White-breasted Woodswallows and Large Egrets

Bathing by the Kemena River across Sebauh town

 Sebauh is easily reachable by road nowadays, a mere 15 minutes drive from Bintulu.  Sebauh is a district in the Bintulu Division.  It has been a long long time since I've not been there.  So today we decided to pay it a visit early in morning.  The Kemena River that was once the main and only means  of transportation from Bintulu passes by the former riverine town.  There were people still bathing by the river as was common in the 60's and 70's.  We saw a few White-breasted Woodswallows by the river bank and perching on a dead tree nearby.  On the way back to Bintulu we met a small flock of the Large Egret scavenging for food on a paddy field area.  Since this was not really a birding trip we were just as pleased to see at least two species of birds on a very brief outing. 

White-breasted Woodswallows

Large Egret in a paddy field

Long boats and a ferry seen just infront of the Sebauh town.

The old riverine town section of Sebauh with shophouses made of 'Belian' timber.

Pink-necked Green Pigeon

 On the 6th of September'13, a small group of my birding friends met at the Pustaka Sarawak as meeting point before embarking on a birding trip outside Kuching city.  While at the car parking area we saw a male Pink-necked Green Pigeon busy flying to and fro to collect twigs from nearby trees presumably for building nest.  It was still early in the morning.  Here are more pictures of the bird in action....

Watching the whistling Hill Myna

View of the Hill Myna birds from Sunset point, Kambatik Park.
Date taken : 29 September, 2014.

 The Hill Myna or 'Tiong' in Malay is one of the loudest birds at the park.  Their calls and whistling sounds can be heard for kilometers away.  The Tiongs are common pet birds in Sarawak because they can imitate human syllables or language and as such are referred to as talking birds.  Today I saw two Tiongs at their regular perching place, which is a tall dead tree near the Provinsi Licuala and close to a birding point I call 'Sunset point'.  At this point which is at the top of the hill I often  watch the Bintulu sunset.  The best time to watch the Tiongs is between 5- 6.30 pm when they would return to their hole in the tree, called temporary home. This afternoon they were seen moving about places.  They used three perches exchangeably when I was there trying to photoshoot them.  Here are the pictures....

Just before sunset....

Sightings during the week - 22-28 Sept'14,Kambatik Park.

Oriental Crimson Sunbird
22 Sept'14

Young chick of a flowerpecker?
23 Sept'14

Little Green Pigeon (male)
24 Sept'14

Little Spiderhunter
25 Sept'14

Brown-throated Sunbird
26 Sept'14

Yellow-vented Bulbul
28 Sept'14

Pink-necked Pigeon (male) at left; Oriental Magpie-robin at right
28 Sept'14

A fruitful birding at Likau beach

White-breasted Woodswallows on branches of the Ru tree

 Took the afternoon off to do birding at Likau beach area which is reachable by a 40 minutes drive from the center of Bintulu town.  At Likau (which is the entrance to the Similajau National Park) there is the Likau River which can be crossed  by a suspension bridge.  The Likau area  is also the site of the National Park living accomodation for tourists or visitors and their administration and maintenance staff as well.  The Semi-D chalets and hostels seemed new.  The place was generally well-kept.  There are tall Nibong trees around the park's buildings.  Tall Ru trees are typical of the place and more are seen growing gradually into the sandy beach.  The photos below are the result of a brief 2 hours birding around the Likau beach, between 1600 - 1800 hrs.  What's interesting was watching the Eurasian Tree Sparrow in the act of catching and eating the green caterpillar snatched from the needle-like leaves of the Ru tree. As an interesting sideshow a group of monkeys with their young were seen playing near the beach across the Likau river.  Overall, it was a worthwhile birding trip.

White-breasted woodswallow

Living accomodation for visitors and tourists

Living accomodation for visitors and tourists

Tall Nibong palms around the accomodation area

Ru or Casuarina trees colonizing the sandy beach

Eurasian Tree Sparrow caught a  green caterpillar

Spotted-necked Dove

Common Sandpiper on suspension bridge

Oriental Magpie-robin

A solitary Dollarbird

Barn swallow on suspension bridge

Suspension bridge across the Likau river

A small group of monkeys at the beach across the Likau river

A female Crimson Sunbird and a Little Spiderhunter

Eastern Crimson Sunbird (Aethopyga siparaja)

Eastern Crimson Sunbird - female
in delightful mood

 Most fortunate today to come across the female Eastern Crimson Sunbird.  It was seen flirting around with the male among the branches.  Suddenly it perched above me.  I swung my camera and got the female in happy mode.  Slightly later I waited patiently for the Little Spiderhunter at the yellow ixora bush.  It too was in a delightful mood.  It enjoyed taking the nectar from the ixora flowers.  The moment she saw me in clear sight she made one last call and off she went.
Time : 9.30 - 10.30 am, Location: Zone C

Little Spiderhunnter (Arachnochera longirostra)

A sunbird's perfect mould

Chinese hat plant

 There is a certain perfection between the Eastern Crimson Sunbird and the Chinese hat plant.  Recently I discover that the sunbird is regularly visiting the Chinese hat plant bush.  There are other attractions at the location viz a healthy growing shrub of the yellow ixora and plenty of other heliconia varieties.  Seems like  there's a lot of visiting schedules for the sunbird at this location.  When sipping at the nectar of the Chinese hat plant flower, the sunbird's beak makes a perfect mould with the flower.  More pictures below..

A perfect mould

Sunbird at the heliconia plant

The location - plenty of flowering shrubs, yellow ixora, Chinese hat plant and heliconias
Zone C