Thursday 19 April 2012

Knock On Wood - Eddie Floyd & Steve Cropper

Another day on the jungle trails was planned, but before breakfast we all 4 headed to the hide just behind the resort huts. There once again were a number of Silver Leaf Monkeys and our first encounter in Malaysia of

SPOTTED DOVE that didn't hang around too long. Well fed, the first find on the trail was this

CHECKER-THROATED WOODPECKER

which was a 'Lifer' for us all.


There had been a serious early morning 'hatch' of thees CADISFLIES but while none of the birds seemed interested,

these TOADS? were out

mob-handed and reducing numbers of Flies by the mouthful.

Next up were a pair of RED JUNGLEFOWL but too far away to make much of, but yet another

MONITOR LIZARD, maybe on its way to cash in on the flies, passed quite close.

A second Woodpecker then graced the optic, this time an

ORANGE-BACKED WOODPECKER
another 'tick' all round, and just to make up the 'hat trick' a

WHITE-BELLIED WOODPECKER
put in an all too brief appearance, but a 'first' nonetheless.

On the way back for a little sustenance a

MALAYAN (Asian) TAPIR

(the biggest of the Tapirs of the world and the only one found in Asia)

wasn't totally unexpected as 2 had been frequenting the Camp and the surrounding forest for a number of weeks.

Like all the other wild animals there is total tolerance here to their presence.

That also goes for the numerous families of WILD BOAR.

Back on the trail, and these tail feathers betrayed the presence of yet another good bird to add to the list.

RAFFLE'S MALKOHA

isn't a ;rare' bird but can be difficult to see.

We considered ourselves lucky to get 5 minutes

of somewhat interrupted viewing.

Another 'MYSTERY' as we

tramped our way to the

CANOPY WALKWAY from where we had

great views of the river

plus the thrill of swaying across the tree tops,

but not one of us saw a single bird. DON'T LOOK DOWN!

CHESTNUT-WINGED BABBLER

was seen soon after our arrival here, but it has taken until now to qualify the sighting

with some much better views and a few photographs.

These SCALLOP SHELL shaped Fungi were of interest, as was this bird which I have overlooked until now. Distinctive enough, could it be that it is simply

RUFOUS-CAPPED BABBLER

and finally, when first spotted the 2 red shapes were thought to be the wings of a small Butterfly. As can now be seen they are not but make an interesting sighting.