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....