Black-necked Stilt?

Black-winged Stilt Himantopus himantopus is a common migrant from the north to northwest coast of Borneo, especially abundant in fresh and brackish water wetlands. Hundreds of them can be seen in groups in paddy fields in Tampasuk Plain and Penampang, Sabah during the northern winter months.

Black-necked Stilt (White-headed Stilt) Himantopus leucocephalus, a similar looking bird but for its black nuchal mane, is a scarce migrant from the south. Seen on rare occasions among groups of Black-winged Stilt.

However, as some Black-winged Stilts can exhibit plumage patterns showing black nuchal mane similar to Black-necked Stilt, as highlighted by Sifu Dave Bakewell in his article published in BirdingASIA 17, page 14-17, great care must be taken to lay claim on sighting of Black-necked Stilt.

Identification by call can also be made if both species are together and their calls can be heard, Black-winged Stilt has a comparatively higher pitch yelping call.

Size
In Susan Myers' fieldguide, she lists both species as between 35-40 cm, which essentially says they are of similar size.

Phillipps' fieldguide says Black-necked Stilt is larger at 37cm compare to Black-winged at 32cm.

Mark Brazil says Black-necked Stilt is marginally larger than Black-winged Stilt.

Craig Robson says Black-necked Stilt is 35cm while Black-winged Stilt is 37.5cm.

Sifu Dave Bakewell states Black-necked is marginally smaller in BirdingASIA's article.

As the fieldguides have differing sizes, I'll accept that they sizes vary both ways.

Appearance
These two birds were photographed on 26th August 2012 in Tinagat, Tawau. One is a Black-winged in breeding plumage while the other has all the features of a Black-necked.

From the first photo, where two of them are almost side by side, we can see that the Black-necked (bird on the left) is overall smaller than the Blacked-winged, taking into consideration that the Black-necked is nearer to the camera, the differince in size is even more pronounced.

We cannot use bill shape for identification as the bill can be varied from straight and upcurve slightly as evidenced by comparing photos of different Black-winged Stilts.

We can also see that the Black-necked Stilt is displaying a well developed black nuchal mane, has perfect white on its crown and ear-coverts, without any visible trace of grey or black. Any existance of traces of grey or black on the crown and ear-coverts would have suggested that this is a Black-winged Stilt showing plumage of a Black-necked Stilt, as reported by Sifu Dave Bakewell in his BirdingASIA article.

Smaller Black-necked Stilt on the left



Black-necked Stilt 

 Pure white crown and ear-coverts

I therefore believe this is a Black-necked Stilt.

Observation

These two were seen foraging together, always close to each other, away from a small flock of Black-winged Stilts on the other side of the foraging ground. When they flew off when we were too near, they landed in another spot, also close to each other, away from the larger flock as well.

The Black-winged is in breeding plumage, and if the other bird is indeed a Black-necked than they might be in courtship, as these two species are believed to hybridise over their overlapping range.

 

Here is a short video of the pair.

 



 

Happy birding.

 

Photodocument of Wild Birds of Borneo.

Standard References for my blog.

 

Additional reference : BirdingASIA Number 17, June 2012.

 





Bird with Sifu Jason in Kota Kinabalu areas

I was in Kota Kinabalu for some personal matters and took time off to photograph some birds with Sifu Jason, Sifu agreed to fetch me to visit all those interesting places and thanks to him, I managed to get three lifers in 24 hours.

First we got this Black-headed Gull Larus ridibundus (my lifer) at Tanjong Aru at late afternoon, when the sky was heavily overcast and a storm was brewing. There were about ten of them there, in winter plumages and mostly first winter birds, flying above the shallow sea  occasionally diving for the surface for food.

Black-headed Gulls are very scarce winter visitor to coast of northern Borneo, however, despite scarce, they are quite regular along coasts of Sabah during the migratory season.

 Black-headed Gull

Common Teal Anas Crecca (my lifer) was photographed at Tuaran the next morning. A pair was seen there, the male bird was in the process of moulting into summer plumage, leisurely preening amongst the thick weeds growing on the unplanted paddy field.

Common Teal is a vagrant of Borneo, 4 records before this, only one from Sabah at Padas Damit in December 1984. This is the second record in Sabah.

 Common Teal - Male (top), Female (bottom)

A Common Kingfisher was also feeding from a stick placed in the middle of the flooded paddyfield.

 Common Kingfisher

After photographing this beauty, we left to look for the earlier spotted Garganey Anas querquedula , Northern Shoveler Anas clypeata and Tufted Duck Aythya fuligula but they were no where to be found. Hope they have made their way back to their respective homelands and not trapped and ended in dinner plates of some uninformed farmers.

Hoping to have a glimpse of the Buff-banded Rail Gallirallus philippensis, Tampasok plain was our next destination,  this bird too was not seen but the place was rife with activities.

A group of otherwise foraging Black-winged Stilt Himantopus himantopus took flight, flashed by the fastest raptor in the world from above, the migratory Peregrine Falcon Falco pereginus, who was looking for lunch.

Black-winged Stilt

Its lunch was an unlucky White-breasted Waterhen Amaurornis phoenicurus.

 Peregrine Falcon

Yellow Wagtails Motacilla flava, an abundant passage migrant,  can be seen in some open fields in Tawau, where it is often seen singly, in Tampasuk, they are all over the place, all seen were of the race tsuchutschensis,  flying and perching on dried paddy straw.

Yellow Wagtail

A hovering Black-winged Kite Elanus caeruleus was looking for lunch as well.

Black-winged Kite

We too went to lunch and later dropped by at Lok Kawi. We were handsomely rewarded with this rare Chinese Egret Egretta eulophotes (my lifer), which I have been trying to photograph for quite a while. This elegant looking bird was oblivious of our presence while busy feeding close to the shore.

Chinese Egret

Chinese Egrets are uncommon winter visitor to Borneo, IUCN red list status is vulnerable due to lost of habitats to human economic activities.


Happy birding.

Photodocument of Wild Birds of Borneo

Standard References for my blog

Birding in KK with Sifu Karim 21st November 2009 (Part 2)

Updated on 1 May 2018 with text in green background.

21st November 2009, Saturday. I fetched Sifu Karim at 6.30 am from his house in Tanjung Aru, went for breakfast before going to Penampang again to look for snipes.

There was no snipe in sight at Penampang padi fields, saw the usual birds that were there last afternoon. Black-winged Stilts Himantopus himantopus, Common Greenshank Tringa nebularia, Munias and various Egrets.

 Black-winged Stilt

 

Black-winged Stilt

The Black-winged Stilts here are foraging in fresh-water padi-fields, just as described in the Checklist (Mann,  2008). In Tawau, where there is no padi fields, we have seen a flock of them at the coastal tidal mudflats in Tinagat September this year.

This is my camera in the ready position with Sifu Karim in the background walking the road looking for snipe, any snipe.

 My Camera

Left for Sugud, Penampang after about an hour, saw a number of Blue-throated Bee-eaters  Merops Viridis perched on the high-wire along the way but did not stop to take photograph.

Sugud is a forest reserve in Penampang hills, the trees along the road, being secondary growth, are not that tall, together with the open view from the access road and the low traffic makes this place an excellent location for bird photography.

Greeted in Sugud by this Chestnut-backed Scimitar Babbler Pomatorhinus monyanus (Now Sunda Scimitar Babbler Pomatorhinus bornensis), it stopped only for a moment to enable me to capture this record shot, my 1st lifer for the day. The Chestnut-backed Scimitar Babbler is the only Scimitar Babbler that occurs in Borneo, ranging from sea level to 1,700 m on Mount Kinabalu.

Chestnut-backed Scimitar Babbler

Its preening movements caught my attention, the Red-crowned Barbet Megalaima rafflesii (Now Psilopogon rafflesii), well hidden amongst the green foliage and a challenge to spot, it is my 2nd lifer for the day. Red-crowned Barbet is an uncommon to common resident throughout lowlands of Borneo, but not usually found with Red-throated Barbet M. mystacophanos (Now Psilopogon mystacophanos), it occurs from sea level up to 1,300 m. (Mann, 2008).

Red-crowned Barbet

The other birds photographed is Asian Brown Flycatcher Muscicapa dauurica. With its pale underparts and distinct eye-ring, this looks like the migrant dauurica race, the resident umbrosa race is darker all over and very scarce.

Asian Brown Flycatcher

I diagnosed this as a Streaked Bulbul Ixos malaccensis (another lifer), even its streaky breast is not visible from the picture (Could not get any other picture as it stopped with the back facing me for a short instance before it flew off) because of the white vent that can be discerned from the back (The white vent is diagnostic of this species),  its grey tipped bill with pinkish lower base, and pinkish legs and feet .

(Edited on 6th March 2010: After photographing a Streaked Bulbul in Tawau, and comparing with this bird, I have to amend the ID, as Streaked Bulbul is a different looking bird with a more slender bill. This should be an Immature of the Cream-vented Bulbul. Too bad there is no other shots to positively confirm the ID).

Cream-vented Bulbul

Other birds spotted were Velvet-fronted Nuthatch Sitta frontalis, Blue-and-White Flycatcher Cyanoptila cyanomelana, Diard's Trogon Harpactes diardii, Crested Serpant Eagle Spilornis Cheela, Little Spiderhunter Arachnothera longirostra, Scarlet Minivet Pericrocotus flammeus, Black-and-Yellow Broadbill Eurylaimus ochromalus, Banded Broadbill  Eurylaimus javanicus, Lesser Green Leafbird  Chloropsis cyanopogon and Yellow-rumped Flowerpecker Prionochilus xanthopygius.

Went to Lok Kawi later to look for the Chinese Egret, but it was not at Lok Kawi either, instead found the following two lifers, Common Ringed Plover Charadrius hiaticula and the Malaysian Plover Charadrius peronii.

Common Ringed Plover is a rare vagrant bird in Borneo, it breeds in N Palearctic, NE of North America, Greenland; mostly winters along coasts of Africa, Madagascar, W, S Europe, Middle East, S Pakistan, rarely India, Sri Lanka, S.E. China, Japan. So it is quite out of its normal range to come here. However, according to Sifu Karim, this particular bird has been at the same spot for quite a while, could have obtained  Permanent Resident status to stay here already.

Common Ringed Plover

Malaysian Plover is a SE Asian specialty, resident in the Sundas (except Java), Philippines, Sulawesi, Sula Island. It  is one of the two resident waders in Borneo, the other being Beach Stone Curlew Esacus magnirostris which is very rare. Malaysian Plovers are usually seen in pairs, but we only managed to locate this female bird that afternoon.

Malaysian Plover Female

At Lok Kawi (NW Coast of Borneo),  I sighted quite a number of Ruddy Turnstone Arenaria interpres, this bird  is quite rare in Tawau (NE Coast of Borneo),. However, according to Sifu Karim, the Eurasian Curlew Numenius arquata , Far Eastern Curlew Numenius madagascariensis and Great Knot Calidris tenuirostris which are commoner in Tawau are rarely seen here. The other waders that are seen that day and are common on both Tawau and Lok Kawi are the Greater Sand Plover Charadrius leschenaultii (Now Anarhynchus leschenaultii), Lesser Sand Plover Charadrius mongolus (Now Siberian Plover Anarhynchus mongolus), Terex Sandpiper Xenus cinereus, Kentish Plover Charadrius alexandrinus (Now Anarhynchus alexandrinus), Pacific Golden Plover Pluvialis fulva and Grey Plover Pluvialis squatarola.

Ruddy Turnstone

 

Kentish Plover

The quest for Chinese Egret continued to Kuala Putatan and Tanjung Aru, but it was not to be seen there as well. However, we met salon Sifu Henry Chin and some photographers shooting this friendly flock of Great Egret Ardea alba (Now Eastern Great Egret Ardea modesta) and Little Egret Egretta garzetta at the estuary of a monsoon drain leading out to sea near Sutera Harbour Resort. The estuary was where abundant catfish congregates to feed. The egrets here were busy feeding and quarreling among themselves which provided excellent opportunities to capturing action shots.

Flock of egrets

 

Flock of egrets

A lone dark-morph Pacific Reef Egret Egretta sacra also came to check out the excitement.

Pacific Reef Egret

The quest for Chinese Egret than continued to Likas Bay, but by than the tide was too high and the shoreline was fully submerged, so the Chinese Egret proved to be no show for this trip.

Stopped by at Likas Lagoon before going to airport for my flight back to Tawau. The lagoon was almost covered by lush growth of water hyacinth,  there was only a small opening of water at the far end of the lagoon. This family of Wandering Whistling-duck  Dendrocygna arcuata, with 5 ducklings was having a nice time there.

Wandering Whistling-duck

A few Purple Herons Ardea Purpurea were also seen hunting among the thick water hyacinth. Great Egrets, Little Egrets, Brahminy Kite Haliastur indus and Darters Anhinga melanogaster were seen perched on a raintree on the other side of the lagoon.

Purple Heron

This is my final lifer, the Purple Swamphen Porphyrio porphyrio indicus. This species is common at the Kalimantan lakes, Previously a rare migrant  to NW Borneo but recently an increasingly common resident in Western Sabah in padi fields and feshwater swamps. This very dark Sunda race of Sumatra, Java, Bali, Borneo and Sulawesi P. p. indicus has been recently split as Black-backed Swamphen (Sangster 1998) but this was not accepted by Taylor, 1998.

Purple Swamphen

My sincere thanks to Sifu Karim for spending time with me for this wonderful outing, 5 lifers were scored from 3.00 pm of 20th November to dusk, and 6 lifers were scored til 3.00 pm of 21st November 2009.

After dropping Sifu Karim home and on my way to the airport, I encountered this pair of Green Imperial-pigeon Ducula aenea on a low tree, they were so low that I have to back away to get the whole bird in the frame, this is the first time that I managed to photograph them so low.

Green Imperial-pigeon

Happy birding.

Photodocument of Wild Birds of Borneo #288 to #293.

REFERENCES  

Ferguson-Lees, J and Christie, D. (2001) Raptors of the World A Field Guide. London, UK: Christopher Helm

MacKinnon, J. and Phillipps, K. (1993) A field Guide to the birds of Borneo, Sumatra, Java and Bali. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Mann, C.F. (2008) The birds of Borneo, an annotated Checklist. Peterbourough, UK: British Ornithologists' Union.

Myers S. (2009) A field Guide to the birds of Borneo. London, UK: New Holland Publishers.

Phillipps, Q and Phillipps, K. (2009) Phillipps' field guide to the birds of Borneo, Oxford, UK: John Beaufoy Publishing Ltd.

Sheldon, F.H., Moyle, R.G. and Kennard, J. (2001) Ornithology of Sabah: History, Gazetteer, Annotated Checklist, and Bibliography. Washington D.C.:The American Ornithologists' Union.

Smythies, B.E. and Davison, G.W.H. (1999) The birds of Borneo. Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia: Natural History Publications (Borneo) Sdn. Bhd. and the Sabah Society.