I had a morning to escape and visit the Penang Botanical Gardens (PBG), I heard that the common kingfisher that used to call PBG home during the winter months is back!

What I thought would be a rather routine bird watching/photography trip turned out to be a fun nature photography experience. Among the highlights I encountered was a confiding Orange-bellied Flowerpecker, a troop of monkeys feeding on palm fruit, an Indochinese Blue Flycatcher and a particularly curious little dusky leaf monkey.

An orange-bellied flowerpecker amongst the fruiting trees

Long-tailed macaque eating and wondering

It's showtime for this White-throated kingfisher

Pacific swallow

Indochinese Blue Flycatcher

A Dusky Langur/Silver-leaf monkey curious about the creature looking at it

So did I find the common kingfisher? Happily I did! It was back where I photographed it before last year. It was also nice seeing some fellow bird photographers there, including Dr Pyan whom I had known on Facebook for a while (at least a year!) but have never met! 

We took photographs of the kingfisher as well as some other birds (a migrant grey wagtail!) as well, overall it was a fun nature photography morning!

Grey Wagtail...just before the common kingfisher showed up

 Female common kingfisher

Female Common kingfisher

White-rumped munia among the grass hanging out with a dragonfly

Lesser short-nosed fruit bat hanging out under a verandah

So is this symbiotic? A water monitor and an intermediate egret

This striated heron stood still while I photographed it

A pacific swallow looking for insects to feed on

PS: I do my best to correctly ID the birds and animals, there will be occasions of mis-identification, please do let me know in the comments below or via FB Messenger. Thank you!

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All photos by Derrick Lim