Up-close with the Pied Triller

Pied Triller

 Yesterday (14 June) I had a nice encounter with the male Pied Triller.  This is another peculiarly Kuching bird because I have not seen any triller at the Kambatik park in Bintulu yet.  It is a beautiful bird for it black and white contrast.  Yet despite its beauty I have not yet heard it making any sound or call at the garden here.  My last posting has been a rare encounter with the female of the species.  What excited me in this encounter was the bird's behaviour in catching the bees from above the garden canopy and then settling on the Poui tree branch to pounce or batter the bees on the branch before consuming it.  Here are more pics for the remembrance.

The female Pied Triller

'Sewah Kapas' - Malay or Pied Triller (Lalange nigra)
Perching on the Poui tree (Tabebuia rosea) at the Kuching garden

It is another lifer for me.  On this 53rd trip to Kuching, I had another surprise at our Kuching garden.  On the 11th of June, I saw the female of the Pied Triller species perching on the branch of the Poui tree situated at the side garden.  Like the male of the species which I saw for the first time in August, 2014 it too was resting on the same Poui tree.  The main difference between the male and the female is that  the upper parts of the female are more grey, whereas for the male of the species the upper parts are more black.

A plaintive Cuckoo in Bakun

A surprise  encounter dated 2 April'13 with the Plaintive Cuckoo

 It is not often that I go to Bakun.  This is because it would take a stressful 3 hours travel on road from Bintulu to reach the place known for its hydro-electric dam.  The road is tar-sealed but for many stretches the maintenance standard is poor to unsafe, thus the road conditions discourage many people in Bintulu to explore the area.  In one rare occasion I managed to visit the place when my son invited us to stay for a few days and nights at his accomodation provided by the company he was working with at Bakun dam.   On the 2nd of April,2013 while taking a morning walkabout I stumbled upon a Plaintive Cuckoo, a male of the species as shown in picture above.  

The Bakun dam, showing the rush of water into the air from the overflow channel.
2 April'13
Note: The dam reservoir of water which is about the size of Singapore is not seen in the picture.