For anyone who has come to this page looking for a brief "went here, saw this" report, you've come to the wrong place! However just such a version of this trip report is now up on cloudbirders.com, and can be viewed HERE
If after reading this (and the following) posts you have any questions about birds we saw, places we visited or just generally birding in Sabah, feel free to leave a comment and I'll try to get back to you ASAP :)
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February 24th (Wednesday)
We started out early, and were on the Pandanus trail before the first blue-frosted light of dawn began to seep through the trees. We waited in silence, hoping we would either hear or see the Everett’s Thrush that Arjan et al had here just a couple of weeks ago.
But Everett’s Thrush doesn’t exist, so I can cut that long depressing story short.
At dawn the banders arrived. It turned out they were two Malaysian field assistants, working with a group of 10 uni students from Montana. They let us join them, and we spent a few hours having a good chat about the differences between Australian and Malaysian ringing, and comparing them both to what we’d learned of American practices. We chatted because there wasn’t much else to do - it was a very slow morning for them (despite them having 6 nets each to look after, which is impressive given we normally have at least four people for a ten-net round). In the few hours we were with them, we caught three Grey-throated Babblers and a Bornean Whistler. Brandon ran into them later, and they said that during the afternoon they caught a Mountain Leaf-warbler. Very slow day. Nevertheless, good fun! The morning was made better by having a male Whitehead's Trogon hang around where we sat for half an hour or so, although it stubbornly refused to fly into a net.
But Everett’s Thrush doesn’t exist, so I can cut that long depressing story short.
At dawn the banders arrived. It turned out they were two Malaysian field assistants, working with a group of 10 uni students from Montana. They let us join them, and we spent a few hours having a good chat about the differences between Australian and Malaysian ringing, and comparing them both to what we’d learned of American practices. We chatted because there wasn’t much else to do - it was a very slow morning for them (despite them having 6 nets each to look after, which is impressive given we normally have at least four people for a ten-net round). In the few hours we were with them, we caught three Grey-throated Babblers and a Bornean Whistler. Brandon ran into them later, and they said that during the afternoon they caught a Mountain Leaf-warbler. Very slow day. Nevertheless, good fun! The morning was made better by having a male Whitehead's Trogon hang around where we sat for half an hour or so, although it stubbornly refused to fly into a net.
Bornean Whistler in the hand
We went for breakfast (at around 10, making it brunch really) then walked up the main road to the top of the Silau Silau trail, where it meets the end of the Bukit Ular trail. We were looking for different things at this point - Brandon wanted to focus on finding Pygmy Blue-flycatchers, a rare resident that is occasionally seen around that area, and I was extremely keen to find the nest of the Whitehead’s Broadbill. Chew Chong Leong, who I mentioned briefly in an entry from our last visit to Kinabalu Park, had discovered their nest shortly after we left the park. According to him it was still active, and positioned around 700m from the top of the trail.
I walked diligently 200m past the 500m marker, and started looking around. Nothing to be seen, and no birds present to lead me to the nest. I knew that I was looking for a bit of a needle in a haystack, a single nest in a rainforest, but from the photo I'd seen, I figured it had to be pretty easily visible from the path. After about ten minutes, a pair of older birders wandered past, and I asked them if they’d seen any Broadbills. They asked me if I’d seen the nest - and when I replied no, told me that it was about 200m from the top of the trail (500m back) and that they’d show it to me when they got there, if I was happy to wait for them going slowly.
I was indeed happy to wait, and slowly we made our way back up the path. At length we arrived, and they pointed out the nest - a beautiful structure, woven out of palm fronds like a rattan basket, and cleverly disguised with a draping of mossy tendrils. It was teardrop-shaped, with a large entrance (it’s a small nest for a large bird) and quite a deep cup. When the adult sits inside, usually the head sticks out the entrance, from the few photos of Broadbill nests I’ve seen. Sadly though, nobody was home. I began to worry that the chicks might have already fledged. The nest was first noticed weeks ago, after all. Also worryingly, I had no idea where Brandon was, and my phone was out of battery. I made my way a kilometer or so down the Silau Silau trail and out to the little shop near the Kinabalu Hall to buy a drink. Clearly he’d had the same idea, because he was already buying his drink when I walked in.
I walked diligently 200m past the 500m marker, and started looking around. Nothing to be seen, and no birds present to lead me to the nest. I knew that I was looking for a bit of a needle in a haystack, a single nest in a rainforest, but from the photo I'd seen, I figured it had to be pretty easily visible from the path. After about ten minutes, a pair of older birders wandered past, and I asked them if they’d seen any Broadbills. They asked me if I’d seen the nest - and when I replied no, told me that it was about 200m from the top of the trail (500m back) and that they’d show it to me when they got there, if I was happy to wait for them going slowly.
I was indeed happy to wait, and slowly we made our way back up the path. At length we arrived, and they pointed out the nest - a beautiful structure, woven out of palm fronds like a rattan basket, and cleverly disguised with a draping of mossy tendrils. It was teardrop-shaped, with a large entrance (it’s a small nest for a large bird) and quite a deep cup. When the adult sits inside, usually the head sticks out the entrance, from the few photos of Broadbill nests I’ve seen. Sadly though, nobody was home. I began to worry that the chicks might have already fledged. The nest was first noticed weeks ago, after all. Also worryingly, I had no idea where Brandon was, and my phone was out of battery. I made my way a kilometer or so down the Silau Silau trail and out to the little shop near the Kinabalu Hall to buy a drink. Clearly he’d had the same idea, because he was already buying his drink when I walked in.
Unattended Whitehead's Broadbill nest
We sat down and thought about what we wanted to do for the afternoon. He wanted to do a few laps of park HQ for the Blue-flycatcher, and then head out to the grounds of some local hotels outside the park gates to try for Pygmy White-eyes. While the thought of lifers on my birthday was tempting, the thought of photographing Whitehead’s Broadbill at the nest was the easy winner. Brandon wandered off, and I went back to the resthouse to pick up my powerbank before hiking back up the trail to the nest.
When I got there, there was still no bird activity. In fact, a Little Pied Flycatcher was foraging on the same branch with no opposition. Not a great sign, but I was feeling lucky so I hid myself deep in the foliage to the side of the path and leaned back against a tree (checking it first for Pit-vipers) to wait.
This time I didn’t have to wait long. Fifteen minutes into my vigil, a branch shook off to my right. Then a shape moved around to the left, and in short order the female Whitehead’s Broadbill popped up on a branch just behind me. She was very careful, and sat there for five minutes or so, scanning the area for danger. Satisfied, she took off in a green blur and landed, clinging vertically, to the front of the nest.
Female Whitehead's Broadbill at nest
Now that she was in clear view, it again struck me just how stunning a species Whitehead’s Broadbill is. The green is sleek and shiny, as though freshly waxed, punctuated with pitch black in a wonderfully fluid contrast. Everything about the bird seems to shine, not a single feather out of place. I focused on taking photos and mental notes about her behaviour. I can’t say for certain without doing some research, but I wouldn’t imagine there have been many field observations of Whitehead’s Broadbill nesting biology. The female was regurgitating food for her chicks inside, throwing her head upwards and bringing up individual red fruit, passing each one through the entrance before repeating the performance. I couldn’t see inside the hole, so I have no idea how many young were in there, but it/they ate quite a few berries before she flew off.
I relaxed my aching arms and squatted down to delete the blurry photos (of which there were many, at 1/125th of a second with a 400mm lens). The two birders wandered past again, and I showed them my good photos, thanking them for the help in finding the nest. They didn’t stick around, but they probably should have - not five minutes after they left, I was doing some testing to arrange the composition of my shots better, and when I focused through the viewfinder after changing a few settings, there was a bird at the nest again! The male this time, featuring more black spots than the female and a larger black ear-patch, and showing that in this species both parents take equal responsibility in feeding the young. He did the same thing as the female, ducking his head backward to bring up a fruit, before passing it in. He stayed a bit longer, perhaps three minutes, and looked around often to check his surroundings. Eventually he took off and disappeared into the forest like a green lightning bolt.
Male Whitehead's Broadbill at nest
Stoked to have had the privilege of seeing and photographing this rare species at the nest, I extracted myself from the bushes and made my way back to HQ.
I figured out as I went that Brandon was now some way down the road at the Nikgold Hotel, so I arranged to meet him back at the resthouse when he was done, giving me time to edit and cull some photos before going for dinner. He turned up half an hour later, and we chilled out for a while.
We made our way back into the park, up to the Sutera restaurant for my celebratory birthday dinner of roti canai, followed by waffles with strawberry ice-cream (interesting and pleasant mix). We tried spotlighting after dinner, but despite standing directly under the tree where a Mountain Scops-owl was calling, we failed to get a look. We gave up and came back to rest up for tomorrow, our last crack at Everett’s Thrush and a travel day back to Kota Kinabalu.
February 25th (Thursday)
We woke at 5, as usual, when my alarm went off.
But neither of us got up. In grunted comments we agreed that the bander's activity around the thrush site would mess up our chances of Everett’s (even though it doesn’t exist) and thus there was no point leaving the comfortable sanctuary of our beds.
But neither of us got up. In grunted comments we agreed that the bander's activity around the thrush site would mess up our chances of Everett’s (even though it doesn’t exist) and thus there was no point leaving the comfortable sanctuary of our beds.
The Steps of Hell that haunted my nightmares
We slept in until a truly groundbreaking 7:30 before getting up, packing slowly, and hiking up to the park entrance to wait for our minibus to Kota Kinabalu. The mountain loomed, clear of cloud, moody and grey behind the buildings of Park HQ. It almost seemed to grumble, as if insulted we should leave again so soon after arrival - after all, it had brought out the very best in birding experiences for our return.
It struck me again just how lucky we have been on the mountain - all three of the mythical Whitehead’s Trio, all multiple times. Yesterday we had the Broadbill at the nest, a male Trogon near the banding station, and we heard the Spiderhunter several times throughout the day. If I didn’t know any better I would have said all three were locally common!
As it turned out, we didn’t have to wait all day for a minibus. About twenty minutes after we arrived, who should show up but our friendly taxi driver. And better still, he happened to be on his way to KK anyway - no skin off his back if he took a couple of passengers. He gave us the almost 3-hour ride (usually between 200 and 300 ringgit) for RM25 each, along with another backpacker we picked up on the way. Handy way to make 75 ringgit to go where you were already intending to!
Goodbye to Mount Kinabalu
We arrived in KK and immediately I noticed that I wasn’t sweating myself dry. It seems that somewhere over the last four and a half weeks I’ve become acclimatised, and in fact I’ve felt pretty comfortable all day. Of course, we only have two days left, but at least those two days will be bearable. I was fearing the return to KK.
We had a few things to do. Leaving our bags at the familiar Borneo Backpackers, we walked up to Jesselton Point, the harbour from which boats to the islands depart and return. It’s only about ten minute’s walk from the backpackers, making it much more convenient than Sutera Harbour. Our goal was to work out the departure/return times and prices for our trip to Manukan Island, a small hunk of land and forest about fifteen minutes out into the bay. Here we are targeting Tabon Scrubfowl, a relative of Brush Turkeys and Malleefowl (but less attractive than the latter), along with Mangrove Whistler and Mangrove Blue-flycatcher. All of which, according to eBird, were seen on the island today. Excellent!
We managed to decipher that the first boat leaves at 8:30am, and the last boat returns at 4:30pm, and the cost all up would be RM40.63. Pleased, we made our way back to one of the huge shopping malls we’d passed on the way, and popped in for some lunch at - where else - the Multi-Bake. Multi-Bake is love. Multi-Bake is life.
We spent all afternoon exploring the shopping mall and browsing bookshops before eventually returning to the backpackers around 3:30 to pick up some birding gear, and head out to spend the afternoon at Tanjung Aru. With the taxi rank so close to the backpackers, we were at the beach by 3:40.
We walked up as far as Sutera Harbour and back, stopping in at the hawker stalls for a spider (of the soft drink rather than arachnid kind), before continuing down to the other end of the beach. We walked slowly, enjoying the beautiful afternoon and stiff sea-breeze, watching the Blue-naped Parrots and Asian Glossy Starlings flock in the trees. We made our way slowly back as the sun set, which was a spectacular end to the day.
Lazy afternoon seawatch at Tanjung Aru
We went out for dinner at the same shopping mall, and spent a few hours afterwards perusing the bookstore, as Brandon wanted to buy a book for the plane. Relaxing on my dorm bed now, drifting off to sleep and looking forward to island birding tomorrow!
January 26th (Friday)
With the first boat leaving at 8:30, this morning’s start was actually quite relaxed - we got up around seven, ate some toast, readied our things, and walked down to the ferry terminal. It transpired that the company we talked to yesterday (there are ten companies with stalls in the ticketing hall, all madly competing with one another) were having engine troubles this morning, and wouldn’t be going anywhere until ten. We quickly found a different company able to take us at 8:30, and settled down to wait.
Before long we had boarded our little boat, and set off across the turquoise waters of the bay. I had read that the boat drivers tend to gun it across to the islands, making for quite a bumpy ride, but ours seemed content to take it slow. We passed the great green lump of Pulau (Island) Gaya, noticing the small settlement on its eastern side. A town for the wanderers - people who have fled the Philippines but are not accepted by Malaysia, so are forced to live stateless on the island. Moving quickly past, we arrived at Pulau Sapi, where most people got off, then made the five minute transit to Pulau Manukan, our stop.
Manukan is a small island, just a couple of kilometers across, but it has a couple of birds that are harder to find on the mainland. Chief among these is the Tabon (or Philippine) Scrubfowl, one of the Megapode group which also includes our Malleefowl, Brush Turkey and Orange-footed Scrubfowl. The Megapodes are found throughout the pacific, and many species are endemic to the small islands on which they are found, such as Sulawesi’s Maleo and the mysterious Tongan Megapode.
Being a small island, finding a couple of other birds is also a bit easier than on the mainland. Mangrove Whistler and Mangrove Blue-flycatcher made targets two and three for the morning. We got off the boat and made our way down the long wooden jetty arriving at the island resort run by - who else - Sutera Lodges. Seriously, these guys own everything. We did our best to ignore them as we made our way up the one and only trail on the island, which follows the ridge running down the centre from end to end. We had hardly moved fifty meters when we came upon a couple of Rufous-tailed Tailorbirds. Not particularly exciting birds, or a major target, but a lifer for me and the last of the Bornean Tailorbird species on my list. Always feels nice to have a full page of ticks in the field guide!
Moving on, we very quickly came across a Mangrove Whistler singing its heart out from a low perch. Mangrove Whistlers aren’t at all interesting looking, unlike many of their family. Australia’s Golden, Mangrove Golden, Rufous and White-breasted Whistlers all look quite handsome. Even the endemic Bornean Whistler is pretty colourful - but Mangrove is the exception to the rule, and is pretty much entirely dust-brown and cream. Four or five steps further on and around the corner, I flushed a big bird off the ground - a Tabon Scrubfowl, roughly the size of a small chicken with chocolate and slate-blue plumage and bare pink facial skin. Although flighty, it stuck around so we could both get good views.
We had been on the island fifteen minutes and had seen two of our three targets - surely Mangrove Blue-flycatcher wouldn’t also be this easy? Not quite. In fact it took us almost another ten minutes to have one perched right above us.
We had until 2pm on the island, and it was very nearly 11:30. With all our targets seen, we made our way to the far end of the island, then spent an hour working our way slowly around the coastline, picking our way over the fields of boulders and white crescent-shaped beaches. At one point, I’m sure the waters off Manukan would have supported a vibrant marine community, as there was once a reef here. Walking along the beach you find all manner of bits of old, dead coral and reef-life. Sadly the coral are now mostly dead, and although the waters still teem with small fish, they wander aimlessly through the clear waters, as though not entirely sure what they’re doing there. At least one species is still doing well though - over every smooth rock surface crawled rafts of Mudskippers, bizarre and endearing fish that spend their day sitting out of the water, flipping their way around with barely-controlled jumps.
We arrived back at the lodge headquarters hot and sweaty, and quickly decided we weren’t going to pay for another Sutera meal. At least, somewhat surprisingly, there were other options around, and I was soon downing some chicken curry and rice on the beach. With nothing else really to do until 2, we sat around relaxing for a while, before making our way to the jetty. While we were there we had a very frustratingly distant view of a lone female Frigatebird. We could see from the extent of the white on the underside that it wasn’t a Great Frigatebird (which would be exceptional in these waters anyway) but there was no way to conclusively decide between Lesser and Christmas Island Frigatebirds, other than Lesser being the more common of the two. Brandon ticked it as lesser, but I wasn't comfortable with my views.
We spent what remained of the afternoon eating baked goods and relaxing at the backpackers - we had intended to go out to Likas Lagoon in north KK during the afternoon, but neither of us really felt like it. This evening after dinner we caught a taxi out to a park in the east of the city called Taman Tun Fuad Stephens to look for Sunda Frogmouth. All the Bornean Frogmouth species are pretty tricky to find, as I’ve written before, but several records from this park gave us some hope. Sadly, despite an hour and a half’s wandering around in the dark, we emerged frogmouthless. Still good information to have for future trips though.
Tomorrow is our last full day in Borneo. We have some interesting birding lined up - we’re being picked up from the backpackers at 6am by a member of the Borneo Bird Club, Zaim Hazim. He’s offered to take us out to the paddyfields south of KK, where hopefully we’ll pick up some Bitterns, various migrant ducks, and waders before heading out to Lok Kawi beach to look for Malaysian Plover (and waders in general). That should take us to the early afternoon, after which I expect we’ll return here and decide whether we feel like birding in the evening.
Before long we had boarded our little boat, and set off across the turquoise waters of the bay. I had read that the boat drivers tend to gun it across to the islands, making for quite a bumpy ride, but ours seemed content to take it slow. We passed the great green lump of Pulau (Island) Gaya, noticing the small settlement on its eastern side. A town for the wanderers - people who have fled the Philippines but are not accepted by Malaysia, so are forced to live stateless on the island. Moving quickly past, we arrived at Pulau Sapi, where most people got off, then made the five minute transit to Pulau Manukan, our stop.
Manukan is a small island, just a couple of kilometers across, but it has a couple of birds that are harder to find on the mainland. Chief among these is the Tabon (or Philippine) Scrubfowl, one of the Megapode group which also includes our Malleefowl, Brush Turkey and Orange-footed Scrubfowl. The Megapodes are found throughout the pacific, and many species are endemic to the small islands on which they are found, such as Sulawesi’s Maleo and the mysterious Tongan Megapode.
Being a small island, finding a couple of other birds is also a bit easier than on the mainland. Mangrove Whistler and Mangrove Blue-flycatcher made targets two and three for the morning. We got off the boat and made our way down the long wooden jetty arriving at the island resort run by - who else - Sutera Lodges. Seriously, these guys own everything. We did our best to ignore them as we made our way up the one and only trail on the island, which follows the ridge running down the centre from end to end. We had hardly moved fifty meters when we came upon a couple of Rufous-tailed Tailorbirds. Not particularly exciting birds, or a major target, but a lifer for me and the last of the Bornean Tailorbird species on my list. Always feels nice to have a full page of ticks in the field guide!
Moving on, we very quickly came across a Mangrove Whistler singing its heart out from a low perch. Mangrove Whistlers aren’t at all interesting looking, unlike many of their family. Australia’s Golden, Mangrove Golden, Rufous and White-breasted Whistlers all look quite handsome. Even the endemic Bornean Whistler is pretty colourful - but Mangrove is the exception to the rule, and is pretty much entirely dust-brown and cream. Four or five steps further on and around the corner, I flushed a big bird off the ground - a Tabon Scrubfowl, roughly the size of a small chicken with chocolate and slate-blue plumage and bare pink facial skin. Although flighty, it stuck around so we could both get good views.
We had been on the island fifteen minutes and had seen two of our three targets - surely Mangrove Blue-flycatcher wouldn’t also be this easy? Not quite. In fact it took us almost another ten minutes to have one perched right above us.
We had until 2pm on the island, and it was very nearly 11:30. With all our targets seen, we made our way to the far end of the island, then spent an hour working our way slowly around the coastline, picking our way over the fields of boulders and white crescent-shaped beaches. At one point, I’m sure the waters off Manukan would have supported a vibrant marine community, as there was once a reef here. Walking along the beach you find all manner of bits of old, dead coral and reef-life. Sadly the coral are now mostly dead, and although the waters still teem with small fish, they wander aimlessly through the clear waters, as though not entirely sure what they’re doing there. At least one species is still doing well though - over every smooth rock surface crawled rafts of Mudskippers, bizarre and endearing fish that spend their day sitting out of the water, flipping their way around with barely-controlled jumps.
There are worse places to bird, I suppose
We spent what remained of the afternoon eating baked goods and relaxing at the backpackers - we had intended to go out to Likas Lagoon in north KK during the afternoon, but neither of us really felt like it. This evening after dinner we caught a taxi out to a park in the east of the city called Taman Tun Fuad Stephens to look for Sunda Frogmouth. All the Bornean Frogmouth species are pretty tricky to find, as I’ve written before, but several records from this park gave us some hope. Sadly, despite an hour and a half’s wandering around in the dark, we emerged frogmouthless. Still good information to have for future trips though.
Tomorrow is our last full day in Borneo. We have some interesting birding lined up - we’re being picked up from the backpackers at 6am by a member of the Borneo Bird Club, Zaim Hazim. He’s offered to take us out to the paddyfields south of KK, where hopefully we’ll pick up some Bitterns, various migrant ducks, and waders before heading out to Lok Kawi beach to look for Malaysian Plover (and waders in general). That should take us to the early afternoon, after which I expect we’ll return here and decide whether we feel like birding in the evening.
February 27th (Saturday)
A very busy and quite unexpected day today. I woke up at 5:29, scrambled to turn off my 5:30 alarm, and we were out of the backpackers by six. Around 6:15 Zaim picked us up, and we headed for the Penampang Paddyfields, a large area of rice-growing land south of Kota Kinabalu, and a habitat pretty fresh to both of us.
We arrived and began birding, walking down the narrow dirt roads between the fields, picking out the smaller numbers of Scaly-breasted and Dusky Munias among the vast flocks of Chestnut Munias. Striated Grassbirds were everywhere, a relief no doubt for Brandon who missed the one I saw at the KK wetland centre on our first day. A variety of Egrets picked up the frogs from between the rice stems, along with the occasional (and surprisingly sneaky for their size) Purple Heron. The paddyfields were full of birds, and kept us occupied for a few hours - and I did pick up three new lifers: Cinnamon Bittern (both Yellow and Cinnamon were common in the rice, and showed themselves well - not my usual experience with Bitterns!), Oriental Reed-warbler and Black-winged Kite, along with the more expected birds such as Buff-banded Rail, Eastern Yellow Wagtail and several Snipe which, although we didn't settle on an ID for, were probably Swinhoe's. I also saw a pair of Red Avadavats, part of a feral population.
Scaly-breasted Munias
Yellow Bittern, thinking itself invisible
Probably Swinhoe's Snipe
Striated Grassbird
After the rice fields we made our way down to Lok Kawi Beach, more a mudflat than a beach really, and started looking for waders. Ruddy Turnstones, Terek Sandpipers, Greater and Lesser Sand-plovers, Pacific Golden and Grey Plovers, Striated Herons, but none of those were lifers (the problem with migratory birds - we get all of those in Australia). I was scanning a small mud island when I noticed one of the smaller plovers was brighter than the rest, and featured a full white collar. Kentish Plover.
As we moved up the beach to get closer to the Kentish, we found our actual target for the day - a pair of Malaysian Plovers, which quickly went and joined the Kentish, allowing for good comparison photos after a quick sand-crawl.
It was now just after 10am, and we were driving back towards town when Zaim said “It’s a bit impromptu, but… fancy going to the Rafflesia Centre?”
This took us by surprise, as the Rafflesia Information Centre is 2.5 hours drive from KK, up in the mountains of the Crocker Range. Think going back to Mount Kinabalu, but lower and not as geologically impressive. We’d thought about trying to hitch-hike up there, as there are a number of birds in Crocker that aren’t found easily elsewhere in Sabah, but had decided to leave it for another trip. So we jumped at the opportunity to visit it - although had I known we were doing that, I wouldn’t have done the sand-crawl.
We stopped to pick up some snacks to eat on the way, and headed once more into the mountains.
We arrived around midday, and unsurprisingly, all was quiet on the bird front. Nothing really calling at all. Nevertheless we did manage to pin down a Blue-and-White Flycatcher and a Mugimaki Flycatcher feeding on the information center’s lawn, and a Grey Wagtail in the gutter. Brandon stopped to investigate a call while Zaim and I walked down the road a bit. Pity really - he ended up missing the only two Pygmy White-eyes of the trip. Not that they're much to see, just tiny, greenish-brown birds.
An hour’s walk up and down the road yielded a few mystery raptors in the distance, and, finally, a Black-and-crimson Oriole. Phillips writes that this species is “very common” around Kinabalu Park HQ, but that’s rubbish. We never saw any, and everyone we asked said they saw them only occasionally.
We made our way down from Crocker Range and pulled in at our last stop for the day - Zaim's local patch, Likas Sewage Ponds, a few kilometers north of the CBD. We picked up a few more good birds here, including Grey Herons (the last time I saw these was in London five years ago), Black-winged Stilts, and plenty of Wood Sandpipers. Just before we left, I was scanning a large flock of Wandering Whistling-ducks and managed to pull out a female Tufted Duck, a vagrant to Borneo, and the last bird to make its way onto our Sabah lists. What a bird to end on!
Zaim dropped us back at the backpackers and we spent the late afternoon relaxing, before going out to the shopping centre for desert. Finished it off with an awesome cocoa-strawberry milk tea.
Tomorrow’s the big day, at last!! We fly out of KK at midday, arrive in Singapore around 2-ish, and have until midnight to explore the city. High on my priority list is Pasir Ris park, 5km from the airport, home to a family of Spotted Wood-owls. Fingers crossed they’re there tomorrow.
Black-winged Kite
Malaysian Plovers
As we moved up the beach to get closer to the Kentish, we found our actual target for the day - a pair of Malaysian Plovers, which quickly went and joined the Kentish, allowing for good comparison photos after a quick sand-crawl.
It was now just after 10am, and we were driving back towards town when Zaim said “It’s a bit impromptu, but… fancy going to the Rafflesia Centre?”
This took us by surprise, as the Rafflesia Information Centre is 2.5 hours drive from KK, up in the mountains of the Crocker Range. Think going back to Mount Kinabalu, but lower and not as geologically impressive. We’d thought about trying to hitch-hike up there, as there are a number of birds in Crocker that aren’t found easily elsewhere in Sabah, but had decided to leave it for another trip. So we jumped at the opportunity to visit it - although had I known we were doing that, I wouldn’t have done the sand-crawl.
We stopped to pick up some snacks to eat on the way, and headed once more into the mountains.
We arrived around midday, and unsurprisingly, all was quiet on the bird front. Nothing really calling at all. Nevertheless we did manage to pin down a Blue-and-White Flycatcher and a Mugimaki Flycatcher feeding on the information center’s lawn, and a Grey Wagtail in the gutter. Brandon stopped to investigate a call while Zaim and I walked down the road a bit. Pity really - he ended up missing the only two Pygmy White-eyes of the trip. Not that they're much to see, just tiny, greenish-brown birds.
An hour’s walk up and down the road yielded a few mystery raptors in the distance, and, finally, a Black-and-crimson Oriole. Phillips writes that this species is “very common” around Kinabalu Park HQ, but that’s rubbish. We never saw any, and everyone we asked said they saw them only occasionally.
We made our way down from Crocker Range and pulled in at our last stop for the day - Zaim's local patch, Likas Sewage Ponds, a few kilometers north of the CBD. We picked up a few more good birds here, including Grey Herons (the last time I saw these was in London five years ago), Black-winged Stilts, and plenty of Wood Sandpipers. Just before we left, I was scanning a large flock of Wandering Whistling-ducks and managed to pull out a female Tufted Duck, a vagrant to Borneo, and the last bird to make its way onto our Sabah lists. What a bird to end on!
Zaim dropped us back at the backpackers and we spent the late afternoon relaxing, before going out to the shopping centre for desert. Finished it off with an awesome cocoa-strawberry milk tea.
Tomorrow’s the big day, at last!! We fly out of KK at midday, arrive in Singapore around 2-ish, and have until midnight to explore the city. High on my priority list is Pasir Ris park, 5km from the airport, home to a family of Spotted Wood-owls. Fingers crossed they’re there tomorrow.
January 28th (Sunday)
At long last.
Departure day.
Brandon was definitely right back on Mount Kinabalu almost a month ago - I have forgotten how to sleep in. I woke up at around six and lay there half-dozing for an hour, before getting up and finishing my packing for the day. One packed, I then unpacked everything again, because I needed some stuff from the bottom of my bag.
We set off for the airport at around 9:30, weaving our way through the Sunday markets occupying the street between the backpackers and the taxi rank. I’d forgotten there are Sunday markets in KK, if I’d known I would have gone out earlier to explore them. As it was, we could only smell the delicious street food and glance at the trinkets and items of all varieties on display. We got our taxi, spending my last 15 ringgit in the process, and checked in our bags.
It didn’t really feel real, to be honest. It kind of seems like the last month-and-spare-change have become my life - getting up early, birding all day, going to bed early. It’s almost hard to believe I have an ordinary life back home. Although I am looking forward to returning to it. It seemed like no time at all before we were boarding our plane to Singapore, and looking down through the clouds for the last time at the twisting coastline of the Land Below the Wind. I’ll be back.
Departure day.
Brandon was definitely right back on Mount Kinabalu almost a month ago - I have forgotten how to sleep in. I woke up at around six and lay there half-dozing for an hour, before getting up and finishing my packing for the day. One packed, I then unpacked everything again, because I needed some stuff from the bottom of my bag.
We set off for the airport at around 9:30, weaving our way through the Sunday markets occupying the street between the backpackers and the taxi rank. I’d forgotten there are Sunday markets in KK, if I’d known I would have gone out earlier to explore them. As it was, we could only smell the delicious street food and glance at the trinkets and items of all varieties on display. We got our taxi, spending my last 15 ringgit in the process, and checked in our bags.
It didn’t really feel real, to be honest. It kind of seems like the last month-and-spare-change have become my life - getting up early, birding all day, going to bed early. It’s almost hard to believe I have an ordinary life back home. Although I am looking forward to returning to it. It seemed like no time at all before we were boarding our plane to Singapore, and looking down through the clouds for the last time at the twisting coastline of the Land Below the Wind. I’ll be back.
We landed in Singapore at around 2, and went to take care of some business - repacking my birding gear into one bag and my laptop etc. into another, finding a place in the terminal to store the unnecessary items, and exchanging my last 200 ringgit for a paltry 65 Singapore dollars. 3:1 exchange rates are great one way, but they suck coming home. With this done, we left Changi, and ventured out into the heat of a Singapore afternoon.
We caught a bus (after some difficulty explaining to the driver where we were trying to go) up to Pasir Ris, a large area of north-east Singapore. We were aiming for Pasir Ris park, but didn’t realise until we got off that the park and the town park are two different things. It took us half an hour to walk to where we had been expecting to be, but the walk was eventful! On Pasir Ris 52nd St. we came across some birds. A rolling, melodious gurgle announced the arrival of a brilliant Black-naped Oriole in a tree above us, luminous gold with black markings. A Sooty-headed Bulbul foraged in a flowering tree up ahead, and a variety of Sunbirds and White-eyes flicked around the canopy of the street-trees. We spent a few minutes sifting through these, before making our way up to the park proper.
The first birds we noticed when we got there were a surprise: A pair of Black Bazas, which look pretty amazing, flying between the trees at the park edge. Very flighty and hard to get a good look at, but we saw them well enough to identify them. We also picked up Oriental White-eye. We continued on into the park, ticking lifers every few minutes (turns out Singapore’s great for birding!) before we bumped into a couple of bird photographers. We asked them if they had seen the supposedly resident Spotted Wood-owls anywhere, and they both replied that it had been several weeks since they had seen them. Bad luck for us, I really wanted to see those, but that’s how it goes with Owls.
House Crows
A strangely confiding White-breasted Waterhen
We spent all afternoon in the park (which is huge) exploring and chilling out. Singapore has a very relaxed atmosphere - heaps of people about, but nobody seemed to be in a rush. Lots of electric scooters, kids walking dogs, surprisingly old men on roller blades, and a general feeling of fun. I think I’d like to spend more time in Singapore - the birds are certainly here as incentive. By the time evening was falling we’d picked up seven lifers, as well as a mammal tick in a mating pair of Smooth-coated Otters near the mangrove boardwalk.
Javan Myna
Grey Heron
We caught a bus down to a place called ‘Downtown East’, which turned out to basically be a small shopping mall, where we found some dinner. We walked down the road to a much larger shopping mall, and spent a happy hour and a half browsing a bookstore and the public library before leaving to find a taxi back to Changi. This turned out to be unnecessary, as from the taxi rank you can see the SkyTrain terminal - we agreed that would probably be cheaper (at $2.80 each, it was) so we caught that instead.
I did up the list before we left - I spent a lot of time late last night
re-writing the entire thing, because it turns out I really screwed up
the one I originally made before the trip. Now that I’m familiar with
the birds, I can see all the mistakes (and there were many) so I decided
it would be best to make a new one. We filled it in together, and we
ended up with our trip totals: 322 all up, Brandon scoring a few more
than me. Between us we also amassed 15 heard-only species, which neither
of us saw. Not great to be honest, Josh and Max only had two heard-only
species - but we did beat them on species seen, which was both
unexpected and remarkably ego-soothing!
At 12:45am the time came to board our flight, and we settled in for the long trip home.
Hometime
---------------------------------------
This brings us to the conclusion of our Bornean adventure!
Special and sincere thanks to Josh Bergmark for months of patience in answering my flood of questions, Zaim Hazim for so generously driving us all around town and even as far as Crocker Range on our last day, Arjan Dwarshuis, Sander Bot, Max van Waasdijk and Jelmer Poelstra for good company, beer, Everett's Thrush gen, and the use of their scope in Danum.
For those who have read this report as research for their own trips to Sabah, two things - firstly well done for making it this far, I know that I ramble a lot. Secondly, stay tuned: Up next is Birding Sabah - Part 7, which will contain a lot of site-maps you may find valuable, as well as our complete annotated species list.
Thanks for reading!!
Julian Teh.
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