The Gunung Nuang Recreational Forest is located at Kuala Pangsoon in Hulu Langat. This is famous with hikers as one of the routes leading to the Nuang Peak. Many urbanites will throng the park during weekends to climb the peak and to get away from the hustle and bustle of the city. Located at the foothills of the Titiwangsa Range which designated as Important Bird Area (IBA), the secondary forest offers, lush greenery with old pine trees grow among the native trees. With it, comes the rich bird life making it a great lowland birding hotspot in Selangor. Last Sunday on the 6th August 2017, the MNS Selangor Bird Group organized a day trip to Nuang and the event was attended by 35 participants. It was a great turn out by the members so we split into two groups and birded in different areas of the park.
The huge number of park visitors and cloudy weather didn’t affect the birds. Lowland birds such as the Whiskered Treeswift, Hairy-backed Bulbul, Cream-vented Bulbul, Stripe-thorated Bulbul, Red-eyed Bulbul, Black-and-red Broadbill and many more kept the birders in awe. The forest was alive with the calls of the Pin-striped Tit-babbler, Rufous-tailed Tailorbird, Gold Whiskered Barbet and Blue-eared Barbet.
With such a crowd at Nuang, we never expected to be treated with a rarity, but this group was very lucky indeed. As everybody was focusing on a pair of Red-eyed Bulbul who was feeding on the Macaranga fruits, a big black and white bird flew in and perched at nearby tree. HORNBILL!! In all its glory, a male White-crowned Hornbill gave everyone a spectacular viewing before it flew to the next tree at the back. Our excitement continued as two more White-crowned Hornbills flew and perched at the first tree before joining the first bird. Looks of glee and joy radiated from the participants’ faces as for most of them, it was their LIFER (first time seeing a particular bird species).
We were still reeling from the excitement of seeing the hornbill, but we moved along the path to discover more birds in this area. The team led, by Liung and Izzat decided to take the route along the tar road and turned into the gravel road leading up to the abandoned hydro station, while Low and Veronica’s team walked back into the park and through the forest trail which will later connect to the same gravel road. The birds such as the Rufescent Prinia, Green Iora, White-bellied Erpornis, Scaly-breasted Bulbul, Black-headed Bulbul, Black-crested Bulbul, Blue-winged Leafbird, Orange-bellied Flowerpecker, Crimson-breasted Flowerpecker, Pale Blue Flycatcher, Dark-throated Oriole, Large Woodshrike, Black-winged Flycatcher-shrike, Asian Fairy Bluebird, Little Spiderhunter, Grey-breasted Spiderhunter, Little Cuckoo Dove and many more kept us busy that morning.
The group was treated with another sighting of a rarity, a male Green Broadbill which was perching quietly among the foliage. It was all thanks to Captain Low’s sharp eyes and even he was quite surprised to spot this beauty. Everybody was very happy with the sighting of this forest gem.
By about 11 am, we grouped together and started heading back to the car park. As the motto of Selangor Bird Group is, ‘Birds comes first,’ we were distracted by shrilling call of Crested Serpent Eagle, and there it was, soaring above us while catching the thermal. At the bamboo clump, the tiny woodpecker called a Rufous Piculet was seen, hacking at the bamboo branch, probably looking for some late morning meal. Nearby, a flock of White-belied Erpornis and Pin-striped Tit-babbler was moving frantically among the foliage on the hunt for some juicy grubs. The only malkoha of the day, Raffles’s Malkoha just popped out for a brief view.
We concluded our walk at 12.30pm with some refreshment provided by Captain Low’s makeshift refreshment stand... read: his car trunk, while compiling the bird list. We had sighted about 46 species of birds that day and everyone was very happy. Special thanks to Captain Low and his assistant, Ms Veronica and of course, Selangor Bird Group committee members who were keen to share their knowledge about birds with participants. We are looking forward to our next adventure.
The full list of bird species sighted can be found at http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S38930237
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