Malay Peninsula - initial report

Limosa popular holiday to the Malaysian Peninsula which visit many of the country's best birding spots including Fraser's Hill and Taman Negara concluded a few days ago and Limosa guide Colin Bushell reports as follows:

"We hit the ground running on the first day in the field with lengthy views of two species of pitta at Shah Alam Botanical Gardens. Blue-winged Pitta came to a feeding station almost immediately on our arrival and if this wasn't enough we were watching Hooded Pitta through the 'scope a few minutes later!

The cooler highlands of Fraser's Hill came as a pleasant respite from the rather humid lowlands. This area also provided some of the most exciting birding this year, as the two largest mixed species feeding flocks contained Blue Nuthatch (a major target bird on this tour). Other highlights at Fraser's Hill included three broadbill species in a day, Red-bearded Bee-eaters around our lodge and a fine selection of birds at the feeding stations. These included Streaked Wren-babbler and Lesser Shortwing which are both tricky species to find in the forest. Other visitors this year included the endemic Malayan Laughingthrush and Silver-eared Mesias.

Leaving Fraser's Hill, we spent a night at Bukit Tinggi where the Mountain Peacock-pheasants were waiting for us at the hide the following morning, before we headed to the lowland rainforests.

Our four night stay at Taman Negara gave us ample opportunity to explore the boardwalk trails and forest edge by boat. Rainforest birding requires patience, but persistence is the key here and our group was rewarded with some true gems such as Malayan Crested Fireback, Violet Cuckoo, Rufous-collared Kingfisher and Crested Jayshrike. Superb views of Gould's Frogmouth on our final morning in the field was just reward for everyone who turned out for the pre-breakfast walk. What a bird!"

Colin Bushell 2 March 2024

All photos below come from the recent tour and were taken by Limosa guide Colin Bushell.

If you would like a copy of the trip report for the recent tour please contact the office and we will email this to you as soon as it is completed. It will, however, also be available for download from the Limosa website.

Bookings are already open for the February 2025 tour which will again be led by Colin and expert local guide Lee Kok Chung and early reservations are recommended as this tour is consistently popular. For more details please click here.

Mountain Peacock-pheasant was seen exceptionally well at Bukit Tinggi © Colin Bushell, February 2024

An extremely obliging Blue-winged Pitta at the beginning of the tour © Colin Bushell, February 2024

Black-and-red Broadbill is reasonably widespread in SE Asia but is always a fine bird to see © Colin Bushell, February 2024