MOUNTAIN PEACOCK PHEASANT is a ‘one site bird’, although it occurs more widely throughout the highlands of Peninsular Malaysia, it can only be seen regularly at one place in the world - Bukit Tinggi in Pahang state, around an hour and a half drive from the Kuala Lumpur’s international airport. In a nutshell it took me three days to see one! Things have changed at Bukit Tinggi. Whether it is the fact that fewer Malay bird photographers now visit this spot (so the food put out to lure the peacock pheasant has diminished), or the disturbance caused by a large fallen tree, or the establishment of an ill-considered second screen (where any watchers are silhouetted by the rising sun), or simply that the birds’ behaviour has been changed by some other factor, who knows? What I can say is that it did not appear on two of the days I spent at the tiny feeding station screen. I had seen so many images of these beautiful birds against the backdrop I was now looking at, that it felt like I had already seen one. Imagining what it would be like if and when one turned up during the many hours I spent staring at the same scene, it was a very exciting moment when a fine male finally walked out of the forest and onto the old trail. WOW! The traversing of KL’s ridiculously complex traffic system (I did wonder if it might be possible to go round and round and run out of petrol before following the correct off ramp), the very odd accommodation in Bukit Tinggi’s Colmar Tropicale resort (modelled on the Alsatian town of Colmar!) and many hours of sitting on the muddy forest floor watching nothing most of the time proved worthwhile. I do wonder how long it might last at Bukit Tinggi before something brings this wonderful opportunity to a close, so sooner rather than later probably applies yet again.

Every now and again there were some nice distractions while waiting for the peacock pheasant. A beautiful male Siberian Blue Robin was present each morning (but not in the afternoon), freshly arrived for the winter from Russia, Buff-breasted Babblers and Ochraceous Bulbuls also showed an interest in the feeding station and Brown-backed Needletails zoomed around high over the forest. On one afternoon a group of gorgeous Dusky Langurs moved noisily through the trees overhead. On another occasion a small mammal was rooting around under the fallen tree trunks, I thought it must be a rat of some kind but I was surprised to see that it had a long snout like a treeshrew. It was actually a Gymure, a soft-furred hedgehog, presumably Max’s Hylomys maxi on distribution/altitude. It was nice to be back in the forest in this region after 20 years! I also met some very nice birders from Singapore, Sebastian Ow, Eunice Kong and their friends. All incredibly quiet and polite! Unlike the couple who spent one morning blasting playback from the other screen, seemingly oblivious to the main position and I heard later from James Eaton that Ferruginous Partridge does not like incessant playback anyway. The partridges have not visited regularly in recent months. There were also some flashy butterflies around, but unfortunately not the big one I was hoping for, that would have to wait until Fraser’s Hill in a couple of days time. I could hear Siamangs calling while up on the ridge and I descended down through the Japanese Garden in their direction but their far carrying whooping calls were coming from somewhere out of reach way down in the valley below. Driving back to the highway I was happy to finally catch sight of a family group of this impressive large black gibbon, the huge male swinging through the trees.