Visits to Mount Silam, Lahad Datu and surrounding areas.

Some birds and a mammal on earlier visits to Mount Silam and surrounding areas.



Green Imperial Pigeon (Ducula aenea). Pied Imperial Pigeons  (Ducula bicolor) and Black-naped Fruit Dove (Ptilinopus malanospila), resident on off-shore islands are also reported to visit Silam coast.

Little Spiderhunter (Arachnothera longirostra)

Rufous-winged Philentoma (Philenthoma pyrhopterum)

Brown Fulvetta (Alcippe brunneicauda)

Moustached Babbler (Malacopteron magnirostre)

Erpornis (Erpornis zantholeuca)

Greater Mouse-deer (Tragulus napu)

White-crowned Shama (Copsychus stricklandii)

White-crowned Shama (Copsychus stricklandii)

Black Eagle (Ictinaetus malayensis)

White-bellied Sea Eagle (Haliaeetus leucogaster)

Temminck's Sunbird (Aethopyga temminckii), generally a bird of higher altitude.

Cream-vented Bulbul (Pycnonotus simplex)

Heard there are other rare treasures there, will try again some other day.

Happy birding.

Brown Fulvetta

Brown Fulvetta (14 cm) Alcippe brunneicauda is widespread lowland and submontane resident of Borneo.

It is generally uncommon and usually found in small parties feeding in mid-storey. It could be underecorded as its call , an up and down series of notes : do-di-do-di-do-di-do, is one of the commonest one can hear in the Sabah forest.

It is a similar looking bird to the Mangrove Whistler Pachycephala cinerea, but should not be mistaken in the field because of distinctive habitats and songs.

Smythies listed A.b. brunneicauda for North Natunas and North-west Borneo, A. b. eriphaea elsewhere.

Myers lists this as monotypic, while Mann follows Smythies while maintaining that the race eriphaea might not be valid as the boundary between the two forms is unclear and they are also poorly differentiated.


One observation is that Phillipps does not list this in both his Common name and Scienticfic name indices in his book.

This bird was photographed in Tawau (my new bird), one among the small party that came to feed. Like other babblers, they are active birds and to get a sharp and infocus shot is a real test to your skill.

Happy birding.

Photodocument of Wild Birds of Borneo

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