[Jeff hopkins]

Greetings from Brunei!

I'm actually here as a quick two-night stop-over on the way to an organized birding tour in Sabah. To be honest, I really chose Brunei to put another pin in the map of places I've been. But it's a neat little place thanks to oil, and given how few resources are available about birding in Brunei, I figured a quick trip report would be in order. Today I spent most of the day sightseeing, but a few of the places I went did manage to get me a few birds and even a couple of lifers.

I arrived in Bandar Seri Begawan (or BSB) at about 11AM after an uneventful 26 hour flight from New York via Frankfurt and Singapore on Singapore Air. Actually the first two birds of the trip were at Singapore's Changi Airport - Javan Myna (everywhere in Singapore) and House Crow. On landing at BSB I picked up my hire car at the airport (Hertz) and was quickly on was on my way to my hotel. On the way I saw the first bird on my new Brunei list: Rock Pigeon! Yay!

After a quick check-in, I headed down to the large mosque which dominates downtown. Although I couldn't get inside, there were a quite a few Eurasian Tree Sparrows on the grounds and a few Zebra Doves, plus I saw one swiftlet flying around, that I'd later figure out was a Glossy Swiftlet. From there I took a short walk around the nearby area and found a mother Sunda Woodpecker feeding a fledgling, more tree sparrows, and when I got back to my car, found a White-breasted Woodswallow calling from a wire.

I spent some time at the Royal Regalia Museum to see how the richest man in the world lives (answer: exorbitantly) then went out to the museums along the coast road east of downtown BSB. At the Maritime Museum, I found a few Yellow-vented Bulbuls, more Zebra Doves, an Oriental Magpie-robin, and a Collared Kingfisher along the river. In the parking lot of the Brunei Museum, there were quite a few swiftlets, and after watching them zip around (one almost flew in my open car window!) I finally concluded they were Glossy Swiftlets.

Working my way back to town, I found a White-bellied Sea-eagle soaring over the river and a flock of Asian Glossy Starlings feeding in the garbage beside a small strip mall (with more tree sparrows) where I stopped for provisions.

Back in town, I hired a water taxi for a quick tour of Kampung Ayer, the water village. In the more open parts of the river there were lots of terns fishing. Based on time of year, I concluded they must be Black-naped Terns. We also had another White-bellied Sea-eagle fly right over our heads. Once back on shore I sat for a while watching all of the speedboat traffic on the river, and as I did a little egret flew by.

It was now past 5:00, and I was exhausted, so I called it a day and headed back to my hotel (air conditioning!). Tomorrow, I'm off to the the Belait District where you can access some back-country roads and also some good coastal wetlands.

More to come...

JH

[Jeff hopkins]

Started out the morning bright and early - out the door at 5:15. The turn off to Kualka Belai is about 110 km from BSB, and I made it between 7 and 7:30. It actually was pretty easy to find.

Directions: On the Seria Bypass, coming westbound from BSB, you'll come to a major right hand turn for for Mumong. Just past that on the left is a road signposted "Jalan Mumong / Jalan Kuala Belai." There are also several signs for industrial companies, such as a cement factory. That's the road you want. The road does not look especially promising when you first turn onto it, and until you get past the industrial zone, there can be a lot of truck traffic, but once it goes down to less than two lanes, the habitat gets pretty good.

I made my first stop a couple km down the road in the "degraded" habitat - small patches of thick growth between farm houses (on stilts). A couple of pigeons on a wire caught my eye, but when I stopped, they were gone. Unfortunately after 1-1/2 hours in the air-con when I stepped into the 80% humidity, the bins were totally fogged up. Wile waiting for them to warm up, I had a small flock of tiny parrots that were probably Blue-crowned Hanging-Parrots, but I couldn't see through the bins on them for any field marks. Frustrating. However, after about 10 minutes, I was back in business.

There were plenty of things calling, so I walked up and down the road a bit. The first lifer of the day was a calling Blue-eared Barbet that I coaxed into view. I also had a Pied Fantail, a fly-over Stork-billed Kingfisher, two flyover Long-tailed Parakeets, and a female sunbird that I couldn't ID. Of course I had all of the more common "suburban" species: Eurasian Tree Sparrow, Asian Glossy Starling, Yellow-vented Bulbul, Glossy Switflet, etc.

Once past the factories, there was an improvement in habitat and a change in species. The tree sparrows on the fences were replaced by Dusky Munias - my first Bornean enemic - and White-breasted Wood-swallows. A little further on there were a couple of Spotted Doves walking along the road, a Pink-necked Green-pigeon perched in a bare tree on the side of the road. Then a hornbill flew in front of the car. I hopped out and saw it was an Oriental Pied Hornbill.

I continued inland picking up a couple of calling Slender-billed Crows, a few Pacific Swallows (one sat in the middle of the road), a magpie-robin, and a Waterfall Swiftlet mixed in with the glossies. Two or three White-breasted Waterhens jumped into the ditches on the roadside as I drove by. I also pished in a Hill Myna at one stop.

At the boundary of Mumong Mukim and Kuala Balai Mukim (Mukim is like township, I guess. It's smaller than a district) I heard a lot of bird sound, a lot of which sounded like cuckoos to me. One of the songs was a Greater Coucal, and I'm pretty sure I heard an Indian Cuckoo call once or twice, but I couldn't coax the other singers into view. I did manage to see a couple Greater Racket-tailed Drongos and a Common Iora, as well as a group of 3 or 4 leafbirds (species unknown). Walking back to the car, I found my second hornbill species, a Black Hornbill and a big raptor that could only have been a White-tailed Sea-eagle, which seemed a little strange in the habitat (although I was less than 10 km from the ocean). There was also another smaller raptor who got away.

I was still only half-way to Kuala Balai and it was well past 10 AM, so I picked up the pace a bit. The habitat opeed up a bit, and I found some Chestnut Munias mixed in with the duskies, a Yellow-bellied Prinia mewing like a kitten and a small troop of monkeys - long tailed macacques, I think. I also had another Pied Hornbill calling from a bare tree. Anywhere there was a patch of taller trees, you could hear the "song" of Blue-eared Barbets.

I was hoping for some kingfishers at Kampong Kuala Balai, but the only think on the river were a few pacific swallows - and a couple of fishermen. I tried to coax another barbet into view (no luck), but my pishing pulled in a Yellow-rumped Flowerpecker. As I left "town", I flushed a Crested Serpent-eagle from the side of the road, and a few minutes later another.

Things were really quieting down at this point - it was almost noon - so I drove back toward town pretty quickly. There wasn't much singing besides barbets, but there was more perched up in the bare branches - I found lots more woodswallows than on the way in and a Dollarbird. I also had a Crested Goshawk that flew up out of a ditch and into the woods where I got a qick peek at him.

Just before the road got "populated" again, I found another noisy mixed flock. Once again a Greater Coucal lead the chorus. The first bird I ID'ed from this bunch was a Green Iora. A small flock of babblers flew across the road, but I couldn't get the bins on them - all I saw was chestnut body and grayish head. There was also a very raspy call that I tried to imitate, and a few meters deep in the undergrowth, up popped a very dark bird with a bright blue bill: a Black-and-red Broadbill! I imitated the call again, and two of them flew across the road. At this point, the babblers got vocal. I kept imitating their song and calls, and they called from both sides of the road, but they wouldn't show themselves again. But after listening to the songs after I got back to my computer, I was able to ID them as Chestnut-winged Babblers.

It was well past noon at this point, and I had a stop or two to make in Seria before I dropped of my rental car at 5:00, so I headed back to town.

Part 3 (Seria and back in BSB) tomorrow if I have internet access.

[chowchilla]

Very interesting. By coincidence, I was wondering only the other day what the birding was like in Brunei. It would be interesting to see how many of the Bornean endemics are found in the area.

[Jeff hopkins]

Been a while since I started this. I'm pretty much done with my Borneo trip, but I wanted to finish this now that I have time and net access. So...

From the Kuala Balai road I headed into Seria. Finding another white-bellied sea-eagle in a tree along the Seria Bypass. My target was the Sungai Seria rivermouth. The mangroves there (near the billionth barrel monument) are supposed to have a good mix of waterbirds, although in June sandpipers wouldn't be present.

Unfortunately, all I found were a few great egrets, an intermediate egret, and a little egret. There is also a bird hide to see a different part of the river that I wanted to check out, but that is behind a "Private Property / No Tresspassing" sign on Shell property, so I didn't go to it. I drove around Seria a bit seeing if I could find other access to the river and mangroves. I couldn't, although I did see a field full of great egrets and heard and saw lots of collared kingfishers. I was quite surprised to find no cattle egrets among them. I got lost a couple of times trying to find a shortcut back to the bypass. After that it was back to BSB to return my rental car before the office at the airport closed at 5.

After Hertz drove me back to my hotel (The Terrace Hotel), I had some time to wander. I first checked out the area around the hotel pool, turning up common ioras and yellow-vented bulbuls. I then walked into the neighborhood behind my hotel to see what might be there (with hopes for a nightjar at sundown). There were mostly the common urban birds, although I did turn up an ashy tailorbird and a scarlet-backed flowerpecker, but no nighthawk. I also had the strangest sighting of the trip: a collared kingfisher calling from a television aerial on the top of a multi-storey apartment block. Bizzarre.

The next morning I flow on to Kota Kinabalu to join up with my organized trip, so that concludes my report. You can read the report of the Sabah portion of my trip on Tropical Birding's webpage when it's completed (although it won't be representative of my trip - I got injured early and couldn't walk many of the difficult trails).

And to answer Chowchilla's question, I only had two of the Bornean endemics in my short stay in Brunei: yellow-rumped flowerpecker and dusky munia. A Brunei list I found online shows 15 of the Bornean Endemics on it. Those are:

Bulwer's Pheasant
Bornean Ground-cuckoo
Blue-banded Pitta
Blue-headed Pitta
Black-capped Pitta (I think the form that occurs in Brunei is usherii)
Black-breasted Fruithunter
Bornean Bristlehead
Bornean Wren-babbler
Bornean Whistling-thrush
Eyebrowed Jungle-flycatcher
Bornean Blue-flycatcher
Bornean Whistler
Yellow-rumped Flowerpecker
Pygmy White-eye
Dusky Munia

Most of the Bornean endemics are highland or montane species, and very few of them come low down enough to be found in Brunei (or at least in accessible / birded parts of Brunei).

[chris butterworth]

Originally Posted by chowchilla

Very interesting. By coincidence, I was wondering only the other day what the birding was like in Brunei. It would be interesting to see how many of the Bornean endemics are found in the area.

The BOU's just brought out a 'Checklist of the birds of Borneo' by Clive Mann which should give both birds and sites in Brunei
Chris

[chowchilla]

Originally Posted by chris butterworth

The BOU's just brought out a 'Checklist of the birds of Borneo' by Clive Mann which should give both birds and sites in Brunei
Chris

Thanks. Looks though as if it might be better to do montane birding in Borneo for the endemics. I suppose Sabah would be a good bet. Something to file away for future reference.

[Jeff hopkins]

Sabah is the place. The majority of the montane endemics can be found on Mt. Kinabalu although they aren't easy by any stretch. This trip was easily the most grueling organized birding trip I'd even been on (and several of the other participants said the same) - and I skipped the summit trail hike for the "unfriendy" warbler.

[chris butterworth]

Originally Posted by Jeff hopkins

Sabah is the place. The majority of the montane endemics can be found on Mt. Kinabalu I skipped the summit trail hike for the "unfriendy" warbler.

Sabah is definitly the easiest part of Borneo to bird in. Most of the montaine endemics, that aren't on Gunung Kinabalu, can be found on G. Trus Madi. The warbler is usually about a kilometer above Timophon Gate, just before you cross the narrow ridge and the thrush is just before the overnight accom. used by those "mad" enough to go to the top of the mountain - you start off before first light to get to the top for the sun rising beneath you, wierd
Chris

[Jeff hopkins]

Originally Posted by chris butterworth

Sabah is definitly the easiest part of Borneo to bird in. Most of the montaine endemics, that aren't on Gunung Kinabalu, can be found on G. Trus Madi. The warbler is usually about a kilometer above Timophon Gate, just before you cross the narrow ridge and the thrush is just before the overnight accom. used by those "mad" enough to go to the top of the mountain - you start off before first light to get to the top for the sun rising beneath you, wierd
Chris

Chris,

Gotta contradict you here. I went as far as 1 km beyond the gate and the habitat was not right for the warbler. According to our trip leader you need to go at least 2 km. He took those of our group that made the full hike above 2.5 km before they encountered the first warbler, and they never managed to see that bird. An individual from our group went up a second time and finally got a warbler to show itself at 4 km above the gate. He had no others, including the bird that was at 2.5 km two days earlier.

JH

Jeff

[chris butterworth]

You're right there Jeff, getting Imperial and Metric mixed up. Must be cognative decrepitude creeping up on me
Chris

[ccy2001]

Birding place in Sabah you must go is RDC Sepilok at Sandakan.Every day, visitors from the whole world come over here for birding.

[Jeff hopkins]

Originally Posted by ccy2001

Birding place in Sabah you must go is RDC Sepilok at Sandakan.Every day, visitors from the whole world come over here for birding.

I do agree with that. The only bristleheads we saw on our organized trip were there. It seems to be more reliable than the more traditional places (Danum, Sukau).