Broadbill -Birdwatcher's site

Mountain Birds in Malaysia

Chestnut-capped Laughing-Thrush © Koji TAGI
Abundant in the hill station in Malaysia.

Malaysia was once ruled by the British government. The country still takes part in the Commonwealth Game. The former governors were allegedly reluctant with the humid and hot climate. For them, cool and mild climate was essential for their living. As a result, cooler mountain ranges were developed as a summer resort from the early era. Maxwell Hill, Fraser's Hill and Cameron Highland were so originally developed for the western people.

Those hill stations are also famous among birdwatchers throughout the world. Particularly, Fraser's Hill is famous with the annual bird race which attracts even foreign birdwatchers.

At the Fraser's Hill, where the sea level is above 1,000 meter, you will see many birds. Greater Yellownape and Lesser Yellownape are common hill station woodpeckers, which have yellow nape on the crest. An insect like "toka k-ru't" can be heard repeatedly from the valley. Black-browed Barbet calls normally on the top of the tree. The face is brilliantly collared with blue, black, yellow and red while the body is bright green.　

Red-headed Trogon (refer to Malaysian Bird) is a very quiet dweller.　The trogon is a large bird, approximately same size with a pigeon, with bright red colour, but is surprisingly hard to find. Because, it normally sits very quietly in the lower storey of the forest

Highlight at the hill stations is babblers, such as laughing-thrush. Chestnut-capped Laughing-thrush is entirely slate grey with distinctive white eye ring. The laughing-thrush is numerous at most of the hill stations in the peninsular Malaysia. Another representative species at the hill stations are Silver-eared Mesia (photo). Unlikely the laughing-thrush, Mesia's plumage is very bright. So, the handsome bird is now a symbol bird of the Fraser's Hill. Both the laughing-thrush and mesia are regular members of a bird wave. Among the bird wave, there are other babblers. Blue-winged Minla has a similar shape with mesia but has dull blue wing and tail. Long-tailed Sibia, a magpie like long tailed bird, is very common species at the hill station. Mountain Fulvetta and Golden Babbler are noisy members of the bird wave while White-browed Shrike-Babbler joins with them very quietly. 　Flycatchers are also regular members in the bird wave. Verditer Flycatcher ( Photo Gallery）and Little Pied Flycatcher (Photo Gallery） are sometimes seen. White-throated Fantail (refer to Photo Gallery） and Lesser Racket-tailed Drongo (Photo Gallery) can be also seen commonly.

Among the bird wave, there are sometimes rarities. Cutia(photo right) is an attractive species among birdwatchers who visit Malaysia. The relatively large and chunky babbler vertically perches on the tree trunk likely a nuthatch. It is uncommon and erratic species. So, you can imagine how it is exciting when you find a large nuthatch like silhouette.

Malaysia is also a home for summer migrants of northern Asia, including Japan. So, for me, there was opportunities to see different behaviour of familiar birds in different habitats. Mugimaki Flycatcher(photo) is a passage migrant in Japan. (Mugimaki is a Japanese word, means "sowing wheat".) The flycatcher stays in the edge of the forest of the lowland and montane Malaysia. Siberian Ground Thrush is another common bird which is familiar for me in Japan and is able to see in montane forest. The entirely black thrush loves dark forest as their breeding habitats in Japan. 　

BACK TO MALAYSIAN BIRDS

BACK TO MENU