Day 5, Taman Negara...Kuala Tahan to Lata Berkoh

Day 5, Taman Negara National Park - 28 November 2016

Day 5 of my Malaysian birding/herping trip with the great Nigel Marven (@Nigelmarven). We decided to take to the water once again today in the hope of seeing the Blue-banded Kingfisher and once more headed north along the Sungai Tahan river before drifting back with the current to Kuala Tahan. Within minutes we had a tantalising fly-by bird heading in the opposite direction, now we wanted to get one perched up. Unlike the showy Stork-billed Kingfisher the Blue-banded was more of a skulker, sitting underneath overhanging canopy within a meter of the water surface. It wasn't going to be easy.

Stork-billed Kingfisher - if only they were all this obliging!
In better light today.

We soon started to rack up the species list with another Lesser Fish-Eagle, Mountain Imperial Pigeon, Raffles's and Red-billed Malkohas, Gray-rumped Treeswift, Whiskered Treeswift, Blue-throated Bee-eaters, Small Spiderhunter, White-chested Babbler, Black Magpie and the ever decreasing Straw-headed Bulbul, frequently collected for the pet trade.

Straw-headed Bulbul

As we ventured further upriver we started to get feeding parties of Gray-rumped and Whiskered Treeswifts. Although they didn't settle close enough for a good photo the Whiskered Treeswifts were just incredible to look at - yet another bird I've always wanted to see.

Whiskered Treeswift, Taman Negara

Short 12 second video of Whiskered Treeswift

Nigel and Azri enjoying the tranquillity of the river.

Wilbur pointing out a group of Bulbuls, Sunbirds and Spiderhunters 
feeding on the flowering tree to the right.

Long-billed Spiderhunter

Our attention turned to the river bank when Wilbur heard a male Rufous-chested Flycatcher calling to our left. This absolutely stunning little bird put in the briefest of appearances and although I manged great views for about 10 seconds, Nigel missed out because the bird was obscured by foliage from his position in the boat! Despite trying desperately to see it again, it remained calling from thick cover never to re-emerge. Fingers crossed we would find another.

We continued up river to the Kelah Sanctuary, a research and conservation centre for the rare Kelah fish or Malaysian mahseer as it is also know. More Crested Treeswifts settled on the opposite bank and a huge Malayan Water Monitor, about 5ft long, made its way ashore just across from our boat.

Malayan Water Monitor Varanus salvator, a five foot monster!

Malayan Water Monitor Varanus salvator

From the Kelah Sanctuary we continued further up river to our final destination, Lata Berkoh where we pulled ashore and walked a little way along the trail northwards. We were rewarded almost immediately with another female Banded Pitta, the most incredible little birds.

Pitt-stop. Waiting for the Banded Pitta to show.
Photo credit: Junglewalla Tours

Banded Pitta, female

Our boatmen on this particular trip were excellent. They really understood our needs and went out of their way to help us find the birds - worthy of a large tip!

Contemplating the journey back, one of our boatmen.

Me on the bank at Lata Berkoh
The water is stained with tanin, hence the tea-brown colour.

Nigel chilling in the beautiful wilderness, what
a great spot this was...

...Good enough for a dip in fact. Mr Marven taking a refreshing
swim - sensible given how hot it was.

Left to right: Wilbur Goh, Nigel Marven, Roger Harris

On the way back we added Abbott's Babbler, Red-eyed Bulbul and again had fly-by Blue-banded Kingfishers on two occasions.

After a quick lunch we hit the trail to Lubok Simpon once again in the hope of getting the Kingfisher from the shore and also (still hoping) for the rare Crested Fireback. At the campsite we picked up Spectacled Bulbul, Buff-vented Bulbul and Scaly-crowned Babbler. Lubok Simpon didn't hold the sought after Blue-banded Kingfisher so we pushed on further passing a deceased and partly eaten Reticulated Python - a sad sight to see. About half-a-mile further on we hit a bird wave, which delivered a pair of Diard's Trogons, Red-naped Trogon, Checker-throated Woodpecker, Greater Raquet-tailed Drongo and a pair of spectacular Orange-backed Woodpeckers.

Dilapidated building in the jungle

Diard's Trogon, male

Diard's Trogon, male

If only this had snapped into focus...
Diard's Trogon, male

Diard's Trogon, female

Orange-backed Woodpecker, male

Red-naped Trogon, female

Cream-vented Bulbul

Gray-bellied Bulbul, very smart...for a Bulbul

Gray-bellied Bulbul

Abbott's Babbler

Spectacled Bulbul

Worth noting that Malaysia has over 1000 species of butterflies! We saw quite a few during our time there, including several enormous Common Birdwings but alas it was the smaller butterflies that sat still for the camera.

Dark Grass-Brown

Common Posy, male spp  moorei

Yellow Glassy Tiger

On the return journey we had brief views of a rather stunning Maroon Woodpecker and a number of Scaly-crowned Babblers. As we reached the resort we decided we had nothing to loose by walking the boardwalk back towards the Tahan Hide before calling it a day. Boy are we glad we did...

Crested Fireback, male

At last! Not one but four (two pairs) of Crested Firebacks on the boardwalk. The beautiful male (above) demonstrating why it got its name.

Both males and one of the females.

Close up of one of the males. 

What an amazing find on our last evening in Taman Negara, this place certainly delivers wildlife by the bucket-load.

Day 4, Taman Negara, the Sungai Tahan ...

Taman Negara National Park - 27 November, 2016

Day 4 of my trip to Malaysia with Nigel Marvin and we were off on a early morning boat trip northeast along the Sungai Tahan, a tributary river off the Tembeling River. Our aim was to see more great birds but we particularly wanted to catch up with the not-so-easy-to-see Blue-banded Kingfisher. We didn't have to wait long before a fly-by bird shot past and promptly vanished from sight. Hopefully we would catch up with it later. The Stork-billed Kingfisher on-the-other-hand was far more showy and gave fantastic views as we motored past, closely followed by our first good views of a Lesser Fish Eagle.

Stork-billed Kingfisher - a bird I've always wanted to see.

A shy Lesser Fish Eagle

Soon after the eagle our third species of kingfisher appeared - the stunning Black-capped Kingfisher. Would love to have got photos of it but it never settled for long, what a gorgeous bird it is though.

Trees arching across the river.

Wilbur in the front...

Nigel at the back, enjoying his birthday trip

Which just leaves me in the middle.

We travelled a little further and then put ashore so that we could walk the Tabing Trail to the bird hide. Maroon and Great Slaty Woodpeckers were heard but not seen as was a Banded Broadbill. More obliging were Green Iora, Greater Racket-tailed Drongo, a pair of Olive-winged Bulbuls, Cream-vented Bulbul and the star of the morning, a male Tickell's Blue Flycatcher.

Note: It had rained in the night and the trail was very muddy. When it rained it really rained hard...

This way to the hide...

Tabing Trail, leech heaven after the rain.

Tickell's Blue Flycatcher, male

We headed back to the Mutiara for a celebratory Magnum (the ice-cream, not Champagne) and a quick lunch break. Less than 20 minutes into lunch Wilbur came knocking on our doors, he'd just seen a Crested Fireback on the boardwalk to the Tahan Hide! A few expletives later and I was running for the boardwalk. A bare-foot Nigel who'd been enjoying his lunch break when forced to scramble, wasn't far behind us but despite a thorough search of the boardwalk it had vanished back into the jungle. We decided to recoup and meet at the hide to continue with the afternoon's birding.

Giant Millipede - 12 inches long

Clouded Monitor Varanus nebulosus

Brown-throated Sunbird, female

Another circuit of the boardwalk was productive with a female Red-naped Trogon, Black and Red Broadbill, Grey-and-Buff Woodpecker, Chestnut-winged, Scaly-crowned and (a very elusive) Black-throated Babbler as well as a party of Bar-bellied Cuckooshrikes. We also picked up some beautiful butterflies and unusual insects.

Chocolate Soldier butterfly

The very pretty Red Harlequin

A pair of unusual Lantern Bugs
Pyrops pyrorhynchus

Red-naped Trogon, female

Unusual Trilobite Beetle, 2 inches long

Enormous winged tree seed - bigger than the average Sycamore!

Asian Elephant footprint. Saw plenty of damage where
they'd been and heard them in the distance but never saw one.

Grey-and-Buff Woodpecker

We decided to head along a different trail towards the Canopy Walkway (unfortunately closed while we were there), passing huge stands of Bamboo and giant trees along the way. This route yielded a pair of Buff-necked Woodpeckers, Abbott's and Gray-cheeked Babblers and a small flock of Brown Barbets. On the return leg we also lucked-in on a Greater Mouse Deer close to the path but too shy for a photo and a female Purple-naped Spiderhunter, who wasn't shy at all.

Bamboo thicket on the Canopy Walkway trail.

Me next to a giant Tetrameles nudiflora.
The roots form enormous buttresses around the base.

Poor record shot of the female Buff-necked Woodpecker

Purple-naped Spiderhunter, female.
She was happily bathing in the hollowed out stump
about 5ft away from us.

As the light started to fade we headed back to the resort for an early dinner so that we could join a night safari. Nigel had read about one from a previous trip report and Azri and Wilbur made short work of setting us up with a trip for 8:30pm that evening. We had to meet the vehicle back across the Tembeling River in Kuala Tahan so we took a river boat across for MYR1:00 each (about 20p) and boarded a Toyota pickup.

With the four of us in the back and a guy on the roof operating a large spotlight, we set off to various locations around the outskirts of the town. First stop was for a pair of Barn Owls closely followed by a Common Civet and then a Slow Loris! Things were looking good - none of us had expected too much from this but we were pleasantly surprised. As the vehicle did a U-turn to move off, a Leopard Cat could be seen sitting a bout 5 meters away just staring at us! It suddenly realised that it was in the spotlight and ran off into the scrub. By the end of the evening we had amassed 2 Leopard Cats, 2 Slow Loris, 2 Red Giant Flying Squirrels and a number of Grey Nightjars, who seemed to prefer the rocky banks close to the road.

Grey Nightjar

Grey Nightjar

What a great way to finish the day.