halftwo
Wird Batcher
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.
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.