Borneo : Trails & tribulations (1 Viewer)

March 6th: Top of the Pass above the Rafflesia Centre, side road.

Eye-browed thrushes aplenty flushed shyly from the roadside. Bornean treepies passed through. Ruddy & Little cuckoo doves were visiting a fruiting tree, as were Chestnut-capped laughers, Mugimaki flycatchers. A Sunda bush warbler showed from low vegetation across the road.

Suddenly a flock of sixty or so White-throated needletails rose up the valley and into the blue - a rarely recorded migrant on passage.

Down at the Rafflesia Centre Bornean leafbirds flew in. A singing Banded woody sat atop the highest tree. A fruiting tree held a Mountain barbet - giving great views. Then Bornean Bulbuls joined the barbet - two ticks in the same tree! They all shared this with a male Blue & white flycatcher and a few Eye-browed thrushes.

Up top again Temminck's sunbird flashed in the sun, Ochraceous bulbuls buzzed in, then Black-capped white-eyes. A Wallace's Hawk-Eagle flew through the trees and a Changeable Hawk-Eagle passed overhead. A White-browed shrike-babbler - then another, and a Bar-winged flycatcher shrike. Pale-faced bulbuls and another Mountain barbet all showed.

I drove down past the Rafflesia Centre, slowly with the windows down. I heard a Spiderhunter and stopped.

At another flowering tree Bornean bulbuls, a Blue & white flycatcher, Hair-crested & Ashy drongos. A pair of Long-tailed broadbills came to a nest overhanging the road! Super birds. But where had the Spiderhunter gone?

An hour passed. No sign, then a call: the Spiderhunter returned to a huge tree near the road and promptly disappeared into a mistletoe-like growth below the crown. It continued to call for a few minutes then stopped. I hadn't seen it leave. The call was that of WHITEHEAD'S.

Twenty minutes passed - nothing. Then it popped out again and flew into the canopy. The bird was in silhouette and the views poor. It left & flew across the road into cover. I'd had views of a Whitehead's spiderhunter that were only tickable because it was calling. Bad news. But wait! There it was atop the tallest dead tree not far away!

I moved as close as the road would allow, and though the views weren't great I was satisfied I'd seen this enigmatic & difficult bird.

Just then three or four Black & crimson orioles hove into sight and flew closer - lovely birds & a real bonus.

And so that day ended with the main quarry safely in the bag.

Wow, Malaysian Honeyguide and Fairy Pitta B B superb
.
I wonder if your Whitehead's Spiderhunter was in the same dead tree as we saw ours in? It was the only prominent dead tree on the left as you go down the road below the Rafflesia centre (maybe a km below??) and a fair way from the road in an area with few large trees??

Great stuff H......ain't the White-crowned Forktail in Borneo split now?
Where's the bloody photies??

My only question is why this report has the word 'Tribulations' in it. I'm not hearing of any ! Some spectacular birds (I'm not jealous of the Fairy Pitta as we had that here in Shanghai, really I'm not)

birdboybowley said:

Great stuff H......ain't the White-crowned Forktail in Borneo split now?
Where's the bloody photies??

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Yes, BBB, Bornean in the Highlands WCF in the lowlands.

H

Larry Sweetland said:

Wow, Malaysian Honeyguide and Fairy Pitta B B superb
.
I wonder if your Whitehead's Spiderhunter was in the same dead tree as we saw ours in? It was the only prominent dead tree on the left as you go down the road below the Rafflesia centre (maybe a km below??) and a fair way from the road in an area with few large trees??

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No, don't think so Larry. This was on the right going down about 2,3km below the Centre. Just after a very wide verge on left with a shelter, with a private Rafflelasia plot opposite.

The tribulations will come later, Frogfish.

Made our mind up

Great report.
This thread has just made our mind up to go back to Borneo next year, we were not 100% sure when to go with lots of other possible locations to do, but we need to get to Danum Valley this time with leech socks at the ready.

dandsblair said:

Great report.

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Second that comment. A stunning array of birds H

Hi folks. I've just spent an hour doing the next post only to be met with an error message and deletion
I'm v peed off

Bummer H - that's why it's always worth writing it up in Word and then copy 'n' paste
Stick some photos up instead!

... I guess that's part of the Tribulations then ... :-C

Nice to read about this good-sized feat of the Pittas.

That evening I tried again for nocturnal stuff - Bornean frogmouth apparently has been seen/heard in the vicinity. But even with tapes I again drew a blank. Perhaps it has to be at the right time of year.

A moth with a nine-inch wingspan flapped around the cafe - an awesome thing to behold, then I retired - briefly.

The paper-thin walls of the Gunung Alab Motel and the cockroach & the bedbug that bit me in the brief time I slept & the lack of water to shower that evening hadn't put me in the best of moods. So when the drunken Russians still hadn't quietened down at 3 am I decided to call it a day & leave. I wasn't going to get back to sleep anyway, so I packed up in torchlight (no electricity after midnight) and left for Kinabalu.

After a slow journey I arrived at the Timpohon Gate at dawn. As usual the Chestnut-breasted partridges and Everett's thrushes were noticeable by their absence - as they would every time here at dawn. I twice saw shadows in the near dark which might have been the thrush - but shadows were all they were.

As the light improved the Laughers woke up - Sunda & Chestnut-capped making a din by the Power Station. A Bornean treepie & Bornean whistling thrush were easy too.

Later a couple of Crimson-headed partridge & two young (these partridge are very unusual in laying only a single egg- so this must have been the progeny of two females) showed close by the trail. A Maroon woody landed nearby, then the first tick of the day - Eye-browed jungle flycatcher.

A juv. White-browed shortwing hopped along the trail side and a Common green magpie (superb birds) made a racket above my head. Down the quiet trail eventually brought movement low down: Mountain wren-babblers were shuffling around by the trail. These obliging birds were to show well several times over the next days. Tick no. two.

Lower still and everything suddenly went silent as a female Besra landed beside me - eyeing her surrounds before launching out into the forest again. Things remained quiet and still for hours afterward. Lack of sleep had tired me. Lack of birds lowered my mood futher: seldom if ever had I known rainforest birding to be so quiet. Nothing showed. Almost nothing made a sound.

Eventually the spell was broken: a pair of Pygmy blue flycatchers came past - dipping their tails and wings in characteristic manner - a real perk-up for the afternoon, another tick. An Indigo flycatcher stayed close to them.

Then heading up the Liwagu Trail - getting steeper and steeper - with increasing weariness: a real downer occurred. What was certainly a Whitehead's trogon - my top target bird - was singing not far off. I hurried up the trail. In a minute or so I saw two birds - quite certainly the Whitehead's - dive from treetop into the steep valley below & out of sight, never to show again. I was gutted. I wrote in my notebook: "Awful. Awful. Awful." Worse than no views at all - untickable views.

I left before dark that evening and, exhausted, had an even earlier night than usual.

The next day's dawn saw me dipping partridge & thrush as usual. But at least the day was to hold a few more birds than the day before: still quiet, but not as birdless. Highlight number one: a roadside fruiting tree brought a male Whitehead's broadbill: one of my top ten birds of all time. It gave me fantastic views, perched front & back, then flew across the road to perch up again in view!

Up at the Gate a male Little pied flycatcher showed well for a few minutes while I gave the skies a search for the Mountain serpent-eagle. (The skies remained empty)

Mountain leaf warbler and Blue & white flycatcher and another Crimson & black oriole turned up more or less together later on, before things got a little quiet once again. No trogons.

Later a fruiting tree was attracting birds - several were moving around the top - and all turned out to be Bare-headed laughingthrushes! I'd more-or-less given up hope on these endems - and now half a dozen or more were giving reasonable views above me. Later the other laughers replaced the Bare-heads as did a couple of Ochraceous bulbuls, before everything melted away into the distance.

At 2pm I'd got back to the very top of the Liwagu Trail again. I could hear the activity of the road above. And as I rounded the final bend I could hear leaves being pushed around and was astounded to see, not one, but five Chestnut-breasted partridges - a pair and three young! Another endem I'd almost given up on! What cracking birds too.

As I walked down the road another Whitehead's broadbill - or perhaps the same one - flew across the road and again landed in sight! I made my way to the start of Bukit Ular and started up it. I'd barely stepped from the road when Mountain wren-babblers had me scanning the forest floor, and suddenly I was watching two Bornean stubtails! Fantastic! After many many attempts they'd finally obliged with brilliant views. Lovely, exquisite little birds. The third endem tick of the afternoon!

Down by the visitor's centre Everett's white-eyes showed well in roadside shrubs. And so the day ended with rather more style & with my spirits rather better than the day before. Tomorrow was my birthday & I decided that an attempt at Laban Rata - the last place any day climber is allowed to go - would be my goal.

With an early cuppa & some toast & a couple of hard-boiled eggs to take with me I set off to Timpohon Gate again. A quick fruitless look for the Thrush again before I was signed out to the mountain and through the Gate.

A Golden-naped barbet showed at arm's length on a fruiting shrub. I started out on the unremittingly, relentless, long haul up and up the steep path. It was fairly bird-free unlike the last time I'd made it part way up.

There were a few ticks to be had: Bornean swiftlet & Island/Mountain thrush & the Serpent-eagle, plus one or two others I still needed. The half-kilometre markers passed ever slower as I pushed on up through forest in shade & in sunshine.

At 7,500 feet the clouds were below me and I was looking down on the whole world, it seemed. But the skies were empty of Swiflet and Eagle alike. Mountain blackeyes and a few other birds occasionally made an excuse for a breather.

I began to meet people coming down the mountain - and one of these encounters was to be extremely serendipitous. Before that I found a group of Friendly bush-warblers while still quite low down - many birders think that these are only found high up - and I'd had poor but just-tickable views on my last try - at about the same place while still well within the forest at about the 3.5 km marker. This time I was glad to get better views of three birds together.

But at about kilometre 5 I met two Australians on their way down. They'd done the summit that morning. We stopped for a chat when he said, "That's a nice red bird just above your head!" I turned to see an Island thrush - or Mountain Blackbird if you prefer! An adult bird just sat and watched as we talked and enjoyed the spectacle of this brilliant bird just feet away sitting still.

And so to Laban Rata. Still no Swiftlets. Empty skies. I didn't stay long and after my eggs & a cuppa I began the arduous trek back down on ever more rubbery knees.

Nothing else of note - except another encounter with Chestnut-breasted partridges.
But I'd made it to Laban Rata: at 10,900 feet it was the highest point I'd reached yet.

In the afternoon I found two more Bornean stubtails, got great views of a Bornean forktail - unusually obliging for once.

That evening from the restaurant Large-tailed nightjars showed from the balcony.

The next morning I was to travel to the coast & spend my last day on Manukan Island - but, thanks to two birders met that morning who gave me some gen, I travelled the short distance to Mesilau instead of dipping on the Trogon again. It turned out to be a good decision.

Just back from Philippines so a lot of catching up of my own to do, but will relax with a beer or two over the weekend and read the full report

Regards
Dave

I know Dave. I dipped my toe into your report: what a trip!
One day. ...!

Well done on the Friendlies H (we missed that one), and must have been a treat to see so many Bare-headed Laughers too. Thoughts of continuously missing Everett's Thrush still brings me out in cold sweats!

Yeah, I just couldn't be bothered after ten times. And you wonder how others see them.

My problem was of diminishing returns. At the end I felt like I was chasing two birds - when I should have been enjoying the birding.

So my last instalment will be more upbeat.

yeah. and i reckon that mt kinabalu could also do with a very tall observation tower somewhere up near timphon gate, then the serpent-eagle would be a lot easier!

Everett's Thrush? The Puku Cave area has produced on 4 different visits. :t:

chris butterworth said:

Everett's Thrush? The Puku Cave area has produced on 4 different visits. :t:

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Where's that, Chris?