9. Back to Malaysia. Mountain Peacock Pheasant & Malaysian Rail Babbler

A leisurely breakfast in Pedang, for a change,  before taking the mini bus to the airport and catching our Air Asia flight back to Kuala Lumpur where we'd go our separate ways. Mika was heading to Borneo whilst Tony & Steve headed back to Southern Sumatra & Dan was heading back to Brisbane and a well earned few days rest before continuing his research into Plains Wanderer! 

Fred & I were spending a few days with a guide in Kuala Lumpur as he had unfinished business with a couple of species he'd missed on previous trips. Namely Malaysian Rail Babbler and Mountain Peacock Pheasant. Our guide, Raymond, had booked us into a 'spa retreat' where he'd arranged to pick us up in the morning.  Given we had a few hours to kill before it got dark we got a taxi to take us to the same spot we'd visited two weeks previously where Rail Babbler had been reported on eBird! No sign but it turned out we were in almost the right spot!

With Raymond picking us up in the dark, and driving us in his magnificent 30 year Toyota Landcruiser for breakfast (rice and chicken again!), we were full of anticipation when we arrived at the Japanese Gardens at Bentong Pahang. A short walk through some dense undergrowth and we came to a small blind set in a clearing where the pheasants and Ferruginous Partridge were coming to a feeding station. 

Settling in for the duration we were kept amused by the antics of the local Oriental Magpie Robins, White-rumped Sharma, Buff-breasted Babbler and Orchraceous Bulbuls coming in to feed. 

All nice birds but not what we were waiting to see. Suddenly, and with no warning, a Mountain Peacock Pheasant appeared and started feeding in the clearing whilst we held our breath and started taking photos. Those blue peacock-like markings on the back were stunning making the bird look like it was liberally sprinkled with little sapphires. 

Success! All we needed now was the Ferruginous Partridges to show up. After sitting for almost 2 hours we both felt the need to stretch our legs and go for the inevitable 'bush wee'. Just as we sat down again the partridges appeared to be joined by the pheasant for an encore.

We continued watching for another hour before all the birds just melted back into the undergrowth. We carried on birding the area before going for lunch and making a plan for the afternoon. Raymond wasn't keen on going for the Malaysian Rail Babbler in the afternoon as he said it was better early morning but, with nothing else planned, we took a punt! 

We drove up the track that Fred and I had previously walked twice and stopped at an area that I'd looked at and apparently commented ' that looks ideal for Rail Babbler! We were that close to finding the bird ourselves! 

Settling in the chairs Raymond had thoughtfully provided we watched whilst he baited the area with mealworms and started playing the Rail-babblers call. Something we were very familiar with after listening to it ourselves and trying call back on our previous visits. 

We only had to wait for 20 minutes when Fred noticed a movement behind a clump of greenery and in walked a Malaysian Rail-babbler. The only species of the genus Eupetes and a shy and reclusive species not seen very often! This one bucked that trend. We didn't even have to use a blind.

An absolutely stunning bird and a surreal experience. I was pleased for Fred as he'd managed all his target species on the trip so far. One more to go in the morning! 

Happy Rail Babbler observers with Raymond our guide

After a bit more birding in the area we had dinner before Raymond dropped us off at th hotel arranging ot pick us up at 6 am the following morning to try for Blyth's Frogmouth.

Footnote: It turns out we were extremely lucky with the Rail Babbler. Raymond didn't see it on three subsequent visits and a mate of Freds dipped it twice and spent a total of 10 hours waiting for Ferruginous Partridge to appear.

8. Our last morning on the Tapan Road.

Checking out of our hotel we set off in the vehicles for our last morning birding in Sumatra and the Tapan Road.

With Mika opting to go with Dan to try for closer Sumatran Green Pigeons the rest of us decided to spend our last morning on Tapan Road in the company of Marbled Wren Babbler and the Graceful Pita.

We'd  got a dropped pin for Sumatran Leafbird. An endangered endemic which we'd seen briefly before but wanted to see better to confirm our initial views. Once wed filled our proverbial boots with the babbler and pitta we headed down the road to meet up with Dan & Mika to try again for this uncommon and declining species of leafbird. 

Once again Bobbi's sharp eyes helped us out as, whilst we were scanning treetops for Bar-winged Flycatcher Shrikes and various species of spider hunter, bulbul and flowerpecker, he picked out a family party of Sumatran leafbird relatively close. 

Male Sumatran Leafbird

juvenile Sumatran Leafbird

I'd seen Blue-winged Leafbird in Thailand and we'd seen Blue-masked leafbird at Donau Kaco so this was a nice way to finish our leafbird list.

All to soon it was time to retire to a local restaurant for lunch where we sadly said goodbye to Bobbi & Yudi before starting the arduous journey back to Padang. Two great guysa nd it was a pleasure being in their company.

7. Back to Danau Kaco

Following our successful trip to Danau Kaco for Sumatran Ground Cuckoo we returned to try and see some of the birds we'd missed in our haste to get to the hide at 1st light. 

First up was Ruby-throated Bulbul. A stunning looking bulbul with a black head and a deep ruby read throat contrasting with its greenish yellow body. We heard them easily enough and eventually got good views but no photos. They were extremely flighty - probably as a result of being hunted for the cage bird trade. Another bird we hoped to see was Fulvous-chested Jungle Flycatcher as we'd heard a signing bird on our last visit. 

A real birders bird this and a proper LBJ eventually spotted singing deep in a bamboo thicket! 

Another target species which proved to be surprisingly elusive was the endemic Sumatran Bulbul. On our previous visit we'd staked out several areas where they'd been seen regularly but despite hearing them we couldn't find one! Luck was with us today when Dan suddenly announced he'd got two deep in a tangle of branches. In contrast to the Ruby-throated Bulbul this one was positively dowdy.

Not the most inspiring bird of the trip but still good to catch up with another Sumatran endemic.

Walking slowly up the trail we came across several of these magnificent green lizards which I think are Chameleon Forest Agama's and Sumatran Forest Dragons.

Chameleon Forest Agama

Another bird we'd heard but not seen well was Banded Kingfisher. A species I'd 1st seen in Thailand earlier this year but not particularly well. We managed to track a calling bird down in Danau Kaco and it showed well before disappearing back into the jungle.

We decided to stop at the screen at Hide 2 for a brew as it was also a good spot for Green Pigeon and Sumatran Bulbul. Whilst sitting nursing our black sweet teas a Sumatran Ground Cuckoo called nearby and we eventually saw a pair silently enter the clearing. The male put on a good display but the female, obviously disappointed by the lack of crickets, maintained a low profile and never showed fully.

Me photographing yet another Sumatran Ground Cuckoo

Primates also featured again and this time we were treated to good views of the weirdly named Yellow-handed Mitred Langur. Formerly known as Black-crested Sumatra nLangur these are endemic to Sumatra. 

A great days birding and the guys laid on a fabulous lunch for us before we all posed for a photo against the trail entrance gate before heading for our hotel. Tomorrow would be our last mornings birding before heading on the long journey back to Padang where we'd spend the night before heading back to Malaysia.

6. Tapan Road

Tapan Road is the main road between Sungei Punuh and Mauro Sako. Its a busy road with high and low altitude birding accompanied by the stench of diesel fumes and two stroke from the numerous scooters and the inevitable honking of horns that seems to accompany you everywhere in Asia. Its also probably the best place to see Marbled Wren Babbler and Graceful Pitta. The wren babbler site was inaccessible gully hidden from the road along a small stream but the pitta site was literally on the side of the busy road! 

Marbled Wren Babblers can be really hard to see as they generally skulk around in thick undergrowth. Fortunately for us our guides had a site staked out where a bird was responding to playback and coming to feed on mealworms. So we found ourselves sitting on camping chairs behind a hastily erected mesh screen  in stream concentrating on the fallen log and small waterfall in front of us whilst traffic continued to whizz passed by on the busy road a few metres behind us.

We could hear a bird in the distant and waited quietly as it moved closer and eventually appeared in front of us. A beautiful looking bird and living up to its 'marbled' name.

Buoyed by our success we were keen to try for our next target species and drove a few hundred metres up the road where we parked on a verge and the guys erected another blind in a spot for Graceful Pitta. Yet another species threatened by habitat loss but quite incongruously to be found along the busy Tapan Rd. It was quite a bizarre experience sitting with our backs to the traffic, that continually honked their horns at us, whilst the guys set up a stove and brewed tea for us and we waited for an elusive pitta! 

Once again the ground team produced the goods and before long we heard a pitta calling as it made its way slowly towards where we were sat.

Me and Fred - happy birders after seeing the Marbled Wren Babbler and Graceful Pitta

Finally satiated with our views we had a late breakfast of sweet tea and biscuits before exploring the other areas of Tapan Rd looking for specialities such as Rhinoceros Hornbill, Sumatran Leafbird and Sumatran Green Pigeon and anything else we could pick up! 

Tapan Rd birding