I walked to the lighthouse through Tanjung Tuan Forest Reserve before breakfast - too early for the raptors who were waiting until the sun was well up and there were thermals for them to soar on. The walk to the lighthouse was really nice and I enjoyed seeing the squirrels ('Tupai Pinangs' : Calloscusrus notatus) and the wonderfully weird looking langur/monkey ('Lotong Cenkong' : Presbytis obscura) that I remembered from last year's visit. Birds seen were fairly common species today and no Jambu Fruit Dove this time. I caught up with mum and Linda (who opted for a lie-in) at breakfast and we decided to walk the 2kms to the main road junction and try to catch a local bus to Port Dixon itself. We ended up jumping in a taxi after what seemed like a futile wait. Port Dixon has the only 'op' shop I have ever come upon in Asia and we found a couple of items we liked there and then, after a nice fresh coconut drink we headed to the beach and swam in the wonderfully warm straits of Malacca. We headed back to Ilham Resort at Cape Rachado and swam again off the Resorts own beach and delighted in the hoardes of raptors soaring above us on their migration. The sheer numbers made it confusing for me to get my head around identifying individuals and so this evening I've sat down and done my homework and so am hopefully prepared for tomorrow's dedicated raptor watch. The most numerous raptors today appear to be Crested or Oriental Honey Buzzards (Pernis ptilorbyncus) in all their varied morphs.
