21st October 2010 Danum Valley BRL, Sabah

I seem to be fighting a losing battle maintaining this blog at the moment! While I still have some memory of events, here's my final day's crop of pictures from BRL.

Wang Kong took Fred Sheldon and Dennis Ikon to look for Blue-banded Pitta. However, since I didn't fancy the steep climbs that would be involved, and have already had good looks at Blue-banded Pitta this year, I opted to try the trails around the access road. In making this choice, I later found I had missed great views of male White-tailed Flycatcher and Cinnamon-rumped Trogon, and numerous calling Bornean Wren-babblers, but you pays your money you takes your choice!








It was the Yellow-eared Spiderhunters' day on duty at the Indian Coral tree!



Apart from differences in the thickness of eye-ring and extent of yellow on the ear coverts, the main difference between Yellow-eared (left) and Spectacled (right) is in the length and shape of the bill (straighter, longer and thinner on Yellow-eared shorter, thicker and more decurved on Spectacled). This is a useful difference in view of the fact that both species are usually viewed from below, often against strong light, when subtler features are tricky to see. Yellow-eared also has a lightly streaked breast, a clearer yellow central line down the underparts, and a yellow line along the cutting edges of the bill (not sure if this is true in all plumages).



My main goal today was to get some good images of Blue-headed Pitta. I almost succeeded but was frustrated by an irritatingly-positioned leaf! This was the only bird which gave good views, and it was mostly in thick cover (true to form!). Oh well, something to come back for!

No such problems with a pair of Striped Wren-babblers which were feeding on the trail.


























The more I use flash the less I like using it, which is a challenge or someone who also doesn't like carrying a tripod!



My best effort using natural light - the colours are so much better, even though the image is rather noisy.



A male Ruby-cheeked Sunbird.



Babblers - don't get me started again! There are two races in Borneo, both of which look and sound different from the race in the Peninsula. This is 'capistratoides'.

The following morning I left for the airport at 4.30am, which meant I had my own personal night drive! Best mammals seen were two herds of Bornean Pygmy Elephant (10 and 5) on the road. The sound of the females trumpeting in the dark forest was a memorable one, and a fitting conclusion to the whole trip.

20th October 2010: Danum Valley BRL, Sabah

It's light by 6am in eastern Sabah, so the birds are up early too!



I managed to snap a few shots of a flock of Bold-striped Tit-babblers foraging along the river bank in the early morning. Babblers are always worth a close look (and listen to) in Borneo, as their forms almost invariably differ from those found in Peninsular Malaysia (as you might expect for a group of sedentary birds predominantly confined to forest). In the case of this taxon, it has already been recognized as distinct to species level from the now renamed Pin-striped Tit-babbler (formerly simply Striped Tit-babbler) of West Malaysia and elsewhere. Other splits are bound to follow in the babbler group.



Flavour of the morning in the Indian Coral tree was Little Spiderhunter - the third spiderhunter species I'd seen in the same tree in a few days.



Later on, the Spectacled showed up again.



The Chestnut-necklaced Partridges were in good voice today, with their defeaning duets on full volume. Photographing them is another matter though, as they are always concealed in thick undergrowth except for the split second when they dash across a clearing or the trail. This one was too close to get the whole bird in shot!



An adult Dark-sided Flycatcher in moult. The brown Muscicapa flycatchers can be a confusing group. I find that the very small bill of Dark-sided (visibly shorter and narrower than Asian Brown), is a good pointer in the field. Darker centres to the vent feathers are diagnostic of Dark-sided if they are present (which they aren't always).In East Malaysia, there is also the chance of Grey-streaked, which appears long-bodied and long-winged and has more distinct brown streaks on a white background, especially on the flanks.



More migrants! A research team from MNS HQ - Glenda, Maye and Eileen, with Edmondo (resident!).



Another endemic race - the 'borneensis' form of Asian Paradise-flycatcher.



And another...the 'brookei' race of Banded Broadbill. This is the female, and she sat overlooking a large nest on a tree from which the canopy walkway is suspended. Most broadbills build hanging nests, so I was surprised to see this one had been constructed in a fork in a huge mengaris (tualang) tree.



Black-throated Wren-babbler. This was one of my target birds for the trip. Nothing wren-like about these at all! Like the other large wren-babblers, Large and Marbled, this reminded me more in size and shape of a laughingthrush. They were more arboreal than other wren-babblers I've seen too.






















The 'Jacuzzi Pool'. When we arrived at this pool along one of the trails, we discovered that a picnic had been laid out for us - chicken wings, dragonfruit,tuna and lettuce sandwiches, ice-cold apple juice...























...no I wasn't dreaming! BRL hospitality at its best! Pic courtesy of Alan McBride of Wildiaries



Crystal clear water and lots of fish!























Some Lantern Bugs at a Lantern Bug convention. They seem to have got their head gear design idea from Rhinoceros Hornbills!



Another Bornean puzzle! All resident 'Ceyx' kingfishers in Borneo appear to have at least a rufous mantle, distinguishing them from the migrant 'Black-backed' Kingfisher. So this is the resident form. Some authorities claim that hybridization between the resident 'Rufous-backed' form and the migrant 'Black-backed' form is widespread in Borneo, leading them to conclude that there is only one species - Oriental Dwarf Kingfisher - involved. However, there is another possibility - that the Bornean taxon is simply variable! In that case, there could be three forms in Malaysia- the Rufous-backed of Peninsular Malaysia, the migrant Black-backed, and a third taxon resident in Borneo, currently recognized as a race - 'motleyi'.



White-crowned Forktail. This one's already been split from a neighbouring form which occurs in the highlands of Sabah - now called Bornean Forktail (cf the extent of white on the crown on this bird photographed on Gunung Kinabalu).



Another babbler, another puzzle! It's a Short-tailed Babbler ('sordidus' race). Here's another from Peninsular Malaysia ('malaccensis' race), and one from Sarawak ('saturatus' race). I'm not an expert on babbler vocalizations, but the birds in Danum have a song which I've not heard in West Malaysia.



A Spotted Fantail. This one is also a forest resident, yet it's monotypic, showing no variation over its range. Work that one out!



Stormbringer! A Wreathed Hornbill flies under some threatening clouds. Rain usually arrived after lunch!










































On this particular day,a brilliant troupe of Maroon Langurs also arrived after lunch! I'd had some rather unsatisfactory views of some in treetops, but this bunch seemed reasonably happy skirting the fence outside the restaurant by the river. Much better! The young are whitish, and seem to remain dependent on Mum till they're pretty large!



You'd think this might affect their mobility, but apparently not!



Supermum!





Adult and adolescent!






















Look-out!



This Western Tarsier was the highlight of the night drive.












































Tarsiers are primates (check out those fingers!), and have the largest eyes relative to body size of any mammal. They feed on insects,which they catch by acrobatic leaps from tree to tree.

19th October 2010: Danum Valley Borneo Rainforest Lodge

A few pics from last night's night drive to start with...



A Black Flying Squirrel






















And a Slow Loris performing a comical stretch!



It was worth checking the spiderhunters coming to the Indian Coral tree this morning. Yesterday's were Spectacled. Today there was Yellow-eared.



We headed back to where we'd heard the Giant Pitta yesterday, but it wasn't interested today. After some time of Wang Kong's best imitations, we gave up and headed elsewhere. This Great-billed Heron looked 'atmospheric' in the morning light.



A Purple-naped Sunbird stopped long enough to be snapped.






















It's difficult to give an impression of how small pygmy squirrels are from a photo, but they really are tiny! This is a Plain Pygmy Squirrel.






















We photographed this anglehead lizard - Gonocephalus bornensis - while waiting for a Black-throated Wren-babbler to show itself. It did, but not well enough for a photo!



Chestnut-necklaced Partridges seemed quite common once they started their loud duets. Getting a clear shot was another matter, as they were shy.


























On our way back for lunch we came across this beautiful Common Bronzeback.





We met Glenda, Maye and Eileen from MNS HQ, and they showed us a pair of Maroon-breasted Philentomas. Here's the male.



Displaying to the female.



The view from my chalet after lunch, before the skies went grey!



A Rufous-tailed Tailorbird near the restaurant.

The rainclouds gathered and the thunder rolled, but the rain didn't arrive, so we set out for our afternoon session up the main access track. We hadn't gone very long when a Giant Pitta started calling from the forest to our left. Seven of us (including two guides) made our way none too silently into the undergrowth and tried to call the bird into view. After some minutes of frustration, Wang Kong decided we should make our way uphill till we met the trail. We had circled the point where the pitta had been calling, and were now above it. However, I seriously doubted the bird would still be interested after all the noise we had made moving uphill.

To my surprise, it did respond to Wang Kong's whistled imitation, and after some time, the bird - a male, hopped onto the trail and perched motionless in full view for 20 glorious seconds! It was a bit too far away for my flash to reach, but who cares - the mythical Giant Pitta has been well and truly grilled!







The Holy Grail of the Malaysian rainforest? Well, one of them!

I don't remember much after that1 I think we turned round and headed straight back to the resort without lifting our bins to look at another bird!






















Oh yes, and we saw a Thomas's Flying Squirrel on the night drive.