Being a two day one night bird outing made a lot of sense for us coming from Singapore…we stayed the night at Kota Tinggi after an extended morning’s birding at Panti Bird Sanctuary. We had another 430am start from Kota Tinggi and arrived at Lenggor Forest Reserve shortly after 6am when it was still pitch black. My mates were seeking out the Blyth’s Frogmouth and other nightjars which were difficult….but with dawn came the dawn chorus of babblers and bulbuls galore.
First bird to show in the dull morning light was the Asian Fairy Bluebird…always a welcome sight Several Finsch’s bulbuls were active in the dawn glowyellow bellied bulbuland as it became lighter, we were surrounded by birds zipping everywhere..here the short road into Lenggor along which we saw most things….we heard the green broadbill and it made a brief appearance but I sadly wasn’t slick enough to shoot it…..this maroon woodpecker teased us mercilessly flying back and forth over the road, not once perching within sight for a picture….this was the only decent inflight shot….thanks to SB Yeo for this!then the strident call of the white chested babbler led us to some bushes next to a streamseveral white chested babblers zipped aroundcream vented bulbul
we then entered one of the trails in search of the elusive MRB and the equally elusive cinnamon rumped trogon…
whilst following the call of the cinnamon rumped trogon, we chanced upon this lovely Banded kingfisher
The trogon was calling from all around us but was really very shy…we all had fleeting glimpses of the grey/cinnamon trogon flying around and perching for but a few seconds…in the end whilst we were resting on a log being eaten alive by leeches, (and yes I found there were more leeches here in Lenggor than there were in Singharaja!) one of our party, RA saw the trogon fly in and perch….there were actually two of them and good views were had….
unfortunately this dull distant shot was all I managed of the rare cinnamon rumped trogon
Escaping the leeches, I went back to the main trail….
where a dark blue green emerald dove flew inreturning to the main road, this pretty brown fulvetta posed….we then drove down to the end of the road where the stream is and the ranger station is too. By the way, permits are needed to visit Panti and Lenggor and we were asked for the permits by the rangers there…so best be prepared to get the permits before you come to these places!the sooty capped babbler was very activesooty capped babblerthe always charming whiskered tree swiftcrimson breasted flower peckers were everywherecrimson breasted FP with its red splodge on the yellow breastone of them was so unafraid that it perched but 3 feet from methen high up in the trees, a great iora showedgreat ioraa yellow breasted flower pecker also came closeyellow breasted flower peckerinterestingly, the yellow breasted FP also has a bright red spot on its crown, similar to the crimson breasted FP!a streaked bulbul peeked out behind the trunkshy streaked bulbulgrey bellied bulbulthe stunningly beautiful grey bellied bulbul
So although we still didn’t hear or see the Malayan Rail Babbler, the cinnamon trogon made up for it a bit….Lenggor was really a babbler and bulbul buffet! Next time, I’ll wear my anti-leech socks etc…..we finished around noon and headed into the nearby Jemaluang town where we had a great lunch at Yang Quan seafood restaurant before our 3 hour drive home to Singapore
Highly recommended…a bit easier than Panti to see the birds especially on the road.
The Natural Traveller 