Now re-entering Bako Village

In addition to a typically busy week, I was also sick when I got assigned to the Bako media familiarisation trip on Thursday. Fortunately, I got better instead of worse and had a pretty good time there.

I gushed to FH2O about how beautiful the weather and water was for kayaking yesterday morning, and reminded him that when I’m good enough, he’s taking me to Bako and Pulau Lakei in a kayak. Think of all those places a speedboat can’t squeeze into!

But anyway, on our way back to Bako Village, our boatman suddenly slowed the engine near the mouth of the river and steered us towards one of the pipes that are exposed above the water. We saw this:

I tell ya, I practically leaped from my seat on the very front of the boat onto the bow so that I could take photos! The guys in the boat were laughing at me.

The crocodile was not very big but I certainly won’t be so gung-ho in a kayak! Mr Crocodile seems to be enjoying his morning basking in the sun. Look at that grin!

New Year Babies identified

I was at FH2O‘s house this morning and had to look in on the little hatchies in a tree. I also wanted to see the ‘black on top and white underneath bird’ myself because I was only 80% sure which bird this is based on Unker’s photos.

I parked under the tree as Francis instructed and shot a number of photos through the windshield. My 80% became 95%. I’m sure it’s some kind of flycatcher, but have to look at my bird book to confirm. When I got home, I found the bird I was looking for.

It’s a skittish bird called the Pied Fantail (Rhipidura javanica) or a “murai gila” – identified by white tailtips (underside), throat and eyebrows. We have one that visits our backyard periodically.

I thought it might be the Little Pied Flycatcher at first, because Francis said it was ‘black on top’, but it’s really brown and not chubby enough to fit the bill.

Pied Fantails are called “fantails” because they flick-fan their tails up and down. According to one website I read, this is to scare flies into flight so that the bird can catch it.

Here’s mum sitting on her brood. If you look carefully, you can see beaks poking out from under her.

I went back to with my dad later because he has a new camera and want to test it out on… everything. Me up on a ladder turned out to be one of them. But I got him back!

Their wing feathers are already growing. It won’t be long before they leave the nest.

He shot the following photo of one of the chick doing a head loll. Note that it has nice blurring effects in the background that I can’t get with my camera.

He also captured a moment when mummy bird was stuffing something down a baby’s throat, but I forgot to copy it over.

Next: Another bird visited while we were there. It’s related to this one, but both are not what we originally thought they were!