A quick recap of my weekend's birding and photography attempts. I'll start with this morning when I went for a short trip to KB road. With great weather, the whole morning was a little slow going. There was definitely a lot of activity, most of it was however well outside the reach of my bins and camera. I assumed the loud crashing sounds coming from the ditch were announcing a bearded pig and I cautiously moved back a little. I was quite surprised to see this little fellow pop up from the long grass, as the cause of all the ruckus.
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| Yellow-throated marten (Martes flavigula ssp. saba). |
The looks are a little deceiving. While the yellow-throated marten scores high on cuteness, this is a ferocious little carnivore. These animals are widespread in Asia, the martens in Borneo are a separate subspecies: Martes flavigula ssp. saba.
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| Yellow-throated marten (Martes flavigula ssp. saba). |
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| Yellow-throated marten (Martes flavigula ssp. saba). |
I am very happy with these shots. For a first time encounter you can't ask for any better posing!
The rest of the morning was uneventful. A rufous-bellied hawk eagle was noteworthy, unfortunately it was a little too distant for anything better than some simple record shots.
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| Rufous-bellied hawk eagle (Lophotriorchis kienerii). |
Surprisingly, on my way back I again saw two red-billed malkohas. After not having encountered these birds on the KB road for 2 years, they are now rapidly establishing themselves as one of the regulars!
A second trip with my camera was yesterday evening, when Kolbjorn and I went for a short night drive along the Panaga coastal road "hunting" for owls and nightjars. The grassland just behind the beach is a good spot for nightjars and we saw at least 6 different individuals (the 6th sitting in the middle of the road on our way back). We were secretly hoping for some more exotic species than large-tailed's but not this night. Below 3 different birds:
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| Large-tailed nightjar (Caprimulgus macrurus). |
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| Large-tailed nightjar (Caprimulgus macrurus). |
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| Large-tailed nightjar (Caprimulgus macrurus). |
Not bad at all for a quick drive down the road! Planning for another night drive to KB road this week. More on that later.
Folkert, 20/01/2013
