Leaf Monkeys at Shah Alam Botanical Garden and the Elusive Pitta

A group of leaf monkeys (Langurs) were out having breakfast at Shah Alam Botanical Gardens as I began my search for the Hooded Pitta. Couldn't resist observing this group of six langurs jumping about in this tree. One of the langurs spotted a leafy part of the tree......

This top part of leaf bunch looks good so it plucks it out and eats it Ulam-style.....

Munch munch.................

And the third langur joins it for breakfast:) These two were sitting very comfortably on the branches right at the tree-top level. The Hooded Pitta remains elusive on that hot Saturday morning. Total of nine species of birds were seen from 7.55am onwards as recorded in my eBird Checklist and that was confined to this one single path that I was on that day. Checkout an earlier outing to Shah Alam Botanical Gardens in 2016 which can be read here. 

Watching raptors

Oriental Honey Buzzards at Pasir Panjang, Port Dickson, N.Sembilan. Tanjung Tuan Malacca and Negeri Sembilan borders. Whilst on my way to Tanjung Tuan for Raptor Watch 2017, I stopped by the PD-Teluk Kemang highway to have a closer look at the Changeable Hawk-Eagle Dark Morph perched on a dead tree. Checklist of CHE was submitted through eBird here. Purple Heron was also seen basking in the mid morning sun on top of a tree by a river as I was about to reach the roundabout in Teluk Kemang. Must remember to submit that sighting to eBird as well! The Oriental Honey Buzzards were on their annual migration journey northwards to Eastern and Northern Asia from Indonesia, with Tanjung Tuan being their customary pit stop.   

Soaring and riding on thermals above Pasir Panjang from 2pm to 3pm.

Estimate to be in the hundreds. My car was parked quite near the beach at this Pantai Kampung Teluk Pelandok (Deer Gulf Village Beach) in Pasir Panjang, Port Dickson. As I admired the view, I saw the OHB flying in towards this beach from across the Straits of Malacca, minutes later. Followed this tarred road that connected the village from the main road. This one-way road was built along the Immigration Department's training grounds and ended quite abruptly after the football field. Road is part of the Ministry of Rural Development and Urban Wellbeing's project with a vehicle load limit of 5 tonnes, according to the signpost near the beach. Raptor count was ongoing until 19th March 2017.  

My other motto in Life

Live Life to its fullest is the main motto. Birdwatching is a hobby which I can pursue on weekends since I have a full-time job managing Legal and Governance in a Government Agency under the Ministry of Communications and Multimedia.