MALAYSIAN WILDLIFE PHOTOGRAPHY

I have been to Fraser's Hill at least once a year for the last 20 years. I was there last week when there was a flurry of photographers trying to photograph a Red-headed Trogon pair. In the post-session lull an Australian accented voice asked where are more colourful birds to be found. It seems to be hard-wired into homo sapiens that we like beautiful objects no matter how superficial. In the bird world this usually means multi-coloured feathers. If the worlds rarest bird species was black it would garner little attention from avian photographers. While not wanting to join the majority it is hard to avoid it and it seems to be a good way to promote Fraser's Hill.....a 1200-1500 metre high hill station that has seen better days. I have said that photography at Fraser's Hill is not easy and it may take many visits or a long stay to add the range of colourful birds to an album. Some are regulars and some are infrequent migrants. The following is an arbitrary col

Chestnut-naped Forktails ( Enicurus ruficapillus ) are a member of the flycatcher and chat family Muscicapidae. The species was originally placed in the Thrush family, Turdidae but were recently replaced in the Muscicapidae, the Old World flycatchers. All the birds in the Genus Enicurus have long forked tails. There are other members of the flycatcher family in the adjacent forest. Grey-headed Canary flycatcher Asian Brown Flycatcher The Chestnut-naped Forktail is 18-20cm and weighs around 27g, The head of the male is Chestnut coloured, with a white forehead and black mask in front of the eye. The wings are black with a white wing-bar. The breast is white with black barring, fading towards the white belly. The rump is white and the tail is black with white stripes and a white tip. The female is the same as the male except the back and mantle is chestnut. The forktail calls in flight, either a single or three high-pitched whistles.