Wednesday, December 29, 2010

Some rarities of USM

Being one of the USM's staffs gives me the opportunity to explore the campus more than who is not. But i guess that's not the fact because of my job which is not related to my hobby doesn't allow me to spend more time birding. Anyway, like everybody said, its a matter of luck too when it comes to birding.

Here are some of my rare find recently from the campus...

An Eyebrowed Thrush,
On 10 December 2010, i saw this bird with another individual at Alumni House during my lunch time. When i first saw it, i know it is an unsual sepcies to the campus. The belly is whitish and it has a distinct white supercilium. It was feeding on a fruiting Ficus tree nearby together with Asian Glossy Starling. As it was friday, i went for friday prayer and came back to the same tree to check it and try to get some photos. Lucky me, it was stil around.

On 25 December 2010, i went to Tasik Aman for a short birding. After  a while, i sat down to write all of my sighting into my notebook. I was nearly finished writing when suddenly i heard a lot of noise made by a few birds around the lake. Suddenly a bird flew on top of my head and perched on a branch across the lake. At first i thought it was a sparrowhawk...but after a closer look, i realized it is a Hawk Cuckoo. Known for its rarity, i rushed myself to get some shots. I managed to get two shot of it on a clean perch and quite close by before it flew off..Thanks to Dave Bakewell for pointing it out as Large not malaysian hawk cuckoo. Another new bird for the campus...

 A shot showing rusty colored tail tip...

This shot shows the nape,


I hope i can find some of the other rarities soon so i can proceed with the book for USM's birds. Wish me luck! Thanks.

7 comments:

jytou said...

Wow, good for you, I am doing the same for UTAR, but I hasnt get good rarities like yours, I had less time to spend on birding during some of my busy periods, but did get a few good uncommon birds once a while, for example the Pheasant-tailed Jacana and Cotton Pgymy-geese. Both of the bird that you found were still my lifer to be, especially Eye-browed Thrush, usually winters in the highland......

Unknown said...

Thanks Tou. Was pretty much lucky with these encounter...

Terence Ang said...

Nice observation. Great Pic as well.

digdeep said...

Hi Muin

Nice shots of two great birds. I've been looking hard at the hawk-cuckoo and wondering if it could be a subadult Large Hawk-cuckoo. The penultimate tail band does not seem very narrow, but may be within range (see http://orientalbirdimages.org/search.php?p=22&Bird_ID=456&Bird_Family_ID=&pagesize=1). The bird seems to lack a pale bill tip (which I think Malaysian would show at all ages) and it's very rusty around the neck. Any more images?

Cheers

Dave

Unknown said...

Thanks Terence.
Dave,been waiting 4 ur comment. yes,got a few shots but same pose, quite far, only two are closer.
yes i was quite reluctant to put name as i got confused with the Large n Malaysian, no experience with large hawk cuckoo make it much more difficult. Anyway, i would say its a Malaysian by the smallish appearance (but 29 n 33 is not that far), chestnut/rufous tail end with a little white at centre end and quite even tail band even though we couldn't see the upperpart of tail. Hmm...but the bill tip is dark n nape is totally rusty. Wil post another image n tell me what's ur opinion?

digdeep said...

Hi Muin

Havging checked further I am sure that it's a Large H-c. Cf this pic: http://orientalbirdimages.org/search.php?p=14&Bird_ID=456&Bird_Family_ID=&pagesize=1. As well as the points made earlier, dark throat too extensive for MH-c.

Good record!

Dave

jytou said...

Lucky for me, I saw an adult Large Hawk-Cuckoo today near my house on a small forested hill, as my lifer, not only for the species, this is also my genus lifer as it was my first hawk-cuckoo. Thanks.