How many birds can be seen in one day? In May 2018, more than 30,000 people traipsed through nature and tallied a total of more than 7000 species in 24 hours. This year’s birding's biggest day falls on May 4, and the Selangor Bird Branch Group has decided to join the Global Big Day fun by birdwatching at Sungai Congkak Recreational Forest in Hulu Langat, Selangor. During weekends and public holidays, this recreational site is often abuzz with picnickers and locals taking a dip in the shallow pools of Sg. Congkak. But, as birders do, we gathered early and were off on the trails before the crowds descended.
Birdsong filled our ears—the trills from the grey-headed canary-flycatcher were particularly lively. Flitting through the undergrowth, the elusive Horsfield's babbler added cheerfully to this medley. Above, a black-and-yellow Broadbill eyed us between foliage and branches, its turquoise bill barely visible from below. In a distance, its slightly larger counterpart, the banded Broadbill rolled out a series of loud rising notes. A sudden movement amongst branches snagged our attention; it was a silver-breasted Broadbill. In its beak, she held strands of dry, fibrous material. She took off, but we noted her presence regularly on both sides of the trail. The Broadbill was ready to mate, and she was hard at work making a nest. Taking care not to scare her off, we did not stick around for long and made our way further down the trail.
We took a slight detour from the main route, and went down a small path carpeted with tiny floral starbursts of yellow and pink. This striking spectacle indicated that our lowland forests were in the midst of a phenomenon known as mass flowering. During this time, many trees start reproducing in sync—the magnitude may vary from a few individuals flowering to more than half of the trees in a forest! Shrouded in mist and the warm morning rays, we marveled at the forest's beauty but not before the feathered gems of Sg. Congkak stole our gazes once more. This time, we added the banded kingfisher, large woodshrike, yellow-breasted flowerpecker and the Oriental magpie robin to our growing list. A Malayan giant squirrel continued to lounge on its branch in the canopy as we returned back onto the main trail.
Crunching along gravel and soil, participants continued to pick out new species from tall trees and dense foliage including a couple of fiery minivets, scarlet minivets, spiderhunters and leafbirds. As the morning sun climbed higher in the skies, the flurry of bird activity grew. Many were intent on foraging and feeding. A pair of red-eyed bulbuls had been spotted on a tree lush with berries, and they were too busy taking their fill to bother with our presence. Pacific swallows fluttered and glided low in circles over an open field. Masters of the air, they were known to catch their meals, such as insects, in flight. Above them, a handful of whiskered treeswifts zipped back and forth, pausing now and again on skinny leafless branches high up in the tree crown.
It was at this point, which the group broke into two after admiring a lone dark-throated oriole perched at a distance. Lured by the possibility of seeing a blue-banded kingfisher, I joined a smaller group of five and continued further upstream. Though we did not see the kingfisher as hoped, we were graced with the presence of an emerald dove, pale blue flycatcher, and a rare red-headed krait slithering by the riverbank. On the other hand, the other group was blessed with the sighting of a pair of Diard's trogons!
By the time we called it a day, the recreational site was starting to fill with local visitors. In total, we had counted almost thirty different bird species! But no matter the number, we had immense fun and enjoyed chalking up every single find. Many thanks to both participants, and the committee members of the Selangor Bird Branch group for making this trip on eBird's Global Big Day a memorable one.
