19 May 2019

Peak breeding season and Long-Tail Broadbill

Long-tailed broadbill (Psarisomus dalhousiae)
I always wanted to see this Elvis Presley bird since birding 12 yrs ago.
Lack of time and busy with other commitment, I forgot to go up for birding. The last I visited Fraser Hill for birding was in Jan 2013. Link==.>   HERE
That hill station is in the Raub district, about one hour drive from my house, and I regularly go up there, cycling and hiking on the Pine Hill trail. Link==.>. HERE
Then I saw MikeBirder posting in his blog about breeding season and long-tail broadbill making its nest. Link ==>>.HERE
When Mike saw it in the middle of April, the pair were busy building the  nest.
One month later, busy feeding the chick. The parents will fly into the nest in about 20 minutes intervals.
Ten photographers with big bazooka lenses waiting at the roadside about 50 feets from the nest.
When the bird arrives with insect, tap-tap-tap  spontaneous rattling machine gun like  noise from the camera.
Within seconds the parent flies away, and everybody chiming at their camera's LCD screen.
King of rock ‘n’ roll and pop Elvis Presley.
Photo from: Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Imagess
Look at Elvis's hair style and thick sideburns, and compare to broadbill face. Similar?
Pic by JJ Harrison, from Wikipedia (cropped and converted to B&W)
 Long-Tail Broadbill nest (below), hanging precariously on old rattan leaves, over hill slope /  river.
That a prefect site as rattan's sharp spines deter the predator.
Other birds that I manage to catch
While waiting for boadbill, we see this barbet  perch on a vine looking for fruit.
Fire-Tuff Barbet (Psilopogon pyrolophus)
These two pictures taken near Shanzan Hotel.
Silver-Eared Mesia, feeding the chicks
and Male Black-throated Sunbird  Black-throated Sunbird (Aethopyga saturata), foraging on  a colourful Sanchezia speciosa flowers.

My next target is to see the Sultan Tit.
 Pic from Wikipedia by: Dibyendu Ash.

3 comments:

Normala Saad said...

Elvis Presley bird.... Amboi nama. Semestinya burung ini hebat berbunyi dan menyanyi.

Redzlan aka Tabib said...

Burung ni tak sedap suara dia, tak macam bunyi murai batu.
Ini contoh bunyi suara “Elvis”, click link:-
https://www.xeno-canto.org/208121

meintheswim said...

Sebelum ini saya tak tahu ada Elvis Presley bird. Ya ada persamaan style.
Barbet pula ada bermacam warna.
Thanks for sharing.