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.
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