One more woodpecker species

 Heard and seen, and I even imagined one flew right past me when I was on a trail hunting for a winter visitor, or did I?

So when I heard familiar cries and knockings that morning, the race was on, a frenzy to search for the Orange-backed Woodpeckers, a pair I knew had been teasing birders around that area.

And then the male was spotted first but relatively deep in but no matter, together with a few birders present, we rushed from one spot to the other to get the best shot, and me, my 'lifer' for the bukit!  Finally!

The Orange-backed Woodpecker (Reinwardtipicus validus) could be found in forest from  lowlands to hills and montane areas and is of Least Concern status, yet comparatively not so commonly sighted.  It's one of the bigger woodpeckers, an adult can grow to almost 30cm.

It looks like the bukit is slowly gaining a reputation as a woodpecker haunt in view of the increasing number of species sighted, this being the fifth, and the woodpecker population set to increase going by the current breeding activities.

It's no surprise why this woodpecker is called orange-backed!

Birders were indeed in for a treat this particular morning as the pair spent almost an hour in the area although they kept largely away from ideal open views.  But trust birders to attempt the best, so ascended the slope swiftly to approach the pair that did not seem too fazed about human movements metres away.

The male was down at a rotting trunk and was then joined by the female that was more sensed than seen at this point.

Scored with a big fat grub!

Throwing off a pretty large chunk of soft pulp with its powerful beak that could only have excavated that!

The female that was loitering behind the trunk finally emerged when the male moved to the other side, but unfortunately did not seem to make any catch, I supposed that portion already thoroughly covered by the male.

Another successful dug-out by the male!

This is indeed a handsome couple, with distinctly different colours, the male more outstanding with its reddish crest and orange breast.

The male displaying its tongue, ready to dig in again.

At a lower spot.

Hoping for better images of the female we decided to stake out at an anticipated spot, and patience paid off.

The female finally appeared to check out an existing hole, perhaps a future cavity nest?

Almost camouflaged if viewed from afar.

The female displays its distinct white back, nonetheless a stunning looking bird.

This bird is said to love forest with rather open under-storey which could explain why it has been seen to come down to ground, pecking at an exposed root.

And this female eventually descended to ground level momentarily, then going up this low tree stump.

A third Malkoha species

 Sometimes I do forget my own counsel to not miss to capture shots of any bird even if it's familiar, and in this particular case I was grateful that I was given a second chance.

I had ignored a flying malkoha yesterday brushing it off as a Green-billed Malkoha (Phaenicophaeus tristis) probably a young one because of its relatively shorter tail length.

And the next day when this one flew in again in the same area, I decided to take shots simply because the target bird didn't appear, and thank God, I did because it turned out to be a Black-bellied Malkoha (Phaenicophaeus diardi), my first sighting of this bird in the bukit!

This would be the third species of malkoha sighted here, the third being the chestnut-breasted malkoha.

And I've learnt that a useful way to differentiate these two is to look at the nostril which is rather circular in the green-billed whilst triangular in the black-bellied, a feature normally easy to spot for a shot.  In addition the other distinct feature in the green-billed is the bright white line round the eye patch which is absent from the black-bellied.

The Black-bellied Malkoha, unfortunately, has a Near Threatened status compared to the Green-billed Malkoha which is of Least Concern.

The brownish tinge to the tail-end of this black-bellied is also its distinct feature.

And I had just captured images of the Green-billed Malkoha the day before.

Patience at your leisure!

 I nearly walked into what I thought was a rock until I back stepped.  I guessed with Bukit Kiara Park now open, there were less people fit-walking in the taman, this Box Turtle decided to bravely take its sweet time crossing the walkway.

The Malayan box turtle (Cuora amboinensis), a subspecies of the Southeast Asian box turtle is considered endangered.  It is the commonest freshwater turtle.

I had thought of walking past it until it started to move so I didn't want to disrupt its momentum, waited for it to cross the path.

But it was truly sloooow, so I quickly side-walked past it to capture its journey from its front.

Looked like it was getting from the pond to the river, and because it was still alert to my presence, it stalled by the fence, so I decided to leave it in peace.

And the migrants

 It looked like some migrant birds were on transit in the taman on their way home.

The Ashy Minivets came in small numbers.

This flycatcher that I could only hazard a guess to be a female Yellow-rumped Flycatcher for failure to capture its back, or perhaps a green-backed flycatcher, was a lone figure watching an Asian Flycatcher making a show of itself.

And of course the Brown Shrike which was unusually quiet and I would have missed it if it wasn't flying about.

And shrike makes it complete

 Just as the larger woodshrikes flew off, a movement in the distant shrub caught my eye and to my surprise it was the Brown Shrike, this migrant which I've not seen for a while and thought had flown home.

I couldn't feel grateful enough that the timing of these encounters couldn't have been more appropriate to illustrate their differences!

The way the Shrike was behaving behind the foliage made me suspect that this one must have spotted something and perhaps waiting for me to move away as I was just over 20 feet away.

Well, I guessed whatever it was, was simply too irresistible as it braved my presence to fly down for it.

Confirmed my suspicion that it had spotted me!

Nevertheless ever cautious as it scanned about.

And then it simply went down and pulled it out!

And off it went to a tree further away with its catch.

Even as its back was to me, rather unfortunately, I could sense its struggle with this long prey.

And then it's all gone, almost.

A rather contented looking bird.

And the usual scraping clean of the bill after a meal.