Nohatch
Mad scientist
Earlier this year I had the good fortune to participate in a field study in western Sarawak, organised by the National Oceanography Centre Southampton and the Swinburne University of Technology Kuching. While the main objective of the campaign was to look at organic matter in the lowland rivers, I was keen to do a bit of birding on my first ever trip to Borneo! Sarawak, and particularly the western part, is very under-birded and apart from the work by Ronald Orenstein there is not much information available online. I hope this report generates a bit of interest and maybe inspires some more birders to visit this region.
I want to thank the good people on this forum for their advice during the planning stage, as well as the French birders at Mahua, the American ornithologist at Kinabalu, and Arjan Dwarshuis for tips whilst on the road in Sabah.
The main base for my stay in Sarawak was the city of Kuching, which is a clear example of the rapid development the region has undergone in recent years: lots of new housing developments, shiny malls, Starbucks and KFC, and Sports Direct because I somehow managed to only bring 1 pair of socks… This development is fuelled by the large-scale extraction of the state’s natural resources, but more on that later. Work put us up in a nice waterfront hotel and I decided to rent a car for the added flexibility. Driving in and around Kuching was fine, the roads were all new and signposting was reasonably good. The traffic was not a problem except for a brief period at rush hour, but for someone doing the daily work/school run in Southampton this is familiar territory. Kuching is safe and has a very pleasant climate. There are not many sights apart from some old bits around the river, and plenty of great food places (pickled jellyfish anybody?).
Apart from a few House Crows at Kuala Lumpur airport (are these feral?), my first new birds (lifers in bold) were the ubiquitous Pacific Swallow at Kuching airport, and White-breasted Woodswallow and Asian Glossy Starling at the hotel. A walk along the river yielded introduced Javan Myna, Eurasian Tree Sparrow and Feral Pigeon, as well as Spotted Dove which I’d seen before in Vietnam. I was happy to see a pair of Grey-rumped Treeswift over the river, which turned out to be my only ones of the trip. There were plenty of swiftlets around, but I didn’t get a proper look at the different species until a few days later. A single House Swift was seen from the hotel room before we drove north out of the city for a look around Kampung Buntal.
The Bako-Buntal Bay area is the most important shorebird site in Sarawak, and a designated EAAF site (http://www.eaaflyway.net/malaysia-c...o-buntal-bay-to-flyway-site-network-of-eaafp/). It is of particular importance for wintering Chinese Egret, and there was one obliging individual among the many Little, Great and Eastern Cattle Egrets. Due to my rubbish timing the tide was far out, so the number of shorebirds visible from the village waterfront was limited. Reports online mention the use of local fishing boats to get to the best spots and that seems a very sensible option as the bay is large and the number of access points on land limited. Nonetheless, there were small numbers of Common and Terek Sandpiper, Greater Sand Plover, Pacific Golden Plover, and the trio of Whimbrel, Eurasian Curlew, and Far Eastern Curlew. A noisy Collared Kingfisher was admired before we dashed off for a quick visit to Santubong National Park. The short walk to the waterfall was lovely but essentially bird-less, apart from a little babbler which I failed to see properly. Plenty of squirrels though and we spotted a group of Silvery Lutung (Silvered Leaf Monkey) on the way back.
The next morning my colleagues and I went out to the Semenggoh Wildlife Centre to see the Orang-utans (https://www.sarawakforestry.com/htm/snp-nr-semenggoh.html). This small nature reserve houses a rehabilitating group of these endangered great apes, but looking at how little lowland rainforest is there is left in Sarawak one does wonder about the future prospects of this species. On the drive over I spotted my first (roadside) White-breasted Waterhen, and during the rangers’ briefing I was distracted by a nice male Orange-bellied Flowerpecker. Together with about a hundred other tourists we walked the short trail to the feeding platform/amphitheatre; it took a while for one young male Orang-utan to show up, but seeing one move gracefully through the forest canopy was a really cool sight. There weren’t many birds around since it was late morning already, but a Bronzed Drongo was joined by a few Yellow-rumped Flowerpecker. Back at the visitors centre I found my first Ashy Tailorbird, and a group of Greater Green Leafbird flew in to feed on some berries after most of the other tourists had left. We opted to go for a short walk before heading back to town, randomly picking the Masing trail. Along the trail I picked up a Greater Racket-tailed Drongo and a wintering Asian Brown Flycatcher, before we headed back to Kuching to meet up with some of our Malaysian colleagues.
In the evening I had time for a walk in Kuching’s Reservoir Park, which not only held lots of locals doing their daily run, but some good birds too (oh and tons of mosquitos). At the park entrance I admired a family of White-breasted Waterhen and a Greater Coucal high up in a tree, when a bird of prey flew in low. This turned out to be a splendid Crested Honey-Buzzard which perched low for great scope views. Apart from the more common species seen earlier in town and at Semenggoh, the park held large numbers of Yellow-vented Bulbul and introduced Common Myna. Personal highlight was a stunning male Crimson Sunbird (my first of this colourful family) and a surprise male Blue-and-white Flycatcher, which turned out to be quite a common bird on this trip. Again I didn’t get a good look at the multitude of swiftlets.
For my final day pre-field trip I had decided to visit Kubah National Park, just west of the city (https://www.sarawakforestry.com/htm/snp-np-kubah.html). This is probably the best site near Kuching for lowland dipterocarp forest – however it was also the day I came down with the inevitable stomach bug and the jetlag played up. In addition to struggling physically I also struggled in the classical tropical birding sense: lots of small unfamiliar birds in very large trees or dense foliage! Despite arriving too early the guard let me in anyway, and I parked the car and made my way up the summit road. The only bird I managed to see properly was a Chestnut-capped Forktail and by the time I arrived at the frog pond I was close to turning around and spending the rest of the day in bed. However, things picked up a bit at that point with a showy pair of Thick-billed Green Pigeon, a Rufous-tailed Tailorbird, a family of Yellow-rumped Flowerpecker, and a briefly glimpsed Yellow-breasted Flowerpecker overhead. I decided to walk back via the Waterfall and Main trails; along the latter there were several Spotted Fantail, and an elusive pair of white Asian Paradise Flycatcher. Near the park HQ I picked up a male Rufous-winged Philentoma and finally got good looks of some Rufous-cheeked Bulbul. Kubah NP feels like it would be a rewarding site for those who can dedicate a bit more time (maybe staying overnight in the park).
All in all +31 new species for the list from a somewhat half-hearted effort in and around Kuching. Next up the sampling campaign.
I want to thank the good people on this forum for their advice during the planning stage, as well as the French birders at Mahua, the American ornithologist at Kinabalu, and Arjan Dwarshuis for tips whilst on the road in Sabah.
The main base for my stay in Sarawak was the city of Kuching, which is a clear example of the rapid development the region has undergone in recent years: lots of new housing developments, shiny malls, Starbucks and KFC, and Sports Direct because I somehow managed to only bring 1 pair of socks… This development is fuelled by the large-scale extraction of the state’s natural resources, but more on that later. Work put us up in a nice waterfront hotel and I decided to rent a car for the added flexibility. Driving in and around Kuching was fine, the roads were all new and signposting was reasonably good. The traffic was not a problem except for a brief period at rush hour, but for someone doing the daily work/school run in Southampton this is familiar territory. Kuching is safe and has a very pleasant climate. There are not many sights apart from some old bits around the river, and plenty of great food places (pickled jellyfish anybody?).
Apart from a few House Crows at Kuala Lumpur airport (are these feral?), my first new birds (lifers in bold) were the ubiquitous Pacific Swallow at Kuching airport, and White-breasted Woodswallow and Asian Glossy Starling at the hotel. A walk along the river yielded introduced Javan Myna, Eurasian Tree Sparrow and Feral Pigeon, as well as Spotted Dove which I’d seen before in Vietnam. I was happy to see a pair of Grey-rumped Treeswift over the river, which turned out to be my only ones of the trip. There were plenty of swiftlets around, but I didn’t get a proper look at the different species until a few days later. A single House Swift was seen from the hotel room before we drove north out of the city for a look around Kampung Buntal.
The Bako-Buntal Bay area is the most important shorebird site in Sarawak, and a designated EAAF site (http://www.eaaflyway.net/malaysia-c...o-buntal-bay-to-flyway-site-network-of-eaafp/). It is of particular importance for wintering Chinese Egret, and there was one obliging individual among the many Little, Great and Eastern Cattle Egrets. Due to my rubbish timing the tide was far out, so the number of shorebirds visible from the village waterfront was limited. Reports online mention the use of local fishing boats to get to the best spots and that seems a very sensible option as the bay is large and the number of access points on land limited. Nonetheless, there were small numbers of Common and Terek Sandpiper, Greater Sand Plover, Pacific Golden Plover, and the trio of Whimbrel, Eurasian Curlew, and Far Eastern Curlew. A noisy Collared Kingfisher was admired before we dashed off for a quick visit to Santubong National Park. The short walk to the waterfall was lovely but essentially bird-less, apart from a little babbler which I failed to see properly. Plenty of squirrels though and we spotted a group of Silvery Lutung (Silvered Leaf Monkey) on the way back.
The next morning my colleagues and I went out to the Semenggoh Wildlife Centre to see the Orang-utans (https://www.sarawakforestry.com/htm/snp-nr-semenggoh.html). This small nature reserve houses a rehabilitating group of these endangered great apes, but looking at how little lowland rainforest is there is left in Sarawak one does wonder about the future prospects of this species. On the drive over I spotted my first (roadside) White-breasted Waterhen, and during the rangers’ briefing I was distracted by a nice male Orange-bellied Flowerpecker. Together with about a hundred other tourists we walked the short trail to the feeding platform/amphitheatre; it took a while for one young male Orang-utan to show up, but seeing one move gracefully through the forest canopy was a really cool sight. There weren’t many birds around since it was late morning already, but a Bronzed Drongo was joined by a few Yellow-rumped Flowerpecker. Back at the visitors centre I found my first Ashy Tailorbird, and a group of Greater Green Leafbird flew in to feed on some berries after most of the other tourists had left. We opted to go for a short walk before heading back to town, randomly picking the Masing trail. Along the trail I picked up a Greater Racket-tailed Drongo and a wintering Asian Brown Flycatcher, before we headed back to Kuching to meet up with some of our Malaysian colleagues.
In the evening I had time for a walk in Kuching’s Reservoir Park, which not only held lots of locals doing their daily run, but some good birds too (oh and tons of mosquitos). At the park entrance I admired a family of White-breasted Waterhen and a Greater Coucal high up in a tree, when a bird of prey flew in low. This turned out to be a splendid Crested Honey-Buzzard which perched low for great scope views. Apart from the more common species seen earlier in town and at Semenggoh, the park held large numbers of Yellow-vented Bulbul and introduced Common Myna. Personal highlight was a stunning male Crimson Sunbird (my first of this colourful family) and a surprise male Blue-and-white Flycatcher, which turned out to be quite a common bird on this trip. Again I didn’t get a good look at the multitude of swiftlets.
For my final day pre-field trip I had decided to visit Kubah National Park, just west of the city (https://www.sarawakforestry.com/htm/snp-np-kubah.html). This is probably the best site near Kuching for lowland dipterocarp forest – however it was also the day I came down with the inevitable stomach bug and the jetlag played up. In addition to struggling physically I also struggled in the classical tropical birding sense: lots of small unfamiliar birds in very large trees or dense foliage! Despite arriving too early the guard let me in anyway, and I parked the car and made my way up the summit road. The only bird I managed to see properly was a Chestnut-capped Forktail and by the time I arrived at the frog pond I was close to turning around and spending the rest of the day in bed. However, things picked up a bit at that point with a showy pair of Thick-billed Green Pigeon, a Rufous-tailed Tailorbird, a family of Yellow-rumped Flowerpecker, and a briefly glimpsed Yellow-breasted Flowerpecker overhead. I decided to walk back via the Waterfall and Main trails; along the latter there were several Spotted Fantail, and an elusive pair of white Asian Paradise Flycatcher. Near the park HQ I picked up a male Rufous-winged Philentoma and finally got good looks of some Rufous-cheeked Bulbul. Kubah NP feels like it would be a rewarding site for those who can dedicate a bit more time (maybe staying overnight in the park).
All in all +31 new species for the list from a somewhat half-hearted effort in and around Kuching. Next up the sampling campaign.
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