Large Woodshrike

 Normally heard before seen, heralding a bird wave.

Sometimes in a mixed flock, less vocal, nevertheless easily spotted.

Banded Woodpecker

 Always enthralled till you leave.

A pair of Banded Woodpeckers, a bundle of brightness and texture, a pop-up not ever too eager to dismiss.

Zebra Dove

 I could hear it as I was climbing up the stairs, that forceful an impact, followed by a scream that a bird had hit my first floor window!

Rushing down and out, a frantic search didn't show up any victim until flutters of struggle inside a pot of bamboo palm revealed where it had fallen.

Pushing aside the leaves to peer in, the lucky Zebra Dove was flushed out and flew off to rest on a wire, Phew! all's well!

Thank God for the bamboo palm that cushioned its fall.

It's a first fly-in collision in my place, could the haze had anything to do with it?

The delicate, fine, beautiful feathers that the Dove left on the window pane on its impact, so harsh that the feathers were left stuck on with what looked like a teeny weeny pink skin.

Crow-billed Drongo

 Time when it's not about the bird, nor the distance, nor the presence.

It's bad enough that the Crow-billed Drongo has to travel far to avoid its winter in a location that has a daily reading of almost 200 AQI, for more than 30 days now, being naturally skittish, its wariness extended to have to constantly flee from its favoured perch at the approach of someone.

Time too the haze discouraged one from staking out the site for more images.

Nevertheless it has to go on record that the Crow-billed generally favours the bukit more than the taman, so it's a special rare occasion to spot it here.

Indian Putat

Indian Putat/Red Barringtonia (Barringtonia acutangula Gaertn.)

 

Tiger Shrike

A first winter Tiger Shrike in the taman, normally seen only for a few days here.

 

Sunda Brush Cuckoo

 Find joy in what you find - the unexpected, the coming forth, the little window, the momentary opportunity;
for the a sub-adult, probably a Sunda Brush Cuckoo, that zoomed in - a female hepatic-morph (Cacomantis sepucralis).