25th March 2010: Rainforest Discovery Centre, Sepilok, Sabah

After three days of workshops in Sandakan, it was a nice change to get some fresh air at the Rainforest Discovery Centre (RDC), Sepilok, which is just a half hour drive west of the town.

I stayed at Sepilok B & B, which was reasonably priced, clean, and more importantly, just a couple of minutes' walk from RDC.

At RDC I made a bee-line for the Bristlehead Tower and canopy walkway, with high hopes of getting great views of Bristleheads, which are regularly viewed from there.



A male Van Hasselt's (ex Purple-throated) Sunbird had its territorial songpost in a tree next to the tower. Outside of Singapore this is a difficult species to see, as it is a canopy specialist, so it was great to get eye level views here.



A large black bird making funny noises, but disappointingly, not a Bristlehead! A pair of Bornean Black Magpies foraged in the trees in the early morning.



Giant Squirrels in Sabah are an interesting colour variation on the animals in the Peninsula, with an attractive ringed tail.



The Prevost's Squirrels here look different as well, lacking the white flank stripe.





Fiery Minivets and Red-eyed Bulbuls were other visitors during the morning's wait.







The only crow species here is Slender-billed, which is rather scarce in the Peninsula. They're pretty shy, and these were my closest shots.





At the entrance to RDC, flowering plants attracted a variety of sunbirds, including Olive-backed, and more surprisingly, a Sunda Pygmy Woodpecker.























































A pair of Black-and-Red Broadbills had built their characterstic hanging nest over water. They appeared to be still building, and would bring a green leaf with which to line the nest whenever they returned to it.



Swiftlets aplenty! This is one of the darker species - Black-nest or Mossy-nest Swiftlet.



And an unfamiliar dragonfly to finish with.

So, no Bristleheads today - perhaps tomorrow...