Our second day in the Cameron Highlands was spend descending Gunung Brinchang, a peak of to the west of our hotel that conveniently permitted taxi access to the top via a windy single track road. We opted to take the road route back as jungle track 1 was steep, muddy and very dark looking.
At the peak there is a radio mast station - a walk around the perimeter was successful with large niltava, a big flycatcher, being picked up immediately. The male (above) is a striking blue bird, while the female (below) is more subtle. Not sure what I'd done camera-wise, but |I messed up big time with exposure for most of these shots - the male image clearly shows a shutter speed too low, as the movement of the bird has not been frozen. No worries, it a record at least.
Another species was prominent at the top - white-throated fantail. A very curious species, dropping in front of us to check us out - after a quick spread of the tail they dart back into the darkness of the jungle cover.
The views from the top were beautiful - the dense jungle forms a green carpet over the peaks - it's a habitat that fascinates me, but also frustrates as the birding, without local knowledge, is daunting. Frequently were heard the passage of bird-wave: mixed flocks working the canopy: for the life of me I could not see anything!
White-tailed robin were also numerous and inquisitive to the human visitors. Flash was again priceless in the dark shade of the roadside. The bird below is a juvenile.
As we descended the habitat changed - jungle / rain forest then moss forest and lower down, tea plantations - all very pretty. As we neared the tea plantations the species mix change somewhat - most abundant were mountain bulbul - with their vibrant olive toned wings and tail. This was the only mountain bulbul of the trip that I was able to get level with, all the others were up high.
More on the other species at lower elevations, plus some nice tea plantation pictures in the next installment...
Some great birds that I'll probably never see.......
ReplyDeleteI've been to the tropics several times (not really birding trips) but the only birds I ever got to grips with were in Australia because I had the time to get used to them (I was there a while).
In SE Asia and certainly in South America it was a all a bit much to be honest...........