# Malaysia, Fraser's Hill



## moloch05 (Jul 7, 2010)

My wife and I spent four nights at Fraser's Hill. This area is situated about 100 km to the north of Kuala Lumpur and is about 1500m in elevation. The temperature at Fraser's Hill is always pleasant and is a welcome relief after a few days in steamy KL. It often was misty with low clouds and occasional rain but it was not cold. I could walk quite comfortably in shorts and t-shirt into the night.

Fraser's Hill is famous with birders for its amazing birds. Birding is a big deal here and there is an international bird race every June. The infrastructure is great with well-marked trails and often signs that indicated what was likely to be seen. The mountains in Malaysia are home to a number of birds that are more typical of the Himalayas further to the northwest. Birds like Sibias, Cutias and Laughing-thrush are here and sought after. Monkeys like such as the Macaques, Leaf-Monkeys and Siamang are frequent. Years ago, while I drove around looking for night birds, I found a Leopard Cat on the road. This is one of the smaller cats and is not much bigger than the domestic variety.

Fraser's Hill is mostly forested. Here are habitat shots of the area:











There is plentiful hotel and bungalow accommodation here. This is a popular place on the weekends so advance bookings are a good idea.










We stayed here at Pekan Banglo:






The local mosque is something all visitors know about. The first call to prayer is at 5:15 each morning. For me, this was a call go get out and get into the forest before sunrise.







Most of the trailheads had signs and maps like this to help out with the birds that were likely:










We did not have a car here on this trip so I did lots of walking at night. This proved to be successful and I found a few snakes.

A sad find was this gorgeous but DOR Blue Malaysian Coral Snake (_Maticora bivirgata_). It was killed around 1 pm, which was quite surprising since this is usually a nocturnal snake. This individual was huge and about 1.5m in length. 










I found this Thai-Malayan Pit Viper (_Popeia fucata_) on the road on one of my night walks. I originally thought this to be a White-lipped Pit Viper but I was told on another site that the White-lipped is a lowland species whereas _Popeia_ lives in the uplands. 














This Variable Reed Snake (_Calamaria lumbricoidea_) was a challenge to photograph since it never stopped moving.










I found two of these tiny Malayan Mountain Reed Snakes (_Macrocalamus lateralis_) on the road. 










This Southern Mountain Slug Snake (_Pareas vertebralis_) was active during a rainstorm one night.














Lizards were represented by a couple of skinks and a single dragon. I think the following are Blotched Forest Skinks (Sphaenomorphus praesignis). These were all found along road cuts and usually had burrows into the bank. One was found on a log.














I think that these are (_Mabuya multifasciata_) but I am not certain.











This little dragon was a bright green until I caught it and moved it off the road. It changed colours in just a few moments when it was stressed. I am not certain of its identity. Any ideas?






Frogs were not plentiful but I did see a few. I need help with these since I don’t know their names.

Frog 1:






Frog 2:






Frog 3:






Frog 4:










Toad 1






… more to come


Regards,
David


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## -Matt- (Jul 7, 2010)

Once again incredible photos David and some beautiful animals, particularly like the Thai-Malayan Pit Viper...a beautiful looking viper!

Living the dream mate


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## Omgitschris (Jul 7, 2010)

great photo's as usual ! looks like a lovely place, and i really like the first two snakes.


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## moloch05 (Jul 8, 2010)

Thanks, guys.

I did not really try for bird photos. This is one of the few that I took of a lovely Silver-eared Mesia:





Birding is Malaysia is excellent. On this trip, I was looking more for butterflies and herps so my list was not as long as before. Here is a link to a report that I produced the last time that I visited this area:
Malaysia 1998

Does anyone know the purpose of the red tail on the green pit vipers of Asia?

Here are some of the inverts that I encountered.

I found this trilobite beetle (Lycidae, I think) along a trail before sunrise. It had two spots phosphorescent spots on the abdomen. I saw two green "lights" moving around on the forest floor and found then found this amazing creature.













I was lucky to see the following spider one night. It apparently is a rare and primitive trap-door strange abdominal plates. I saw legs beneath a rock so teased it with a stem of grass. It did not take long for it to charge into the open. Elsewhere, I was told that this is probably _Liphistius malayanus_. Here is a link to more info about it:
http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2005/4/2/nation/10577174&sec=nation










I found several tarantulas but I could not convince any of them to come out into the open for better photos:














One of the odd jewel spiders.






An odd looking harvestman:










This huge Rhinoceros Beetle visited a street light one night. I only saw this single horned male but several unhorned females.





I discovered that some ways of holding this beetle were not a good as others. Many years ago, I let one walk on my arm. It suddenly clamped down with its grappling-hook toes and I had many little puncture wounds that were bleeding. On this visit, I held it at the articulation of the head and thorax but ended up with an impaled thumb when the beetle suddenly elevated its head. 






... a huge Dung Beetle:






Regards,
David


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## shaye (Jul 8, 2010)

Some cool pics there and I relly love the pit viper too


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## Sock Puppet (Jul 8, 2010)

moloch05 said:


> Does anyone know the purpose of the red tail on the green pit vipers of Asia?


When I saw the pic in the first post I wondered about this also. Could it possibly be for caudal luring as Death Adders do?


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## Waterrat (Jul 8, 2010)

View attachment 153694


Hi David, great shots as always!
The dragon is most probably _Bronchocoela cristatella_, they change colour very quickly when stressed.
Many arboreal pit-vipers have red or different colour tails. Most probably for luring. This shot was taken by a mate of mine - it's the elusive Kinabalu pit-viper. Look at its tail.


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## redbellybite (Jul 8, 2010)

As usual David, your pictures and adventures are amazing ...but I had to laugh at the damage done by that beetle ...have picked up a fair few of those little beasties myself ,as have my kids and payed the price too although you got better claret run then we did ..


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## moloch05 (Jul 10, 2010)

Thanks, all.

Sock Puppet,
Elsewhere, people replied with the same answer. The coloured tail tips are thought to be used as lures for frogs and other small animals.

Thanks for the info and photo, waterrat. What a gorgeous snake! 

Thanks, redbelly. The beetle did surprise me!

Regards,
David


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## moloch05 (Jul 10, 2010)

I found an Atlas Moth (_Attacas atlas_) one night. What an incredible moth! It was huge and you can get an idea of the size by looking at the pavers where it is standing.










_Lyssa zampa_ were abundant at the moment. They are uraniids but are nocturnal unlike those that I have seen here in Australia and Peru.














Arctiids were common. I quite like this Snouted Tiger (_Peridrome orbicularis_?):






_Vamuna remelana _-- another arctiid






_Cyana malayensis_ -- arctiid






_Barsine flavodiscalis_ -- arctiid












Some moths had very oddly shaped wings:























This moth looked much like a Lycaenid butterfly. I think that it is Tasta micacaeta.






_Urapteroides sp_







These Noctuiids were feeding on crushed figs.










Geometrids?










Sphinx Moths were numerous.
_Ambulyx obliterata_?






_?Cechenena lineosa_?


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## moloch05 (Jul 14, 2010)

Fraser's Hill is a popular place with the lep photographers. Diversity and numbers of butterflies are high. The most spectacular species that I observed was the Rajah Brooke's Birdwing. These are huge swallowtails with black and glistening green wings and with patches of red on their bodies. They are a gorgeous in flight. Unfortunately, I only saw them flying over but they will stop to puddle at times.

Here are some of the others that I encountered:

Black-tipped Archduke (_Lexias dirtea_) -- male and female. These have dark clubs on their antennae.















Archduke (_Lexias pardalis_) -- similar to the above species but with yellow clubs on their antennae.







Common Earl (Tanaecia julii) -- Brown butterflies with blue-edged lower wings seems to be a common pattern in Malaysia.







Blue Admiral (_Rhinopalpa polynice_) -- resembled Mourning Cloaks in form, size and behaviour.










Commander (_Moduza procris_) -- in flight, a little like Sister or Admiral Butterflies in the mountains of southern California.







Redspot Duke (_Dophla evelina_) -- big, powerful Nymphalids.






Branded Yeoman (_Paduca fasciata_)






Map-wing (_Cyrestis maenalis_) -- one of several species found in Malaysia.










Dark Blue Jungle Glory (_Thaumantis klugius_) -- these are Asian members of the morpho tribe. They behave a little like Owl Butterflies and are crepuscular.






Malay Tailed Judy (_Abisara savitri_) -- a metalmark






Spotted Sawtooth (_Prioneris thestylis_) -- a large and beautiful pierid.






Redbase Jezabel (_Delias pasithoe_) -- another beautiful pierid. This was a common species but they tended to remain high in the canopy.







Orange Emigrant (_Catopsilia scylla_)







Lesser Gull (_Cepora nadina_)







Psyche (_Leptosia nina_)







Danaidae were also common. One of my favourites was the huge Tree Nymph whose wings seemed to be too large for the body. They just floated along effortlessly with hardly a wingbeat.











Yellow Glassy Tiger (_Parantica aspasia_)










Chocolate Tiger (_Parantica agleoides_)










Great Helen (_Papilio iswara_)










Common Bluebottle (_Graphium sarpedon_)






The Quaker (_Neopithecops zalmora_)


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## moloch05 (Jul 16, 2010)

Here are a few shots from Kuala Lumpur. KL is a big, modern city that appears to be booming. There is so much building underway. My wife and I stayed at Hotel Istana right in the city centre and I would highly recommend it. It is easy to walk at from there to see the various sights such as the amazing Petronas Towers (or KLCC building).










There was a park at the base of the towers and I wandered over here since it was about the only patch of green in the city centre. I saw a few birds and about 15 species of butterflies in the gardens.





Shining Starling:






I found a board and "flipped" this to find a frog and toad:










Dragonflies:


















To my tastes, Malay food is the best of all. It is so much better than the western food that we normally eat. This was Nasi Lemak, what I ate for breakfast on most days ... nice and spicy with lots of chili:






Regards,
David


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