Grey Wagtail

19th February 2012, Taman Rimba Ampang, Selangor

Local Name: Pipit Batu Scientific Name: Motacilla cinerea My first sighting of the male Grey Wagtail in breeding plumage..

Greater Racquet-Tailed Drongo

19th February 2012, Taman Rimba Ampang, Selangor

Local Name: Cecawi Hamba Kera Scientific Name: Dicrurus paradiseus       Video from Kemensah

Two Birds & An Egg: Whiskered Treeswifts

19th February 2012, Taman Rimba Ampang, Selangor

Local Name: Layang-layang jambul kecil Scientific Name: Hemiprocne comata A pair of Whiskered Treeswifts brooding an egg. They take turns to sit on the egg, changing shift very half an hour (approx) The male   The female A single egg glued to the tiniest of nests using their saliva!

Great Angle Head Lizards & White Bellied Rat Snake

6th February 2012,Taman Rimba Ampang, Selangor

Spent some time shooting reptiles that inhabit the park. The Great Angle head Lizard and the White bellied Rat Snake in particular caught my attention. The male Lizard  has longer tail and are much larger than the female. They just love the cool  clear water   Feeding on some kind of insect larva The female I was lucky to see this Rat Snake jumped from a steep slope onto  a sandy river bank to pounce on  an unfortunate little frog. This snake was about 2 metres in length. They are often mistaken for the venomous cobras because of their ability to rear their head up a few feet above the ground.

Bar-winged Flycatcher-Shrikes

6th February  2012,Taman Rimba Ampang, Selangor

Local Name: Rembah Bukit Scientific Name: Hemipus picatus A pair of Bar-winged Flycatcher-shrikes were building their nest on a branch right above the main road inside Taman Rimba Ampang. This one is the female with white underparts, the male has a  light brown tinge to the breast and belly. It is interesting to see how both birds work together in the nest building process.

Grey Wagtail: clean shots!

15th November 2009, Taman Rimba Ampang, Selangor At last, these are photos of the Grey Wagtail (Motacilla cinerea) in a cleaner surrounding. The ones taken in Kemensah had too much rubbish,  which was rather distracting.

 

 

Verditer Flycatchers

15th November 2009, Taman Rimba Ampang, Selangor   A pair of Verditer Flycatchers (Eumyias thalassinus) . The male

The female

Japanese Sparrowhawk

15th November 2009, Taman Rimba Ampang, Selangor Lifer: A lone Japanese Sparrowhawk (Accipiter gularis)  . I was concentrating on the Common Kingfisher at the time and  was lucky to spot her. She could be a juvenile judging by the pronounced eyebrow.

Scarlet-Rumped Trogon

14th November 2009, Taman Rimba Ampang, Selangor Lifer:  A male Scarlet-Rumped Trogon (Harpactes duvaucelii)  was resting on a tree across the stream from where we were. No way to get closer, this long range shot is the only decent photo of this beautiful bird.

Brown Barbet: The Bouncer

14th November 2009, Taman Rimba Ampang, Selangor

A Brown Barbet (Calorhamphus fuliginosus)  making her presence known. Aggressive in looks as well as attitude she  was trying to hog all the fruits to herself by chasing away  the other birds.

Gold –Whiskered Barbets: 24 carats!

15th November 2009, Taman Rimba Ampang, Selangor

Gold –Whiskered Barbets (Megalaima chrysopogon) were out in numbers and we saw at least 4 feeding on  one tree.   I was pointing my camera at the birds across the stream  and didn’t realise she was  less than 10 feet  away from me above my head. This is the closest I’ve got to this barbet.

Blue-Tailed Bee-Eaters

14th November 2009, Taman Rimba Ampang, Selangor

Several Blue-tailed Bee-eaters (Merops philippinus)  were making their hunting passes  catching insects in their long curved beaks. The branch  was overhanging a stream which provided an ideal open space for these birds to make their fast diving attacks to catch their prey.           She’s eyeing something.                 An unfortunate little wasp is now food.                           Showing off her colours in the morning sun                       Seen here are the female birds. No males  present                         Just waiting for their opportunity to dive at any flying insects

Asian Fairy Bluebird

14th November 2009, Taman Rimba Ampang, Selangor The male   The female

We counted at least 5 Asian Fairy Bluebirds on one tree. Their striking blue made them stand out from the greens of the forest .

Grey –Breasted Spiderhunter

14th November 2009, Taman Rimba Ampang, Selangor

Lifer: A Grey-Breasted Spiderhunter (Arachnothera affinis) made frequent visits to this flowering tree for her  nectar . It was quite dark and it started to rain so avoiding motion blur with quite low shutter speeds was a challenge in itself.   Insects  were competing for the nectar

My not-so-Common Kingfisher

15th November 2009, Taman Rimba Ampang, Selangor

I was informed by a fellow birder about three weeks ago on the presence of the Common Kingfisher (Alcedo atthis) local name : Pekaka Citcit, at this location.  And yes!, she’s still there. Common Kingfishers are not common here in Malaysia since they are   migratory. The sheer beauty and colours are just astounding. I was hoping that she would be doing some hunting but after spending almost 20 minutes in the area she flew to another patch which was out of bound to the general public  to do her hunting. One thing I’ve learned is not to expect too much and always appreciate  what’s given to you. A Lifer.

She kept coming back to the barbed wire fence strung across the stream. She  only started hunting inside the compound of Syarikat Bekalan Air Selangor.