Glad to be proven wrong

 I had thought it strange that this hyper alert and hyper sensitive Striated Heron would fledge at the tiniest of a waft of my presence as it usually did, or perhaps it thought it was well hidden from my view by the leaves and branches, and so it held on to its perch as if frozen except for the occasional stretch of the neck.

And so I approached slowly to test how close I could get to it, and pretty close going by the following uncropped image.

But lo and behold, instead of this one fleeing, what emerged from down below was shockingly (to say the least) a Buffy Fish Owl on a bright late morning, that obviously was perched below the Heron which explained its unusual frozen behaviour!

The Big One fled into the nearest cover right across the river, and as I tried to scan its presence, it suddenly flew out, a gorgeous being, slowly and soundlessly right past me into the densest foliage further up the river.

My first regret was the inability to obtain a single image of this One but on second thought, to witness it flying ever so lightly and gracefully up the river with all the glorious expanse of its wings outstretched did more than made up for the lack of any still image!  Phew!

Always an early arrival

 I knew I would encounter this one again when it flew off with a flock of ten-plus White-eyes depriving me of a photo-record during this first sighting.

The second opportunity was indeed better when I was alerted to its calls which, to my surprise, were unlike that of a typical Yellow-rumped Flycatcher (Ficedula zanthopygia).  It had perched uncharacteristically low too.

Another regular to both Bukit Kiara as well as TRK, this is a stunner that never fails to thrill with its brilliant colours although sometimes harsh lighting doesn't do justice to its contrasting black and yellow hues.

06/2022

Hunting low down, it did not come across as successful as it eventually took off.

As I was passing by

The one that can out-stay you, unless there's a gliding one in sight!

My pleasure nevetheless to walk into, or rather, under you.

A tale of two shrikes

 It's indeed the Tiger Shrike's season as this was my third effortless encounter with them in the bukit, this time there were two but at distant locations.

Their physical appearances are that of juvenile birds with the one one on the left perhaps even younger than the other, which perhaps explained why it was less skittish, a characteristic commonly observed in immature birds.

The less skittish one was out in the open albeit high up as hill walkers filed past whilst the other fled as soon as it spied me zooming in on it.

Nevertheless the former still preferred to 'dine' in private as it fled further in as soon as it caught a prey.

It looked like more juveniles than adults transit in either Bukit Kiara or Taman Rimba Kiara.  Efforts to spot any adults, either during their arrival or before leaving for home, have not been successful since my last encounter in TRK in 2017, as at http://rimbakiara.blogspot.com/2017/04/of-same.html, this male spotting distinct blooming plumage before leaving for home.

As I was passing

A rare occasion when the female Large-tailed Nightjar decided to snooze in the foreground and the male partially hidden but looking pretty alert in the background, watching its back perhaps.

A closer shrike encounter

 I finally managed a few shots that were better than before of a young Tiger Shrike that's obviously still unsettled in its new transit home in the bukit, as it was easily startled when resident birds called suddenly.  I deemed its stay transit because tiger shrikes are not normally seen in the bukit throughout the entire winter sojourn here.

I was fortunate that it was on the hunt so gave away its presence amidst the inner trees and shrubs, was successful, quickly finished off its prey.

Then looking nervously around at the sound of the other birds, it promptly disappeared from sight.

When Woodshrikes are dominant

 Outnumbered, an Olive-winged Bulbul seemed to be glued to its perch as a small flock of Large Woodshrikes descended, made a din, foraged and promptly left.

The flock seemed to consist of adult and sub-adult Woodshrikes.

 

As I was passing by

 The same, almost, yet different, displaying sided by side - two Bat Lily blooms on the way.

As I was passing

Common but still a pleasure when a young Greater Racket-tailed Drongo tarried.

Woodpecker/sight for sore eyes

When there's a dearth of key sightings, encountering a common resident could feel like a lucky strike, especially when it has been too long, much too long since the last encounter.  This was how much joy the Banded Woodpecker could bring after a prolonged absence of sighting.

 

As I was passing

Keep walking during encounter, and the Asian Emerald Cuckoo will keep foraging.  Stop to exclaim, and it will flee immediately.  Nevertheless, always a pleasure to bump into it!

Parrot down

 The calls were familiar but the challenge was spotting it as none could blend in more perfectly than this little green one.  So Patience waited for it to fly and reveal its tell-tale flash of red, and it finally did, to perch almost above where I was standing albeit high up.

I suppose I could consider the Blue-crowned Hanging-Parrot a regular to the taman now although it's more often heard than seen.

This was an adult female with its blackish bill, tinge of blue crown and minus the red breast patch.

Being a mere visitor to the the taman, this poor thing barely had a chance to perch openly before it was promptly chased off each time, much to my exasperation.

When it suddenly and uncharacteristically flew down, I tried to move in speedily, hoping for a prized shot but again it was squawked off by the pesky mynas.

As I was waiting

 

Always skittish, always on the run, always a challenge, only in TRK.