347 : Stripe-throated Bulbul

Stripe-throated Bulbul - Pycnonotus finlaysoni

I am surrounded by Bulbuls where I live in Dubai so its hard to get excited about these birds. This is a handsome enough species though common to this part of South-East Asia from Vietnam down around to Singapore and up into parts of China and Myanmar. I'd see these birds round the gardens at the lodge in Taman Negarra.

My life outside of stomping along jungle paths and floating down the river in my motor propelled  dug out tree consisted mostly of eating, trying to keep up with work with a very tenuous internet connection and then in the evening gently getting inebriated and then staying up far too late taking photographs of the local moths - "Moth Partee". They deserve a longer post in themselves but the general idea was to turn on the light on my back porch, head off for a big spicy dinner with several beers and then to return and try to see juts how many species of moth could be captured on film. Some epic "Partee" went on into the small hours - testing different configuration of lens, tripods and cameras.

Butterflys were certainly another draw - you didn't have to stray far from your table at the restaurant to capture some beautiful images.

Some days large flocks would gather at the edge of freshwater puddles to feed.

The music though again in the restaurant would drive me mad. They had one tape lasting about 90 minutes that went round and round. "Blue Blue my life is blue. Blue is my world when I'm without you". If you have ever had a naff song seared into your brain over a dozen meals by perhaps working in a restaurant then you will know the torture. I just have no concept of how they found these songs ? Were 60's euro-hits somehow de rigeur in jungle lodges in Malaysia. In a Stockholm syndrome type transference I spent a long time identifying and locating the various sh*t pieces of music that were inflicted on me in this solitary  mix tape. I know the full history of "Love is Blue" ("L'amor est bleu") as a recorded work eventually identifying a country and western version by Marty Robins that I preferred to the more classic Al Martino version. It was of course originally a euro vision song contest ditty.  I even listen to it (in numerous versions) at the gym and I use it as a soundtrack on my holiday slide show. The descent into madness while traveling alone has its own soundtrack.

To brighten things up I have to give a big tick to Malaysian food. Nasi Goreng became my staple. Rice usually chased down by a half dozen little side dishes of salty anchovy sauce, peanut satay and the like. Chilled beer, euro-trash and spicy food and butterflies. Not all bad.

I stopped short of ordering the local golden river perch delicacy. Given that I had seen signs for a fish conservation area and that the restaurant required 24 hours notice to lay on the perch banquet I thought it probably best to avoid. 

Stripe-thoated Bulbul, Pyconotus finlaysoni
Taman Negarra National Park, Peninsula Malaysia
9 June 2016

346 : Black-and-Red Broadbill

Black-and-Red Broadbill - Cymbirynchus macrorynchus

Another star bird from the colourful middle of the fieldguide. Again picked up on a "float down" the river. These birds build a grass-woven pear shaped nest chamber suspended and hanging down from a branch. We came across one mid-stream. Presumably a great deterrent to snakes and other nest predators. I did not manage to get a decent picture of this bird so I really need a better picture another time when I journey back to South-East Asia.

While we are on the subject of snakes we may as well get the expedition's snake encounter out of the way !

I thought from my initial research that this is a Speckled Pit Viper (Trimeresurus Wagleri). I was dismayed that I found it on a webpage entitled "The Medically Important Poisonous Snakes of Malaysia" by Professor Tan who works in the Department of Molecular Medicine in the Medical Faculty of the University of Malaya. On this occasion though it was a frog and not me. I know nothing about snakes but Matte was having none of it and retreated off the boardwalk. He told me it was venomous.  It didn't take the fellow long to make short work of this quite large frog. Professor Tan seems to think its bite would cause pain and local swelling. Its not a Pit Viper though as the Vipers have a very triangular head - so what is it ? I have been through upwards of 50 snake families to find the answer ! Its a Common Bronze Back Tree Snake (Dendrelaphis tristis) - not venomous at all and from what I have now read it can just give you a little nip ! I guess we imagine the worst when we see a snake.

I estimate the snake was perhaps 4-5 foot long but probably no more than the size of an ordinary domestic water pipe - if that - perhaps no thicker than a thin branch or your thumb in places.

So Matte needn't have retreated 10 m up a slope - he was probably more likely to step on something else up there !

There is an awful lot of tail going on with this snake.

The colours were beautiful - thankfully with a 400 mm lens I did not have to get too close. At the time given Matte's reaction I though it was the sort of snake that would spoil your holiday pretty quickly.

The thing was beautiful though and when it decided it was time to go it was off - at time a full foot of its body up off the ground weaving around to find a way up off the boardwalk.

Matte honestly was a woose with this fellow which made me feel a lot better. Tramping around in the jungle in the dark though to get into position to try for a Pitta ? It makes you think twice. I certainly came away with a bit of reticence about the jungle. This guy didn't seem phased by us at all. I guess he was busy though ! In retrospect I will take a couple of lessons the next time I go somewhere as to which snakes are going to cause you a problem.

Black-And-Red Broadbill, Cymbirynchus macrorynchus
Taman Negara National Park, Peninsula Malaysia
June 2016