An even earlier wake-up call on Monday as we drove off from home at 5.50 am for the highlands. There was almost no traffic towards the 2nd link and we cleared Malaysian Immigration at 6.20 am! It was then an uneventful ride which brought us to the Gap at 12 noon. We were the 2nd car in line. Since we had an hour on hand we walked up to the hill side to check on the trees for birds. Another birder was already there and we greeted each other but before we got to the introduction, a pretty bird caught our attention, it was the Crimson Breasted Flowerpecker. We resumed our introduction and found that Mark is from MNS and was on his way to a workshop that MNS and the Tourism Office were conducting for the hotel staff on Conservation and the importance of birds to the tourist economy of Fraser’s Hill. He was also expecting some other MNS members to attend the 2-day workshop. We spotted a few more birds while waiting and Mark mentioned some places and birds to watch for.
We went back again the next morning this time earlier and as dawn broke the birds were flying in. In one of our walks along near the Methodist House we saw both the Greater and Lesser Yellow-nape Woodpecker and the Lesser Racket-tailed Drongo in the tall dense trees so images taken were not so clear. At the various places we birded we would encounter the rather noisy Long-tailed Sibia and the Chestnut-capped Laughing Thrush and got to know their calls. Even the lesser seen but more colourful Chestnut-crowned Laughing Thrush would also announce its presence. We were lucky to see 9 new birds this trip. For a couple of birds that we could not check from the guide book we had, we got their ID’s very quickly after posting the photo on the Bird Forum so thanks to quick response from the birding community we got all our photographs ID’d. The lifers were : Siberian Thrush – male & female, Streaked Wren Babbler, White Browed Shrike Babbler – male & female, Mugimaki Flycatcher, Golden Babbler, Blue-winged Minla – male & female, Brown Shrike, Green Magpie and the Large Niltava – male & female.
This is our 6th visit to Fraser’s Hill since our first trip in 2009 and is our most rewarding trip having seen such beautiful birds on our own. While it was quiet and not many visitors around we also have Mark to thank who gave us clues where to go. Durei was also helpful telling us where certain species can be found. On our last morning as we were driving out, the Siberian Thrush both male and female were right there on the ground of the car park so we had some good parting shots of our visit.
There are a couple of spots that we have no time to visit which we will check out on our next visit in 4 weeks time.
