My Saturday at Pulau Burung

Last two weeks, I visit this site to look for Garganey and Little Stint, I'd seen both birds plus Booted Eagle and White Wagtail as the bonus. Checking BIW (http://www.worldbirds.org/v3/malaysia.php?a=lo). It is reported that Lesser Adjutant and Pectoral Sandpiper occur there. Thus I plan to go there to have a good view of Garganey and Little Stint plus considering to get other uncommon/rare birds that might occur there since I haven't seen Lesser Adjutant in my beloved Penang state yet.

I hit out at 0700 to Pulau Burung which situated about 30km from my home. I ride my Lagenda and stop at a 24 hour grocery shop near my area. After I left the shop I seen a Peregrine Falcon perched on a nearby electric pylon, without leaving second thought, I photograph it.

This Peregrine Falcon is the migrant japonicus/calidus race. In my observation for this area, this race is more common than resident ernestii race.

I reach Pulau Burung at 0745 and before I enter the main birding ground I stopped at nearby palm oil plantation as a Black-shouldered Kite perched nicely on a pylon.

An adult Black-shouldered Kite perched on a pole - a good welcome sign

When I enter the main area, I met fellow birder from Selangor, Khor Swee Seng, Carol and one of their friend. They look eager to look for Little Stint, so as I left them to look for the ducks at the pool of Pulau Burung. The first duck highlighted for this trip is Garganey. I spent a good time watching this duck and took notes on it. So my first objective accomplish.

Star bird of the area - Garganey, two of  them, an eclipse male and a female.

Both Garganey stay until a motorbike past nearby their perch point and flew toward a couple of Lesser Whistling Duck and a Common Moorhen in the further middle of the pond as show on photo below:

Picturesque sighting of waterfowls: Lesser Whistling Duck, Garganey and Common Moorhen

The pond in Pulau Burung is famous for the Lesser Whistling Duck. This waterfowl is so common in this area where people can see adult duck swim with duckling and immature duck. 

Lesser Whistling Duck. In Malay known as 'Belibis'

Another waterfowl that common to this area is Little Grebe. Regards their always swimming behavior, Pulau Buung serve as a decent home for them.

Little Grebe - Fascinating bird, swim and dive is among their magnificent behavior

Beside ducks and waterfowl, Pulau Burung is a good habitat for other bird such as waders, herons and egrets, raptors, kingfishers,terns and passerines such as Acrocephalus warbler and wagtails.My second objective today is to spend time watching Little Stint, however my second objective was not accomplish as I only seen the Little Stint for least than 10 second and I don't seen that stint after that. Maybe next time. However I spend a decent time watching Little-ringed Plover and Wood Sandpiper.

Little-ringed Plover - flank view

Little-ringed Plover - view from behind

Wood sandpiper on a piece of wood

Wood Sandpiper

Wood Sandpiper

4 Resident raptor species were seen at Pulau Burung today and all were resident species namely Black-shouldered Kite, Crested Serpent Eagle, Brahminy Kite and White-bellied Sea Eagle. 

Who's on perched

Crested Serpent Eagle - handsomely perched on a cable pylon

Another individual perched on a palm oil tree, calling

Passerines:

Paddyfield Pipit - Open area in Pulau Burung seem a good habitat for Pipit

Yellow wagtail - foraging at the grassy area near the pond

After the sun getting high and my bike fuel only enough for my way to nearby petrol station I decide to go back despite I only get one objective accomplish for my targeted three. So no Lesser adjutant, no Pectoral Sandpiper nor any other rare/uncommon bird but I still satisfied with this trip as I seen more than 40 bird species on this visit.

I saw this sign after I come out from the landfill area - In English it was 'Attention. Scavenger allowed to enter the site from 8.00 am to 5.00pm. Only Registered scavenger allowed to enter. I'm not a registered scavenger after all.

After I left Pulau Burung and had my lunch I head straight to Kampung permatang Nibong Ricefield. I saw a sub-adult Imperial Eagle and manage to photograph it to call it a day

Eastern Imperial Eagle - A rare winter visitor to Malaysia, perched on its favorite pylon for the third consecutive December

Golden head and white patch at the back indicate this is the adult individual - I'm questioning myself: Is this the last year adult or last year sub-adult turning adult this year or new individual? A lot thing to do in studying this raptor in Malaysia.

I wait until it took off for the afternoon feeding session to obtained this shot - To me Imperial Eagle is the most elegant raptor occur in Malaysia considering its' size, gothic and fierce look. A sentence in my head to for this bird and it come in Kelantanese malay sound 'Hok ni burung hele' hok jahak skali, garhe molek'

So for today's birding I must call it a day. Until the next post. Cheers

Permatang Nibong and Kubang Semang

In last three days, I had been in my area looking for birds. Since the weather in this area is unpredictable lately, It best to grab each non-raining time of the day to look out for bird.

Some birds I manage to obtain their images:

Black-winged Stilt - Common migrant in this area. It prefer ricefield with opening and contain water as show in this photo.

Two Black-winged Stilt and two Rock Pigeon - as show in this photo, pigeons prefer drier area on ricefield.

Black-winged Stilt flew in flock - that day, a total of 83 individuals present in this area.

Black-winged Stilt is another species I like beside raptors. To me Black-winged Stilt is a pretty bird with pink long legs, white and black plumage and 'innocent' face.

Wood Sandpiper - Common wader species that occur in this area. However, the highest count for now is only 17 birds where in past two migrating season it usually exceeding 100 individuals in this area. Maybe something to do with paddy planting season or flood in Thailand.

Some shot of Resident Birds:

Scaly-breasted Munia - happily on the bund road, they are so common - no matter what paddy season is.

Until this couple ride their EX5 through - Munias had to flew away

And those munia found their space in nearby paddy plot

A White-head Munia is the only different munia present in that flocks

My favorite kingfisher, Stork-billed Kingfisher was around, perched on a tree in area that my fellow Penang Birder refer as Openbill ponds.

Now it aware of my presence - Although Stork-billed Kingfisher is a resident bird, it can be consider uncommon in this area as it preferred habitat is the vegetation along the nearby river

Black-naped Oriole - When I saw this bird in my locality, it make me remember Pulau Tengah, Johor. I admit that miss the island and person work with me on the island. 

After birding today, I went to my favorite burger stall situated in Penanti - a small town nearby. Here is my favorite burger stall:

 Burger Boy: This is the best burger You can get in Mainland Penang or maybe in whole Penang. The menu itself need 3 banner to fit in, burger ranging from burger, hot dog and oblong (and some weird type). They serve beef, chicken, mutton, venison, ostrich and fish burger. My favorite are mutton oblong, one feet hotdog (footlong) and hot dog with cheese. This is an absolutely must try if someone visit my area. Their business operation is from 1800 to 0400 in the morning.

That's all for this post. Jumpa Lagi