Fraser's Hill

Our last morning was spent along the Telecom Loop and will probably be remembered by most of us for the pair of Pygmy Wren-babblers giving prolonged views on a relatively bare earth bank. They gave the full show of singing, feeding and just looking cute and it was a rare opportunity to study them at leisure. And as so often is the case, ‘yesterdays lifer is todays dross’ which appeared to be the case when a Long-tailed Broadbill was out in the open calling from the top of a bare tree and promptly ignored! Well we were looking for a Bay Woodpecker at the time, which incidentally failed to show despite calling for ages. A nice Slaty-backed Forktail, a perched Mountain Imperial-pigeon, numerous Blue-winged Minlas and Little Spiderhunter followed, along with lots of other decent birds as we walked along the road. In particular views of Fork-tailed Swift flying at eye-level, as we admired a wonderful view of forested ridges stretching to the horizon, allowed us to see far more plumage detail than before. However, just when we were beginning to think our time was up and thoughts turned to packing our cases than a Malayan Partridge burst from the undergrowth at the side of the road and flew right in front of us. Then another called from the hillside above and was being answered by others on the opposite side. Eventually another flew across the road and as we waited patiently one bird materialised out of the forest and walked slowly across the road in front of us. Simply amazing. Then, as we approached our waiting minibus a random trawl of the ipod resulted in a Rusty-naped Pitta responding from the slope below us but it just didn’t move its position, and we were already behind schedule so had to leave. We headed to a restaurant for lunch before returning to the hotel to shower and pack before saying our goodbyes to Mike and Marilyn. Our last new bird for the trip was Rufous-bellied Swallow down by the reservoir before we reached Kuala Lumpur and caught our evening flight back to the UK and conclusion of a great tour.

Pygmy Wren-babbler

Pygmy Wren-babbler

Pygmy Wren-babbler

Malayan Partridge (record shot)