16th October 2010: Borneo Bird Festival, Sepilok, Sabah

Today was a 'working day', in that all of the speakers gave their presentations. There were some excellent talks, a full list of which can be found here, but not much time for birding!



Although I've seen Bristleheads once, at Danum Valley, I've never seen them at Sepilok, which is 'the' site for them. They were seen each day of the festival, but I maintained my Bristlehead-free record (extending it to 8 days and counting!), and the only bird on view from the canopy walkway was this Slender-billed Crow.

Back at the Nature Resort, the usual suspects were making their way too and from the fruiting tree...







A female (top) and two male Black Hornbills.



The female Rhino enjoying the evening sun.



A Blue-winged Pitta was calling from the scrub across the lake from my chalet. This is a common bird in parts of northern Peninsular Malaysia but is apparently less so in Sabah, judging from the amount of interest it generated among local birders! It got progressively less showy as time went on, but was nevertheless quite obliging both morning and afternoon.






















This Brown-throated Sunbird was camped in the flowers outside my chalet (what are they called by the way?) and would not allow any other birds near, much to my frustration, as both Little and Thick-billed Spiderhunters were trying to come to feed as well!



The swiflets weren't flying so near today, so this was the best I got - a Mossy-nest Swiftlet.



This was a bonus, a male Blue-eared Kingfisher against some attractive reflections!



I did a short night-walk, and this Brown Boobook ('borneensis' race) was the only fruit for my labours.

15th October 2010: Borneo Bird Festival, Sepilok, Sabah

Today was the start of the Festival and RDC was a hive of activity...



The unveiling of the Borneo Bird Club logo.The BoBC has just become an officially registered society, so is now well and truly open for business. Kudos to Cede Prudente, the pro tem Chairman, and his band of merry (and hard-working!) men and women for having achieved so much in the club's young life.



The BoBC stand, and some serious Big Boys Toys on show!



The launch of the Bird Race, just before the heavens opened and everyone ran for cover!

Apart from attending the formalities, I had no other responsibilities today, so plenty of time for birding!



Our first good find of the day was a pair of Slow Lorises and a baby, apparently happily feeding at ten in the morning!

Some more bird images from my walks around the Rainforest Discovery Centre today



Banded Woodpecker



A Blue-eared Kingfisher (I didn't see the Ruddy Kingfisher which everyone else photographed by the way!)






















I'm not quite sure what this is! If it was in West Malaysia I'd have called it a Crow-billed Drongo without a second thought, but in East Malaysia the Greater Racket-tailed Drongos are heavy-billed, lack much of a crest, and have a deeper tail fork than the West Malaysia birds. I'm not familiar enough with East Malaysian GRTs to feel confident that this is or isn't one. The fact that the bird is in tail moult doesn't help - as it's difficult to be sure what the tail shape would look like in fresh plumage. Compare with this pic of a Greater Racket-tailed I shot in Kubah recently. Any ideas?






















A distant White-fronted Falconet, endemic to northern Borneo.



A small party of Rufous-winged Philentomas foraging just above the ground along the Pitta Trail was the highlight.





Perhaps it was a family group - there was one adult male and several female/juvs.

Back at the Nature Resort, the fig festival was still in full swing!



A female Black Hornbill - one of the regular crowd.



And the female of the neighbourhood Rhino family.



Streaked Bulbuls are always good to see.



Puff-backed even more so - a shame that this was such a mangy individual.




When a flock of Asian Glossy Starlings flew in I started looking for some Chestnut-cheeked, and was soon rewarded! This female/juv could easily be overlooked among Purple-backed Starlings if it was in Peninsular Malaysia. Note that it lacks the whitish lower scapulars and pale greater covert tips of Purple-backed, and is generally browner.





Males are easier to spot. This one has more extensive 'chestnut cheeks' than any illustration I've seen!

My second new bird in two days, and both in the same tree!

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!

7th October 2010: At sea, off Tanjung Dawai, Kedah

With tantalizing news of dark-rumped petrels off Singapore, I managed to squeeze a boat trip into a somewhat hectic schedule.

As we headed out of Tanjung Dawai at 7am, the first birds seen at sea were not the most predictable ones - a Black-backed Kingfisher and a Yellow-rumped Flycatcher both flew over the bows and on toward land, skimming the surface of the sea. Both are known to be nocturnal migrants, so I guess these had just about reached the end of their flights, and were ready for some food and rest at the next headland! A fascinating glimpse of passerine migration!

There are twelve tern species on the Malaysian list. The only ones I've not seen from the boat over the last couple of years are Gull-billed, Caspian and Chinese Crested. The last is hardly likely off the west coast of West Malaysia, so eleven are realistically possible. I managed eight species today, and took over 500 photos! I'll only post a few for now, and maybe add others later. No petrels, or indeed anything else of interest bird-wise. The non-avian highlight was a mother and calf Bryde's Whale (thanks to Louisa for the id!).





Of the terns, I'll just include a run down of the species and plumages I recorded.



These are the three common species - Common (top left), Bridled (bottom left) and Black-naped (right).



Black-naped Tern juvenile/1st winter.



Adult in breeding plumage.



I assume this is an adult in non-breeding plumage. It differs from the breeding adult in having a dark smudge below the nuchal collar, a faint carpal bar, and grey subterminal spots on the outer primaries (except the outermost).



A young juvenile Bridled Tern. The scapulars and mantle have dark brown subterminal spots and pale buff fringes.



The crown is streaked brown and there is a gorget of brown streaks across the throat.



A first winter (having undergone a head and body moult).



I take this to be a worn 1st summer bird. It has moulted its head and body feathers into adult non-breeding-type plumage, but the wings are a combination of new feathers (eg inner primaries and inner primary coverts) and very old ones. Many greater coverts are missing, exposing the white bases of the secondaries below.





Finally, an adult in pristine non-breeding plumage, having completed a full moult of both head and body, and wing and tail.

Moving on to Common Terns, which really are the commonest tern in these waters...





A very young juvenile, which still has a brown forehead and brown mantle and scapulars. All ages of Common Tern show dark grey or blackish outer webs to the outermost tail feathers, which is a useful diagnostic feature.



This one's a bit older, and has a white forehead and much greyer mantle and scapulars, the result of wear and moult.



A fresh juvenile from below. Aleutian Tern would show much more clearly defined blackish secondaries.



The largely grey mantle of this bird shows that it is progressing though its post-juvenile moult into 1st winter plumage.



Some first winters can look quite pallid (but note the diagnostic outer tail feathers).



This one showed a faint Black Tern-like mark on the sides of the neck.



An adult in breeding plumage.







This bird had a grotesquely deformity. The right leg had disappeared below the tarsal joint into a huge tumour.



An adult in non-breeding plumage.





Some more Common Terns.





This Roseate Tern in adult non-breeding plumage was only the second I've seen off the west coast. Structurally, the wings are more centrally-positioned than on Common (so there's more head in front of the wings). Also, the bill is distinctively long. Plumage-wise, Roseates are paler than Common, with the outer three primaries distinctly darker. Note also the pure white outer tail feathers.



An occasional Whiskered Tern joined the party.



...as did one or two White-winged Terns. These two species are a different genus from the others, and have noticeably shorter and broader wings and short compact bodies.





This Great Crested Tern arrived late in the day and circled the boat a few times, calling. It was the eighth tern species of the day.



Near dusk this 1st winter Common Tern landed on the boat and began gorging itself on anchovies in the net. It appeared relatively unbothered by human presence, allowing approach down to a few feet.





My presence probably saved it from meeting the same fate as incautious shearwaters!



A glorious sunset...






















And the end of a long day!