24th. Jan 2010
Time 6:30am – 8:30 am
Air temperature 26.8 ° Centigrade. Cloud covered sky.
Steve, Sara, Nazeri and Musa.
Our 12 kilometer AWC track this morning, in yellow from the roundabout to the old jetty.
Best birding in thid area is in the early morning, weather's relatively cool with an almost zero human presence.
Sara had been for us at the ASEAN Bridge for quite some time, the sun has rised over the horizon slowly. By the the time we got to her, the morning light has given the landscape a soft pleasant glow.
As we were driving away from the toll booth we noticed a bird that looks like a crow. It flew from its lamp post perch to a tree newby. It then flew down to the road picking up a small snake that became roadkill the nite before. Though we were hoping for a less common crow in this parts, in the end it was positively id as a Slender-billed Crow, usually spotted in more forested areas such as Lambir.
We went east toward Kampong Muhibbah and sighted a Lesser Coucal. A few tree swifts were present. Across the road, about 2 kilometers away, a huge mixed flock egrets were spotted. It consisted of Little Egret, Intermediate Egret and Great Egret, we estimated at least 300 individual were roosting inside the perimeter of the prawn farm.
Within the same perimeter, we spotted a Peregrine Falcon, and 2 Brahminy Kites. Further up the road we picked out Pink-necked Green Pigeon, in total we estimated more than 50 individuals present in the area.
Not long after, within the same areas we saw a few group of waders in a mixed flock of 20-40 birds flying above heading towards the opposite coast. An estimated 200 birds consisting of sandpipers, plovers and small stints flew out of the prawn farms in small groups.
As we went further up the road we sighted a lone Silver leaf Monkey sitting alone holding to the bare branches of lifeless tree. Not far away sat a lone macaque. There were also Blue-throated Bee-eater, Dusky Munia and Tri-colored Munia. Several Dollarbird were sighted perched alonside the road.
By the Batang Baram, the end of our transect at the old ferry ramp, we sighted 7 Common Sandpiper flying low just slightly above the water surface. We ended our traverse at Kpg Muhibbah. Our last sighting in this area was that of a family of White-breasted Waterhen, 2 adults and 1 still downy juvvy. We completed this session at 8:30 am.
Birdlist for today:
White-breasted Woodswallow 40
Slender-billed Crow 1
Lesser Coucal 1
Swift sp. 10
Little Egrets +300
Striated Grassbird 10
Collared Kingfisher 30
Yellow-vented bulbul 10
Common Iora 5
Pied Triller 60
Little Green Pigeon 10
Pink-necked Green-pigeon 40
Spotted Dove 10
Mixed flock waders (sandpipers, plovers, stints) +200
Wood Sandpiper 20
Tricoloured Munia 50
Purple Heron 4
Brahminy Kite 4
Peregrine Falcon 1
Great Egret 10
Pacific Swallow 30
Barn Swallow 20
Black-winged Kite 2
Yellow Wagtail 2
Zebra Dove 10
Dusky Munia 20
Purple-throated Sunbird 5
Dollarbird 4
Bluethroated Bee-eater 20
Stork-billed Kingfisher 1
Olive-winged Bulbul 2
Oriental Magpie Robin 8
Plaintive Cuckoo 1
Asian Glossy Starling 10
White-browed Crake 4
Greater Coucal 1
Yellow-bellied Prinia 10
Whited-breasted Waterhen 8
Common Sandpiper 10
Mammal:
Silver-leaf monkey 1
Macaque 1
The ubiquitous pigeon in Kuala Baram, early morning and late evening are best for these.
A nest high up on a bare tree.
Musa Musbah, Jan 2010.
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