SG.CONGKAK ORANGE-BACKED WOODPECKER

4th January 2025

SG.CONGKAK RUFOUS DWARF KINGFISHER

4th January 2025 

2025 NEW YEAR BIRDING: KEPONG BOTANICAL PARK

Location: Kuala Lumpur

Happy new year to all birders. I hope 2025 is a better year for all of you birding wise. There are more lifers out there to photograph and add to your collections. I have been wanting to go to this Kepong Botanical Park next to FRIM in Kuala Lumpur for quite some time now. In 2024 i went there but turned back because there were too many visitors. Today, the first day of 2025 i managed to do it. Surprisingly, there were not that many visitors eventhough it is a public holiday, which is the way i like it. I did get many questions though from joggers asking about what i was photographing. I only spent two and a half hours from 10.00am to 12.30 pm. I figured there will be more visits here so no need for me to push it.

This park is quite large and have many ponds, jogging tracks and various gardens. I cannot decribe every single one for you, so the best thing to do is to visit it. Be reminded that photographers have to pay extra RM5 for each camera they bring on top of the entrance and parking fees. I only paid RM5 for entrance and parking fee, and another RM5 for one DSLR i brought with me which is quite affordable.

This park also has forest canopy walk, so go and check it out. I must say this park is quite well kept, and clean, very breezy, plenty of tall forest trees to give you shade in the hot sun. I think i walked like close to 2km around the park to look for birds. Too bad i only managed to photograph only a few species.

I noticed the Blue-tailed Bee-eaters are easily found around the ponds perching on dead branches and flying around catching bees.

On the grassy area there are many Richard's Pipits looking for insects.

I also managed to photograph this Square-tailed Drongo perching over a pond.

Other birds i managed to spot but did not photograph were Spotted Doves, Sunbird, Black-naped Orioles, Bulbuls, and Swifts. Well, there will always be the next trip. Have a good birding year in 2025, happy birding.