Date:
Weather:

Locality:

26 Feb - 3 Mar 2025
Mixed. First two days rain, fog and cool. Second two days improving. with sunny spells and clear skies. Temperatures ranged from 17°C to 26°C.
Fraser's Hill.

Siberian Thrush

Archaeoattacus malayanus

Red-bearded Bee-eater

Blue Nuthatch

27 Feb. The dark moonless night and fog produced a good number of moths around the lights, so a couple of hours early morning was spent photographing them. An interesting collection of birds around the garden, with Siberian Thrush, Silver-breasted Broadbill, Sultan Tit, Blue-and-white Flycatcher and Red-bearded Bee-eater, although the fog made photographing them challenging. Afterwards, we passed by the Malayan Partridge spot a couple of times, where we were amazed to see four individuals, hanging around five minutes, before crossing the road and disappearing into the forest. A short look at the Telecom Loop road was, not surprisingly, unproductive given the weather.

28 Feb. Another wet night. Despite the rain and fog continuing all day, we took a drive toward Jeriau Waterfall, near to which we found Black Laughingthrush and Black-and-crimson Oriole. We also heard Marbled Wren-Babbler. but failed to see it. Next we decided to try lower elevations, in the hope of improved weather, so headed to Semangkuk Waterfall, seven kilometres before the Fraser's Hill turnoff. The weather was certainly improved, but our hoped for Chestnut-naped Forktail proved to be as elusive as ever.

1 Mar. Improved weather today, with a pre-dawn start looking for Malayan Whistling Thrush at the top of the gap road. Unfortunately, as with recent visits, the bird was not even heard. The morning was spent in a circuit of the Telecom Loop with a couple of small feeding flocks, but none containing Blue Nuthatch. After lunch, a short revisit to the lower section of the Jeriau Waterfall road failed to even hear Marbled Wren-Babbler. Late afternoon a large feeding flock was encountered on the Telecom Loop, included Black-eared Shrike-babbler, Speckled Piculet and Cinereous Bulbul. After dusk a pair of Grey Nightjar were found hawking insects from the forest canopy adjacent to the garden.

2 Mar. Finally a day of perfect weather. Another attempt for Malayan Whistling Thrush failed, though Dark Hawk-Cuckoo was heard pre dawn. For a change of scenery and tactics we tried the Mager, Abu Suradi and Bishop Trails, again without finding Blue Nuthatch or Marbled Wren-Babbler. Most of the afternoon we birded the Telecom Loop and finally, in a large feeding flock, found a pair of Blue Nuthatch. Definitely beers on the balcony following that.

3 Mar. As we had early afternoon flights from Kuala Lumpur, we left Fraser's before dawn, finding two Grey Nightjar on the road down. A quick stop at the Semangkuk Waterfall produced two Chestnut-naped Forktail which rapidly disappeared upstream. More fun and games at Kuala Lumpur airport having to find the transfer bus between terminals, which again was not signposted. Air Asia flight to Chiang Mai departed 30 minutes late,