birders of sabah borneo island

in search of the wandering tattler

2008-07-26T11:43:00.004+08:00

17th july 2008

my friend karim sighted a pair of probably wandering tattler few days ago and we went to tanjung aru on the next day during low tide around 3.00 in the afternoon to try our luck.

when i arrived, there were few peoples looking for bivalves, shells and other stuffs and only few waders such as common sandpiper, pacific reef egret and unidentified tern (quite far even with the scope).

and no wandering tattler and these bird is not recorded in borneo except for the common visitor; grey-tailed tattler. but who knows it might arrives on the shore this coming migration season :p

hehehe just wondering ...

late in the afternoon

great egret in breeding plumage

digiscoped with nikon fieldscope ED82, srb-griturn Mk II adapter and fujifilm f31d and sony ericsson k660i

my parents' in law house

2008-07-14T09:03:00.004+08:00

while staying at my wife's house, i've noticed some of the asian glossy starling roosting at one of the beetle nut tree near the window and this is the shot :)

this starling is widespread throughout borneo and mostly moved in big flocks up to 50 birds and juvenile has streaked body and feeds on papaya :)

this week i'll be searching again for the hose's broadbill and giant pitta at poring hot spring with friends and hope be able to get record shot of this elusive birds

digiscoped with nikon fieldscope ED82, srb-griturn Mk II adapter and fujifilm f31d

happy birding and digiscoping :p

my parents' house

2008-06-24T10:00:00.006+08:00

24th june 2008

woke up early this morning and start shooting from the 1st floor of my parent's house after sending my beloved sister and brother to the school :p

white-breasted waterhen

blue-throated bee-eater tend to spend their summer here

juvenile eurasian tree sparrow taken 2 days ago

spotted dove despite common in borneo, it is a lovely bird

universal adapter Mk II by srb-griturn made by terry fogden from england :o

digiscoped with nikon fieldscope ED82, srb-griturn Mk II adapter and fujifilm f31d

happy birding :)

likas lagoon part 3

2008-06-17T19:26:00.004+08:00

17th june 2008

good weather today as usual and not windy like yesterday but unfortunately, arrived a bit late and only yellow-bellied prinia was close for getting decent shot. other birds such as intermediate egret and purple heron quite far until around 11.00 am

but heat haze was the main problem too ...

out of 300 frames today only 18 managed to get into my hard disk hahaha :p but it was fun digiscoping with my best friend, karim and before we left in the afternoon, yellow-bellied prinia was a treat for him where he missed it yesterday hehehe.

shot for today, combination of good and bad :p

collared kingfisher

common moorhen

little heron

purple heron around 100 metres

hey it's you again ! (yellow-bellied prinia)

exposure value stop above 2/3 - advice from chris gomersall and it really works wahaha !

intermediate egret same like above

purple heron

magpie robin - sings exactly 5.30 am daily behind my parents' house !

digiscoped with nikon fieldscope ED82, srb-griturn Mk II adapter and fujifilm f31d

happy digiscoping :)

likas lagoon part 2

2008-06-16T20:45:00.005+08:00

16th june 2008

nice weather this morning and after sending my fiance to her office, drove to likas lagoon again this time with karim and main mission, to get better shot of the cinnamon bittern and yellow-bellied prinia, only the latter with reasonable result :p

small patch of the lagoon near with the main road

it was sunny and windy at the same time, so digiscoping with fully extended aluminum tripod, cause lots of vibration which is visible through the lcd. an article i read from the internet stated that with carbon fibre tripod it takes only less than 2 seconds to dampened the vibration and with aluminum tripod, more than 4 seconds !

one thing that disappointed me is, i need to reset my camera function to macro and continuous shot (top 3) after i reviewed my previous shots and it has no programmable mode like what other cameras offered. so i tend to missed lots of opportunity of getting decent shot with my kit ...

my shot for today :p

yellow-bellied prinia (one of the difficult bird to digiscoped !)

not very good picture of this striated grassbird

purple swamphen and my favorite bird today

white-browed crake taken around 11.47 am this morning

pictures was digiscoped with nikon fieldscope ED82, srb-griturn Mk II adapter and fujifilm f31d

likas lagoon part 1

2008-06-15T12:50:00.005+08:00

15th july 2008

been visiting likas lagoon for the past few days practicing to get sharper image with my digiscoping kit. the conclusion is, i need carbon fibre tripod either from gitzo, benro or velbon to get more keeper than using my current aluminium tripod from manfrotto due to the vibration from extreme magnification ...

and probably getting new camera like the nikon P5100 which is favorite among digiscopers with 12 mega pixels and custom setting for continuous shots and has built in hotshoe for using flash !

or get the new sony W300 that uses carl-zeiss lens (no colour fringing) and has 13 mega pixels ?

or get the nikon D300 for in flight shot ...

wahahahahaha too many choices but it all depends after my big day end of this month ...

anyone willing to donate ? hahaha :p

some of the shots today :)

collared kingfisher original image

cropped 50%

white-breasted wood-swallow original image

cropped 50%

cinnamon bittern and im happy with this :p

birds seen :

purple heron
black-crowned night-heron
little egret (few in breeding plumage)
great egret (with 1 in breeding plumage)
yellow-bellied prinia
spotted dove
peaceful dove
brahminy kite
asian glossy starling
emerald dove
striated grassbird
pacific swallow
white-browed crake
purple swamphen
common moorhen
yellow-vented bulbul
black-headed munia
osprey
common iora (heard)
glossy swiftlet
pink-necked green pigeon

digiscoped with nikon fieldscope ED82, srb-griturn Mk II adapter and fujifilm f31d

happy digiscoping :)

hornbill in aviary

2008-06-12T12:45:00.007+08:00

6th june 2008

me and karim were looking for roosting site of the large-tailed nightjar along the old penampang - papar road without success, so decided to visit lok kawi wildlife park which is under the wildlife department now and has few animals such as bornean pygmy elephant, bornean gibbon, orang utan, proboscis monkey and quite small aviary for birds that is found in borneo i.e chestnut-capped thrush, great argus and blue-winged pitta !

while taking pictures of the birds which i havent seen in the wild (pied imperial-pigeon, silvery wood-pigeon and straw-headed bulbul) saw 2 hornbills; rhinoceros and wreathed preening each other on the same tree which is a bit surprised for me because i havent encountered this type of behavior before among different species of hornbill

this is the emailed that i've got from orientalbirding group ;

Hi Jason,

It is common to see birds of different species mingling together this way, especially when in captivity or in a aviary. In a

confined and cramped environment, different species seem to lose

their protective behaviour and animosity with other species. Over time and limited space many birds will lose their natural inhibitions. Even parrots can be taught to ride bicycles.

At the Zoo Negara (National Zoo) I have also seen different hornbill species interacting and perching side by side in small aviaries in the zoo. Of course in the wild, their natural instincts and behaviour take over.

Cheers
Mike Chong
Selangor, Malaysia
ARRCN: http://www5b. biglobe.ne. jp/~raptor/ index.htm

so the question has been answered hehehe thanks mike :)

videoscoped with nikon fieldscope ED82, srb-griturn Mk II adapter and sony ericsson P990i

face of photographers

2008-06-09T20:49:00.006+08:00

7th june 2008

visited rafflesia centre last saturday wth black-breasted fruit-hunter and long-tailed broadbill in mind, only short video out of focus of the fruit-hunter but did not get any glimpsed of the broadbill.

so while watching my friends in action chasing the juvenile bornean whistler in the afternoon, took few pictures of them hahaha :p

ready guys the bird's coming ! (chai)

too fast la this juvenile ... (karim)

ahhh (ron)

damn missed it again ! (jordan)

hope they got theirs and presenting mine dedicated to my friends, walaaaaaa :p

digiscoped endemic juvenile bornean whistler :)

busy with wedding preparation, most probably next trip would be next month and lets hope i'll be able to get my first dslr nikon D300 hahaha :p

happy birding and digiscoping :)

all images was digiscoped with nikon fieldscope ED82, srb-griturn Mk II adapter and fujifilm f31d

mountain barbet at tambunan rafflesia centre

2008-06-01T19:13:00.013+08:00

1st june 2008

bad news, did not see any of the besra's chicks at the nest after waited nearly 2 hours this morning with karim, andrew and dennis. found out, chai who had been staying up there for 3 days, he did not see the chicks either except probably the parents not far away from the nest ...

then took breakfast at gunung emas restaurant and drove to tambunan rafflesia centre and birded the whole day around the office, which produced many endemic birds of borneo such at the chestnut-hooded laughingthrush, black-sided flowerpecker and bornean bulbul.

quite cold this morning at besra site

view of crocker range from gunung emas restaurant

mountain barbet of borneo :p

waiting for the black-breasted fruit-hunter to appeared again (which it did not !)

this is the famous jordan at amazingborneo.blogspot.com hehehe

birds recorded today at besra site and the rafflesia centre :

crimson-headed partridge (heard)
oriental cuckoo (heard)
bornean treepie
bornean bulbul
black-sided flowerpecker
chestnut-hooded launghingthrush
cinereus bulbul (split from ashy bulbul)
whitehead's trogon
grey-throated babbler
verditer flycatcher
long-tailed broadbill (2nd sighting after 2003 wahaha :p)
temminck's sunbird
besra
ashy drongo
black-breasted fruithunter (a pair)
glossy swiftlet
sunda bush warbler
little cuckoo-dove
dusky munia
chestnut-crested yuhina
ochraceous bulbul
black and crimson oriole
maroon woodpecker (heard)

video of the mountain barbet feeding at one of the red fruit available at my youtube www.youtube.com/user/horukuru

planned another visit with the others this month but probably 1 or 2 weeks before the big day :)

images digiscoped with nikon fieldscope ED82, srb-griturn adapter mark II, fujifilm f31d and sony ericsson k660i

TT session and besra outing

2008-05-25T20:37:00.006+08:00

24th and 25th may 2008

met with tilan and nabghani (both are photomalaysia.com member) at tanjung aru beach and had a good conversation regarding birding in sabah and sarawak. at the same time tested 3 spotting scopes (nikon ED82 and leica APO 77) to compared with the new kowa 884mm belongs to sinooorita and from other observers eyes, we agreed that kowa is the best with wide FOV of its zoom eyepiece, sharp and brighter than the other two scopes.

tilan and sinooorita testing the scopes while nabghani enjoying his ABC (grated of ice cubes and fruits with syrup, brown sugar and evaporated milks !)

then today went to crocker range with sinooorita and chai and his girlfriend to check the nest of besra which chai found few days ago at gunung alab sub-station for crocker range national park and to our surprised, we managed to see and recorded 3 chicks on the nest and at few occasions, the mum came and fed the chicks without bothering us talking their pictures and video recording.

it is a new sub-station judging from the newly built facilities such as hut, small parking space, and building that houses an office for the rangers on duty and accommodation for visitors. temperature is around 20 degree celcius and elevation at 1880m asl.

snapped from my cellphone because my compact camera battery's died out :p

it rained after lunch and can u see the cooler box and a can of tiger beer next to it ? wahaha

short recording from my cellphone :)

bird seen and heard along the access road and at gunung emas restaurant:

whitehead's broadbill (heard)
bare-headed laughingthrush
sunda bush warbler
ashy drongo
bornean treepie
oriental cuckoo (heard)
little cuckoo dove
blyth's hawk-eagle
chestnut-crested yuhina
red-breasted partridge (heard)
crimson-headed partridge (heard)
temminck's sunbird
mountain blackeye
ochraceous bulbul
ashy bulbul (bornean race)
short-tailed magpie
sunda laughingthrush (heard)
chestnut-hooded laughingthrush
black-sided flowerpecker (heard)

i'll be visiting this place again next week to check the progress of the chicks and updating my bird list of this station to see if this place is worth for a day visit combining with rafflesia centre, which is only about 15 minutes drive from the station with my upcoming birding groups.

thanks to sinoorita, chai and cindy for the company hehehe :o

pictures and video digiscoped and videoscoped with nikon fieldscope ED82, srb-griturn Mk II adapter and sony ericsson k660i

eye level with black hornbill

2008-05-17T18:34:00.008+08:00

13th - 17th may 2008

pay a visit to my father who had a health problem and were admitted at duchess of kent hospital, sandakan few days ago. visiting hours started from 1230 - 1400 hrs and 1600 - 1930 hrs daily, so took few trips in the morning to the rainforest discovery centre, part of the sepilok-kabili forest reserve.

view from platform no. 3

has 3 viewing towers with the other 2 is connected with walkway together with excellent trails and during my visit, managed to record around 76 birds and 1 lifer; bornean bristlehead ! wahaha searched for 3 years and with the aid of my scope, got a splendid view of 3 bristleheads and took short footage of it and im so happy coz it was the day my father was discharged from the hospital too :)

total species recorded (including visit on last march) : 86 birds so far (own list)

black hornbill

violet cuckoo

endemic of borneo, white-crowned shama

summary from this trip :

worth a visit for 2 days birding even though the whole trails could be completed within a day
good introduction of the lowland rainforest
fantastic place for bird photography i.e digiscoping due to the sufficient light during the day

pictures was digiscoped with nikon fieldscope ED82, srb-griturn adapter and fujifilm f31d

more pictures available at my flickr
and videos of the bornean bristlehead and violet cuckoo at my youtube

birding at java island

2008-05-13T07:41:00.008+08:00

2th - 11th may 2008

fantastic trip to java with ck recently and managed to see many lifers that is endemic to the island at bogor garden and gede pangrango national park which is about 3 hours drive from jakarta international airport.

some of the common birds found at bogor garden such as during ou:

sooty-headed bulbul
bar-winged prinia
scarlet-headed flowerpecker and
coppersmith barbet
collared kingfisher

bogor garden

rain in the afternoon almost everyday

juvenile black-crowned night heron at its roosting site in the garden

horsfield's bronze cuckoo seen from the firman pensione balcony

then spent few nights at cibodas where we stayed at freddy's homestay and birded along the hot spring and waterfalls trails. some of the interesting birds was seen at the national park such as :

pygmy tit - so small !
javan grey-throated white-eye
javan hawk-eagle
oriental white eye - 2 forms occurred here
lesser forktail
white-bibbed babbler
cresent-chested babbler
javan fulvetta
chestnut-fronted shrike-babbler
brown-throated barbet
red junglefowl - a pair on the 1st morning
spotted kestrel - 3 birds seen at the waterfall
javan tesia - much bigger and active than the bornean stubtail
rusty-breasted cuckoo - heard daily
fire-tufted barbet - along the hotspring trail
sunda bulbul
striated swallow
tawny-breasted parrotfinch
grey tit - common around cibodas garden
yellow-throated hanging parrot
javan kingfisher - on my last day at the golf course hahaha :p and many thanks to indra for the tips :)
oriental cuckoo - heard daily
black-banded barbet - heard daily too

sunda blue robin

flame-fronted barbet

orange-spotted bulbul

blood-breasted flowerpecker

planning to visit bogor again with my whole family and im impressed with the hospitality of their peoples and the pretty smiles from the girls hahaha :)

digiscoped with nikon fieldscope ED82, srb-griturn adapter and fujifilm f31d

mount salak in the morning

2008-05-11T12:48:00.002+08:00

nice view of this mountain from the balcony at firman pensione, bogor, where my last day birding at java island with ck.

testing web blogging using my cellphone, hopes it works :p

n fly back tonight to kota kinabalu via airasia ...

digiscoping in tabin wildlife reserve

2008-04-30T09:57:00.006+08:00

27th - 29th april 2008

short visit at tabin wildlife reserve for observing new birding product at the core area which is the only primary rainforest left intact during the timber concession in the 70s until late 80s. 2 birders from thailand, rattapon kaichid (tu) and his wife pitchaya janhom (jan) been staying at tabin for 26 days and they have explored the core area and stayed overnight at the observation tower around the mud volcano which produced many interesting birds and other wildlife for them.

arrived late in the afternoon at the resort and the night after dinner, tu and jan presented us with through the slide show birds, mammals, reptiles and amphibians pictures which taken mostly with digiscoping and i was told by ck who were at tabin with them early this month, jan was the winner for swarovski digiscoper's of the year 2007 and were treated with birding trip at namibia.

their pictures were fantastic without any post-processing done, im privileged to met and learnt few tricks about digiscoping from them hahaha :p thanks jan and tu hope we'll meet at thailand this year !

and it was raining the next day, while waiting for the rain to stopped, few birds perched quite low around the restaurant hehehe and this is what we called gift from the rain :p

black and yellow broadbill

red-eyed bulbul

black-backed kingfisher

three-striped frog

green crested lizard

bronzed snake

brown shrike

wagler's pit-viper at the restaurant :p

bird seen and heard :

wreated hornbill
rhinocerous hornbill
black hornbill
bushy-crested hornbill
white-bellid munia (lifer)
black-backed kingfisher
black and yellow broadbill
banded broadbill (heard)
thick-billed spiderhunter
purple-throated sunbird
crested serpent eagle
plain sunbird
bar-winged flycatcher shrike
black-winged flycatcher shrike
ruby-cheeked sunbird
green iora
red-throated sunbird
black eagle
lesser green leafbird
red-eyed bulbul
ashy tailorbird
buffy fish owl
dark-necked tailorbird
rufous-tailed tailorbird
buff-rumped woodpecker
white-bellied woodpecker (heard)
red-naped trogon (heard)
scarlet -rumped trogon (heard)
brown fulvetta
cream-vented bulbul
black and crimson pitta
fairy minivet
white-fronted falconet
chestnut-winged babbler
slender-billed crow
dusky munia
velvet-fronted nuthatch
grey wagtail
greater racket-tailed drongo

non-bird seen :

forest tree crab (lifer)
bornean gibbon
pig-tailed macaque
4 striped tree frog (lifer)
green crested lizard
wild boar
pygmy squirrel
giant squirrel
plantain squirrel
red giant flying squirrel
thick-spined porcupine (lifer)
banded palm civet (lifer)
leopard cat
reticulated python
wagler's pit-viper adult and juvenile (lifer)

summary of the trip, tabin wildlife reserve keeps on producing surprised wildlife for me and with many lifers for each trip, i will be back again and this time would be longer at tabin hahahah :p

soon another book would be published by wendy hutton and cede prudente about tabin wildlife reserve who were there with us.

many thanks to alixon and wong sui lin for the invitation together with great sighting and nice packed lunch !

tu and jan website at www.naturefocusthailand.com

images digiscoped with nikon fieldscope ED82, srb-griturn adapter and fujifilm f31d

mt. kinabalu trogon :p

2008-04-23T18:07:00.005+08:00

23rd april 2008

wahahaha now i got my record shots a pair of whitehead's trogon this morning after my best friend, osman who currently leading another bird group with susan myers informed me about their finding yesterday afternoon :)

had only 2 hours to spend birding at the mountain today, after 15 minutes walked, saw the female flew in front and perched not far away from the trail. took few frames and heard the male calling.

female much cooperative than the male ...

when i saw the male, it took off quite fast and perched at other tree but unfortunately too many leaves and twigs blocking my scope's view and it was a bit dark as well :p

found only in borneo, this male actually much bigger in size than other trogons in greater sunda

bornean whistling thrush

while waiting for the trogon to came back (which it did not !), another endemic showed itself less than 10 seconds. this thrush was split from the sunda whistling thrush that is endemic to java, and eventually became bornean endemic hehehe :)

hope can get another pictures soon before my trip with ck to jakarta this coming may :o

digiscoped with nikon fieldscope ED82, srb-griturn adapter and fujifilm f31d

celyn resort, kundasang

2008-04-17T23:35:00.006+08:00

14 - 15th april 2008

stayed overnight at celyn resort, kundasang with a couple from denmark, mr. and mrs. padersen and visited the kinabalu national park headquarters and poring hot spring sub-station. main interest was to see birds and orchids and luckily weather was good during the tours and nice room at the resort too hahaha :p

bird list :

black-sided flowerpecker
ochraceous bulbul
little spiderhunter
red-eyed bulbul
brown fulvetta
orange-bellied flowerpecker
white-crowned shama (endemic)
blue and white flycatcher
eyebrowed jungle flycatcher (endemic)
sunda cuckoo-shrike
temminck's sunbird
chesnut-hooded laughingthrush (endemic)
ashy drongo
bornean treepie (endemic)
chestnut-crested yuhina (endemic)
bornean whistler (endemic)
grey-chinned minivet
mugimaki flycatcher
indigo flycatcher
white-throated fantail
yellow-breasted warbler
mt. leaf warbler
mt. tailorbird
large hawk cuckoo
oriental cuckoo
hair-crested drongo
grey-throated babbler
bornean whistling thrush (endemic)

view of the crocker range from my room :)

stalls at kundasang town is well know for its fresh vegetables and local fruits

both busy talking pictures of the pin-headed orchid

happy birding everyone :)

no whitehead's trogon but i got ...

2008-03-30T16:06:00.003+08:00

30th march 2008

drove up to kinabalu national park this morning for the whitehead's trogon, hoping to get record shot of this elusive bird. after walking for few hours, called it a day but managed to get few pics of different species that resides at mt. kinabalu especially the giant squirrel !

bird list :

whitehead's spiderhunter
bornean treepie
bornean whistler
bornean whistling thrush
bare-headed laughingthrush
chestnut-hooded laughingthrush
crimson-headed partridge
red-breasted partridge
ochraceous bulbul
indigo flycatcher
little pied flycatcher
yellow-breasted warbler
sunda bush warbler
mountain leaf warbler
mountain tailorbird
oriental cuckoo (heard)
large hawk-cuckoo (heard)
golden-naped barbet
hair-crested drongo

at last white-crowned forktail's picture :p

this sunda bush warbler has lovely tunes

still my favorite indigo flycatcher

little pied flycatcher

my best encounter with giant squirrel !

digiscoped with nikon fieldscope ED82, srb-griturn adapter and fujifilm f31d

whitehead's spiderhunter

2008-03-28T09:56:00.004+08:00

27th march 2008

no booking for tours yet, met ck at the tufted duck site in the morning then drove up to kinabalu national park for a day birding together with dennis who were staying overnight at one of the resort near the HQ.

main mission today, to get as many pics as possible of the whitehead's broadbill, spiderhunter and trogon ! hehehe :p

ck and dennis

my record shot of this whitehead's spiderhunter :p

lovely little black-sided flowerpecker and it started raining when i took this pic

saw 3 whitehead's species today but only 2 with decent shots. fantastic birding with quality birds around the HQ.

pictures was digiscoped with nikon fieldscope ED82, srb-griturn adapter and fujifilm f31d

walaaaaa my tufted duck :p

2008-03-25T10:14:00.007+08:00

25th march 2008

hahaha another luck yesterday at tuaran district while i was busy taking pictures of the javan pond heron and wandering whistling ducks, found single female tufted duck which is half asleep and it was pretty dark around 1815 hrs. and my camera ran out of battery so left early this morning and arrived at the site around 0600 hrs.

scanned with my scope but couldn't see the tufted duck, but saw stork-billed, collared and common kingfisher, intermediate egret, purple heron and yellow bittern with the wandering whistling duck busy preening and bathing on the water.

then out of nowhere, saw 1 duck being chased by another duck and by looking through my scope, hehehe got it now and captured few shots and videos available at youtube

this duck breeds at north palaeartic and winters at south east asia. more pics at www.orientalbirdimages.org

female tufted duck and has yellow iris

white vent and pointed upward of its tail

where is the male ?

wandering whistling ducks

my patch :p

had a breakfast with my fiance and this is tea tarik

images digiscoped with nikon fieldscope ED82, srb-griturn adapter and fujifilm f31d

whitehead's broadbill

2008-03-21T16:47:00.003+08:00

21st march 2008

have been observing this pair since early this month at kinabalu national park and today had chance to captured it on video and few photos too hahaha together with laura and collin from england :p

endemic to borneo island

collin and laura

didnt see may birds today compared with yesterday but laura said; "it's not the quantity but the quality we had today hehehe" :)

bird seen and heard today :

mt. wren babbler
bornean whistler
bornean whistling thrush
eyebrowed thrush (visitor)
golden-naped barbet
chestnut-hooded laughingthrush
chestnut-crested yuhina
bornean treepie
grey-throated babbler
crimson-headed partridge (heard)
yellow-breasted warbler
mt. leaf warbler
sunda bush warbler
white-browed shrike-babbler (heard)
blue and white flycatcher (visitor)
dark-sided flycatcher (visitor)

bob's mission of bornean endemic

2008-03-14T20:37:00.008+08:00

9th - 14th march 2008

had a wonderful trip with bob for a week where birding started at kinabalu national park for 3 days which is the best place for bornean endemics then flew to sandakan city on the 11th march and stayed at tomanggong lodge (www.sukaulodge.com) searching for hornbills and bornean ground-cuckoo. last 2 days spent at rainforest discovery centre for the bornean bristlehead and black and crimson pitta.

one of the highlight for the trip at kinabalu national park was a 10 minutes view of the everett's thrush at bukit ular trail on the 10th march. saw it hopping along the trail and the light was good enough to enable us to see the whole part of the bird before it faded off the trail. other species seen; a pair of whitehead's broadbill, bornean treepies, sunda bush warbler.

when we arrived at sukau river lodge, water was quite high and cruising along resang and menanggul river produced lots of lifers for bob such as 6 storm's storks perched on a same tree, long-tailed parakeets, oriental darter and buff-rumped woodpecker. but the number of birds at menanggul river a bit disappointing in the morning probably because of the floods. by the way, bob got a pair of white-crowned hornbill through the scope late in the evening around 6.30pm in front of the lodge hahaha :p

checked in at sepilok bed and breakfast then continued birding at rainforest discovery centre for the bornean bristlehead. this is a new area for birding frequented by local photographers and digiscopers and has excellent trails and soon it would be linked with sepilok orang utan sanctuary.

bob left sabah to west malaysia for a week birding with weng chun hope he'll get his last helmeted hornbill hehehe :p

total lifers for bob : 89

total endemic seen : 11

total species seen and heard : 144

non bird species seen :

orang utan
proboscis monkey
long-tailed macaque
silver leaf monkey
red giant flying squirrel
pygmy squirrel
prevost squirrel
plaintain squirrel
bornean pygmy elephant

new lounge and departure hall for kota kinabalu international airport

kinabatangan river

truck load of oil palm fruits

me and jessie

pic taken from viewing platform at rainforest discovery centre

canopy walkway for visitors enjoying bird eye view of the rainforest

bob from texas

from the left, alex, yin, cede and bob looking at a flock of pink-necked green pigeons

hooded pitta was calling then it flew overhead us

rhinocerous hornbill

white-bellied woodpecker

pictures was digiscoped with nikon fieldscope ED82, srb-griturn adapter and fujifilm f31d

enjoying bornean endemics within 2 days

2008-03-02T14:07:00.011+08:00

28th feb - 1st march 2008

when i received email from alastair who hailed from scotland few weeks ago, it seems impossible to see the main star of borneo i.e whitehead's spiderhunter, broadbill and trogon within the space of 2 days because some of the birds could be found only at certain trails, so it takes at least 3 to 4 nights for getting the most of bornean endemics :p

left kota kinabalu city at 5.30 pm where i met alastair (specialist for south african bird species) at jesselton hotel and drove for 2 hours to kinabalu national park where we checked in to fairy garden resort which is located about 3 minutes drive to the park hq.

then off for the 1st bird, mt. scoop owl was calling less than 5 metres but unfortunately i forgot to bring along my torch !

mt. kinabalu

off to the park the next morning and birding was done around timpohon gate where we saw bornean treepie, chesnut-hooded laughingthrush, indigo flycatcher and ashy drongo. walked along bukit ular trail for the everett's thrush but no luck.

breakfast at fairy garden resort then continued birding along silau-silau, and bukit burung trails where this time saw black and crimson oriole and bornean whistler. it rained during lunch, so decided to search for the dark-sided flowerpecker which were seen feeding nearby the restaurant :p

sunset seen from fairy garden resort and hoping for more birds tomorrow

came back to the headquarters around 8.30pm for the mt. scoop owl where al tried and imitated the called for nearly half and hour but luck wasnt on our side ...

last day for the endemic and had a go again for the everett's thrush at bukit ular trail. heard and al saw the crimson-headed partridge and eventually managed to get a full viewed with the scope, female whitehead's broadbill hahaha :)

smile of satisfaction !

left kinabalu national park and headed to kiansom waterfall to see the white-fronted falconet but it was drizzling when we arrived, no sign of the bird then stopped at likas lagoon and produced few more lifers to al such as striated grassbird and white-browed crake and his final lifer was the blue-naped parrot found at tanjung aru beach before i sent him to the airport.

endemic that were heard and seen;

bornean treepie
chesnut-hooded laughingthrush
chestnut-crested yuhina
bornean whistling thrush
bornean whistler
crimson-headed partridge (another pair seen at silau-silau trail before lunch)
red-breasted partridge (heard)
mt. wren-babbler
whitehead's spiderhunter
whitehead's broadbill
mt. blackeye
bornean stubtail
dark-sided flowerpecker
golden-naped barbet
mt. barbet (heard)

with the endemic in al wish list, he managed to see 15 out of 44 endemics of borneo in such a short trip. he'll be back to sabah with his best buddies for another specialty of borneo i.e bornean ground-cuckoo and black-throated wren babbler.

happy birding and digiscoping :)