Shah Alam Botanical Gardens on a Sunday morning

A flock of long-tailed parakeets flew over us as my physio buddy, Jules and myself reached the Shah Alam Botanical Gardens that Sunday, 5th June morning at 7.20am. It was a really good birdwatching start to the day to see this vocal flock of parakeets. Once we reached the entrance of the Botanical Gardens, a few parakeets landed in this tree to feed on the fruits. Their lovely green plumage blended with the colour of the leaves. Could see pinkish sides of their face and beak, as they deftly walked on the branches. The male long-tailed parakeet had much brighter pink on their face.  

Long blue tail streaming out from the green body of the long-tailed parakeet above. Busy having their breakfast of fruits from this tree. Can just make out the parakeet's head below as it was busily plucking away at the fruits.

Long-tailed parakeet, a pair, perched high above us. Viewing us from the top of this dead tree trunk, as we marveled at the colours of parakeet's plumage, long streamer-like tail and overall beauty. These parakeets are graceful in flight, and possess strong beaks to crack through the tough-looking, unripe fruits. The Botanical Gardens of Shah Alam was the visited by Hooded Pitta before. The pitta remains elusive and was not around that Sunday morning:(

Blue-winged leafbird was seen later that morning in the Botanical Gardens.

Pleasant surprise to encounter the Stork-Billed Kingfisher below near the lake of the Shah Alam Botanical Gardens. The solitary Stork-billed kingfisher perched for quite sometime on this branch by the lake. It then flew across the lake, in front of us birdwatchers before disappearing into the thicket of trees and bushes. Azure blue colours of this kingfisher's plumage stood out when it performed this fly-pass. The Shah Alam Botanical Gardens website is worth visiting. Surprised to find out that there is public swimming pool inside the Gardens and fee charged is RM3 per adult and RM1 per child.

Olive-winged bulbuls were busy feeding on the fruits of this tree by the lake. I missed the Sooty Barbet though. It was also seen feeding together with this flock of Olive-winged bulbuls.

 Ruby-cheeked sunbird was hopping around in this tree together with the bulbuls and Sooty Barbet.

Shah Alam Botanical Gardens birdwatching outing was organized by the Selangor Bird Group of  the Malaysian Nature Society. We were led by Mr. Andy Lee, Mr Mark Ng, Mr Lee Keen Seong and Mr Low Kok Hen. Walk started at 7,30am and ended at 10am, with total of 30 bird species seen and recorded during that time. Jules and I left for our brunch at the Plaza Shah Alam Shopping Mall by 11am. It was unbearably hot at that time - the air-conditioning inside the Plaza was a welcome relief. Note to self - there is a Pelita Nasi Kandar restaurant at a well-hidden corner of the Plaza.