Let that solemn news not hinder my writing for now.
My whole family left home early Saturday morning, bought lunch on the way there and reached the foothills of Bukit Larut at around 8.30 am. The men of the family went off for a quick spot of birding at the waterfall area near the Indian temple, while my mother and I went to settle the bookings.
After getting all the official dealings over, my mother and I headed off to meet up with the rest. We used a short-cut through a well-used trail which cuts a straight line to the waterfall area. We hadn't gone far when we spotted a small family of Dusky Leaf Monkeys Trachypithecus obscurus foraging among the trees just around the carpark of Bukit Larut. There were at least 2 females, each with their young. What a pity that their young had lost their golden brown fur already, they were old enough to assume the more dusky fur of the adults. Anyway, that did not stop me from taking pictures, either!
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| Spot the baby! |
Further on, we passed by an old quarry which is now rather overgrown with plants. We just popped in to have a look, but all was quiet. Then when we made our way back to the main road to look for the boys, their car was not there! They must have gone back to the carpark to wait for the jeep already, so my mother and I turned back.
We then noticed another mammal swinging up in the canopy above us. But this time, it was a gibbon! We counted at least 3 Black-handed Gibbons Hylobates agilis feeding on the tree shoots. They were more shy compared to the Leaf Monkeys. Everytime I tried to photograph presumably the male of the troupe, it did everything it could to hide its face from me and scoot off! It then swung off to another further tree and once it got its hands on some delicious fruit, it turned its back on me and munched away mockingly! Cheeky.
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| You've got real nerve. Don't laugh at me! |
When we got back to the carpark, Dr Chan and his wife had already arrived and they were all pointing their cameras somewhere and being busy. Oh, there's a fruiting tree! My mother and I did not notice it earlier as loud and noisy tractors were reversing into that area when we first arrived.
Their main focus of attention was a male Red-throated Barbet Megalaima mystacophanos which was feeding on small berries. Even though the range was rather far for my camera, I gave it a shot too.
A male Pink-necked Green Pigeon Treron vernans also alighted at the top of the tree for awhile, but after a few shots of it, I immediately turned by attention back to the Barbet! Not long after, a Gold-whiskered Barbet Megalaima chrysopogon flew into the tree to join in the feast. It was followed by another, and then another, and yet another! The Red-throated Barbet was pushed to only a small corner of the tree thanks to its bigger cousins the bullies!
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| Good camouflage. But as all male birds are, their bright colours give them away. |
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| Sorry I only had a couple of shots of you. |
During the journey up the hill, I think we flushed an Emerald Dove Chalcophaps indica walking on the jeep track. They are such shy birds and the only photographs I have ever got of them were taken from inside a car.
When we reached the topmost jeep station, a sudden exciting event occurred. My mother had asked our jeep driver, Encik Md Noor to stop awhile as she wanted to buy more food from the small cafe for our lunch. Just before the jeep started up again after my mother came back, a snake was fast slithering in the direction of our jeep! I saw that it had a flaming red head and tail with brilliant indigo blue streaks along its body - a Blue Malaysian Coral Snake Calliophis bivirgatus/Maticora bivirgata!
Evan, my brothers' friend who is currently doing his Masters/PhD in Biology (more specifically frogs, I think) immediately leapt down from the jeep to chase after the snake! Even though I knew he had training and experience in handling snakes, I still held my breath as I watched him grab his snake tongs and confront the snake head on! According to my brother, what he was doing was to tire the snake out so that it would be easier to catch it. Finally, he succeeded in catching the snake and packed it into a specimen jar to be dealt with later.
After they got back into the jeep, a small 'briefing' on the snake ensued. I learnt that the venom glands of this snake were as long as one third of the length of its body! And obviously, even by judging from its colours, it is highly venomous and potentially lethal. It also only feeds exclusively on other snakes, even of their own species! That is why it is difficult to rare this species in captivity, even for research purposes. How exciting! Although I never once dared to even consider stepping out from the jeep!
We then reached our destination: Gunung Hijau Rest House. Ah, how nostalgic. It still looks almost the same throughout the 17 years I have been going there, just besides it having a new paint job. After shifting all our luggage up to the old colonial bungalow, we were all hungry! So we sat down to have a quick bite, and as the weather was still fine, off we go to birdwatch till it rains!
Everyone decided to hike up towards the Telekom station at the peak of Gunung Hijau. I too, took a slow walk with my mother. It was rather quiet, probably because it was already midday and most birds would have finished their morning rounds. We didn't see anything much and we decided to turn back. On the way down, there was a small bird wave of small birds which soon dissipated as a group of hikers stopped by curiously to see what we were doing. There were the usual Mountain Fulvettas Alcippe peracensis, Golden Babblers Stachyridopsis chrysaea and White-throated Fantails Rhipidura aureola. They were all too fast for me to get any decent shots. And the lighting was dim too, which made it difficult for focussing and getting a sharp picture.
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| It moves really fast! |
Then I spotted a Chestnut-backed Scimitar-Babbler Pomatorhinus montanus hopping from tree to tree and tried my luck at it. As usual, it proved to be too nimble and agile as it hopped and creeped too fast for me! I vaguely remember seeing a small flock of Spectacled Laughingthrushes Rhinocichla mitrata flying in but I was too engrossed in chasing after the Scimitar-Babbler behaving like a squirrel to pay them any attention! It then flew right over my head and perched at a neck-breaking angle before disappearing. I lost the chase again.
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| It behaves somewhat like a squirrel! |
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| Taking an afternoon break. |
Later in the afternoon, a familiar hoarse ''quo-quo-quo-quo'' made most of our ears prick up. We kept our eyes open behind the bungalow, and sure enough, we saw a pair of Red-bearded Bee-Eaters Nyctyornis amictus. They were not so cooperative today and quickly flew off as my father and I approached them. As they did not reappear after awhile, my father decided to turn back but I hung around for a little longer.
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| Neck-breaking effort! |
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| Take-off! |
By 4.30 pm, the skies and the air fell silent due to the approaching rain clouds for the daily convectional rain. I turned in to have a nap so that I had some energy for night activities.
When I woke up, my mother already had dinner ready. After dinner, my brother and I kept ourselves occupied by taking pictures of the nesting Black-nest Swiftlets Aerodramus maximus above the kitchen doorway. We have seen them nesting in the same place almost every time we come here.
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| Look at the length of those wings! |
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| Such beautiful lights. I'd rather see this than Las Vegas at night. |
Just as we entered the bungalow, my father called out to us that the resident Masked Palm Civet Paguma larvata had come to the back of the bungalow! Before leaving for the night walk, my mother had collected all our meal scraps and chicken bones and placed them at the usual spot behind the bungalow where the Civet almost always comes for a quick meal. But the moment all of us scrambled to the window to see the Civet, it saw us and quickly slunk off.
We then waited quietly at the window for it to come back, but even after half an hour, it did not return. My parents and my brothers were tired already and decided to go to bed. As I had a good nap in the afternoon, I was still wide awake and decided to just hang around the bungalow until I was sleepy.
Once, I went to the front of the bungalow to photograph the giant Toad (I am not sure of its exact species) and also to look at the moths attracted to the mercury vapour lightbulb set up by my brother. The moment my flash went off while photographing the amphibian, I heard the sound of wings fluttering coming from under the bungalow. I shone my torchlight around the ground for awhile but did not see anything, so I thought to myself that maybe it was a moth or that I had heard wrongly.
I was on my way to the back of the bungalow to check out the lightbulb there when I met Dr Chan coming from that place. He had accidentally stumbled into the shallow drain and was just catching himself from falling. On getting up, he happened to shine his torchlight under the bungalow and saw a bird running away from us! He called me to look also and it was a Red-legged Crake Rallina fasciata! What a surprise for the both of us. Unfortunately I did not have my camera or binoculars with me and neither did Dr Chan, so we could only stare and stare at the Crake running away.
I tried to rush back up to the bungalow to get my gear, but by the time I came out again, the bird had already disappeared. Such a pity! So the Crake must have been the bird I startled when I was photographing the toad just a moment ago! I must be more thorough next time.
The second time I came out from the bungalow to look at moths again, another amazing thing happened. Just as I was going down the steps, I heard a loud thud against the wooden walls of the front of the bungalow. These sort of thuds could only be made by a bird or a large beetle crashing into the bungalow wall. By the time I got out, I had missed another spectacular event.
Dr Chan who was outside photographing moths was at the scene of the happenings. He told me that a small to medium-sized bird (unknown species) had crashed into the wall and flopped down onto the grass of the bungalow lawn. Before he could even cross over to the bird to have a look at it, a Brown Wood-Owl suddenly appeared from the darkness, grasped the poor dazed bird with its talons and silently flew away again into the night! I was stunned speechless by such an amazing story! I wish I could have seen it with my own eyes. How brutally merciless nature can be. Survival of the fittest, indeed.
After coming out from the bungalow for the third time, when I went back inside again I suddenly saw the Civet feeding on the food scraps behind the bungalow again! It had returned! But I think I was too excited and it heard me again, so it quickly disappeared before I could call anyone. However, this time it came back after a few minutes and I managed to get a few shots of it, and so did Dr Chan. Finally!
After feeling satisfied, Dr Chan also decided to call it a night too. It was around midnight already. I just waited at the window in the hope that the Civet would come back as there were still some food scraps remaining. My patience paid off again after almost an hour when the Civet returned. This time, it did not seem to be bothered by my presence or even my torchlight shining at it. It greedily munched and finished up all the food left there. Even after eating everything, it searched round once more for any remainder bits of food before slowly skulking away. I think it must have been really hungry to gobble up the food in such a way! I got pretty good shots this time.
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| From tip to tail. And guess what its eating. |
