Beauty - The Orange-Breasted Trogon (Harpactes oreskio)

My wife Im and I spent four days at the Perlis State Park located at the northern part of Peninsular Malaysia near the Thailand border. I can recall this wonderful experience, a close encounter with an Orange-breasted Trogon. The bird has such a magnificent bright orange breast and it stood on a tree branch looking at us for a long time. I was photographing a fence lizard below a tree when my wife whispered to me to look up. I was holding a digital camera attached with a 3X Tele-converter lens. I told myself that this little beauty has come to the right place and I was holding the right camera lens. I felt so excited and it was like winning the jackpot. I took as many shots as possible in many different angles and this picture is the best shot.

Orange-breasted Trogons are seen in hilly forests from 60-1200 metres. I have seen and photographed one in Taman Negara but the picture did not turn up very good. I have seen it at the Gap in Bukit Frasers, Sungei Relau (Merapoh), Kuala Pilah lowland forest, lower forest area of Genting Highlands and other birders have seen it at Bukit Larut. The Trogon in this picture must be a male as the breast is much brighter as compared to a female Trogon, which is paler. The call is a 3-5 rapidly uttered "tiu" note on a level pitch: "tiu-tiu-tiu-tiu-tiu".

Fence lizard

Kim Seng and Im Reference : A field guide to the Birds of West Malaysia and Singapore by Allen Jeyarajasingam and Alan Pearson Posted by Kim Seng, MNS Selangor bird group, 12, January 2003