Birding Tour Malaysia: Peninsular Malaysia

One of the most biodiverse countries in the world, Malaysia is a federation of 13 states across two regions. One region is West Malaysia (Peninsular Malaysia, and the focus of this small group birdwatching tour) and the other region is East Malaysia (which includes Sabah and Sarawak on the island of Borneo, where we have two very exciting tours that run immediately before this tour, details below).

Peninsular Malaysia sits at the foot of the longer Malay Peninsula, the backbone of which, the Titiwangsa Range, is draped in pristine montane forest with the lowlands carpeted in extensive tropical rainforest melting into vast mangrove forests along the coast. The combination of this results in some of the most exciting birdwatching in Southeast Asia.

Malayan Banded Pitta is one of our vibrant target birds on this trip.

This tour will cover several key birding sites in peninsular Malaysia, starting in the coastal mangrove forests at Kuala Selangor, moving to the highlands and the marvelous Fraser’s Hill and then continuing to one of the best areas for birdwatching in all of Malaysia (and possibly even Southeast Asia), the world-famous and stunningly bird-rich Taman Negara National Park; the tropical rainforest here is said to be over 130 million years old, and we will find some spectacular wildlife during our time here. We will finish our tour back in the mountains with a visit to Bukit Tinggi, home of one of our endemic targets. This circuit of peninsular Malaysia is well-tried and tested by us and always comes up with some great birds.

We will be targeting many of the highly sought charismatic species to be found in peninsular Malaysia, such as pittas, trogons, broadbills, hornbills, pheasants, and kingfishers, along with some very special, secretive birds such as the monotypic Rail-babbler, the endemic Malayan Whistling Thrush and Mountain Peacock-Pheasant, and the near-endemic Malayan Peacock-Pheasant, Malayan Laughingthrush, and Malayan Partridge.

The monotypic Rail-babbler is a tough bird to connect with, but we will try to find this incredible bird while in suitable lowland forest habitat during the tour. (photo Cheong W.C.)

There are many other high-quality birds possible on the tour, such as Rhinoceros Hornbill, Black Hornbill, and Helmeted Hornbill (three of the ten hornbill species possible), Black-and-yellow Broadbill, Long-tailed Broadbill, and Green Broadbill (three of the seven broadbill species possible), and Diard’s Trogon, Scarlet-rumped Trogon, and Red-headed Trogon (three of the six trogon species possible). Night birds are well represented too, with Large Frogmouth, Gould’s Frogmouth, Blyth’s Frogmouth, Malaysian Eared Nightjar, Oriental Bay Owl, Buffy Fish Owl, Reddish Scops Owl, White-fronted Scops Owl, Brown Wood Owl, Eastern Barn Owl, and Grey Nightjar a few of the very enticing possibilities.

If that is not enough to whet your appetite, what about this who’s who of simply spectacular birds that we could find: Ferruginous Partridge, Great Argus, Crested Partridge, Crested Fireback, Garnet Pitta, Blue-winged Pitta, Hooded Pitta, Mangrove Pitta, Malayan Banded Pitta, Rusty-naped Pitta, Banded Kingfisher, Rufous-collared Kingfisher, Whiskered Treeswift, Great Slaty Woodpecker, Common Green Magpie, Chestnut-naped Forktail, Silver-eared Mesia, Long-tailed Sibia, Straw-headed Bulbul, Mangrove Blue Flycatcher, Malaysian Blue Flycatcher, Large Wren-Babbler, and so many more!

This tour can be combined with our Birding Tour Borneo: Sabah Classic Tour and Birding Tour Borneo: Sarawak – Restricted Range Endemics; both have been designed to complement this Peninsular Malaysia tour and focus on the multitude of endemic birds that can be found on the island of Borneo, such as the following mouthwatering selection: Whitehead’s Trogon, Whitehead’s Broadbill, Hose’s Broadbill, Dulit Frogmouth, Bornean Frogmouth, Whitehead’s Spiderhunter, Bornean Ground Cuckoo, Blue-banded Pitta, Black-crowned Pitta, Blue-headed Pitta, and many more, plus amazing mammals such as Bornean Orangutan and Proboscis Monkey! Check out the links for details of these great tours.

We will target the beautiful Mangrove Pitta early in our tour.