Impromptu Birdwatching with Curious Native Kids

Kampung Gerachi Jaya, a settlement for the Natives (Orang Asli) in Hulu Selangor, with nearest town being Kuala Kubu Bahru was interesting. A view of the Selangor reservoir from the winding road leading up to this settlement is pictured above. I was on the way to deliver food for natives at Kampung Pertak and this settlement. Due to CMCO, I was subjected to a number of questions by the policeman on duty at the road block just beyond KKB. I cooperated with him, explaining that I was delivering food and had no intentions whatsoever to cross the border into Pahang. He checked my IC then informed me to head back to Kuala Lumpur thereafter. I showed him the bag of food in my car which included some chocolates for the Orang Asli kids. This disheveled group of Orang Asli kids followed me around that afternoon after I had given them chocolates. Two of them followed me as I took a short walk up a tarred road towards a water treatment plant just above a hill. I told them that the birds were afraid and wouldn't show if they continued talking to me, but to no avail. Curious kids who had not seen a woman with binoculars and a camera before, I suppose. When they did ask questions about the birds, I was happy to answer them. When I asked whether they had seen a hornbill Burung Enggang before, they asked what it was. A long-tailed Shrike (with greyish cap on head extending to its neck and mantle) was the first seen as pictured below. The minute I zoomed in with my Digital Camera at 600mm, it turned its head away leaving it impossible to see black mask across its eyes - Sheesh!. The Blue-winged Leafbird, Crested Serpent Eagle, Spectacled Spiderhunter, Brown-throated Sunbird, Black-crested Bulbul and Hume's White-Eyes were flying around in the hill, some behaving in a skittish manner. I was worried when Siti, the Orang Asli girl told me the Orang Asli boys would practice slingshots at the birds. I explained to her that she must tell them not to hurt the innocent birds since she wouldn't like it if the boys fling stones at her, to which she gave me a positive nod:) A Book dedicated to the Laniidae family entitled "Shrikes: A Guide to the Shrikes of the World" by Norbert Lefranc and Tim Worfolk is currently out-of-print. I think it was highly likely the Long-tailed Shrike, Bentet subspecies that visited Gerachi Jaya that afternoon.