Urchin's Birding: Fraser’s Hill 21-24 Feb 2011

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.

He said he was going to look for the endemic Malayan Whistling Thrush near where we will be staying but he emphasised we must be early before dawn and we will need to use a hide or stay in our car. No sooner it was 1.00 pm and the barrier was lifted for the up traffic (On this old one-lane road, odd hours reserved for the ascend and even hours to descend). It was a 20 minute drive up the winding road and we arrived at Richmond House where we found we were the only occupants for the period. The temperature was a nice cool 22 deg C perfect weather for walking about. Although we heard that the week before it had rained heavily with some hill-slopes washed down, we were lucky there was only a drizzle early in the morning of Wednesday which did not stop us and other visitors from birding. On this first late afternoon, a walk at Jelai Highland Resort was rewarded with the Black-throated Sunbird, this being the only Sunbird found here.

The Streaked Spiderhunter was also easily seen feeding on the flowers. We were thrilled to see a large blue bird and it was the Large Niltava on this first walk. We saw a few Mountain Bulbuls that afternoon and on other days as well. Next morning at 6.30 am we were out on the road and in the dark we saw another car coming down from the Selangor side, we recognised it was Mark driving. As he approached we asked if we could follow him and he indicated for us pull up on one of the lay-bys. We waited for the Malayan Whistling Thrush that he said was extremely hard to see but would forage on Jalan Mager before daylight. As we waited past 7.00 am we left Mark and headed for Jelai since the house-keeper had told us to come at 7.00 am for the birds in the car park. We were not disappointed as there were many birds feeding on the seeds of the trees and also the dead insects on the ground.

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.