Common Redshank in breeding colors

These are pictures of the Common Redshank / Totanus tringa in breeding colors, images made in Sommevagen, Sola, Norway. The birds in Norway have just returned north on their way to their breeding ground via the West Atlantic Flyway.

Common Reshank are regularly sighted in Kuala Baram and other marshy spots along the coast of Miri in August/September when they traverse south during autumn migration; and again in Feb/March when they make their way north again to their breeding ground in Russia, Asia to northern China.

Nazeri Abghani / Apr 2013

Bar-tailed Godwit in breeding colors

Bar-tailed Godwit photographed in Sola, Norway 09th April 2013. These birds would have been using the East Atlantic Flyway as opposed to our East Asian-Australasian Flyway which passes through Borneo.

With the end of winter in the northern hemisphere, the Spring migration season starts to rev up, waders spending the summer southh are starting to make their arduous journey north. Those using the East Asian Flyway should start appearing in their partial breeding colors on the coasts of Sabah/Sarawak starting end Feb onwards. They'll rest, build up their energy before continuing the long and perilous journey to their breeding grounds. These waders should be arriving in the northern hemisphere from now onwards to be ready for the breeding season. 

For those of us in the southern hemisphere, Feb-Apr (Spring run) and Aug-Sep (Autumn run) would be the best times to stake out the coasts for waders migrating north (Spring) or south (Autumn) whichever occasion it may be. These are also great times to observe waders in their breeding colors (Spring when colors changing into, Autumn when colors changing out of).

In Kuala Baram and elsewhere on the coast of Miri, waders to watch out are the sandplovers ie. Lesser Sandplover and Greater Sandplover, Great Knot, Wood Sandpiper, Common Redshank, Little Ringed Plover, Pacific Golden Plover, Long-toed Stint, Red-necked Stint, Sanderling and others.

The early breeding colors are especially brilliant in knots, plovers and more subtle for stints. sandpipers. A sight to see is the Pacific Golden Plover when they sport an almost tuxedo looking suit towards April.

Some birds recorded at the old Miri estuary in Feb and March can be seen here at Miri Waders 2008.

Image and text: Nazeri Abghani/Apr 2013 

Bird Watching at Piasau camp Miri

Birdwatching event: 5 Jan 2013 Place: Piasau Camp Time : 7:10 – 10:00 hr Participant: Erwin, Steve, Susan, M. Boland, Joyce, Stephen, Dominique, Vincent Lo, Anne, Janurie, Jana, Shirley, Zaidi Mansor and Jugu. I was already at Tendy International School car park at 6:45am this morning. I set up my scope and thinking which equipment to bring along to the bird watching today. Having to carry the scope I decided to leave the 150-500mm lens and camera. The equipment required are the scope with camera mounting, the hailer and bionic ear set. Gradually all the participant came and we started our bird watching by 7:10am. There is plenty of Yellow-vented Bulbul singing welcoming the morning in the area. Second to this were the spotted dove grumblings. Collared kingfishers were also calling loudly. We went along 171 lane and slowly scan with our binoculars for other birds. 07:51 a hill myna was seen high in a casuarinas tree branch High in the west tree we saw a green bird with an orange beak perching quietly. It was a dollar bird. High on a branch a group of white-breasted swallow of nine individual sitting very close to one another were seen still warming up in the morning sun. We saw few spotted dove flying criss-crossing the area. A large black bird swoop in and make a u-turn that we cannot identify. Few Pink-necked Green-pigeon were also seen perching high in a dead branch. Pink-necked Green-pigeon We saw a female crimson sun bird flying close to a house and there was a nest still in the making. We saw few black bird perching high on a tree, then we identified it a hill mynas. Few of them flying around and join by a group of Asian glossy starling. As we went along the track we saw a huge black bird with red eye and a horizontal white stripe tail. It was an Asian koel. I make a koel call and this guy did not reply. 07:57 An Asian koel migrate here escaping winter We went along toward piasau 100 and we saw Brahminy Kite sitting far behind a casuarinas tree. As we went toward the gate of piasau 100 there we saw around 50 Asian glossy starling juveniles perching in a dead tree branch. We went along the fence of Piasau 100 to area 123 we saw a pair of White-breasted Waterhen crossing the road. We saw a single little egret searching for food in a small water body. 08:28 A little egret foraging for food in a water way As we went of the clearing Stephen saw the hornbill. It was the baby hornbill. Then we saw all four of them, foraging for food among the thick leaves. Then I play the hornbill call just to lure the bird out of the tree. For many reason the bird is not coming out of the tree. However papa bird and mama bird did yelp replying my call. 08:33 Papa bird was very shy today Is it because there were too many of us at the scene that he is not coming out of the clearance. The battery of the hailer is already at very low stage and the bird call is not so sweet to his hearing. Or mama bird was with him and no danger being taken by his rival, that he paid no attention to my call. We watch one of the babies for quite some time. Mama bird was really hidden behind the leaves. There was plenty of swiflet flying around the tree where papa bird perched. They were not a tree swiftlet but rather small in size. I was wondering if this was the same family of the bird I used to call. He has no interest to my call. Mama bird was on seen just for a while and cannot see her eye to confirm it the same pair. Thus I decided to go to area 123 to call for the bird. 08:42 Nong too stayed hidden We went to area 123 I show thenm the nest 98 to them. It just a casuarinas hole on the ground. We reach the area 123 and make a long call. No bird greeting us. There are plenty of birds around the area but were specie that we have seen before. We went back to where we parked our cars. Steve shouted to us that there was a sparrow hawk flying high above our head. As we approach our car there was another Brahminy Kite seen perching in a tree close to Tendy International School. The SFC staffs were interested to see the nest 58 area and I was to bring them and see the nest. There we took photo of the nest. and the inside too. Nest 98 Measured about 150 cm wide and 250 cm high. The Rest of MNS Members The SFC staff that joined our birdwatching today. 09:45 The horizontal twig is the level where base of the nest. Field note by : Musa Musbah MNS Miri Chairman Honorary Wild Life Ranger Sarawak Forestry Corporation Hp: 016-874-6127 Email : sammua@yahoo.com

TaggedChinese Egret At Similajau National Park

Tag FQ found at Similajau National Park 3° 32.360'N,113° 17.759'E 2 Nov 2011 at 11:00

Save Piasau OPH

Oriental Pied Hornbill, a male from Piasau Camp attending to a secluded nestling female.

Please come and join our new "Save Piasau OPH" Facebook Group in support of a pair of nesting Oriental Pied Hornbill and their new nestlings at Piasau Camp.

Over many generations, a family of Oriental Pied Hornbill has been making Piasau Camp their home. If you have lived in the area or have spent time driving through the neighbourhood you would have noticed this beautiful hornbills gracefully gliding around the neighbourhood. They would be hanging around the tall casuarinas along the road or foraging nearby hunting for food. At one time they were particularly fond of hanging out at Piasau 100 by the beach.

Our branch Chairman, Musa Musbah and his team have been dilligently recording and observing the Piasau OPH family for several years now. With impending evacuation of Piasau Camp and upcoming redevelopment of the area, our crew have been putting extra efforts in documenting the goings on of  a pair of nesting OPH at an undisclosed location.

Our objective for Save Piasau OPH campaign is first and foremost to highlight the issue of the destruction of habitat and potential displacement of the OPH family from the Piasau area. With that we also hope to raise the awareness level of our community about hornbills in our midst. Believe it or you are more likely to see this emblematic bird of Sarawak elsewhere than in the land of hornbills itself.

From Birdlife.org factsheet:

This species has an extremely large range,  with a declining or fluctuating range size, habitat extent/quality, or population size and a small number of locations or severe fragmentation. Anthracoceros albirostris is a widespread resident in northern South Asia, southern China, Indochina and western Indonesia. Though the global population size has not been quantified, the species is reported to be the commonest Asian hornbill (del Hoyo et al. 2001).

It was recently noted that this species has been almost completely extirpated from southern China (J. Fellowes in litt. 2010).

In the Thai-Malay Peninsula, the species may be threatened by off-take for the trade in fledglings and outright forest clearance (Wells 1999). There is some evidence that the species has traditionally been captured for the local pet trade, as historically one to two were reportedly kept in every village in at least some areas of Myanmar (Tickell 1864 in Kemp 1995).

The casques of Oriental Pied Hornbills are common souvenirs in the markets of Thailand, Laos and Vietnam; however, the extent of this trade has not been measured (Kinnaird and O’Brien 2007).

This species is considered the most adaptable of the hornbills to landscape modification and thus the least threatened owing to its very wide range, small size and broad habitat preferences (S. Mahood in litt. 2012, D. Bakewell in litt. 2012).

The provision of artificial nest space in Singapore has secured the return of the species as a nesting breeder, with 50-60 individuals in 2010 (G. Davison in litt. 2012). Similar small successes have been recorded in Panaga, Brunei (H. Dols, pers comm).

Source:
BirdLife International (2012) IUCN Red List for birds. Downloaded from http://www.birdlife.org from contributors : Bakewell, D., Davison, G., Duckworth, W., Goes, F., Kemp, A., Mahood, S., Thompson, P.

It has been said that once all the big forests of Sarawak has all been cleared away, OPH will likely remain the only hornbill you'll ever see in Sarawak due to it's adaptability and fairly successful attempts at living amidst humans. We are hoping that this day would never come.

Help us save this nesting family by supporting us at Save Piasau OPH Facebook Group, and along the way learn more about hornbills, the proud emblem for Sarawak.

To find out how you can help this campaign, please email us : MNS Miri Branch "Save Piasau OPH".