Bird with Sifu Jason in Kota Kinabalu areas

I was in Kota Kinabalu for some personal matters and took time off to photograph some birds with Sifu Jason, Sifu agreed to fetch me to visit all those interesting places and thanks to him, I managed to get three lifers in 24 hours.

First we got this Black-headed Gull Larus ridibundus (my lifer) at Tanjong Aru at late afternoon, when the sky was heavily overcast and a storm was brewing. There were about ten of them there, in winter plumages and mostly first winter birds, flying above the shallow sea  occasionally diving for the surface for food.

Black-headed Gulls are very scarce winter visitor to coast of northern Borneo, however, despite scarce, they are quite regular along coasts of Sabah during the migratory season.

 Black-headed Gull

Common Teal Anas Crecca (my lifer) was photographed at Tuaran the next morning. A pair was seen there, the male bird was in the process of moulting into summer plumage, leisurely preening amongst the thick weeds growing on the unplanted paddy field.

Common Teal is a vagrant of Borneo, 4 records before this, only one from Sabah at Padas Damit in December 1984. This is the second record in Sabah.

 Common Teal - Male (top), Female (bottom)

A Common Kingfisher was also feeding from a stick placed in the middle of the flooded paddyfield.

 Common Kingfisher

After photographing this beauty, we left to look for the earlier spotted Garganey Anas querquedula , Northern Shoveler Anas clypeata and Tufted Duck Aythya fuligula but they were no where to be found. Hope they have made their way back to their respective homelands and not trapped and ended in dinner plates of some uninformed farmers.

Hoping to have a glimpse of the Buff-banded Rail Gallirallus philippensis, Tampasok plain was our next destination,  this bird too was not seen but the place was rife with activities.

A group of otherwise foraging Black-winged Stilt Himantopus himantopus took flight, flashed by the fastest raptor in the world from above, the migratory Peregrine Falcon Falco pereginus, who was looking for lunch.

Black-winged Stilt

Its lunch was an unlucky White-breasted Waterhen Amaurornis phoenicurus.

 Peregrine Falcon

Yellow Wagtails Motacilla flava, an abundant passage migrant,  can be seen in some open fields in Tawau, where it is often seen singly, in Tampasuk, they are all over the place, all seen were of the race tsuchutschensis,  flying and perching on dried paddy straw.

Yellow Wagtail

A hovering Black-winged Kite Elanus caeruleus was looking for lunch as well.

Black-winged Kite

We too went to lunch and later dropped by at Lok Kawi. We were handsomely rewarded with this rare Chinese Egret Egretta eulophotes (my lifer), which I have been trying to photograph for quite a while. This elegant looking bird was oblivious of our presence while busy feeding close to the shore.

Chinese Egret

Chinese Egrets are uncommon winter visitor to Borneo, IUCN red list status is vulnerable due to lost of habitats to human economic activities.


Happy birding.

Photodocument of Wild Birds of Borneo

Standard References for my blog

Birding in KK with Sifu Karim 20th November 2009 (Part 1)

Edited on 1 May 2018 text with green backgound.

There was a seminar on 20th November 2009 in Kota Kinabalu I wanted to attend and went there on the night of Thursday (19th November). Touched down  KK at 11.00 pm after flight delay. Spent the night resting at Capital Hotel.

Woke up next morning, at first wanted to go to take a look at the sea front to try my luck but saw these instead right outside the hotel window on a tree along Jalan Tun Razak. Have to take pictures of them as I find Pink-necked Green Pigeon Treron vernans are not that common in Tawau.

Pink-necked Green Pigeon 

 

  Pied triller Lalaga nigra

After taking the shots of the above from my room, I went to the sea front but there wasn't much activity there. Took picture of this landmark Blue Marlin along the sea front for record.

Kota Kinabalu landmark

The morning until 2.00 pm was occupied by the seminar. Fetched Sifu Karim at about 2.30 pm at Tanjung Aru Town and went straight to Tanjung Aru beach to photograph the famous resident feral colony of Blue-naped Parrot Tanygnatus lucionensis. Here it is, my first lifer for this trip. Blue-naped Parrot occurs naturally on Si Amil, Maratua and Mantanani islands, but population on Mantanani has been extinguished, their best hope now is in Tanjung Aru. (Phillips, 2009)

Blue-naped Parrot

 

Blue-naped Parrot

After photographing the Blue-naped Parrot, we left for Penampang to look for Snipe. Snipes and other migratory water birds that frequent the inland fresh water fields, marshes and swamps during  northern winter are not easy to find in Tawau as there is virtually no padi field in Tawau. We reached our destination and found the sky was overcast.

 

Penampang padi fields

Sifu Karim and me

We scanned the fields for snipes but there was none to be seen, however, there were plenty of Wood Sandpiper Tringa glareola, Black-winged Stilts Himantopus himantopus, Little Egret Egretta garzetta, Great Egret Ardea albus, (Now Eastern Great Egret Ardea modesta) Intermediate Egret Egretta intermedia (Now Ardea intermedia),  Chestnut Munia (Now Black-headed Munia) Lonchura atricapilla, Common Greenshank Tringa nebularia and presumably White-winged Tern  Chlidonias leucopterus or Whiskered Tern Chlidonias hybrida flying and skimming  in the distant water-filled fields.

Amongst the numerous Chestnut Munia (Now Black-headed Munia), we found this Scaly-breasted Munia Lonchura punctulata, foraging with the large Chestnut Munia (Now Black-headed Munia) flock,  which is my 2nd lifer for the trip. Java Sparrow Padda oryzivora (Now Lonchura oryzivora)is easier to spot in Tawau than Scaly-breatsed Munia. The Scaly-breasted Munia is quite easy to spot among the Chestnut Munia (Now Black-headed Munia) flock once you get used to it as its color is not as brownish as the Chestnut Munia (Now Black-headed Munia).

 

Scaly-breasted Munia

On a branch far far away, this Peregrine Falcon Falcon peregrinus  perched. Peregrine Falcon is reputed to be the fastest raptor in the world,  stoop speeds certainly reach 160 km/h, sometimes possibly 250 km/h (on occasion allegedly 400+ km/h), feeds mainly on small birds and bats. Borneo has its resident Peregrine Falcon race (F. p. ernesti) which is a rare bird in montane forests. and in hilly areas of lowlands This bird is the migratory race, and my 3rd lifer for the day. Phillips mentioned that migrant race as peregrinator (Phillips, 2009), whereas the more popularly accepted race migrating to Borneo is either F. p. japonensis or F. p. calidus, where the latter is a little paler than the former.

 

Peregrine Falcon

A flock of Crested Myna Acridotheres cristatellus (4th Lifer) was found feeding from a tree quite a distance away. Crested Myna has short crest and ivory colored bill. I have not seen Crested Myna nor Javan Myna Acridotheres javanicus in Tawau, though they seem to be quite common in Sandakan and here.

Crested Myna

 

 Crested Myna below a White-breasted Woodswallow

As the light began to fade, a pair of this rare bird flew in, albeit perched far away, its appearance was totally unexpected, a real bonus. The Blacked-collared Starling Sturnus nigricollis (Now Gracupica nigricollis) (5th Lifer) is a large bird, as big as a Hill Myna (Now Common Hill Myna) Gracula religiosa and a scarce vagrant in Borneo.

Blacked-collared Starling

 

Blacked-collared Starling

Happy birding.
End of Part 1, to be continued.

Photodocument of Wild Birds of Borneo #283 to #287.