By name is still green

Can one ever not want to meet flycatchers like the Green-backed Flycatcher)(Sambar Belakang-hijau) again and again?

How does one explain the delight of a repeat avian encounter, even a commonplace one?

What's in a name?

Straightforward and to the point, a transliteration of green-backed, a bird named by the colour of its plumage.  Also known as Sambar-Kunyit Hijau, 'kunyit' being turmeric, by this it's one of yellowish-green colour.

 

'AAwl', a daytime dream

 An uncharacteristic appearance, a seemingly irresistible probability of a catch, a distance too close for comfort ... but ingredients that made for a birder's dream, then that slipped away ever so smoothly, too soon.

Playing hide and seek as one sought, and the other hid.

Looked like it was going to relax, but for its avian instinct, sensing another's presence through twigs and leaves.

And too soon, the dream that glided in ever so silently, slipped away just as silently.  The amazing silencer and slickness of an owl's flight.

For what had drawn it suddenly, out and down, I would not know despite attempting to scan like it did.

A teeny weeny for a spiderhunter

It was ever so leisurely as this Spectacled Spiderhunter took its time to flit about, skimmed and probed.

The mixed diet of the spiderhunter includes spiders, insects, pollen, fruits and nectar.  And a teeny one could go a long way ....

... perhaps, perhaps 

As I was waiting

 Another day, another site, another one.

As I was waiting

Just another meal, my way ....

the one with the 'money'

 Too high, too far, for love?!

But nevertheless, a welcome visitor, a migrant, of high probability, as none seen in the area sans migratory season.

With the Oriental Dollarbird (Eurystomus orientalis)((Tiong Batu)(Rolla Paruh-merah)(Tiong Belacan), it's almost always a delightful theatrics of displays albeit predictable.

What's in a name?

'Tiong' could mean 'chop', however, 'burung tiong' refers to the myna, and 'batu' means rock.  This bird is of the Coraciidae (which includes the Indochinese Roller) family, perhaps the usage of 'rolla' too.

'Paruh' refers to beak and 'merah' means red as some tend to see this one's beak as red.  Interestingly it's also known as 'tiong belacan', and 'belacan' is commonly known as 'shrimp paste', and herein lies an intrigue!

The striped one

 It was not conflict but infliction, human infliction.

A repose broken.

But this completed my Shrike sightings for the season, albeit it took comparatively longer to finally seek out a Tiger Shrike (Lanius tigrinus)(Tirjup Harimau).

What's in a name?

'Tirjup' means twisted, or to stun, but add the word 'burung', 'burung tirjup' refers specifically to a shrike bird, perhaps therein lies the rationale. 

And what's up?

The power of one, for even a tinier shall command the moment.

Awaiting, game? the spotter and the spotted ....

Suffice, to know you there, harmless.

Another day, another presence.

Just a comparison.

Avian rhapsody

Just another day, just another meal, the Chestnut-breasted Malkoha with this amphibian catch.

 And a rhapsody.

It was interesting, to put it mildly, how the prey was positioned and repositioned before a meal was made of it!

Relentless bashing of an elastic unyielding victim.

The malkoha frequently donned its nictitating membrane during the kill.

Almost five minutes later, the consumption ritual was finally completed, or so I thought.

Away from prying eyes, another round just to make sure that the avian stomach would not be challenged internally!

Without a raptorial curved or hooked beak to bite and tear, the prey had to be swallowed in its entirety.