Taman Negara
Getting to Taman Negara was easy on public transport. We stayed for a week at the budget Tahan Guest House in the village, with the exception of one night in the Kumbang hide, some 13km into the jungle. Staying on the village side of the river means you miss the first half hour or so of daylight before being able to cross the river into the park, but you can squeeze in a coffee and roti telur by the jetty.
55 species were added to the trip in 7 days of birding, including some real crackers, but the birding came in extraordinary runs of very bad and very good luck. I guess I'm never going to understand the jungle.
The first day went pretty well, with a male
Malaysian Blue Flycatcher and a rather approachable (too approachable ?) female
Crestless Fireback appearing, both along what I ended up terming "the golden mile", the 3km stretch of trail along the Tahan between the camp ground and a wide stream by a wooden jetty. We ended up encountering the
fireback a few times and called her The Lady. I hope she's ok, cos she appears to have lost it, poor love.
Now filled with optimism I figured I stood a good chance of seeing some of the 11 lifers for me that were in Frank Rheindt's 2003 trip report, if I went where he did. I called these birds "the German 1st XI". Over the next 3 days we birded around HQ area trails and headed out to the Kumbang hide and back. I don't think I've ever done so consistantly badly for such a long spell, anywhere! I defied probability by not seeing a single one of the XI. Six visits to the loop trail produced no
peacock-pheasant. Everything that sounded interesting couldn't be seen, including a
Malayan Peacock-Pheasant at the Kumbang hide and a presumed
Short-toed Coucal half way back to HQ. Everything that looked interesting could not be got onto, or would only appear in full view briefly when my bins were steamed up! It was a nightmare. I guess we've all been there, but come on, for three whole days! I really felt like I might as well give up birding altogether and take up an entirely different hobby. Like taping things out for example. Just kidding
. When we had returned sweaty,beaten, and covered in leech bites, to within 2km of HQ on the golden mile, our luck finally changed. A flushed bird actually landed nearby and was mostly visible. It was a
Moustached Hawk-Cuckoo. Not one of the German 1st XI, but a new bird for me all the same. The curse was broken.
Next day I started with visit number 7 to the loop trail and saw a
Malayan Peacock-Pheasant. Great start, though I must admit to thinking I better not delve too deeply into the life history of this bird or its forebears. I've a sneaky suspicion that the words "captive origin" and "reintroduction" might raise their heads. I currently feel that this bird and The Lady should perhaps reside in the S.A.D (sensed apparent dodginess) subsection of the S.A.D C.H.A.V. vestibule of my list. I then hit the golden mile, and hadn't gone 10m before a female
Great Argus strutted slowly across the path in front of me. Wow! The next km brought incredible views of a male
Diard's Trogon eating a green locust-like creature twice the size of it's head! Amazing. Before the end of the golden mile I'd also run into a male
Banded Pitta and a couple of immense
Helmeted Hornbills. A brief stop in the Tabing Hide produced brief views of a
Blue-banded Kingfisher zipping by. Hmmm. Perhaps not really good enough views. It would have to sit there on the C.H.A.V. (could handle another view) bench in the S.A.D C.H.A.V. list vestibule. The birds kept throwing themselves at me,
forktails stopped being sp, and started being stationary
Chestnut-naped or
White-crowned. Cool stuff like
Lesser Green, Banded, Black & Red and
Black & Yellow Broadbills,
Black Magpies, and
White-bellied Woodpecker popped up. Then a lifer in the form of a stonking
Rufous-collared Kingfisher at about 6km from HQ. On the way back I popped into the Tabing hide again and there was a bird calling that I thought from the description in Robo might be a
Red-naped Trogon. We duetted for about 20 minutes before it came right up to the hide. It was indeed a dazzling male
Red-naped Trogon. What a day.
Next day was rather quiet, but I did manage a modest new bird in the form of a
Puff-backed Bulbul on the trail to the Blau hide, and, rather disturbingly, a
Blue-eared Kingfisher at the spot where the CHAV BB King had been. Ah.
Next day was another blinder. Just before the Bukit Tersek turnoff on the Golden mile I heard a duet betwen two birds that sounded like the
Red-naped Trogon but with fewer notes on a descending scale. I made it a threesome and was very soon gawping in disbelief at a male
Cinnamon-rumped Trogon, the rarest of the peninsular Malaysian trogons. I really wasn't expecting to see this bird here. As I crossed the bridge at the end of the golden mile I saw the brief arsend of Mr BB KIng zipping round the bend in the stream again. You CHAV! Another couple of km towards the Kumbang hide brought great views of a
Malaysian Rail-Babbler. I crawled in after what sounded like a more drawn out call than
Garnet Pitta to see this critter. It would have been rude to leave Taman Negara without one. A
Maroon-breasted Philentoma (one of Frank's XI) then popped up while I'd stopped to admire a gorgeous white phase
Asian Paradise Flycatcher, and checking all the
Malacopterons finally produced a
Sooty-crowned Babbler, which I was very keen to see because I was beginning to mistrust my own ability to have identified this species correctly on my previous visit here as a greener birder 12 years ago. I stopped by a large stream crossing for a sarnie and heard what sounded like Mr BB KIng getting louder to my left. Blimey. It's coming at me. I pannicked and gazed left along the river until it was so loud that it was in my left ear. Where was it!!! Then it was in my right ear. Then gradually quieter. How did it do that? I swear there are invisible CHAVs about. I gave it half an hour but it didn't return. I continued a bit, came back and gave it another hour. No joy. On the way back I finally connected with a couple of
Striped Wren-Babblers. Gorgeously neat little things that the pics in Robo can't do justice to. On the way back I gave the bridge at km3 of the golden mile a last go. After 10 minutes I could hear the CHAV calling and getting louder. It was flying up the creek ! Surely there was no escape this time. And there it was ! It came belting down the creek, past my face, out over the Tahan, past the bouncers at the inner door of the vestibule, to embed itself bill-first quivering irretrievably in the depths of the kingfisher department of my list, leaving the sketchy pheasants clucking shamefuly in the foyer. YES!
Plenty of other birds of course, including 9
Garnet Pittas seen, a huge array of
babblers, several
Rufous-backed, and some hybrid
Oriental Dwarf Kingfishers ,
Malaysian Eared Nightjar at the Kumbang hide etc etc (see new ones below). What an end to a loopy week in the jungle. 12 lifers if you count the pheasants, but still dipped 5 of the 1st XI, and lots more besides. Next time eh?
So you must go to TN Halftwo, it's mad. We'll have to leave OZ by Dec 8 (assuming they let us in!), but hopefully we can meet somehow.
And Chowchilla if our plans work out that way (we don't even know where we're going from Brisbane yet!)
James - We're bypassing Indo and sailing from Singapore to Oz on May 30th, so you might need a scope on a seawatch. Really hoping to visit some of Indonesia on the way home though. Best of luck on your trip.
722 Large Green Pigeon
723 Crested Fireback
724
MALAYSIAN BLUE FLYCATCHER
725 Ferruginous Babbler
726 Purple-naped Sunbird
727 Finch's Bulbul
728 Straw-headed Bulbul
729
CRESTLESS FIREBACK
730 Black Hornbill
731 Spotted Fantail
732 Rufous-tailed Tailorbird
733 Little Green Pigeon
734 Buf-vented Bulbul
735 Chestnut-rumped Babbler
736 Garnet Pitta
737 Rufous-crowned Babbler
738 Black-thighed Falconet
739 Buff-necked Woodpecker
XXX Southern Pied Hornbil (tax?)
740 White-chested Babbler
741 Banded Woodpecker
742 Whiskered Tree-Swift
743 Malaysian Eared Nightjar
744 Blue-rumped Parrot
745
MALAYAN PEACOCK-PHEASANT
746 Rufous-chested Flycatcher
747 Grey-headed Babbler
748 White-bellied Munia
749 Short-toed Coucal
750 Large Wren-Babbler
751
MOUSTACHED HAWK-CUCKOO
752 Pied Triller
753 Short-tailed Babbler
754 Great Argus
755 Helmeted Hornbill
756
DIARD'S TROGON
757 Yellow-eared Spiderhunter
758 Horsfield's Babbler
759 Chestnut-naped Forktail
760 Black-throated Babbler
761 Lesser Green Broadbill
762 Banded Broadbill
763
RUFOUS-COLLARED KINGFISHER
764 Flufy-backed Tit-Babbler
765 White-bellied Woodpecker
766 Brown Fulvetta
767
RED-NAPED TROGON
768
PUFF-BACKED BULBUL
769 Blue-eared Kingfisher
770
CINNAMON-RUMPED TROGON
771 Malaysian Rail-Babbler
772 Crested Wood-Partridge
773
MAROON-BREASTED PHILENTOMA
774 Sooty-crowned Babbler
775
STRIPED WREN-BABBLER
776
BLUE-BANDED KINGFISHER
