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.

After lunch in Kluang we decided Panti would be our next stop for a late afternoon check of birds.

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.  

A Quiet Morning in Panti

Saturday we made an early start for Panti and arrived at 6:50 am, just as the sky was beginning to lighten. Together with Jacky and Lioe, we spent the morning covering most of the bunker trail, but unfortunately it was not a very productive morning. It seems the vehicular traffic has again increased, after a recent lull. Also there was indication of poaching.

Quick Trip to Panti –1 March 2011

An SMS from Lioe had us up early to Panti to meet up with his group.  We were the only 2 cars in the Bunker Trail that Tuesday 7 am.  While the weather was cool and overcast the bird population seems to be late in arousing from their slumber.   Early on the track Lioe spotted a dead Malayan civet which had a small graze wound on its front right leg.  On the ground there was only a tiny spot of blood on the soil so it was a mystery how it came to its end as it appeared young.

Lioe moved it off the track to avoid it being run over and sure enough we were soon disturbed by the rumble of 2 truckloads of lumber coming out, which surprised us as we thought logging had stopped. 

After 2 hours with little success on the main track we decided to move into the shrine track ahead of our friends which was a mistake.   We had missed the Scarlet-rumped Trogon which we would have love to see, it flew across in front of their car.   That means we must try Panti again.

Panti Album

Birding Panti Encore

After our last trip to Panti, we could not resist one more trip, as it seems there is always something new for us to see. We met up with two friends at the start of the Bunker Trail at 7am and off we went. The weather was clear and dry, perfect for a nice morning with nature. We were not disappointed as new (to us) species were seen. The Yellow-breasted Flowerpecker, Raffles Malkoha, Grey-bellied Bulbul and the Spectacled Spiderhunter were all new to us. So we enjoyed another good day in Panti. After lunch in Kota Tinggi it was off home, feeling well fed and a little sleepy but very satisfied with our trip.

Birding Panti Encore