AWC Kuala Baram Lagoon and Nearby Area.

Kuala Baram Lagoon and Nearby Area.
30th Jan 2010
Time 4:30 pm – 6:30 pm
Air temperature 28.6 ° Centigrade. A little windy with cloud covered sky. Tide is coming up.
Participants : Steve, Sara, Liz, Nazeri and Musa (writer).

We gathered at Shell office lobby as promised by 3:30 pm, and piled up into Steve's DMax (now christened the AWC mobile) and quickly made our way to Kuala Baram mudflat.

We reached the mudflat area and saw a Pacific Reef Egret, dark morph on the other side of the lagoon. There were some 200+ waders of mixed flock. They were mostly Kentish Plover (70%), Lesser and Greater Sandplover (20 %), Sanderling (5%) and Red-necked Stint (3 %). There were a pair of Malaysian Plover and a Common Greenshank.


Checking out the Brahminy Kite.

Further along the beach, we saw another Pacific Reef Egret hunting at the edge of the shallow water. Further away, a lone Great Egret moved in measured steps stalking for prey. There were also a group of 3 Malaysian Plover a short disance away from the egret.

We left the beach and drove to the Shi Yang dump to check-out the harriers we saw last Thursday. There were no harriers however we sighted a number of Cattle Egrets and Intermediate Egret in the area. Paddyfield Pipits were also present.

While trying to id a raptor in flight a great distance away, out flew 174 egrets (counted from the photograph) from a marshy spot behind a rubbish heap. They were probably a mixed flock of Intermediate, Little and Cattle Egret. Driving around the area we noticed several plovers and sandpipers in the area. We positively id a Common Sandpiper and a Woodsandpiper but weren't able to id the plovers quick enough as they flew out of the area.


174 egrets up in the air.


A nesting White-bellied Sea Eagle

We left the dump when it was close to sunset and headed south towards a nesting Whitebellied Sea Eagle. After a short drive around the area, the birds turned up. The first eagle perched outside the nest, we assumed this was the male. He waited for the second eagle which flew in a few short minutes later and immediately took it's place in the nest. The first eagle also went into the nest to settle it for the night. We weren't 100 % sure whether it's a male-female pair of eagles or a mother-juvvy pair that went into the nest.

We ended the session 6:45 pm when the sun was completely below the horizon.

Bird list:
Cattle egret 5
Pacific Reef-egret 10
Black-winged Kite 3
Little egrets 6 + 174
Mixed flock of Kentish Plover, Lesser and Greater Sandplover 200+
Malaysian plover 5
Common Greenshank 3
Great Egret 2
Collared Kingfisher 3
Pied Fantail 2
Yellow-vented bulbul 5
Tricoloured Munia 10
Common Sandpiper 7
Pacific Swallow 5
White-breasted Woodswallow 10
Paddyfield Pipit 6
Brahminy Kite 1
Dusky Munia 3
Spotted Dove 1
Striated Grassbird 6
Wood Sandpiper 3
White-bellied Sea-eagle 2

Musa Musbah, Jan 2010