[pandachris]

Don't know how much chance I'll have to get on line but I'll have a quick go and see how it progresses.

Two weeks in the region, mostly self-guided, which could be a challenge. We've had a couple of fairly easy days to start with in KL and Singapore doing some birding and some city stuff.

So far 31 species definitely identified but 16 of those have been lifers. Pick of the birds (for me)

Black-thighed Falconet (Bukit Nanas, KL)
Oriental Pied Hornbill
Straw-headed Bulbul (both at Pulau Ubin, Singapore - thanks Patrick).

Off to Kuala Selangor next so list might grow quite fast. Also Tree Shrew sp, Silvered Langur and Wild Pig.

[Patrick_L]

Hello Chris and Julie!

Well done with the Straw-headed Bulbul - hope you enjoyed Pulau Ubin and the cycle ride! Did you manage to get to Bukit Timah?

Keep the reports coming when you can - our House Martins arrived back Saturday morning.

All the best,

[Allen S. Moore]

I'm impressed that you made it to Pulau Ubin. It looks impressive in the Lonely Planet Guide. Looking forward to reading about more of your travels.

Allen

[Vectis Birder]

How easy is Pulau Ubin to get to?

[viator]

Vectis, Extremely easy. Just go to Changi Village (any taxi driver will know the ferry terminal) and a small boat will take you on the 15min trip when full - which on the weekend is every 5 or 10min.

[pandachris]

Hi Patrick

Bukit Timah was a bit too far, given the hours we spent on Pulau Ubin. Even though it rained pretty much all the time we were there we didn't really want to leave.

As Viator says, VB, pretty easy to get to. Metro to Tampines then a short bus ride if you're budget conscious, or a taxi if you're not too bothered - metro to Pasar Ris then taxi from there might be best of both worlds.

Couple of pleasant days in Kuala Selangor with a Milky Stork on the river, presumably from the local breeding scheme. Enjoying a leisurely breakfast just now with lots of rain, then off to Bukit Fraser. Bird list has fallen by the wayside a bit but we'll try to get back on track tonight.

[Vectis Birder]

Thanks Viator and Pandachris.

[pandachris]

Kuala Selangor to Bukit Fraser today, by a slightly roundabout route. Nearly ran out of petrol (reckon we were down to the last litre) and drove through about 500 metres of floods on one road. Redshank and Whimbrel to complement the Pond Herons, Laughing Thrushes and Spiderhunters. We haven't seen any of the "sought after" species yet (except perhaps the Straw-headed Bulbul) but we're having a pretty good time. Meal for four last night (we met up with some Canadian wildlife fans on the reserve) including soft drinks was 28 Ringgits - last we looked it was about 5.3 Ringgits to the £. Tonight we have a 4-poster bed in The Smokehouse.

This is a really noisy forest. Just back from a walk down The Gap road - so many bugs, frogs, birds and goodness knows what all joining in. Early start tomorrow.

Dusky Langurs in the hotel grounds this p.m. puts us on 4 monkey species for the trip and we saw a couple of mongooses and a large and apparently all black mustelid today. The mammal book is too heavy so we left it at home. It'll have to wait until we get back.

[Patrick_L]

Hello Chris and Julie

Really enjoying the updates - How's it going? Added to the Monkey list yet?

Not much going on here other than the grass is growing fast - there as a White Stork near Oswestry on Wednesday but although we went up there in the evening for a browse, nothing was doing. There's now a Ring-necked Duck (or the same one) near Telford, but permit only, apparently.

Look forward to hearing more.

All the best,

[pandachris]

Hi Patrick (and anyone else interested)

We're now in Cherating having had some frustrating, exhausting and occassionally exhilirating times. It has felt as if we were not going to see any of the more difficult species. Two successive 6 a.m. starts in Bukit Fraser but no Malaysian Whistling Thrushes

Even more frustrating, no Broadbills at BF, despite some hard work looking for them.

I'll post this now because unsure about the wireless link here.

[pandachris]

Taman Negara was superb, but again not without frustrations. We heard about 4 or 5 Great Arguses and stood for ages at the renowned "dancing ground" but not a glimpse did we get.

However we did well with hornbills (Rhinoceros, Helmeted and Great, with Great being probably the least common here and ironically the one we'd already seen) but for me at least, pride of place goes to a raptor - one we'd looked for several times in different countries. We had two long dusk vigils at the floating restaurants with no luck whatsoever, but at about 7:30 this morning (on our way back from our first walk) and in broad daylight a Bat Hawk came zooming over our heads just outside our room.

On the boat trip back this morning (quite dramatic when the engine gave up the ghost and we drifted for about 20 minutes at the whim of currents) we saw a small flock of Needletails - most likely Brown-backed - and a fascinating Tiger Shrike behind our room at Taman Negara with buttery yellow underparts - not described in our field guide. If anybody is planning to be in the area in the near future, this bird can be seen behind room 73 - often perching on the electricity pylon cables.

We've both had glimpses of gibbons but not enough to establish a species, Leopard Cat, a civet species still to be identified and what might well have been a Binturong, but again, further checks needed.

Looking for a nice easy day tomorrow and some more snakes. The walk to the Argus site nearly killed me.

[Vectis Birder]

Interested to read that as Taman Negara is on my list to visit when I get to Malaysia.

[pandachris]

Feel free to get in touch when we get back, VB, although there are many people much more knowledgeable than me. I might be able to give a few general hints and tips.

[pandachris]

A day of shattered expectations and unexpected bonuses - we took a mangrove trip this morning and saw some beautiful Mangrove Snakes (worth a Google) and a tiny fruit bat - we didn't know they came in such small sizes, but few birds. We were briefly excited later on by an unusual looking Myna that looked very much like Golden Crested Myna, but on closer inspection turned out to be a bald Common Myna. An Egyptian Vulture in the afternoon that we were pretty convinced about would be a mega, possibly a 1st for Malaysia so presumably a complete misidentification of White-bellied Fish Eagle. We've both seen plenty of both species, so no excuses, really.

For a bit of a laugh we set the scope up for a sea watch in the late afternoon. So far we've seen only one swallow over the water here. After a few minutesw we were onto a small pod of dolphins, probably Indo-Pacific Humpbacked (need to check) and Julie saw another paler and possibly larger cetacean with them. When these had passed by (they were in view for 15 minutes) we then found a distant large turtle that must have been a Leatherback.

Thinking of returning to Kuala Selangor tomorrow for a second go at some of their rarer species.

[pandachris]

No new birds for the trip yesterday, driving from the east to the west coast. We completely missed the Batu Caves and ended up at our fallback option, FRIM, the forestry research facility. Few birds about but a new mammal, one of the otters (there are three here, I think).

More otters this morning at Kuala Selangor, 1+3 Smooth Otters, and quite a lot of new birds, some of which we've still to ID. Some nice woodpeckers but no Mangrove Pitta yet. Last full day tomorrow and we've just booked in to a hotel near the airport, The Palace of the Golden Horses, which is almost as much worth a Google as the Mangrove Snake. We might end up overdosed on kitsch. Too good to resist.

KS is on many visiting birders' itineraries and we'd recommend it. We've had about 6 visits to the reserve now and we're still finding new birds and animals.

[Vectis Birder]

Originally Posted by pandachris

Feel free to get in touch when we get back, VB, although there are many people much more knowledgeable than me. I might be able to give a few general hints and tips.

Thanks, that'd be great. Can always use some info.

What are the temperatures and humidity like? It's a bit of a killer down here in Singapore at the moment.

[pandachris]

Clothing gets moist fairly quickly and damp after any exertion. We stayed quite late in the KS park yesterday evening and took a shortcut back through the Otter/Pangolin Trail which is through forest. There were mozzies about, so we were moving fast and although it's less than 10 minutes we were dripping when we got back to the car.

Incidentally, we saw what was almost certainly Malaysian Eared Nightjar on the main trail about 100-200 metres before the rope bridge (i.e. away from the entrance) in full daylight at about 18:30 last night.

Directions for KS Park (Taman Alam) - follow the coast road towards KS. If coming from KL direction, as you arrive at KS you will reach some traffic lights on a RH bend. Take the left lane here. The entrance to the approach road is on your left after say 150 metres - not the steep road which goes to the Melwati Hill (good views and lots of monkeys) but the hard left right next to it. In our experience this is not as easy as it sounds and very different to the map that the local hotels give out.

De Palma Inn is down the same road - i.e. continue past the reserve road and negotiate the one-way system (easy and hilarious). Best place to stay if you're not on a very tight budget. The huge fig tree in the corner (overlooking the "main" road) is brilliant and we've had a few species there that we haven't seen elsewhere. If you stay here and like fish/seafood, try the "Steamboat" option advertised in reception - great fun. Our chalet has a working fridge and there are Large-tailed Nightjars in the grounds - chonk ... chonk.

Breakfast over so we're off soon for a final few hours in the reserve - we must have earned that Mangrove Pitta by now.

[pandachris]

Stil no Pitta but five otters and a couple of new birds too. The Palace of Golden Horses is remarkable. We have two (TWO) bathrooms and the suite is bigger than my house! Im at a leather topped desk writing this. Early-ish night needed if we're going to manage a quick breakfast in the Carousel Restaurant though.

Back in the UK within 24 hours.

Cheers

Chris

[James Eaton]

Hi Chris,

Probably worth giving up on the pitta chasing at Kuala Selangor, not sure how many years it has been since they were last seen in the accessible mangroves at the park, or at least since there was more than one bird left. Mangroves are heavily degraded there now.

Gibbons: At Taman Negara it is only White-handed found there. Agile only occurs in north Malaysia and Siamang is a sub-montane species in Malaysia.
Langurs at Fraser's Hill are White-thighed Langur, a split from Banded Langur. Dusky is a lowland species - easy to find at some of the parks around KL and sometimes Taman Negara.

Cheers,

James

[pandachris]

Cheers James

We don't feel so bad about missing the pitta now. Thanks for the info about the primates - we'll have a fair bit of catching up on both birds and mammals to do over the next few weeks. I'll eventually stick a full report on our website but I'll put an update on here about the final tally - definitely far short of what we would have seen on a guided tour but we had a lot of fun. About ready for bed now at the Stansted Radisson after about 17 hours of travelling, but all in all a great experience.

[Chlidonias]

Originally Posted by James Eaton

Langurs at Fraser's Hill are White-thighed Langur, a split from Banded Langur. Dusky is a lowland species - easy to find at some of the parks around KL and sometimes Taman Negara.

when I was at Bukit Fraser in 2006 I was told the langurs there were duskies, at which I commented that they looked different to the duskies I had seen a few days earlier at a forest park near KL (the name of which escapes me at the moment). Fortunately I managed a couple of fairly good photos of the Bukit Fraser ones and after seeing your post I checked in Francis' mammal guide to southeast Asia which I recently got hold of, and turns out they are white-thighed langurs, so a good armchair tick for me :)
The ones I saw at Bukit Fraser did have white around the eyes though (which Francis says the white-thighed sometimes do) and I think that must be why the people up there say they are duskies (?)

[Larry Wheatland]

Hi Pandachris, where abouts was the Bat Hawk at TN (ie your room!)? In case we pop into TN on our way back it might be handy to know a favoured flight path. I kept failing to see one in the evenings when last there.

[pandachris]

Hi Larry

I was hoping to include a post whilst at TN boasting of having seen one of the actual birds mentioned in your epic trip report, but as we dipped on the Great Argus AND the "questionable" Fireback it was not to be. Pretty certain that we heard 'your' Argus, though.

We were in the aforementioned Room 73, which is one of the 2nd level rooms - not quite as expensive as the new chalets but with private facilities and air-con. We paid about £60 per night but could have got cheaper on the internet, I think, with advance planning. Facing out from the chalet the Bat Hawk came in from the right at about rooftop height and disappeared off left towards the reception buildings etc. We were dead lucky, I think. We would probably have stayed in the hide but we wanted some breakfast before getting down for the 9 a.m. boat and we were both looking in the right direction because of something else - butterfly? monitor lizard? For some reason I forget. Even though it was only visible for perhaps 2 seconds it was probably the bird of the trip for us.

We're still sorting through the mammal photos Chlidonias, but I think we're reckoning that we got 3 langurs and 2 macaques. Horsfield's (sp? - Julie's got the field guide until the weekend) Fruit Bat feels like a victory, my Binturong is looking good, we'll need to do some more work on the mongoose photos but the large black 'mustelid' has Julie stumped. Fleeting glimpse and no photos (of course). J reckons it might actually have been one of the civets but the habitat (manmade waterway on the edge of extensive palm plantations) sounds wrong - can't remember which civet she was looking at though.

Kuala Selangor gave us our best views of any otter species ever, with up to five around for about 30 minutes.

Seems a bit chilly back in England today :)

[James Eaton]

Your civet sounds like Asian (Common) Palm Civet - they are much darker than the field guide suggests, especially when seen briefly and are common, even in Oil Palm plantations.

Binturong is unmistakable - always in the trees, strong tail and long, thick whiskers with big orange eyes.

Good luck id'ing the bat....

[pandachris]

Thanks James

Orange eyes and whiskers are out of the equation, I'm afraid. I only saw the body and tail as it disappeared into the undergrowth. My first thought was Binturong, because I recall seeing them in zoos as a nipper.

I'll check Palm Civet - I was aware that they're quite dark. Not sure that it fits. I don't know if you're familar with Tayra - a large mustelid from the Americas. That's probably the closest that my mental image of what we saw comes to something I've actually seen and identified. That or a very dark otter, perhaps. If it had hung around another 5 seconds we'd have had a proper look and probably a photo. As it was, just a fleeting glimpse as it fled into a ditch.

We did, however, get some pretty good pics of the bat. Cute little fellow like a tiny fox-cub with wings. Julie will be over on Thursday night with the field guide so we'll give it a good grilling.