Kepong Botanical Gardens - fringes of a Forest with Bird Songs of Hope

Black and Red Broadbill with nesting materials

Red-Bearded Bee-eater which proved quite a challenge to observe, as it was perched quite high in the tree 

Olive-winged Bulbul chicks pretending to look like Fluff-Balls

Forest Research Institute of Malaysia (FRIM) website announcement on the opening of Kepong Botanical Gardens from 1st July 2020 onwards at their website HERE was good news. The dark clouds of Covid-19 have been hanging above Malaysia and any additional silver lining was much welcomed and I regarded access to forests as such. FRIM Main Campus was still closed to the public. Google Maps on my phone couldn't locate the entrance to the Kepong Botanical Gardens, so I had to rely on the security guard's direction when he told me to drive straight down the road pass Ulu Kepong until I reach a roundabout. I finally reached the Kepong Botanical Gardens after driving into a housing area. The Gardens car park area was just next to a Muslim cemetery. The entrance fee was RM5. Birdlife was promising for as soon as I stepped out of my car, the Gray-capped Woodpecker was calling. Limited to 150 joggers, that Sunday afternoon I was the only non-jogger there. Feeling like an "Odd Duck", I walked and stopped when some winged beauty perched on a twig, branch, pole or flew past me. The pair of Black and Red Broadbills was a delight to observe. One of the broadbills was carrying thin long strips of dried grass-like materials (as pictured above), for building a new nest which I hope would be cleverly camouflaged and hidden from us humans until the chicks have hatched from eggs and in full flight mode. A kid had asked his jogger mum why this tall woman was staring intensely at a tree-top. Heard her reply to her kid that I was looking for birds as she zipped pass me. I was in fact trying to get a really good look at the Red-bearded Bee-eater. Some pictures taken of the (female) Red-Bearded Bee-eater are as below:-

Red-Bearded Bee-eater which sounded like a frog with a sore throat

Stripe-throated Bulbul. This bulbul species has such rich,bubbly musical notes and their calls were certainly music to my ears!   

Paddyfield pipit (two of them) were spotted on the grassfields of the Garden as I was about to reach the largest pond at the fringes of the forest. 

The Red-Bearded was perched on a tree branch right above my head and I trying to get a really good look at the overall bird. Female has a lilac red forehead, a little bit of which is visible in this photo

Olive-winged Bulbul. Grainy picture but it had caught some food in its bill. Two chicks were seen later on in the evening, so this (papa or mama?) bird certainly has a hungry hoard to feed. 

A Blue-throated Bee-eater with its front head turned away from me 

This fast-moving Ruby-throated Sunbird (female) was hiding within this clump of bamboo before it decided to hop into view.

Ruby-throated sunbird, upside down 

Olive-winged Bulbul chicks with downy feathers.

Pied Fantail at car park area

The road that leads to FRIM Kepong from the Botanical Gardens is still closed to the public. Nevertheless, Birdsongs were bursting from within the forest - calls of spiderhunter, barbets brought so much joy to me and it felt extra special after spending a few months cooped up in my condo due to the Movement Control Order imposed by the Government to contain the spread of the ghastly Covid-19 virus. Ebird Checklist for Kepong Botanical Gardens is available HERE. A fruiting fig tree was highlighted in FRIM website some years back which can be read HERE and I look forward to the day when FRIM will open the gates to the forests and allow birdwatchers like myself the opportunity to marvel at the winged beauties feeding in the fig trees that I am sure will bear fruits again.