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.
