Black-crowned Night Heron, Penang.

On Friday, I received a message in my blog regarding the sighting of the Malayan Night Heron in USM. I was excited and wish that I could see the "Malaysian" Night Heron in Malaysia for the first time. I went to search the bird on Saturday afternoon, but disappointedly, I couldn't find the bird.

Why the Malayan Night Heron is hard to spot in Malaysia? whereas, it is very common in Taiwan. Check out my blog about Taiwan's Malayan Night Heron and a juvenile spotted in Singapore Botanic Gardens.

However, I spotted a pair of adult and a juvenile Black-crowned Night Heron (Nycticorax nycticorax) in USM, they are the most common Night Heron in East Asia. Let's take a look of the Black-crowned Night Heron that I spotted:

A beautiful adult with the bluish lore, matured bird:

Immature with the yellowish lore:

Let's take a closer look of their crown, three white extended feathers from the crown. It is a beautiful hair style, isn't it?:

A juvenile with different plumage, brown with white streaks:

These are the Black-crowned Night Herons I spotted in Taiwan in 2009. In Taiwan, the bird is the most common Night Heron and it is called as Heiguan Yelu 黑冠夜鹭.

An adult in Taiwan, with yellowish lore:
A juvenile in Taiwan:

Hope that the readers will gain some knowledge on the identification of the Black-crowned Night Heron through the pictures on this blog. Last but not least, here are the beauties of the day, a Stork-billed Kingfisher and a Common Kingfisher:

I noticed that this is the reaction of the Common Kingfisher when the raptor flew above it.

danger! raptor! hide... visit again my blog again for the next posting.

Happy Birding and Digiscoping.

Ten Asian Openbills, Penang.

Today, I'm free from work and decided to go for birding to find out about the Openbills and other migratory birds in the Seberang Perai Tengah areas.

Asian Openbill (or Asian Openbill Stork, Anastomus oscitans) is the latest waterbirds wanted by most birders in Penang, it was first recorded in Penang about weeks ago. Today, I spotted 10 Asian Openbills soaring above the paddy field, and roosting on the trees in between the paddy field in Permatang Nibong.

Here are some of the pictures of Asian Openbills. Look at the bill carefully, you will know why it is called as Openbill.

How many adult and juvenile birds were there? It is hard to observe and give an exact number in a day, because the birds are very sensitive to human. From my record and observation, I believe most are non-breeding adult, some have the pinkish leg, some don't, and all have space in between the mandibles.

Here are the pictures of the openbills sighted roosting on the trees, all are adult birds.

This could be an immature openbill, it has a brownish bill, brownish-gray plumage on the head, neck and scapulars.

I can't tell the exact number of adult and juvenile, all birds have developed a perfect space in between the mandibles, only the colour of the bill and plumage can be used to distinguish them. I would say, there were more non-breeding adult birds than juvenile. I could be wrong. Let me know if my identification for Openbill was incorrect.

My another lifer, the dark morph Pacific Reef Egret at Teluk Air Tawar, a place near to the former RAAF airbase.

Here are the beautiful birds of the day, which I spotted during my visit to Teluk Air Tawar and Permatang Nibong.

Happy Birding and Digiscoping.