Taman Rimba Kiara is a little green gem located in a corner of the TTDI residential area. The above flowering tree, the firmiana malayana or mata lembu, flashes in testimony to man's care-less-ness - it's one of only two trees in the park that had flowered, since then the tree had been chopped down.

Monday, 23 October 2023

Not just a drongo-like cuckoo

 It thought it could hide, cute, as it flew right across my path into the tree.

So, another regular recorded, the Square-tailed Drongo-Cuckoo (Surniculus lugubris)(Sewah Sawai Biasa) is a pretty obliging one if one does not make any sudden movements, and wait patiently, as this one shows.

What's in a name?
'Sewah' could mean to catch or take something from, or flying low, and this is one bird that preys low, frequently flying down into bushes for grubs; and 'sawai' is a term of honour used in the Indian continent, having its root in the Sanskrit language - so could its distribution accounts for this glorified insert in its name, as it's found in Sri Lanka and Southeast Asia and known to summer even in the Himalayas from Kashmir to eastern Bangladesh.




It did try to hide, only to pop up right before me a few minutes later, so close I had to back off.


And an opportune close-up of its beautiful undertail as it took off.





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