A Visit to Sungai Congkak- Part 2

eBird reports that 236 species have been observed in the Sungai Congkak Recreational Forest. ebird.org/hotspot/L3510944  Of those I saw about 20 species, fleetingly.  I only managed to get two photos, both poor quality.   

A tit-babbler skulking.


A leafbird, which is out of focus and by an accident of alignment seems to have a twig growing from its crown.

Unfortunately, I am very poor at identifying bird calls.  This is a skill I am working to improve by listening to bird songs and calls on the xeno-canto website.  A related, but perhaps more difficult, problem is that I find it very difficult to pinpoint the bird.  I can definitely hear it calling, but I cannot narrow down the location.  Is it in the canopy? Or  mid-level?   To my right or my left?   I dream of rigging up some hardware (three microphones) and software (spherical trigonometry) to give me the bird’s coordinates.

Once I have found the bird getting it into focus is another complication. From experience I know that my camera focuses slowly in low light and /or when  both the foreground and background are cluttered (leaves, branches, etc).  Both of these circumstances are present in the rainforest.  Hence, I often switch to manual focus.  But these birds are fleeting.  I know; I said that already.  When I have perfected the focus the bird has moved on. I end up with a photo of a bare leaf, which gets deleted.  I should not complain overly much.  This is actually part of the game; the thrill of the chase.

A squirrel chittering.


A skink, nicely posed.  

On the other hand, I got quite close to a troop of gibbons (read Part-1.html here) and found 15 or more butterfly species none of which I could identify on my own.   Fortunately, the community  on iNaturalist were very helpful.  For details see My Sg Congkak Butterflies.

Yellow Barred (Xanthotaenia busiris)

Autumn Leaf (Doleschallia bisaltide)


Malay Yeoman (Cirrochroa emalea)


In this video you can see an Orange Albatross (Appias nero), Common Hedge Blue (Acytolepis puspa),  and a Straight Pierrot (Caleta roxus).


Here you will find a pair of Orange Gulls (Cepora iudith) at the centre of the frame surrounded by Chocolate Albatrosses (Appias lyncida). 


This butterfly is known as the Commander (Moduza procris). Watch for the proboscis uncoil and re-coil. The butterfly appears to be taking dissolved salts from the soil.


All in all a productive day.  Whislt I was much more successful taking photos of butterflies, some still eluded me, including a most striking Rajah Brooke's birdwing (Trogonoptera brookiana).  Another visit is a must.   

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