In the late 19th century, expeditions were often organised by explorers, nautralists, businessmen and missionaries to the Southeast Asian region. The latest exhibition at the Asian Civilisation Museum (ACM) features more than 300 artefacts by six of these collectors during their many trips. Many of their collections made their way to the then Raffles Library & Museum (the present National Museum of Singapore), the first museum in Singapore. Established in 1849, the museum was founded to study the region’s exotic flora and fauna. The Hunter & Collectors exhibition in ACM recreates the old museum with the many cabinets of rich ethnographic collection and natural history specimens; the latter were on-loan from the Zoological Reference Collection of the Raffles Museum of Biodiversity Research (RMBR).

Well, frankly speaking, it was a time when natural specimens were collected through ‘hunting’, which means that predators like tigers and leopards, the ‘hunters’ themselves, were now the ‘hunted’, by early collectors.

The hunter….a leopard taken from the zoo…

The highlight of the natural specimens section must be this one…not sure if I have seen this specimen in the RMBR during my many visits there…

A leopard (panthera pardus) poised to pounce! These cats can run at speed
of around 58 km (36 miles) an hour, three times faster than an average
human being!

According to the sign, “leopards were found in Singapore at Pulau Ubin, the
MacRitchie Reservoir before 1924, and one is believed to have been shot near
Orchard Road! Although they are believed to be extinct here since WWII,
leopards have reportedly been sighted on Tekong island around 1988.”

This tiger was at the RMBR gallery…but I like the shadow cast. The teeth
looked a bit comical….haha…

This is the False Gavial (Tomistoma schlegelii). The stockier one is the
Estuarine Crocodile (Crocodylus porosus), and can be seen at the Sungei
Buloh Wetland Reserves

Since some of the specimen on display were the same as those in the gallery of RMBR, we shall not show those again.

Yes, I have showed and written about these Proboscis Monkeys (Nasalis
larvatus) on my last visit to RMBR. But what I did not notice was this…

..that the Proboscis has this distinctive white patch on the rear end that looks
like it is wearing a white underwear! Hahahaha….! These guys are good swimmers
and can dive underwater..er…no wonder they need the white swimming trunk..
haha…The thick brown coat looks like a vest… Somehow it looks lost on
the specimen…

This is the Siamang (Symphalangus syndactylus), the largest gibbon and one
of the noisiest

The Siamang is aboreal and a vegetarian. This species was named by
Stamford Raffles

Can’t remember if this beautiful specimen was displayed at RMBR. This is
Asian Brown Tortoise (Manouria emys). The one Itchyfingers rescued at
Fraser’s Hill should be this species…

This one is so cute, with the head and limbs tucked in! According to the
sign, this is the Pineapple Tortoise (Indotestudo elongata). I have never
heard of such a tortoise species, and thought I have seen similar ones like this…

And yes! A search online says the Pineapple Tortoise is another name for the
Elongated Tortoise. They are also known as Red-nosed Tortoise (how apt!),
Yellow Tortoise and Yellow-headed Tortoise. This sweetie is from the zoo..

This Orange-spotted Grouper (Epinephelus coioides) must be the grumpiest
fish I have ever seen…hahah… Looks much better when it is alive…

The grumpy fish seen in the old museum in this archival photo…

Moving on, we were attracted by these beautiful drawings by Carl Alexander Gibson-Hill, a British medical doctor, naturalist, ornithologist and curator of the Raffles Museum, in the 20th century. Hmm, no wonder his depiction of the birds and animals were so accurate.

This is the Lesser Crow-Pheasant, or the Lesser Coucal (Centropus
bengalensis javanensis). Can’t find our picture of this bird taken in the wild…

Not too sure if this is the other name for the other Pipit found locally?

Lapwings in flight

The Red-wattled Lapwing (Vanellus indicus) taken in the wild

Notice how the artist used white paint to correct on the paper which had
since turned yellowish with time… :p This is the Spotted Dove (Streptopelia
chinensis), a common bird in Singapore

The ’spots’ on the neck are actually from black tips of the white feathers.
Somehow, many malays like to keep these as pets

The Eastern Swallow, better known as the Pacific Swallow (Hirundo
tahitica) here

Unlike Swifts, Swallows can perch and come to the ground to drink or
gather nesting material. Pacific Swallows are common in Singapore, usually
near water and open country, along the coast and also in mangroves

By far, this is the least accurate of all the drawings. This is supposed to be the
Yellow-vented Bulbul (Pycnonotus goiavier)…a bit fat leh… :p

The Yellow-vented Bulbul with the newly fledged…a very common bird in
Singapore

The Siamang

The Long-tailed Macaque (Macaca fascicularis)

Remember Itchyfingers’ post on ‘Monkey See, Monkey Do‘?

Besides the live size specimens, there are also some in this form…

Flattened like pancake… :p This is the Sunda Colugo (Galeopterus variegatus)
or the Malayan Flying Lemur. Itchyfingers just read on the latest issue of
Nature Society’s magazine about a pair of mating colugo, which showed the
male as a brownish one and the female as the more grayish one. This brown
specimen was labelled as a male too

Can you see anything here?

Now, you can see it! The Malayan Colugo are not related to true lemurs of
the Madagascar. These nocturnal and often well camouflaged animals have
membranes that connect their legs and tail, enabling them to glide from
tree to tree…Itchyfingers have yet to get the chance to see them glide…

The greyish female with a baby…

Remember the Jungle Nymph (Heteropteryx dilatata) that Itchyfingers once cut open?

So many butterflies, some of which Itchyfingers have never seen before…
Remember the Atlas Moth (Attacus atlas) we wrote about?

The Common Birdwing (Troides helena). This specimen must have aged a lot…

..cos the life butterfly spots a bright yellow on the wings…Was so thrilled
to see this big butterfly again recently…

Nowadays, specimens are no longer acquired through the organising of expeditions…thanks goodness!  Most of the newer specimens are from dead animals collected locally. Since the open house of RMBR few months ago which attracted a lot of visitors, many who were first-time visitors, vast interest in natural history was generated and discussed on the papers. It was said that plans for a new and bigger gallery space are being explored, as RMBR has so many more specimens that were only accessible to researchers. Hopefully Singapore will have a better museum for natural history very soon! In the meantime, do visit the Hunters & Collectors Exhibition at the ACM from now till 21 September, or look out for Itchyfingers’ next post for more!

Also see related posts:
> Seeing Double
> Humming to the Wrong Tune – Mistaken Identities #3
> Slow But Steady – World Turtle Day
> Changing Colours – Mistaken Identities #2
> Living in Cold Blood – Mistaken Identities #1
> Snake Tales
> Monkey See, Monkey Do
> The Web Crawler
> Raffles Museum of Biodiversity Research
> Attaining Immortality – Body Preservation
> Life in the Mountain – Fraser’s Hill, Malaysia Trip #4

Singapore has many strange or funny street and road names. Being Itchyfingers, we have been wondering about the origins of some of these names. One of them is this small road along Alexandra Road. I first noticed it when we drove past some time ago and had wanted to go check it out. We finally found some time to take a look recently.

So what’s so strange about this road?

It is called BURY ROAD.

What? Bury Road? Sounds creepy…why called it that? Was this place a burial
ground? Old Cemetery?

From the main road we could see one small stretch of black-and-white houses sitting on this Bury Road. We drove in and parked at the front. The moment we stepped down the car, we heard the familiar calls of rooster. I looked around and found a male and a female among the grass, but they were sensitive of our presence and quickly moved deeper in…Hence I could only manage this lousy record shot.

This male is no ordinary rooster. This is the Red Jungle Fowl (Gallus Gallus),
said to be ancestor of domesticated chickens. The most distinctive feature is
the white ear patch and a white puff at the base of the tail

Itchyfingers have seen Red Jungle Fowls in Pasir Ris Park, Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve, Pulau Ubin and even on the grass near the canal where I jog. There used to be more of them around, especially in Pulau Ubin. But after the culling of all poultry was done as a measure against the Avian Influenza (Bird Flu) some years back, there seems to be lesser sightings of these Jungle Fowls…poor thing…maybe some of them were mistaken as domesticated chicken and were sacrificed as a result…

There was this house with a lot of visitors, it looked like they were having some gathering. Not wanting to disturb or alarm them, we quickly moved further.

Stretch of nice black and white houses facing the main road

Black-and-white wooden fencing…

Nice contrast

Reminds me of those old fashioned baskets…

Right at the end there was this house…All the houses seemed to be buried
under thick vegetation and trees…so undisturbed despite the fact that they
were so close to the main road…

House number with old fashioned font…

We couldn’t see any hints or evidences that could suggest why this small road is called Bury Road. Even now when I tried to do a search on the origin of this road, I couldn’t seem to find any. Although we couldn’t find the answer, but we like the black-and-white bungalows we saw along Bury Road, something which Itchyfingers have always wanted to take photos of but couldn’t have done it earlier when we weren’t driving, as many of them are quite inaccessible via public transport. Hence this visit to Bury Road would be the beginning of Itchyfingers‘ search for more old black-and-white bungalows in Singapore!

Also see related posts:
> Gimme a Lift
> When Margaret Meets the Queen #2
> When Margaret Meets the Queen #1
> Growing Up in A One-Room Flat
> A Narrow Escape
> Secret Garden in the Last Kampong
> Balek Kampong – A Return to Village Dwelling
> Far From the Madding Crowd

The paper just reported that the Marina Bay Sands Integrated Resort (IR) have finished the construction of all its 55 floors. Itchyfingers have been trying to record its progress whenever we have the time if we were in the vicinity, and knowing that this would be the last stage before they put up the sky park, we thought we better come and take some photos.

Report on The Straits Times, 27 July 09

This was taken in March…

Within a period of three months, the three hotel towers have more than
doubled in height! Very fast hor?

Before we even reach the Merlion Park, we already saw these…

We were wondering what these gold ingots (元宝) were doing there?

Then we realised they must be part of the National Day Parade performance! Itchyfingers had unintentionally coincided our visit with one of the National Day rehearsal! Yeah! Since we have not not been lucky to get any tickets to the preview or the actual day celebration, being able to catch a sneak preview should be quite fun too! So we decided to wait for the time to come. :p

While waiting, we spotted a White-bellied Fish Eagle riding the thermal, soaring around the IR and the Singapore Flyers. Then it dived into the water to pick up his meal! Unfortunately, we did not have our binoculars with us. It was very far, so even if we had our big lens, we would not be able to take a decent photo of it. But being Itchyfingers, I just had to take a photo for the kick of it…hahah…:D

The eagle circling around…

People on the Flyer should be able to get a pretty decent view of the
majestic eagle…er…unless they dismissed it as a super big crow… :O

With a long lens, this is what you might be able to capture against a clear
blue sky if it is soaring nearer..the biggest raptor found in Singapore

Finally, action started! These boats with the huge inflated balloon ingots, er, or should they be origami boats…, started to steer towards the floating platform where the actual parade will be held. As we could not hear clearly what was happening over there, we didn’t really know why these boats kept moving to and fro without any formation or purposes…hahah…but it was a nice contrast against the blue sky.

I wanna sing the children song, 小白船 (little white boats)…hahah…you
could tell it was a very hot afternoon…

It was a long wait before we saw tiny red dots descending from the sky…

It’s the Red Lion Parachute Display!

All landed gracefully and safely!

The sun setting slowly, leaving its glow on the IR

Reflection on the water…

It was another long wait before we finally spotted the Chinook and Apache helicopters in the distance taking their respective position, getting ready.

The Chinook making its appearance…

Then came closer..and closer….

Our position was good as the Chinook came very close! Er, too close in fact! We were happily taking photos when it came so low and close to the people around the park that water started to splash all over under the forceful blades of the helicopter! Wow! It felt like raining! Couldn’t record any pictures cos we were busy keeping them away from the water!

Then came the Apache!

Our small cameras could only manage shots like these…so small…

Another highlight we were waiting for was the huge flag flyover. But it came directly from behind us, and then over our heads, which meant that we couldn’t see the full display of the flag!

There goes the flag! Arrrrgh!

We left after this as the rest of the performance would be too far for us to see from our position. Hopefully we can find some other time to catch the rehearsal again..this time, with bigger lens!

Visit any sizable park or nature reserve in Singapore and chances are you will be able to see some brightly coloured little birds zipping about, collecting nectars from flower to flower. These are the Sunbirds (太阳鸟). These tiny birds’ flight is fast and direct but occasionally, they can be seen hovering briefly over flowers. The Sunbirds are another group of native wildlife that have suffered from frequent misidentification. Indeed, the ability to hover whilst feeding from the flower is a distinctive behaviour of another more well-known family of birds not found in our island, the Hummingbirds (蜂鸟).

A male Olive-backed Sunbird (Nectarina jugularis) (11 cm) feeding

Itchyfingers think a lot of people mistake the Sunbirds for Hummingbirds due to a couple of reasons:

1. Sunbirds, like the Hummingbirds, are very small birds that feed almost exclusively on nectar (the sunbirds do take insects and arthropods when feeding their nestlings). While Sunbirds are small birds with an average size of 10 -13 cm, they are considerably larger compared to the average Hummingbirds. In fact, the smallest bird in the world, the Bee Hummingbird is roughly 6 cm in length and a mere 1.6 grams in weight!

A male Copper-throated Sunbird (Nectarina calcostetha) (14 cm) bringing
an insect to feed its young

2. Both birds are colourful, with many species that are brightly iridescent. Males are usually more attractively coloured than females for both the Hummingbirds and Sunbirds.

The male Copper-throated Sunbird may appear all black in poor light, but they
actually have metallic green cap; copper throat and upper breast; dark purple
lower breast and belly

In contrast, the female Copper-throated sunbird has a greyish head, dark
olive upperparts, throat and greyish under tail coverts; breast and belly
greenish yellow; tail black with bold white tips

The male Plain-throated Sunbird (Anthreptes malacensis), also known as
the Brown-throated Sunbird (14 cm), has brown throat and metallic blue
shoulder patch

The female Plain-throated Sunbird in her duller coat….life’s unfair isn’t it?

3. They both have long and slim bills adapted for collecting nectar from flowers. Indeed, the similarities in Sunbird and Hummingbird morphology (form and shape of the animal) can be explained by evolution convergent, whereby two unrelated groups of animals acquire similar physical trait(s) due to them occupying similar ecological niches.

Hmmm…that’s about it…though there are in fact more differences between the two families of bird than similarities.

Hummingbirds are strictly New World species and hence occur naturally in the Americas. Sunbirds however are Old World birds found mainly in Asia and Africa. Sunbirds are passerine (or the so called perching birds) just like our Mynas, Sparrows and Crows, while Hummingbirds are non-passerine birds more closely related to Swifts.

Though both have long bills, the Hummingbirds have much longer bills in relation to their body size. Some of them have specialised bills adapted to collect nectars only from certain type of flowers. While Sunbirds can sometimes be seen hovering when feeding on nectar, they do not do this all the time. Instead, most of the time they will perch on branches while feeding. Hummingbirds hover in mid-air almost all the time while feeding. They do this by rapidly flapping their wings (12-90 times per second depending on the species). They can also fly backwards, and are the only group of birds able to do so. Their English name derives from the characteristic hum made by their rapid wing beats. They can fly at speeds exceeding 15 m/s (54 km/h; 34 mph).

The male Plain-throated Sunbird perching upside down

Hummingbirds build a cup-shaped nest like many birds do. The Sunbirds’ nests are unmistakable hanging pouches.

All in all, Hummingbirds are just better known to the general public as they are always featured in books, documentaries and advertisements etc. Since when did you see a Sunbird on tv commercial? :p

Itchtyfingers remember a few years back, our very own Crimson Sunbird (Aethopyga siparaja) was voted to be one of the likely candidates to be selected as Singapore’s national bird. This was by virtue of the fact that the male of this species was so strikingly handsome but it was also a defiant but apt analogy for Singapore, a gutsy “little red dot”.

The male Crimson Sunbird (11 cm)

Also see related posts:
> Slow but Steady – World Turtle Day
> Changing Colours – Mistaken Identities #2
> Living in Cold Blood – Mistaken Identities #1

Itchyfingers did some birdwatching while walking around the Taroko National Park. Most of these birds were our ‘lifers’ – meaning, they were birds which we saw for the first time…so naturally we were thrilled to be able to see them.

Our first bird just outside our hostel was this beautiful and cooperative bird…

This is the female Daurian Redstart (Phoenicurus auroreus) 北紅尾鴝

This small 15cm bird feeds on insects, berries and seeds. It breeds in Siberia, northeast China, Tibet and Mongolia and is a common winter resident in most parts of Taiwan, from low to medium elevations, including secondary forest, clearings, gardens and open areas near settlements. Hmm…no wonder we saw this female perching prominently in the open. The female is brownish overall, with a white wind patch, and rufous tail with dark brownish central feather. The bill and feet are black.

And Itchyfingers were so lucky to see the male Daurian Redstart! If we were to take a bus instead of walking in the chilly winter weather, we would surely have missed it since the bus would probably just zoom past!

The gorgeous male Daurian Redstart has brownish-black face, back, throat
and wings, with bright rufous underparts. The crown and nape are grey with
silvery edges. There is a prominent white wing patch, and the central tail
feathers are blackish, the rest of the tail being rufous

At this same spot, the Lyushui Geological Information Centre near the Lyushui Trail, we also saw two other birds. A pity this trip was not meant to be a birding trip, so the camera equipment we brought along was not ideal…which means that the birds would turn out too small unless we were to go nearer to them. So Tisu Boy was busy trying to catch all three without frightening them. 

We weren’t too sure if it was the Pale Thrush…as we couldn’t find an exact
match on our books  

This should be the Dusky Thrush…

We saw a few Plumbeous Water Redstarts (Rhyacornis fuliginosus) while
walking. This cute female Plumbeous Water Redstart 鉛色水鶇 (12-14cm)
was posing  for us at the campsite. Click here to listen to birdcall

The male has dark, lead-coloured plumage, a light gray lower belly and tinted black forehead and cheek; chestnut red upper and lower tail coverts, tail feathers, and flight feathers, which are also dark brown on the edges.

Females have a dark gray abdomen and back, with the former covered with
white spots and the latter slightly light brown on the sides; white upper
and lower tail coverts; and dark brown tail and flight feathers. Both male
and female Plumbeous Water Redstarts have black beaks and light brown
legs and feet

Formosan Yuhinas 冠羽画眉 are gregarious and always seen in flocks. Click here
to listen to its beautiful call 

The Taiwan Yuhina (Yuhina brunneiceps), formerly known as “Formosan Yuhina”, is a small songbird endemic to the island of Taiwan. The Taiwan Yuhina is 13 cm in length with a deep brown chestnut-coloured crest and a black beard stripe descending from its beak. The bird’s back, wings and tail are olive brown, and its lower breast is lighter in colour. 

On our last day in Taipei, Itchyfingers decided to pay the Taipei Botanic Garden a visit to check out on the supposedly ‘very easy to find’ and ‘everywhere also can see’ Malayan Night Heron. We walked around for about 10 minutes at the areas where sightings of the heron were reported and could only see this other heron.

The Black-crowned Night Heron 黑冠夜鹭(Nycticorax nycticorax), though
not that common, can be seen in Singapore

As we had only one morning before flying back home, we were quite anxious to find the Malayan Night Heron. As Tisu Boy was looking around and taking pictures of some other common birds, I saw the Visitors’ Centre and thought of going in to check it out, and maybe asked the staff if they had any idea where the herons could be found. But before I could go near the centre, a lady doing stretching just outside greeted me so we started chatting. She said she was a volunteer guide of the garden, so I asked her if she knew where to find the heron. But handicapped by my limited knowledge of bird names in Mandarin, I had to resort to describing the bird’s look and size before finally remembering the chinese name for heron is 鹭. 

“夜鹭?”, she asked. “Just over there you can see one.”

“Oh, no, not 夜鹭 (Night Heron)…we saw that there too”, I replied. “Is the other kind of heron….”. Er…I really dunu what is the name of the Malayan Night Heron. “It’s something a lot of birders come to see…”. I could only say that. 

“是麻鹭吗?”, she asked. I was lost and luckily Tisu Boy walked over in time, and confirmed that’s the Malayan Night Heron we were looking for.

So the kind lady offered to bring us to look for the bird.

She took us to the few possible roosting and feeding spots in the garden but unfortunately there was none to be found. On the way while looking for the heron, she also showed us some interesting plants. We saw two photographers taking photos of a Barbet and saw many of these bulbuls…

The Light-vented Bulbul 白头翁 (Picnonotus sinensis formosae)

“The Light-vented Bulbul is a medium-sized (19 cm), noisy, conspicuous bulbul with a black crown, a white nape stripe bordered posteriorly by a black band, a thick black moustachial stripe and a buffy auricular patch.  The back and wings are grayish with olive yellow highlights and edgings to the flight feathers;  the throat and undersides are white, separated by a grayish-brown, diffuse breast band. The bill and legs are black.

Light-vented Bulbuls feed on berries, soft fruits and vegetables, as well as insects, which they sometimes capture in the air.  They are noisy and gregarious, forming large flocks in winter. They make a wide variety of whistling, chattering and chirping calls. In Taiwan their breeding season is from March to July. The nest is cup-shaped, usually placed in the fork of a bush or hedge. It is constructed mainly of coarse grasses, and may be lined with rootlets, fine grasses, leaves and flowers, as well as man-made materials such as pieces of cotton and paper. Usually 3-4 eggs are laid. The Light-vented Bulbul is a common resident of Taiwan from lowlands to about 500 m, preferring borders of cultivated areas, orchards, gardens, scrub and open woodland.”

A record shot of the Gray Treepie (Dendrocitta formosae formosae) 灰樹鵲

The lady was kinda determined to help us find the heron we wanted to see, and even asked around regular visitors if they had seen the birds that day. Nope. No one seemed to have seen them, but they were all very helpful to suggest places. One lady even showed us her video clips of some nice birds at another park she took just few days ago. 

It was only after more than half an hour of walk that we finally spotted a lone heron! Wow! 

The Malayan Night Heron (Gorsachius melanolophus)马来亚夜鹭 or 
黑冠麻鹭, as it is known in Taiwan. This should be an immature bird with
“grayish-brown with black and white spots; underparts are buff with brown
spots and bars”

The Malayan Night-Heron is a medium-sized heron, about 47 cm in length. The crown is black, with black crest extending to the nape. The upperparts are dark reddish-brown with fine streaks. The eye ring is light blue. Wings are black, fading outward to reddish-brown. Primary feather tips are white. The face is reddish-brown; the chin and upper breast are paler.  The yellowish-brown breast has a central row of black streaks. Malayan Night-Heron is a shy, rare resident of lowland vegetation near water. When disturbed, it may raise its crest.

Wow! Lifer again…!

We wanted to stay to take better and closer shots of the lone heron but the enthusiastic lady wanted to show us the herons’ nesting place. We were feeling grateful to have been able to see the Malayan Night Heron if not for her help, so we were glad to just follow.

Like any other herons, the nest of the Malayan Night Herons is a messy
collection of twigs built high on tree. This was a left over nest from the last
breeding season 

A Common Moorhen swimming gracefully…

The kind lady excused herself as she needed to attend to her volunteering work so we ended our walk, left our thank-you message on the guestbook at the Visitors’ Centre and bid the kind lady good-bye, before going on a last-minute- scheduled quick visit to the Contemporary Art Gallery of Taiwan. 

Also see related posts:
> National Treasures – Taipei, Taiwan Trip #19
> Funny Signs. Interesting Finds – Taiwan Trip #18
> Food Glorious Food! – Taiwan Trip #17
> Everyone Says Good Good Eat…Again! – Taiwan Trip #16
> Answer to Nature’s Call #3 – Taiwan Trip #15
> Nine Portions with Nine Lives – Taiwan Trip #14
> Déjà Vu and a Brief Encounter – Taiwan Trip #13
> Letting Our Imagination Run Wild – Taiwan Trip #12
> Walking in the Wind – Taiwan Trip #11
> A Walk Along the Cliff – Taiwan Trip #10
> Away From the Concrete Jungle – Taiwan Trip #9
> Shit Happens – Taipei, Taiwan Trip #8
> Gorilla in the Mist – Taipei, Taiwan Trip #7
> It’s a Cat! No! It’s a Bear! – Taipei, Taiwan Trip #6
> Wow Cow! Holy Cow! So Many Cows! – CowParade @ Taipei, Taiwan Trip #5
> Gong Xi Fa Cai! – Taipei, Taiwan Trip #4
> Holy Cow! – CowParade @ Taipei, Taiwan Trip #3
> Wow Cow! – CowParade @ Taipei, Taiwan Trip #2
> Buy One Get One Free! – Taipei, Taiwan Trip #1 

On Boxing Day, Itchyfingers followed a group of friends and made our first attempt at driving into Malaysia for a birding day trip.

As usual, we met up at about 5.30 am at the bus-stop opposite Beauty World Shopping Centre. Normally it would take us about half an hour to drive to the Woodlands Custom before passing through the Malaysia side. Then it would be another half an hour or so drive to Kota Tinggi town for brekky and loo break before heading to the Panti Forest to catch the birdies singing. It was quite some time since we last visited Panti together, and after a quick hello session and filling of the white cards, we made our way to the checkpoint at around 5.50 am.

We passed smoothly through the newly opened Malaysia Sultan Iskandar Sultan Ismail CIQ (New Johor Bahru Custom) using the Touch ‘n’ Go cards for payment. It was the first time we were using the new Malaysia Custom, and despite having an online GPS system on the leading car, we got lost eventually, driving along the side facing Indonesia instead of the usual straight forward road toward Kota Tinggi Town. Itchyfingers were especially lost since it was our maiden drive and nearly lost our friends at one turn when we were blocked by a lorry. 

Eventually, we had to stop by the road and ask direction from the local and couldn’t believe our luck when he volunteered to drive and show us the way towards the Kota Tinggi town, cos he wasn’t too sure of some of the smaller road names. Dun think in Singapore we could find such helpful souls…hahah…:D

By the time we reached the town it was already quite bright at around 7.30 am…normally we would have to drive in the dark and reach before seven at the town for brekky. So we thought our friends would just drive straight to Panti. But they still stopped for brekky and loo break. :p 

We reached Panti about one and half hour later than usual. Those of us who haven’t been there for a while were surprised by the changes made – there are now a visitor centre, car park and a viewing tower. The road had been paved, not too sure if they wanted to pave it all the way inside or not.

Pavilion in the middle of the pond…

Then suddenly from a distance I saw a doggy running towards us…What was this doggy doing here?!? Wow, she was so excited to see humans…either for the company or for the food. She followed us around, even when we started to drive in…and stopping when our cars stopped…

Persistent doggy followed our cars throughout the whole visit….

Not too long later, it started to drizzle heavily…:( What rotten luck. We did manage to see some birds, but with the rain, it was not ideal for taking photographs.

Looked as if my friend was walking his doggy in the park huh? :p

Doggy frowned a lot…must be tired and hungry after all the following and chasing
of cars…rain or shine…poor thing…

Some of the goodies we had for picnic in the forest….

We did not forget our loyal doggy companion who followed us all the way…it must be one of her happiest days…

Doggy finally taking a break after having her full of Christmas turkey and biscuits…

We called it a day slightly after noon as it wasn’t a very fruitful birding trip, though we did get to see some nicer birdies. Quite sad to have to leave doggy alone again in the forest…although there were workers coming in to pave the road…hope to be able to see her the next trip…she was such a friendly doggy… :O 

Lunch was at the usual Popular Restoran in the town. Getting back was much easier, maybe because it was day time. Usually by now I would be dozing off in the car all the way back to the custom, but since it was our first time driving, my eyes were wide open looking out for our friends’ car to follow closely…to help me keep awake, I took pictures of the many dramatic clouds…:p

We changed our ‘target’ and followed this friend’s car instead cos she was
slower….

Dramatic clouds kept me awake…:p

It took a while to clear the customs on both sides…By the time we reached Singapore, it was already late afternoon…So tired and sleepy…Tisu Boy complained of stiff shoulder muscles after that…but we were glad we made our maiden drive into Malaysia and look forward to more drives in the near future!

Also see related post:
> Life in the Mountain – Fraser’s Hill, Malaysia Trip #4
> Tick, Twitch and Snap! – Fraser’s Hill, Malaysia Trip #3
> Racing Above Sea Level – Fraser’s Hill, Malaysia Trip #2
> An Escape Into the Mountains – Fraser’s Hill, Malaysia Trip #1

Birdwatching is an activity where one ‘watches’, or rather, observes birds and their behaviours. There are a few types of birdwatchers. The first type is a ‘Ticker’‘ where one is satisfied just seeing as many birds as possible and putting a tick on his bird list. Often, a Ticker may not be interested to see birds that he has seen before. Many times, Tickers may ‘progress’ into ‘Twitchers‘. ‘Twitching‘ is a British term, meaning the observation of a previously located rare bird. Thus a Twitcher is one that is obsessed with accumulating species on his bird list that he may go all the way to chase or wait for rare birds. Then there are the group of birdwatchers who take photographs or video as record purposes. Birdwatchers learn and appreciate more about the feathered friends. Often, there will be a certain degree of twitching in every birdwatcher in the quest to see more bird species, otherwise we won’t be travelling to places looking for birds liao. Hahaha….

One of the most unlikely places for birdwatching must be this rubbish
tip at Fraser’s, where birders often endured the rotting smells to wait
for a glimpse of the Blyth’s Hawk Eagle. This pile seen here was considered
small and smell ‘mild’ compared to some times back…:p

There are also many jargons in birdwatching. A ‘trash bird’ is a bird that can be commonly seen everywhere. It’s almost guaranteed that you will see these birds. Our local thrash birds include the House Crows, Mynas and Sparrows etc. In Fraser’s Hill, their ‘trash birds’ are far more beautiful…

The Silver-eared Mesia, a commonly seen bird….wow! Their ‘thrash bird’
so colourful! :O

The Chestnut-capped Laughingthrush with its mouthful of worms for brekky…

The cute little Mountain Fulvetta

The less colourful but still elegant Long-tailed Sibia. These birds are
often among the first to arrive in a ‘bird wave’, where flocks of different
species of birds come together to feast on insects

The Lesser Racquet-tailed Drongo, a montane species. This one lost its racquet.
Under good lighting condition and you would be able to see its glossy
blue hues, which otherwise looked dark and dull

One of the happiest moments in birding must be seeing a ‘lifer’, a term used to describe the new bird seen for the first time.

The Blue Nuthatch, one of my lifers for the last trip

Seeing something new is always exciting, but sometimes seeing the whole family together made my day too!

The male Large Niltava with a fat meal for junior…Females have duller
coat of browns

The juvenile Large Niltava resembles mummy but has more spots

If you are lucky, you can find nests. These are the Glossy Swiftlets

This trip might not be our best trip for bird photography, but photo opportunities were abundant in Fraser’s Hill. Besides the many birds, there were also many different species of moths, insects and beautiful flowers. Gibbons were often heard and sometime seen too!

Behind the scene…No lah, Tisu Girl can’t lug this monster around the
mountain, it’s Tisu Boy…hahaha

Also see related post:
> Racing Above Sea Level – Fraser’s Hill, Malaysia Trip #2
> An Escape Into the Mountains – Fraser’s Hill, Malaysia Trip #1

Our friend timed our visit to Frasers’ Hill last month for a couple of reasons: firstly, it was still within the breeding seasons for our feathered friends and secondly, it coincided with the annual Fraser’s Hill International Bird Race. Not only we could catch up with some fellow birdwatching friends but at the same time, we would have more pairs of eyes looking for rarer birds.

Wow this lady already started to spot birds even before the race began…

So what’s a “Bird Race“? Well, basically it is like the well-known tv show, “The Amazing Race”, where teams race around places. A “Bird Race” is where teams of birdwatchers, or birders, try to spot the most numbers of birds species within a time frame. In Singapore, we also have our annual bird race organised by the Nature Society (Singapore), where teams of at least three in two categories – the Advanced or the Novice, go around Singapore in search of birds within 24 hours and 19 hours respectively. It’s basically a game of strategy and stamina, where birders were tested on their familiarity with the birds’ habits as well as habitats so they could plan their route properly.

The bird race in Frasers’ Hill, organised by the Tourism Board of Pahang, attracted birders from Malaysia as well as overseas and many of our birding friends had joined the race before. In conjunction with the race, booths from different nature related groups and companies were set up.

The town centre was under renovation, so banners had to be hung on
these ugly make shift panels

A carnival-like event where kids were entertained by clowns…Fraser’s
Hill, besides being a favourite haunt for nature lovers, is also
a holiday spot for families. So you get to see kids running around the
bird race booth

Hey, whassup?

The Seasame Street Clown….

I love this hornbill poster! Malaysia has many species of hornbill.
This trip I only managed to see two flying past…

Educational posters like this reptile one were put up at some booth

Snakes of Malaysia

Primates! How many can you recognise?

This year none in our group decided to join the race but to take it easy. But hor, they seemed to be taking things too easy oso leh…:p

Wow lao! My friends here were so engrossed in shopping that we had to
‘gently’ remind them that we were here birdwatching…:p

So off we went to continue looking for birds – for some of us, the agenda was to have more ‘ticks’ on the bird list, while for Itchyfingers, it was to record more beautiful bird species with our cameras. Fraser’s Hill is a wonderful place for birdwatching because of the cool weather and also at different altitude you would find different kinda birds. There were still many that I have not had the chance to see after my many visits. Will share some amazing bird photos in the next post!

Also see related post:
> An Escape Into the Mountains – Fraser’s Hill, Malaysia Trip #1

Growing up and living in the concrete jungles of Singapore, Itchyfingers like to get away and immerse ourselves in the many pockets of greenery scattered around the island, taking pictures of the flora and fauna in gardens, parks and the nature reserves. Occasionally when time permits, we will also venture out to our neighouring country, Malaysia, for some birdwatching trips.

One of our favourite birdwatching spot in Malyasia is Fraser’s Hill, located about 105km north of Kuala Lumpur and sitting at 1,524 metres above sea level. Just six hours’ drive away, it is one of the most accessible birdwatching spots with numerous choice of accommodation. At different altitude, different kinds of bird species can be seen, many of which are not found here.

The sign at The Gap, the mid point before going up the hill. Some people
were sitting next to the English version on the other side so I only took
the Chinese and Japanese version here

I have been to Fraser’s Hill five times over the years, mostly driven up by fellow birdwatching friends. But we had also taken public transport twice– by train to KL followed by two bus rides before taking a cab from the foot of the hill to the top. From there we were on our own and covered basically the whole of Fraser’s Hill by foot, carrying with us heavy photographic equipment!

Our last visit to Fraser’s Hill was about a month ago. Luckily for us, our friend offered us a ride up. For the previous trips, we stayed at mid-range hotels that had good location for birdwatching. This last trip, one of our friend got us a bungalow with three rooms! According to her, the view was spectacular, the food was good and the price was relatively reasonable at RM500 per night for the whole bungalow. We had eight people, imagine if there were more of us sharing the cost…wow! sounds good right? Well, when we reached the bungalow, we were indeed not disappointed!

Following a small private road led us to the bungalow…

I had always wondered if the many nice bungalows were for rent to individuals or if they were all reserved for corporations. Well, now I know that some of them were indeed available for rent! You just had to give a friendly visit to one of those to see if the owner or caretakers were around for information. For this particular one, our friend knew them and had been staying here whenever she visit Fraser’s.

This was where we stayed. Food can be arranged at separate cost

The garden with a view, great for afternoon tea with homemade scones…

The hall was bigger than my entire flat!

The dining area at the opposite end

Best thing about the bungalow was that all rooms came attached with big bathroom and even a bathtub!

Room 1– double bed with the best view!

Room 2 with a double and single bed

Room 3 was the smallest room with three single beds

The friendly owners who cooked very well! We could even make special
request for certain dishes!

Rise and shine!

The many lovely flowers at the bungalow…

A pity we spent too little time in the bungalow cos most of the time we would be out birdwatching. But staying in a bungalow provided more privacy so it was certainly worth considering staying in one of these at Fraser’s!

Went for this steamboat dinner at one of the malls after a long day of shopping. The interior decor of the Korean restaurant was themed after the birds of Thailand.

Bird watching while having steamboat dinner. Can you recognise the birds?

A pot of pipping hot steamboat oozing out tissue papers

Our order came pretty fast but it took a while for the water to get hot, probably because we were sitting directing under the air con outlet.

Cute fish cakes shaped as fish! Hurry up and put them into the water!
Starving!

So one by one, our food jumped into the steaming hot water for a bath. After some time they were ready to fill our stomach. Happily, I took out a fishball and took a bite…

Ooooo! Too hot!

I took it out from my mouth and waited a while for it to cool down…

Then I dabbed some chili sauce over it. The next moment before I knew it, my food was smiling back at me!

A happy face of my fishball…

I’m a happy mushroom now…

Also see related posts:
> In Search of Paper Clips – Bangkok, Thailand Trip #4
> Changs Upon – Bangkok, Thailand Trip #3
> Sleepless in Siam – Bangkok, Thailand Trip #2
> Natural Instant Breast Enhancement – Bangkok, Thailand Trip #1