Sunday, October 26, 2008

21st October 2008, Mount Kinabalu HQ, Sabah

Despite my entirely unsuccessful forays onto the Bukit Ular Trail last year, it was there that I had to start my attempts to get the Kinabalu specialities this time, and I wasn't disappointed.

My first bird of the morning was an Everett's Thrush feeding on the trail in the pre-dawn gloom, followed by the same or another a short way further up the trail. In between, an immature male Siberian Robin tail-shivered on the trail floor. I arrived at the 500m marker and sat to see what would appear. Amazingly, another Everett's Thrush hopped across the trail (but still no photo opportunities!), and then I heard the distinctive rattling call of a Whitehead's Broadbill, and suddenly there was a pair right overhead!







Just MAGIC!






















On my way back down, I came across a pair of Orange-backed Woodpeckers. Here's the male.






















And the female.






















A small party of Short-tailed Green Magpies came to investigate me.





Yellow-breasted Warblers are common but nonetheless always worth watching!

By 9am The Bukit Ular trail had delivered up several of its star birds, and I decided to try my luck further down the mountain.



The top end of the Silau-silau trail hosted a small party of Mountain Wren-Babblers.



And a little further down, my first Whitehead's Trogon - a female.






















Later, back on the Bukit Ular Trail, I met another female...























...and disappointingly distant but nevertheless splendid, a male.



A couple of other birds seen during the day - a Chestnut-headed Laughingthrush - recently split from the Chestnut-capped of Peninsular Malaysia...




...and a couple of pairs of White-crowned Forktails.

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