Myna dip

Crested Myna... sadly not..

Too busy before my recent brief trip to Portugal to get to grips with the range of exotic species breeding in and around Lisbon, I was unaware until too late that there is an easy Crested Myna roost just across the Tejo estuary at Barreiro. Galling, especially since I had driven past the area at the right time of day. Ah well, can only blame myself for not doing my research thoroughly enough. Anyway, on last morning of the trip I decided to combine some gull photography along the Lisbon shoreline with a check of a few shoreline parks to see whether any of the mynas has make it across the water for the morning.

Its a Common Myna

Amazingly, in the very first area that I checked, the row of palms along Rua Arameiros just East of the Praça do Comércio, I heard the distinctive voice of a singing myna. At first I assumed that the bird was captive and that I could hear it through an open window (there is plenty of birdsong to be heard this way in Lisbon), but after a careful search I found a Common Myna singing its heart out. Well, not a Crestie but a myna nevertheless, and as soon as it is upgraded to Category C in Portugal (not sure how likely this is...) I'll be popping it on my WP list!

Singing away in Lisbon

I'd seen a few species of mynas earlier in the month with Common Myna, White-vented Myna and Hill Myna regular species in Singapore and Malaysia.

Common Myna in Malaysia earlier in the month

White-vented Myna in Singapore Botanic Gardens

Hill Myna on Pulau Tioman, Malaysia - big, noisy, but shy birds

Black-napes beat white-belly

My favourite sequence of shots from Pulau Tioman - a sub-adult White-bellied Sea Eagle being ushered away from a nesting colony of Black-naped Terns. The terns definitely had the upper hand and landed many direct hits during this encounter. We were lucky enough to watch from the sun deck of our dive boat as we ate our nasi goreng lunch - sometimes life is just too good!

Oriental Bay Owl, Pulau Tioman, Malaysia, July 2013

I have just returned from a great two week trip to Singapore and Malaysia. Not a birding trip as such but some really good opportunities to observe wildlife thrown in. Here's the bird of the trip, an unexpected Oriental Bay Owl at Melina Beach, Pulau Tioman. Found while I was looking for interesting mammals in the forest at about 4:30 am, quite a weird experience to be off trail at night alone but the mammals, reptiles and this bird certainly made it worth it. The owl was silent and was consuming what looked to be a large forest rat of some species. I only had a compact camera, but it has done a good job of capturing the plumage. Probably the bird of the year for me - even more exciting than the snowy owl as this one was not even on my radar - as far as I know this species has never been recorded on Pulau Tioman before... That's all for now - jet-lag calls...