MALAYSIAN WILDLIFE PHOTOGRAPHY

Diagram of the shooting location at Byram (orange road) The rubbish mound between the pond reflection and the clouds A rainbow at the entrance to the estuary When I came to live on Penang Island I was given three GPS locations, which were the recommended bird photography sites. One of these was adjacent to the large refuse dump at Byram. The dump is located on mainland Penang, on the coast facing Penang Island. The Pulau Burung Landfill Site (PBLS) is a semi-aerobic landfill located in Byram Forest Reserve. The total area of landfill is 63.5ha which receives 2,200 tons of solid waste daily. The site was established in 1991. Landfill is the technique most employed worldwide for the disposal of municipal solid waste in developing countries such as Malaysia. In landfills solid waste decomposes through a series of combined physiochemical and biological processes giving rise to an extremely polluted liquid called landfill leachate. The poisone...

Chestnut-headed Bee-eaters (Merops leschenaulti), unlike the Blue-tailed and Blue-throated cousins are endemic within the Malaysian State of Penang. They are a resident breeder in the Indian Subcontinent and adjoining regions ranging from India east to South East Asia, including Thailand, Northern Malaysia and Indonesia. This species is not found in Southern Malaysia or Singapore but like other bee-eaters is a beautiful, richly colored, sleek bird and a master flyer. It is predominantly green, with blue on the rump and lower belly. Its face and throat are yellow with a black eye stripe. The crown and nape are a rich chestnut. Newly fledged chicks are the same colors except for a mainly darker green forehead and less distinct demarcation between the colors. The species is 18-20 cm long and it lacks the two elongated central tail feathers possessed by the majority of bee-eater species. There are several subspecies that display variations of the color pattern. The male and females have...

The White-throated Kingfisher (Halcyon smyrnensis) is considered a large kingfisher at 28cm in length and is also known at the White-breasted Kingfisher or the Smyrna Kingfisher. It has a widespread distribution, ranging from Bulgaria in Eurasia, east through South Asia to the Philippines. There are four variations of plumage documented throughout the range where the kingfisher is often a resident often found well away from water where it feeds on small reptiles, amphibians, crabs, small rodents and small birds. In Malaysia generally and in many rural areas in Penang White-throated Kingfishers are seen of perches frequently along roadsides on telegraph poles and on tree stumps. During the mating season they announce their presence by calling loudly. This kingfisher, albeit considered common, is a target for nature photographers because of the combination of iridescent blue and chocolate brown feather colors offset by a bright red bill and orange/red feet. I was ha...