Bit of Sunshine and a bit of Birdwatching in Segamat Johor

Crested Goshawk with a Butterfly for its afternoon snack. Syarikat Air Johor (SAJ) on hilltop of Segamat Baru. The goshawk literally glided into this tree as I was about to park my car. I stayed inside my car and whipped out my camera to take a picture from inside my car. This raptor probably saw me first before I spotted it. I had initially mistaken it as a Koel since it swooped and glided into this tree so silently until I zoomed in with my camera. The streaks on the front part of its body, the talons, the raptor eyes and the butterfly prey was clasped firmly in the goshawk's sharp beak!  

Brown Shrike on a wire as I headed towards the Segamat Baru football stadium, library area where residents go for their evening walks. The stadium is now surrounded by fences as construction work is underway to upgrade it.

Oriental Honey Buzzard, a pair soaring on the thermal above my housing area in Segamat Baru on a clear sky that Thursday, 26th January 2017 afternoon around 2.30pm. Good half and hour spent that afternoon marveling at this pair before it disappeared beyond the housing area into the surrounding oil palm plantations. Seeing this pair reminds me of the annual spring migration of Honey Buzzards from Indonesia northwards toward Japan, South Korea, Russia, China which should be around February until April of each year. "Hachikuma" is the Japanese name for OHBs and Keio University Research Institute at SFC website mentions that the OHBs migrate from Southeast Asia to Japan in May. The Flyway Foundation of Thailand is currently focusing on Chumphon Raptor Centre to study migration of birds, especially raptors in Upper South region of Thailand. According to this website, Chumphon province (which is near the Isthmus of Kra) is increasingly recognized through banding studies. Facebook page of Flyway Foundation highlighted the raptors tagged by researchers. This included the migratory journey of the 2 tagged Japanese Sparrowhawks (named Apsara and Chom) and 2 tagged Chinese Sparrowhawks (named Dara & Erin). It was interesting to see all four of these Accipiter species crossing the Thai-Malay Peninsular towards Indonesia, with one notable exception i.e. Apsara the Japanese Sparrowhawk's satellite tag showing it passing by Singapore on its way towards Borneo with a final stop in northern tip of Sabah (see picture of their journey below).