Blood On The Rooftops - Genesis

At midnight a scuffling outside of my cabin alerted me to this Malaysian (Asian) Tapir foraging as the Reddish Scops Owl continued calling all night long.

Later in the day it was back to the forest trail, while over breakfast there was much discussion about what Dave Willis had reported to us back at Fraser's Hill. In a nutshell his report contained good numbers of Pitta Sp and legions of LEECHES outnumbering the combatants in a Lord of the Rings battle scene. Thus far we have seen neither, except both Marc and I had been 'attacked' by the latter before we left the Hill. The Leech is a wily creature which once it has access to your skin (don't run away with the idea this is preventable) will administer a bolt of anesthesia, then a dose of anti-coagulant before sucking you dry! Once found these otherwise harmless 'slugs' are pumped so full of blood and bathing in the residue, not a pretty sight, that it took me 2 hours to stop the bleeding. Anyway, enough bed-time stories, we had a trail to follow.

Another Fungi before a

Muntjac put in an appearance by which time we had reached what is the Resort's

SWIMMING POOL

This is no joke, and is where they expect visitors to swim! Good job then that I had remembered to bring my bathers? It was also the very spot Dave and others had reported a small tree bearing fruit and lots of birds (Dave particularly saying he had 18 Bulbuls there at one time). We were only fortunate enough to find 2 species but this was a mega case of quality against quantity.

First up was a male

BLACK & RED BROADBILL

seen distantly to little effect earlier in the morning.

More Fungi and

a charming little 'Long-tailed' Butterfly before the next another male

GREEN BROADBILL

lingered for a while.

Yes, we think you know what this is,

but this jungle Beetle also had a certain charm.

It was I who spotted the MALAYSIAN BLUE FLYCATCHER

making me a '5 minute hero' as it was a 'Lifer' for us all.

We could get no nearer because of the vegetation, but it was soon gone to be replaced by

a Yellow and a Brown Butterfly which appeared to have found a source of minerals.

Bugs, Beetles and Butterflies were in plentiful supply to the end of the walk

when once again we encountered another family party of

WILD BOAR

Closer inspection will reveal 2 x JUNGLE MYNA on the back of this one.

During this relatively short walk we encountered what could be described as 'MILLIONS' of Leeches, each about an inch long and not much thicker than a sewing needle, they were everywhere and none of us escaped. Getting rid was like an Alice Cooper Stage Show, but no harm done. The outstanding question is "where the f, em hell were the Pittas Dave"????

The Day List also contained the following:- GOLDEN-WHISKERED BARBET, HILL & JUNGLE MYNA, fleeting glimpses of ASIAN PARADISE FLYCATCHER, RUFOUS WOODPECKER, ORANGE-BREASTED & LARGE GREEN PIGEON, WHITE-CROWNED FORKTAIL, BLUE-BANDED KINGFISHER, SPECTACLED BULBUL, PURPLE-NAPPED SUNBIRD, BLACK & YELLOW BROADBILL, BLACK-EARED SHRIKE BABBLER and CHINESE POND HERON.

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.