, I had broken the hex with Noisy Pitta in Brisbane only a week earlier and had now added three more pitta species in one day! And Lee hade delivered both trogons and all three pittas in a day's birding. RM680 well spent.

As a bonus I had an 8 mammal day, a squirrel species, Tree Shrew, Long-tailed Macaques, Pig-tailed Macaques, Spectacled Leaf Monkey, Silver Leaf Monkey, Siamang and an Asian Small-clawed Otter.

Bangsar

My son and I arrived in Malaysia on Wednesday June 26th at the start of a family-based holiday. The first five days were spent getting some rest and enjoying the local food, and the only birds seen were in the streets near the house. I tallied just 18 species and these included Striated Heron, Spotted Dove and Common Myna, all birds seen in Australia. The best bird was a Javan Pond Heron at the kolam on Lorong Maarof, a new bird for Malaysia for me (I'd seen this bird in Thailand in 2011). An unexpected sight was a White-throated Kingfisher on top of the television antennae across the street.  

Black-naped Oriole