And mammals too!

 Wednesday April 22

We spent the morning walking on roads around Fraser’s Hill.  Fraser’s Hill began as a mining station in the late 19th century (started by a Scotsman named Fraser). In 1913, the location was re-discovered and imagined as a “hill station”, basically a mountain retreat for British government officials to escape the heat of Kuala Lumpur.  Its location at 1200-1500 meters above sea level creates a cool climate of 17-25 Celsius. The road up the hill hasn’t changed much in a century, adding to the sense of retreat, despite being only two hours from KL. The community of Fraser’s Hill retains the English countryside design elements from the early 20th century. There are classic red phone booths, mailboxes, wrought iron railings, half-timbered houses and cottage gardens. The area is also famous for its biodiversity and it is a noted birding location (over 250 species recorded). 

We started the day an hour before sunrise, and needed wind breakers for the morning chill. Our outings were a combination of “waiting for a particular species to show up” and “ oh good grief there are birds everywhere”. We also saw some wonderful White Thighed Leaf Monkeys, a Red-cheeked Squirrel, a massive millipede, and an impressive rhinoceros beetle. 

One of the amazing birds was the Pygmy Cupwing. Its description in the bird book is “Essentially a tiny brown tennis ball supported by tiny chopsticks... Gives the impression of a tailless rodent as it makes its way furtively through dense shrubbery and leaf litter. “ 

In the afternoon we walked different roads and were rewarded with more new species. One of our targets for the day, the Collared Owlet, came close to us several times, but on two of those occasions a swarm of smaller birds chased it away. 

One of the families of birds that are new to us on this trip are the spider hunters. These are relatives of sunbirds (small, flitting, brightly colored nectar-eating birds with long curved bills that fill the ecological niche of hummingbirds outside the western hemisphere. Spider hunters are much larger, less brightly colored but still quite handsome, and as the name implies are insect eaters (not just spiders). 

Pictured: White-thighed Leaf Monkeys, Red-cheeked Squirrel, Pygmy Cupwing,  Chestnut-capped Laughingthrush, Streaked Spiderhunters, example of Fraser’s Hill architecture. 

Pre-dawn to Dusk

 April 21

After another massive rainstorm overnight, we headed out at 4:45 this morning to go “owling” before dawn. As our guide said, it seems all the owls are on holiday. We were able to see two different types of Frogmouth, after a lot of hard work by our guides to call the birds towards us.

After breakfast we left the national park, ferrying back across the river. We stopped for an hour or more of birding along the side of a busy road, searching for the elusive Crested Jayshrike, a dark nervous bird that flits low to the ground in dense underbrush. We did get a few quick looks at it. Fortunately some other species flew in to amuse us during our search. As we wandered along the roadside, we suddenly heard the trumpeting of elephants. Our guides insisted we quickly reverse our direction; elephants are aggressive and a threat to curious tourists every year. 

The remainder of the afternoon we drove southwest (but not as far as Kuala Lumpur), up out of the lowlands to our next location at Fraser’s Hill. The drive was a bit longer than planned as the drivers had to search for a station with diesel fuel. The price of diesel has increased 300% over the past month and some stations have no supply.  

As we climbed up to higher elevation the landscape changed to hardwood trees and bamboo. We stopped several times to look for “bamboo forest specialist” bird species and did see a few. It is a delight to be in coolish temperatures again.  But 4:45 am to 7:15 pm makes for a long day! 

Pictured: Yellow-breasted flowerpecker, Blyth’s Frogmouth, Large Racket-tailed Drongo chasing a Rhinoceros Hornbill, Yellow-bellied Warbler 

Unexpected surprises

 April 20

There was a massive rainstorm last night, so we awoke to slightly cooler temperatures and even higher humidity than yesterday. The mosquitos and the leeches, which had not been evident yesterday, were clearly happy with the new conditions. To be fair, leeches are an important food source for ground birds like pittas, and many creatures munching on mosquitoes. Our group is well prepared with leech socks (to prevent leeches getting inside your shoes or to your legs). We’ve only had 3 leeches across our group of 8 so far, and all were found before they latched. So it’s worth the reduction in our stylish appearances. 

Carrying on from yesterday’s treks uphill and downhill through the rainforest, today we climbed 400+ boardwalk steps up to a shoulder on the neighboring hill. This is certainly an aerobic birding trip! We then went down a muddy rooted track to an area with good chances for rare birds. We didn’t see the one we came for, but we did see several other spectacularly beautiful birds, including one that we had searched for repeatedly yesterday (the Garnet Pitta). We also saw two types of broadbill that we were not expecting to see during this hike. It continues to amaze us that these brightly colored creatures are so very hard to find! 

On our return trip we walked carefully around a Wagler’s pit viper perched on a small tree next to the stairs. It was ready to spring (it had wrapped its tail around the stem of the plant so that when it did spring it could return to its perch). We were grateful that it did not, as a full dose of venom is fatal in 30 minutes without treatment. But he was beautiful. On the way to lunch we saw a cloud monitor on the lawn… another reminder that we are staying in the wilderness! 

After lunch we chose to return to our cabin on a woodland track, and were rewarded with a flock of Malayan Crested Firebacks. These large pheasants skulk through the forest. We were hoping to get a glimpse of one; we were lucky enough to have a whole flock wander through an open area just off our trail…five males and three females. They look like they are going to a masquerade party.

In the late afternoon we returned to the blind near the cabins. Although many of the species enjoying the fruiting trees were the same as at prior visits, we also had some amazing new birds including two kinds of hornbills. 

Pictured: Garnet Pitta (another skulker), Green Broadbill, Black-and-yellow Broadbill, Malayan Crested Fireback, Wrinkled Hornbill (eating a fruit), our group in full regalia including leech socks, Wagler’s Pit Viper. 

A full day of birding

 Sunday April 19

Today was one of the few times we have “birded all day” without other activities. We headed out at 5:30am for a pre-breakfast walk. The objective was to find nocturnal bird species before sunrise. While we heard several we did not see any. On a couple of occasions large bats fluttered past. However, time spent at a bird blind at sunrise gave us a a lot of good activity, including a troop of dusty leaf monkeys. The blind looks out onto a field containing a group of large trees that bear fruit that several bird species enjoy.

After breakfast we headed out again, and walked on boardwalks through the rainforest until lunchtime. Our local guide commented that we were seeing a lot of unusual species and few of the common ones. We told him he could catch up on the common ones tomorrow. We went out again about 3pm and birded until sunset. Most of the time we were on boardwalks that followed the terrain— which means a lot of steps! We saw many wonderful species today; most were colorful and most were also difficult to find in the dense forest; their flitting behavior compounded this issue.

We are staying at the main accommodation for the national park. The camp began over 25 years ago with a handful of cabins but has steadily expanded as the park’s popularity has grown. We are in cabin 105, the last one in the row and a kilometer’s walk from the dining hall. This makes for a bit of time management to get to our group departures on time.

Pictured: Banded Broadbill, Blue-banded Kingfisher, mother and baby Dusty Leaf Monkeys, stairs on the trail 

First post from Malaysia

 

Saturday, April 18

We traveled without incident from New York to Singapore and then on to Kuala Lumpur. The flight to Singapore took slightly over 18 hours. We were surprised that the intended flight path went over Greenland, past Svalbard, and south through China past Chengdu. We were surprised again when the actual flight path diverted south over Eastern Europe and then hugged the southern edge of the Himalayas (past Islamabad and Kabul) then over Kolkata and south over Thailand. 

The airports in Singapore and Kuala Lumpur were beautifully decorated inside including green spaces and water features— quite different from most US airports! 

On Friday night we met the other four members of our birding tour (a couple from England and two gentlemen from different parts of Australia) and one of our trip leaders, a birding professional originally from Belgium. We ate at a “hot pot” restaurant. It was fun to watch each of the foods be cooked in boiling pots (one mild and one spicy) right on our table. 

Saturday morning we left before dawn to drive for an hour north of KL to a birding location up in the mountains. Dawn comes late in this part of Malaysia (about 7am) because all of Malaysia is in a single time zone. When we go to Borneo, sunrise will be at 5:15, and were we to go to Sulawesi it would be even earlier. 

This morning’s birding trails are on property controlled by a resort whose buildings emulate a medieval French village. Watching macaque monkeys play in front of half-timbered houses was bizarre. The morning birding was a mix of standing behind a blind and walking slowly along roads to spot birds: 28 new species before lunchtime. It was a relief to start the trip at higher elevation where the temperature and humidity weren’t too severe.

Many of the birds we saw today were striking, not only for their colors but for their names. We’ve never seen leafbirds, tailorbirds, spider hunters, or flowerpeckers before. 

After lunch we drove Northeast for 3.5 hours to our lodge in the Taman Negara  National park. Actually Taman Negara means “national park” in Malay. The park protects an ancient rainforest. We will be in the eastern, lower elevation part of the park. 

Pictured: “Colmar Tropicale”, short-tailed gymnoes (a small tree shrew), Orange-bellied flowerpecker, flying rhinoceros hornbills, female rufous-collared kingfisher 

I

Reflections on Churchill

 Reflections on Churchill

Churchill Manitoba in the winter is truly the “deep north” and worth experiencing (at least for a few days). Its history is rooted in trade and transportation. People have lived in the Churchill area for thousands of years, starting with the Thule people about 3000 years ago with successive waves of population by the pre-Dorset and Dorset cultures, and then the Inuit about 300 years ago. South of Churchill the Dene and Cree also moved in.  The first Europeans (late 17th century) were trappers and whale hunters, and the Métis reflect a mixed heritage from that period. 

The Hudson Bay Company established a trading fort in 1720-40. While Hudson Bay is only clear for freight shipping from July to October, it was the only option until 1929 when the train line from Winnipeg was completed. After the fur petered out, the major industry was whale hunting.  Then in the mid-20th century, after whale hunting was banned, “whale cowboys” would trap belugas to ship to zoos and aquariums. The mid- 20th century also saw the creation and abandonment of the army base, a research rocket base, and a commercial grain port. Finally, in the 1980s, polar bear trips began the shift to ecotourism as the major income source for Churchill. In some ways the community has come full circle, returning to sustaining themselves based on the natural resources of the area (in this case through ecotourism).  

There is currently a debate about reopening the port for mineral shipments, as the warming of the NW passage is increasing the ice free shipping lanes; the effect this will have on the polar bears and beluga whales is the counter position. 

A word about the isolation of Churchill: there is no road access from Winnipeg. The train ride from Winnipeg takes two days, in part because the last 150 miles is over muskeg, relatively thin land above the permafrost and very prone to freeze-thaw heaving. That last 150 miles takes 12 hours  because the rail bed is so uneven.  Flying round trip from Winnipeg costs over $2000.  When we flew up on March 5th the cloud cover prevented much of a view, but on our return flight, clear skies enabled us to see how vast and flat the landscape is between Churchill and Winnipeg. In Churchill the highest bluff (formed by isostatic rebound) is 100 feet high. 

We spoke to a number of Chuchillians, some of whom grew up there and others who came for a visit and fell in love with the place. As our art instructor, Sandra Cook, said— in the winter there is a sense of accomplishment to do even the simple things (like going grocery shopping in -40F walking into the wind, as it’s too cold for your car to start anyway).  During the fall when polar bears are common sights in town, the rule is to leave your house and car unlocked at night in case someone needs a safe place to be. 

There is a huge town center (over 200,000 square feet) built by the army when the town had 4,000 residents, before the base closed. The town center includes all three schools, the hospital, the library, the town offices, basketball court, hockey and curling rinks, a swimming pool, gymnasium, art center, and movie theater. On Monday, when the windchill was -50 or lower, we heard children at the indoor playground. 

The town is very diverse, with a high proportion of First Nations but also people from all over Canada and the world. As a community they are working hard to overcome the lingering effects of the Residential Schools experience of previous generations. There is a deep appreciation of the nature and the stillness; many of the townspeople have cabins to “get away from the bustle” of an 800-person town! The brief Arctic summer is said to be beautiful with migratory birds, wildflowers on the tundra, and the bay full of beluga whales. 

For those of you who are curious about how one dresses to stand outside and watch the lights, a photo of Kevin is attached. He is wearing: thermal underwear, then a layer of shirt and pants, then a fleece, then a puffy jacket, insulated snow pants, a heavy long parka, a woolly hat, two pairs of socks and insulated boots. A buff or balaclava to cover the face and hand and foot warmers  finish the gear. 

Pictured: Kevin all suited up, downtown on a cold day, looking out on frozen Hudson Bay,  landscape view from the plane, sunset showing the snow drifts across the road 

More about auroras

 The aurora borealis is an amazing phenomenon to behold. The physics that causes it to happen (simply put, electrons from solar wind colliding with oxygen and nitrogen atoms in the atmosphere causing them to emit light) does not enter into the mind as you watch the shifting patterns of light dance across the sky. On a clear night, the contrast between the ribbons of color and the dark starry sky is striking. As you watch you appreciate the Inuit’s belief that the lights are their ancestors playing. If you whistle, you can get them to come closer, but do not whistle too loud or long because they may come down and take you up to join them. Though the eye does not always catch the subtle colors (our night vision is not overly color sensitive), the camera can capture a greater range of colors: green, reds, and blues. This allows us to share beautiful images.

On a cold cloudy day, ice crystals in the clouds cause refraction of the aurora causing the entire sky to appear green. The snow on the ground reflects the color causing it to take on a greenish tinge. Standing in the boreal forest immersed in this eerie green glow, you feel like you have been transported into a horror movie. Though, even on cloudy days, bright bands of aurora create interesting contrasting patterns against the green background sky.

Pictured: images showing the “green snow”, the red upper aurora bands, and moon rise