14th October 2010: Sepilok Nature Resort, Sabah

The Sabah Tourism Board booked me in to Sepilok Nature Resort for the duration of my stay as an invited speaker at the Borneo Bird Festival. I checked into this excellent resort at around lunchtime and was immediately impressed, not only by the resort and the way it is laid out, but by the numbers of birds on show!

The centre of attraction was a fruiting fig, just outside the chalet which was allocated to the main speaker, Prof Dr PilaiPoonswad, world-renowned expert on hornbills. This was an inspired piece of room allocation, as the tree was full of hornbills from dawn to dusk!



A male Black Hornbill - one of about 7 birds which regularly visited the tree.



This juv Rhinoceros Hornbill was obviously too full of fruit to do anything!



Check out those eyelashes!






















I love watching hornbills eating. Despite the enormous size of their bills, they select and pick fruit with the greatest of delicacy and gentleness. The bird seems to be testing to see if the fruit is ripe enough to pluck. If it isn't,the fruit remains on the tree, undamaged, to carry on ripening.



The male (told by the red eye) parent bird flying in for a feed.





At dusk both adults engaged in a pre-roosting duet.






















Besides the hornbills (which also included Oriental Pied and Bushy-crested), there were plenty other birds visiting the tree. This one was a new bird for me - a Thick-billed Flowerpecker.



This is apparently a rare bird in East Malaysia. The species is supposed to have a distinctive habit of wagging its tail from side to side, but this one did not wag its tail at all the whole time I was watching it. The pale spots on the underside of the tail were indiscernible in the field, and are apparently very faint in the 'modestum' race.

A short walk in the forest behind the resort produced a few extra species:



A Blue-eared Barbet.



A (Bornean) Rufous-backed Kingfisher, which differs from the migratory Black-backed Kingfisher in having a rufous mantle, and from the resident West Malaysian form by having a variable amount of dark blue on the scapulars and wings (compare with this one from Sarawak).



Another endemic form - the 'microrhinus' race of Chestnut-breasted Malkoha. That might be an endemic species of praying mantis it's eating as well!

A few swifts were coming into drink at the lake behind the resort in the afternoon.



Glossy Swiftlet



Mossy-nest? (judging by the darkness of the rump).





And my favourites, Silver-rumped Spinetail/Needletail.








I never knew that they have a pink mouth!





I guess they have to judge their approach just right or they'll end up literally 'in the drink'!






















This Rufous-bellied Eagle decided to roost just opposite my chalet - a nice end to a promising first day!

16th - 18th June: Bukit Ayer FR, Perlis

Catch-up time , as I've been too busy to update the blog for a while.

My wife and I spent a couple of days in Bukit Ayer Forest Reserve chalets in west Perlis over the school holidays. It was quite a feat to find the place completely empty in the middle of the hols. The staff were friendly and helpful and the accommodation excellent - a 4-bed chalet with a/c, TV, hot water - for the princely sum of RM50/night. The only disappointment - a pretty significant one - was that it was difficult to get into any decent forest, as most of the area has been taken over either for orchards or tree nurseries.

This wasn't a full blown bird trip, but here are a few of the shots I took along the way.





Blue-winged Pittas really are a common bird in Perlis. Interesting to see the variation in size and shape of the white wing patch on these two birds.



A calling bird in a rubber plantation.



A pair of Brown Barbets, the pale-billed female on the left.



A male Red-throated Barbet in the same area.



Not sure if this one was an adult female or a subadult male. It gave a subdued and much slower. softer version of the typical call.






















A Slender Squirrel.





A couple of scenery shots of Timah-Tasoh Lake.



A night walk in the hope of bumping into a White-fronted Scops Owl produced Oriental Bay Owl and Javan Frogmouth but not White-fronted. Not much to photograph though - except this spider...



...and this Leopard Cat in the forest. They're much easier to see in plantations!

26th March 2010: Rainforest Discovery Centre, Sepilok, Sabah

The second morning dawned bright after rain, and once again it was a long vigil on the canopy walkway in the hopes of seeing the Bristleheads.



This is the 'microrhinus' race of Chestnut-breasted Malkoha, endemic to Borneo. It has an interesting eye colour. According to Myers, the female should have a yellow iris and the male a pale blue one.



Bushy-crested Hornbills are common at RDC, and this one was sunning itself at first light at the entrance.



One of several endemic races of Oriental Magpie Robin - this one is 'adamsi', distinguished by its white vent.



The male Van Hasselt's Sunbird was in his usual spot.





Another endemic race, the Brown Barbets of Borneo have an attractive chestnut orange throat. The pale bill identifies this one as a female.



This Black-winged Flycatcher-Shrike was, unusually, on its own. It looks like a subadult bird.



There were several Crested Goshawks in the vicinity, including this juvenile.





And a pair of adults engaging in the typical wing-fluttering courtship display, fluffing their white ventral feathers out on either side of the tail.



In the afternoon I saw this bird carrying a skink or tree lizard into the trees, but was unable to locate a nest.



A group of ants hauling a cockroach along a wire. I was amazed at the coordination this feat required! No wonder the proverb says: "Go to the ant, you sluggard; consider its ways and be wise!"





An interesting female sunbird was hanging around the Van Hasselt's Sunbird tree. At first I thought it might be a Van Hasselt's, but in the end I concluded it must be a Brown-throated - of yet another endemic race, 'borneensis'. With the greyish nape and brownish wings, it looks quite different from the Peninsula birds.



More little birds! Plain Flowerpecker (race 'borneanum') is described by Myers as 'very uncommon'.



One of a pair of Thick-billed Spiderhunters near the Bristlehead Tower.

The long wait for the appearance of the Bristleheads was made bearable by many photo opportunities provided by various swifts and swiftlets.



One of the 'Aerodramus' trio.









Glossy/White-bellied Swiftlets





Silver-rumped Needletail











Brown-backed Needletail. I first noticed the white streak down the belly of this species on the birds I photographed in Perlis. As not all seemed to have it, I assumed that it was something attached to the bird's feathers, like a piece of spiderweb or something. Seeing it on the birds here as well, it is obviously a plumage feature, although not one I have seen alluded to anywhere. I wonder if it is unique to this species?



Watching them involved in courtship flights is like watching military jets in formation - brilliant!























Another view of a Giant Squirrel.



The previous evening at dusk, a few Red Giant Flying Squirrels had put on a display, but it was too dark for photography. This evening, the first male was out of his hole by 4.30pm. He seemed to realize he'd got up too early, and dozed off on this branch.



After a while he shinned up to a fork in the tree to have a better look at me. Having recently seen 'Alice in Wonderland', I was reminded of the Cheshire Cat!



The first flight of the evening. Catching these guys in flight, in focus, is a good challenge for any wildlife photographer!






















Safe landing! Since they can't hover, the squirrels move up into a stall position just before landing, otherwise they would go 'Splat!' against the tree I guess.






















Once landed they have to go through the process of shinning up the tree again to get enough height for the next launch.






















Up we go!






















This animal spent a lot of time sniffing perches and then marking them with his own scent.



Nobody else was up yet, so time for another snooze!



Aha! A second animal appeared at last!



Up to the top...





And then launch off!



As more and more animals emerged, a furious game of tag ensued!



Oi! What are YOU doing there?!






















Moment of impact!






















Then up it went again!






















Where's the other guy gone?






















Whoops! There he is!




Time to go!



















As it got darker they looked more and more like cats!






















Well, maybe not!























Under all that fur, there's not much more than skin and bone.



Who's been here?

A second Bristlehead blank day, but the flying squirrel show more than compensated!