Murai in B&W

Location: My backyard, Raub, Pahang.

The Juvenile Magpie Robin in training

Anak Murai
The young bird needs time to survive the harsh wildlife world.
This juvenile Oriental Magpie Robin is still being fed by both parents. While waiting for her mother, I noticed these antic actions.

Lifting the dry leaf to sharpen her hunting skills.

Biting a love grass

Location: My backyard, Raub, Pahang.

Forgoten Lifer - Golden Babbler

This poor quality record shot was my lifer of Fraser's Hill that I found 3 weeks ago.
The picture is so grainy and I overlook it. Lucky that I didn't delete it as I usually did with poor quality pic.

Golden Babbler (Stachyris chrysaea)

Local name: Rimba Emas

Location: Telekom Loop, Fraser's Hill, Pahang.

The Grey Bird - Javan Cuckoo-Shrike

Another grey bird and grey sky from Fraser's Hill.
Further info of The Grey bird

Javan Cuckoo-Shrike (Coracina javensis),  Location: Jelai Resort, Fraser's Hill

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Who am I?

Okey, here are some clues - I live in a garden/backyard and I can make a nice nest.
Read more for answers.

Bees - Apis florea

Dari Ibnu Abbas ra, Rasulullah saw bersabda, “Sesungguhnya Nabi saw melarang membunuh empat jenis binatang, yaitu semut, lebah, burung hud-hud dan burung shurad (sejenis burung gereja).” (HR. Abu Daud).

Apis spp. probably Apis florea.

Location: My backyard, Raub, Pahang.

Drongo - Greater, Bronzed or Lesser Racquet-tailed

To ID Drongos species, the easiest is to look at its tail.
Greater Racquet-tailed Drongo have two long distinctive tail rackets. It absent or shorter in Lesser species
To differentiate it from Black Drongo, Bronze or Ashy species you have to look carefully at the feather colour and a beak.

Lesser Racquet-tailed Drongo (Dicrurus remifer) in glossed metallic blue, at Fraser's Hill @ Jelai Resort.

Greater Racquet-tailed Drongo (Dicrurus paradiseus)

Verditer Flycatcher with and without Flash

Flash is an essential accessory in bird photography, especially in a dark canopy tropical forest like Malaysia. A better beamer or flash extender is frequently used to enhance the reach of the flash with a telephoto lens. How much flash output (+ or -) to use is an art you have to learn. Different bird plumage reacts differently. The default setting of my flash is at -1 and I manually adjust it according to the distance of the bird and background lighting.
The most common evidence of the flash of a bird is a red-eye or silver-eye effect. The further the bird from the camera the more noticeable the effect. We can minimize this with a flash bracket that shifts the flash from the centre of the lens.

The Verditer Flycatcher above perched at an electric cable about 20 feet from me. With the flash at minus 1 setting, the neck and breast colour are almost burned out.
Canon 50D fires in fast continuous shooting at 6 fps, the flash can't keep up, so I have flash and unflash pictures. With that, we can compare which one is the true plumage of the bird.
In this case, the un-flash is the true colour of this male Verditer Flycatcher.

Verditer Flycatcher (Eumyias thalassina)

Location: Jelai Resort, Fraser's Hill, Pahang.

Birds and Sky at Fraser's Hill

Fraser's Hill is not famous for its spectacular sky, but with beautiful birds and cold weather.
Here are a few common birds I photographed 2 weeks ago.

Greater Yellownape Woodpecker (Picus flanvinucha)

Grey-chinned Minivet (Pericrocotus solaris)

Silver-eared Mesia

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This is Emblem or Mascot of Fraser's Hill, Silver-eared Mesia (Leiothrix argentauris).

White-thighed Surili

Fraser's Hill permanent resident

White-thighed Surili (Presbytis siamensis siamensis) - juvenile

Hornbill at my backyard

It has been more than two years since this big and noisy black-and-white bird visited my backyard. Yesterday morning I heard that familiar 'keng-keng-keng' sound at 7 a.m., not far from the back perimeter fence. She was busy poking and eating the ripe papaya.

Low morning light - at ISO 3200, speed 1/20 sec, f5.6, manual focus.

Oriental Pied Hornbill (Anthracoceros albirostris)

My first encounter with this big bird was in June 2007, but the quality of the picture was very poor - like this.
I upgraded my lens to Canon telephoto 400mm in November 2007, and these are my first shots of hornbill with 400mm lens - 12/11/ 2007 @3.50pm

Perched at banana fruits, Original Date/Time = 1/12/2007 @ 18:32:11

Original Date/Time = 13/1/2008 at 07:44:06, with 400mm lens

Location: My backyard, Raub, Pahang.

Summertime - Oriental Magpie Robin sunbathing

My home town Raub is 3º 47' north of the equator, hot tropical climate, so summer is almost all year round.

This Juvenile Magpie Robin was found spreading its wings and tail feathers at 2.26pm hot 35ºc afternoon sun. It stays there for about 2 minutes, oblivious of my camera.

Why bird sunbathing?. Ornithologist have their own theories:
1. Feather maintenance - helping dislodge feather parasites - eg. Fleas, lice, and ticks.
2. To reduce the amount of metabolic energy to maintain a constant body temperature of around 40ºC.
3. Ultra-violet sunlight is involved in vitamin D conversion.
4. or just a feel-good factor.

Juvenile Magpie Robin sunbathes. The temperature was so hot that it was seen here panting with open bills.

Location: My backyard, Raub, Pahang.
References:
1. EcoBirds
2. Secret life of common bird. link here

Large Niltava at Hemmant trail

I found a pair of this species on the Hemmant trail  Fraser's Hill. This time without the aid of MP3 song. Surprisingly a male was very confiding and obliged to be photographed. The female flew off with only one decent picture.

Large Niltava (Niltava grandis decipiens ) ; Local name: Sambar Kubung Padi

female (above)

male (below)

Have a look for more bird pictures at the Bird Photography Weekly @ Birdfreak.

EDIT (update: 18/3/2011) - compare to Blue and White Flycatcher here:-

Black Bird - Black-and-crimson Oriole

Photographed this blackbird at Fraser's Hill @ Mager Road not far from the Gatehouse, while waiting for the green light at 12.00 noon.
I have a problem to ID this. Finally found it on Dig deep blog.

Immature male Black-and-crimson Oriole (Oriolus cruentus)

Compare this with an adult bird that has a crimson stripe on the chest here.
Picture from Choo Tse Chien PBase site. Used with permission.

Location: Fraser's Hill @ Mager Road

Greater Yellow Naped Woodpecker (Picus flavinucha)

Although this woodpecker foraged near the bamboo tree, it is NOT a Bamboo Woodpecker.
ID = Greater Yellownape (Picus flanvinucha). Photographed at Telecom loop, setting +2EV compensation without flash.
Sorry for not having the beautiful clouds or blue sky, but still happy because that yellow woodpecker is my lifer.

Location: Telekom loop, Fraser's Hill, Pahang.

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Squirrel from Himalaya

I have never been to Nepal or Himalayas, but one squirrel somehow escaped to Malaysia. ;)
Photographed this cute squirrel at Fraser's Hill, near the Jelai Resort.

Himalayan Striped Squirrel (Tamiops macclellandi)

The thing that I hate about bird - Bird Dropping

I love birds and like to photograph them, but I hate their dropping, especially when it hits my car.
Bird feces contain uric acid and ammonia that can eat through the paint and cause permanent damage to the car's paintwork.

Birds dropping from pigeons may contain Cryptococcus neoformans, a fungus that causes infection in people with compromised immune systems.

I parked my car in the roofed garage, but this Yellow-vented Bulbul was attracted to the car's mirror and perched at the windscreen wiper. In the process, it left a few droppings on the bonnet.

I have to wash the shit regularly before it hardened and set in to ruin the paint.

I don't mind if they did it somewhere else like this ;)

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Grey-chinned Minivet at Giant Fern

Local name: Burung Matahari Gunung , literally mean 'Mountain Sun Bird'
There are 13 species in the genues Pericrocotus, and this solaris species mean solar = sun = matahari

Grey-chinned Minivet (Pericrocotus solaris) at Giant/King Fern (Angiopteris evecta)

female (above) and male (below)

Birding at Fraser's Hill during 'Hari Hol' - Pahang Holiday

Today is a holiday in my Pahang state, so I closed shop and went for a half-day birding at Fraser's Hill - my first time this year.
Saw and shot the usual common birds, no lifer this time. One lifer (the yellow-naped woodpecker).
Birds are busy nesting and attending to their chicks. Here are a few samples.
Too tired to process the other RAW files.

Verditer Flycatcher (Eumyias thalassina)

Silver-eared Mesia (Leiothrix argentauris)

Mountain Fulvetta (Alcippe peracensis)