October 26: Susan Myers on her recently-completed tour, Borneo
I’ve just returned from another fabulous tour in Sabah, on the island of Borneo. As always, our birding and general naturalizing was thoroughly enjoyable, successful and full of adventure! We started on the Tambunan Pass, our only mid montane site on the tour. First some dapper Bornean Bulbuls showed up, apparently attending a nest, followed by great views of two endemic barbets – Mountain and Bornean, with a fabulous finale in the form of the elusive Whitehead’s Spiderhunter, which was greeted with much excitement.
We passed the next few days exploring superb upper montane forests of the Mount Kinabalu National Park. With the remarkable mountain as our backdrop, we strolled the roads and trails in search of mixed feeding flocks and ground birds. Some standout sightings included bizarre Bare-headed Laughingthrushes, an ultra cute Bornean Stubtail, a pair of noisy Mountain Wren-Babblers, and a remarkable Whiteheads Pygmy Squirrel.
Mountain Wren-Babbler
On the Kinabatangan River, Sabah’s longest, we spent a few days exploring the river and its tributaries by boat. Here we found Scarlet-rumped Trogons, gem-like Blue-eared Kingfishers, brighter than bright Hooded Pittas, and confiding, not to mention spectacular, Crested Firebacks. On the more expansive parts of the river we saw flocks of gorgeous Blue-throated Bee-eater, many raptors including Grey-headed Fish-Eagle and Wallace’s Hawk-Eagle, the rare Storm’s Stork, and a remarkable six species of hornbill – Oriental Pied, Black, Bushy-crested, Wrinkled, the usually elusive White-crowned and Rhinoceros. Primates were a feature, too – Long-tailed Macaques patrol the river banks, while Red Leaf-Monkeys perch high in the trees and Proboscis Monkeys with their beautiful pelage and comical noses feed quietly.
Black Hornbill
Red-leaf Monkey
The jewel in the crown of Borneo is Danum Valley. This large reserve is just overflowing with a mind-boggling array of plants and animals. Amongst the many highlights were a fantastic pair of Helmeted Hornbills (which along with sightings of Wreathed rounded out our list to include all the possible hornbills on Borneo), stunning Diard’s and Red-naped Trogons, a bevy of broadbills and a bagful of babblers as well as a number of neat woodpeckers, spiderhunters, and many less glamorous bulbuls. The bird that I am probably most often asked about when it comes to Borneo is the strange Bornean Bristlehead. Sightings of this super interesting bird are by no means a certainty so it was both a relief and a joy to find a small group of them high in the canopy.
Bornean Bristlehead
Posted: October 26, 2016