Walk With Me: 08.09.2018 Again Birding at Taman Botani Negara, Shah Alam.

I went again to Taman Botani Negara, specifically looking to the Spectacled Spiderhunter which I missed in my twp previous visits here. Weather was good, plenty of lighting. I went straight to the paddy field area, but after hearing a familiar call of a woodpecker, I stopped at a tall tree near the entrance. It was a male Common Flameback Woodpecker, busy preening and giving out its signature call.

Common Flameback Woodpecker (Dinopium javanense)

Once done with it, I proceed to the paddy field. Paddy had been planted and there were munias and doves busy feeding on the ungrown paddy seeds. I had a luck to click on Common Kingfisher, a lifer! I met the president of Wild Bird Club, Mr Andy Lee, who told me that the Common Kingfisher is really a passing migrant. It was a new info to me since all the while I was thinking that this little kingfisher is a resident species. There were a juvenile Black Crowned Night Heron and Little Egret too at the paddy field since it was watery.

Pacific Swallow (Hirundo tahitica)

White Headed Munia (Lonchura maja)

White Headed Munias and Zebra Dove feeding on the paddy seeds

Common Kingfisher (Alcedo atthis)

Little Egret (Egretta garzetta)

I then walked to the spiderhunter spot and met another bird photographer who is also waiting for the spiderhunter. I proceed further towards the swimming pool and manage to spot a Little Spiderhunter (lifer), but it was too fast for a good click. Then up above, an Oriental Honey Buzzard (a lifer too), probably a dark morph female was circling above the swimming pool area. I manage to see a Prevost's Squirrel too, one of the most colourful squirrels in Malaysia.

Little Spiderhunter (Arachnothera longirostra)

Oriental Honey Buzzard - Female, Dark Morph (Pernis ptilorhynchus)

Prevost's Squirrel (Callosciurus prevostii)

I walked back along the same path and again met Mr. Andy who told me to wait bear the fruiting tree and end of the path. There I quuetly waited. There were the calls of the White Bellied Woodpeckers yet I cant see them. Suddenly a (1st winter male) Yellow Rumped Flycatcher (lifer) perched infront of me. Lighting was not that good but managed to click. Like the Common Kingfisher this flycatcher is a migrant as well. It is indeed a quiet bird, since it moves quietly among the foliage. I also managed to have a glimpse of a rare inhabitant of the park, the Black Magpie(lifer).

Yellow Rumped Flycaher - 1st Winter Male (Ficedula zanthopygia)

Black Magpie (Platysmurus leucopterus)

I then walked to the paddy field, and there I found another migrant, a female (or could be a male in non breeding plumage) Grey Wagtail, feeding on the mudflats. Quite a shy species as I cant manage to go as close as I want to get a good shot. Then again bumped on Mr Andy and we walked towards the end of the field where we found a group of Baya Weavers. When just about leaving the area, I bumped on a pair of Stripe-Throated Bulbuls.