Monday, May 2, 2011

Thursday 28 April 2011 - Good Luck in Panti

An early morning drive into Johor for a visit to Gunung Lambak for a look around at this hill near Kluang.  Morning walkers were enjoying their trek up the hill while someone was exercising his vocal cords.  Jacky heard the calls of the Asian Fairy Blue Bird and after a short while we saw two birds foraging above in the Terentang trees.  As we watched these birds flying to a low bush a few times, we spotted they were nest building as they were picking up mosses from the trees.
Gunung Lambak Photos
After lunch in Kluang we decided Panti would be our next stop for a late afternoon check of birds.
Black-naped Monarch & Panti Photos

We arrived Panti at about 2:30 pm and heard bird calls.  Within a short time, Alyce spotted a nesting bird which turned out to be a Black-naped Monarch which is not common in the area and a locally threatened species.
We were able to observe the bird for quite a while as he seemed quite unconcerned with our attention.
To round off a good day, on our drive out of Panti, we spotted a flock of 7 Plain-pouched Hornbills overhead, flying in a northerly direction. Again, not a common sight so far south.  

Plain-pouched Hornbill