Wild Birds, a Lizard and Plenty of Petai in Kuala Pilah

Ruby-cheeked Sunbird was flitting about that Saturday at eye-level. This sunbird gave us a wonderful photography treat. It was feasting on what looked like caterpillars amongst the foliage. The sunbird performed some neat acrobatics when feeding. Asian Fairy Bluebird appeared for a few minutes before disappearing into the forest.

Blue-winged and Lesser Green leafbirds were very active late that afternoon in the forest. Blue-winged leafbird was particularly busy, carrying nesting materials in its beak. Babblers and bulbuls were also out and about, at around the same time as the leafbirds. This patch of forest where the birds congregated, had a flowing stream. Ang had earlier spotted the Forktail hopping about the rocks along the stream.  

Woodpeckers were calling out from within the forest of Kuala Pilah. Something flew onto the trunk of a huge tree, which we initially thought was a woodpecker. Turned out the flying creature was a Flying or Gliding Lizard (Genus: Draco). This Flying Lizard had a yellowish dewlap beneath its neck. There are more than 40 species of Flying Lizards, with majority found only in Southeast Asia, according to website of Ecology Asia. 

A pick-up truck half-filled with bunches of petai drove up the tarred road and parked near the dirt road entrance to the Orang Asli settlement. It was about to be filled up with freshly picked petai from the forest, which the orang asli transporting these, through their motorcycles. They drove out from the dirt road ferrying these fresh supplies of petai.