Visit to Taman Negara (Cont’d), Malaysia

This blog is the continuation of my visit to Taman Negara. It was a 3 day trip. The blog on Day 1 of the trip can be found at Visit to Taman Negara, Malaysia.

Day 2

We started the day by 6am in order to do some “owl-ing” in Kuala Tahan. Driving and looking at the electric poles on the road-side did not yield any owls. There were also no calls being heard. So we headed towards a fishing resort located a bit away from the town. It looked like a promising spot. Weng parked the car and we both got out. It was close to dawn.

There was a frequent call coming from the trees nearby. It was that of a Blyth’s Frogmouth! We walked in the direction from where the calls were coming and looked for any movements.  Weng shined his torch at the trees wherever we saw some movements. The initial set of movements that we saw were that of Yellow-vented Bulbuls. Continuing to scan we were extremely lucky to have the Frogmouth land in an open perch at mid-storey. It stayed put for around 10 seconds allowing us to have a good look through our binoculars. I ran to get my camera but the bird had disappeared by the time I got back 😦

With the sun having risen and getting bright we headed back to the resort to a sumptuous breakfast. We then checked out of the resort and headed out to “Hornbill Valley”. We had got reports of the presence of the Wrinkled Hornbill, White-Crowned Hornbill, the Rhinoceros Hornbill and the Helmeted Hornbill. We had heard the calls of the Helmeted Hornbill quite a distance away last evening while waiting at Tahan Hide. I had already seen the Rhinoceros Hornbill in Borneo. Would I get to see the others, especially the Helmeted Hornbill?

“Hornbill Valley” is a must visit according to me. The drive and the valley was very serene and soothing. The sunlight and the mist over parts of the trees was just perfect. The birds were a bonus. Below is a short video of the place:

Driving through we could hear a Gibbon calling. We stopped a bit further as we saw a couple of birds land on a barren tree. They were Common Flamebacks. We drove a little further and parked in a spot which was overlooking the valley. The valley had plenty of tall trees and I could see why Hornbills would like the place. While we waited for the Hornbills to appear we got to observe a Rufous Woodpecker, Dark-throated Oriole and Crimson-winged Woodpeckers making sorties in and off the dry barren tree in front. They were in a while accompanied by a Yellow-crowned Barbet, a lifer for me.

We observed several Whiskered Treeswifts flying around. Calls of the Rufescent Prinia could be heard frequently from the bushes around the area. Soon the loud call of Hornbill reverberated in the valley; Rhinoceros Hornbills. Two of them flew into our view  and continuing the flight far into the valley. Seeing the flight of Hornbills is magnificent; their size, their calls, wing beats.

They were followed shortly by four Bushy-crested Hornbills.  We then drove back to towards the boat jetty at Kuala Tahan. Our entry into the arch leading to Kuala Tahan was greeted by a Crested Serpent Eagle flying overhead. We also stopped to admire a Blue-crowned Hanging Parrot.

Upon reaching the jetty we unloaded all our luggage from the car as we would be staying at Mutiara Resort for the night. Weng then drove away and parked the car at a level higher, a very wise decision as we realised the next day.

At Mutiara Resort we first did the check-in formalities and put our luggage in ours rooms. We decided to explore the trail to the Canopy Walkway in the morning. It was fairly quiet for most part of the way. We did however get to hear calls of several Pin-striped Tit-Babblers, a Dark-necked Tailorbird and see a Rufous Piculet.

On our way back to the Park headquarters we paid a quick visit to Tahan Hide. Approaching the Hide we could hear some birds foraging nearby. Upon silently walking there we got to see the male Crested Fireback along with two females.

Lunch and a short break followed; nothing like a shower to refresh you in the humid conditions! The trail chosen for the rest of the day was the walkway to Lupuk Simpon. The trees just after the Camp Ground yielded two Black-naped Monarchs and a Tiger Shrike. As we walked further we could hear several calls of the Moustached Babbler but were coming from much further in the forest. Activity picked up as we moved ahead. A couple of Ruby-cheeked Sunbirds noisily flew around and a Buff-rumped Woodpecker landing on a tree branch near the boardwalk.

As we walked down onto the section over the water stream we heard the unmistakeable call of the Red-bearded Bee-eater. I did not want to miss this one! I had failed to see this bird at so many other places before. The calls came from different sections of the trees and we kept running back and forth trying to locate it desperately. Finally it landed on a open branch. Phew!

Our attention got distracted by another call; a Crested Jay. It kept moving from one section to another and with us following it.  Its call finally moved towards the side of the river leaving us frustrated to have missed it. Well one can’t have everything I guess. We saw a Stork-billed Kingfisher at the river side patch and our walk back to the Park headquarters yielded an Arctic Warbler, Bar-winged Flycatcher-shrikes and a Rufous-crowned Babbler.

We went for dinner and wanted to go for owl-ing post that. However the rain gods had other plans. It poured as soon as we reached our rooms. No owl-ing that night!

Day 3

The plan was to do owl-ing prior to dawn, then take a boat ride on the Tahan river before breakfast. This was if it did not rain. The rain gods were merciful. No sign of rain when we stepped out at 6AM. We walked into the boardwalk area behind the resort to look for owls. It was pitch black and hardly any sound. Nature is amazing to have evolved creatures that were completely at home in this darkness. Weng scanned the trees with his torchlight. We saw an interesting creature moving around; a Sunda Culago.

We heard the calls of a Reddish Scops Owl somewhere nearby. But it refused to show itself. As it neared dawn we also heard the frequent calls of a White-fronted Scops Owl high up in the tree. Same case with it as well; no visual sighting 😦 .

Weng has organised for the boat to meet us around 7AM. So we walked out of the forest and headed to the boat. We were going upstream on the Tahan river. The main targets were the Straw-headed Bulbul, the Blue-banded Kingfisher and maybe some Hornbills. At the river we could see that the strong showers of yesterday night had risen the water level in the river. One of the floating shops on the other bank had become unmoored from the three sides and the people were working hard to get it moored again.

The first of our targets to make their appearance during the boat journey were a couple of Straw-headed Bulbuls. Their calls are unmistakeable; loud and melodious! But this is their undoing as well. Weng told me that their population has been on the decline elsewhere as they are caught and caged because of the melodious call. Similar has been the fate of several other birds like the Green-Magpie.

As we moved further upstream we saw a set of large birds land on a tree top to the right. The tree top shook with its weight. Surely Hornbills! The boatsman cut the engine and we peered through our binoculars to find it. A movement in the branches allowed us to locate the bird and ID them; White-crowned Hornbill. The boat though it had its motor cut was still moving owing to the downstream current. Trying to take a photograph while on it can be challenging.

After the elation of seeing the Hornbill died down we continued our journey upstream. It was almost immediately cut short again by the calls of the Crested Jay close by. We got to see it as it hopped one bush to another on the river bank. Beautiful bird but no photos could be taken.

The ride upstream produced some more Straw-headed Bulbuls, Blue-throated Bee-eater and a group of Silver-rumped Needetail flying about and occasionally skimming the water. We stopped at the Masher Fish Conservatory and got off the boat for a while. Looking around I spotted a Lesser Fish-Eagle on the river bank almost invisible to us. It took off by the time I went and got my camera from the boat. Lesson! Always have your camera handy.

After the boatman had finished his breakfast of Nasi Lemak we got into the boat and began to head downstream back to the resort. The current was strong with rapids at some spots. But the boatman maneuvered the boat as a Pro. For this return trip he cut the boat engine and used the current to take us back. This was also intentional as we wanted to avoid spooking the Blue-banded Kingfisher it was perched on the tree hanging over the river. We saw a couple of Black-and-Red Broadbills but not the Kingfisher. As we neared the spot where we had seen the Jay, Weng shouted pointing to the sky; Hornbills! We saw two Hornbills fly over there river and perch on top of a tall tree. With several frustrating moments of only seeing its body I managed to get a few shots that allowed us to ID them; Wrinkled Hornbills!

Extremely satisfied we headed back to the resort and had a hearty breakfast. We saw the resident Bushy-crested Hornbill fly in and perch.

Post the breakfast we took the trail leading to Lubuk Simpon. The area after the Camp Ground yielded a Banded Bay-Cuckoo perched in the bushes at eye level.

The rain yesterday had brought out the leeches. There were lots of them on the boardwalk eager to latch on to some passer-bys. There were a few crawling up my pant. I also saw one latched on the area near my thumb. Weng helped pull it out. Well, back to birding. The area near the bridge over the stream produced an interesting call; a Chestnut-backed Scimitar-Babbler! From its continuous call we could make that it was high up on one of the near-by trees. Why do they have to perch so high up 😦 ?. They were literally a pain in the neck. Tilting my neck any further back would have seen me becoming horizontal. Between trying to avoid falling backwards and trying to avoid getting too close to the leeches I finally managed to see the bird.

We walked further ahead and were rewarded by the sight of a Finsch’s Bulbul, a bird that Weng mentions is not common to get to see. Oh well, I guess I do have some lucky days 🙂

We began our walk back to the Park headquarters as we had to do out checkout by 12:30pm. The section just before reaching the Camp Ground gave us another of my target birds; a Red-naped Trogon. It was a female.

Check-out completed we decided to start back to Kuala Lumpur as there was prediction of rain for the afternoon. Breakfast was still sitting heavy in our stomach. So we would lunch later on enroute. We decided to stop at Krau Forest on our return trip in order to try and see the Gould’s Frogmouth.

We put out bags onto the boat and crossed over to the Kuala Tahan side. I could not recognise the area after the jetty. The road that was there for the past two days (where Weng had parked his car on the first day) was now not visible. It was completely submerged owing to the swelling of the river from the rains the previous night! Good thing that Weng had parked his car in the parking lot higher up.

Lunch break was at Jerantut city at the same place we had breakfast on the first day. Upon reaching Krau Forest reserve Weng parked the car at the usual spot. We alighted and almost immediately hear the calls of the Malaysian Rail-Babbler. Getting a chance to see the beauty would be fantastic. It was calling from the area opposite to where we were parked. Our attempts to locate if for over 15 minutes did not yield results. As we walked to the area where the Gould’s Frogmouth was previously seen we met a photographer from Singapore. He told that there were no signs nor calls of the Frogmouth. He also informed us that the area was crawling with leeches given the recent rains. I weighed the chances of seeing the Frogmouth versus becoming lunch for leeches and decided to give it a miss. Back near the car Weng heard the call of a Banded Kingfisher. Soon he spotted it fly in onto a tree nearby. It was a female bird.

We then drove to till the boom gate at the start of the forest reserve and saw a leucitic Pacific Swallow flying around. After this we called it a day and headed back to Kuala Lumpur.

We reached my apartment at around 8:30PM and the trip was over. Some of the birds that I had hoped to see but did not were the Helmeted Hornbill, Crested Partridge, the Garnet Pitta, the Malayan Banded Pitta, the Black-bellied Malkoha and the Chestnut-bellied Malkoha. No regrets though. It had been a wonderful trip.

Trail Videos

Here is a quick view of some parts of the trails and the boat trip that I went on:

Bird Checklist

Below are the checklists for these days:

Taman Negara

• http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S39217719
• http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S39220264
• http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S39220623
• http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S39222137
• http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S39223901
• http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S39240765
• http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S39242316

Krau Forest

• http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S39246088

Mammals Sighted

• Sunda Culago

Heard only

• Gibbon (most likely White-Handed Gibbon)

Other Info

Please check the blog for the Day 1 (Visit to Taman Negara, Malaysia) to get information on Places to Stay, Places to Eat, Weather, Precautions and Recommendations.