January and February are traditionally the dry months as the North-east monsoon loses its moisture on the other side of Peninsular Malaysia. This year has been particularly dry and it starts impacting on a number of things and the garden especially needs constant watering.
Helen continues to be heavily involved in IWA matters and organised a Chinese New Year dinner at Batu Ferringhi. She is steadily involved with her Japanese students learning English.
Nikki is now back at medical school….busting skulls…. while daughter-in-law Debbie has been accepted to study nursing at University in Brisbane. Dani braves the European winter in Spain while continuing her 'out' year from Cambridge.
We have been busy with the B and B over the Chinese New Year period but it is now quieter.
Helen continues to be heavily involved in IWA matters and organised a Chinese New Year dinner at Batu Ferringhi. She is steadily involved with her Japanese students learning English.
Nikki is now back at medical school….busting skulls…. while daughter-in-law Debbie has been accepted to study nursing at University in Brisbane. Dani braves the European winter in Spain while continuing her 'out' year from Cambridge.
We have been busy with the B and B over the Chinese New Year period but it is now quieter.
We had another afternoon at the races and were both successful in a minor way. I used applied maths and science and Helen has a turf accountant friend who signals her tips.
This should be getting into the busiest time photographically but the Chestnut-headed Bee-eaters seemed to have been affected in their nesting by the dry weather. There is always some peripheral activity and I captured a pair of Green-billed Malkohas displaying. On another day Mrs Junglefowl had her brood making use of the dry weather by having a dust bath.
I explored a flat area up near the Thai border (the round Limestone hills below are in Thailand) near a town called Chuping. This was the heart of the sugar industry but seems to have lost out to a resurgence in rubber and young rubber trees are being planted all over the area. Young rubber trees even surround the retiring sugar refinery. We saw a number of raptors hunting over the fields but they are extremely difficult to photograph. My best shot was of a female Olive-backed Sunbird who was obsessed with her own image in he car mirror.
Back closer to home I have explored a few new areas on the mainland and have a pair of Brahminy Kites in my sites as they start their nesting process. They were brilliantly placed in the rising sun but looking the other way cavorting Long-tailed Macaques played in the treetops in the various pastel shades of the rising sun. On another visit a skein of Herons flew in V-formation across the orange-hued sky. There is smoke haze from an erupting Indonesian volcano in the state and it tends to tint the early morning skies.
Nearby to this location is a patch of mangrove regeneration where a pair of Copper-throated Sunbirds were relatively prominent while a pair of Dollar-birds danced to each other before engaging in bird sex. The male Copper-throated is iridescence plus while Mrs Copper-throat looks like all local female sunbirds. The area hosts a number of woodpeckers and 3-4 can often be seen on one tree (Common Goldenbacks shown)
On another day Jeevi and I went deep into Kedah to Sungei Sedim where a tree with a handy vantage point was reported to be fruiting.
The images below are (a) Gold-whiskered barbet, (b) Crimson-breasted Flowerpecker, (c) Black-headed Bulbul.
I went on my usual pilgrimage to Fraser's Hill also this month. Last year at the same time it was the best I had seen it…bird-wise. This year was the opposite, possibly due to the prolonged dry spell we have been having. There were the usual suspects only…the bird-wave fraternity; the Chestnut-capped Laughingthrush, the Chestnut-crowned Laughingthrush, Magpie-Robins, a lone Mugimaki Flycatcher and my favourites….the hyperactive Silver-eared Mesias.
Around the house and section new flowers bloom, sunbirds (and Bulbuls) look for nectar and Coco is still asking why it is not the year of the dog.
We have installed some comfortable chairs (courtesy of Ikea) on the third floor 'turf' where we can have an evening drink while the birds chirp around us.
The artist who has been doing street paintings around Penang has just added a small one at Straits Quay. It is called 'Girl with balloons' and the balloons are black trash bags……this in itself is possibly a statement.
