Dato’ Dr Amar-Singh HSS was at 1,600m ASL in Cameron Highlands, Malaysia on 27th January 2010 when he encountered a Little Pied Flycatcher (Ficedula westermanni westermanni).
“This male alerted me to his presence in dense primary jungle by a repetitive call. I was on a trail adjacent to a deep ravine and river, hence was at eye level with the mid level of the forest trees.
“It had a tiny prey in its beak, possibly for young in a nest. The call was constantly repeated with arching of the head intermittently. It appeared to be a warning call to the mate or young. I retreated to give it space, hoping to spot the nest but it did not budge and continued calling with the prey still in the beak. So after a few minutes I left so as not to cause any further anxiety.”
A small segment of the call can be heard HERE and HERE. It was taped with a Nikon D90 but the call is muffled by the strong rushing of the river. “I have used some software to clean … unfortunately some of the call has been diminished with the cleaning,” adds Amar.
