Rafflesia Information Centre and Kinabalu National Park

Mr. Ku Kok On and myself went to Rafflesia Centre and Kinabalu Park over a period of four days, including two days spent on travelling. 

Here is what we saw, photographs of those that I managed to capture will be shown in this blog in due course.

We left Tawau at 6.30 am on 28th August amidst the still pouring rain which started earlier in the morning and flooded a few housing estates. We reached Rafflesia Information Centre slightly after 4.00 pm. We were greeted there by the following birds before it got too dark for us to check ourselves in to Gunung Alab Resort.

1. Chestnut-hooded Laughing-thrush Rhinocichla treacheri (Bornean endemic)

2. Bornean Laughingthrush Melanocichla calva (Bornean endemic) (Too dark to get a photograph)

3. Orange-headed Thrush Zoothera citrina

4. Whitehead's Broadbill Calyptomena whiteheadi (Bornean endemic)

Dramatic sunset from Gunung Alab Resort

The next day, 29th August, our haul included the following from Gunung Alab Reserve and Rafflesia Information Centre.

5. Short-tailed Green Magpie Cissa thalassina (Too dark to get a photograph)

6. Mountain Black-eye Chlorocharis emiliae (Bornean endemic)

7. White-throated Fantail Rhipidura albicollis

8. Ashy Drongo Dicurus leucophaeus

9. Golden-naped Barbet Megalaima pulcherrima (Bornean endemic)

10. Indigo Flycatcher Eumyias indigo

11. Glossy Swiftlet Collocalia esculenta and may be Bornean Swiftlet Collocalia dodgei (Bornean endemic), impossible to separate in the field and both species occurs at this altitude.

12. Mountain Imperial Pigeon Ducula badia

13. Chestnut-crested Yuhina Yuhina everetti (Bornean endemic)

14. Bornean Bulbul Pycnonotus montis (Bornean endemic)

15. Little Cuckoo Dove Macropygia ruficeps

16. Whitehead's  Spiderhunter Arachnothera juliae (Bornean endemic)

17. Black-capped White-eye Zosterops atricapilla 

18. Mountain Barbet Megalaima monticola (Bornean endemic)

19. Grey-throated Babbler Stachyris nigriceps

  This is me at Rafflesia Information Centre

We birded at Rafflesia Centre on the morning of 30th August and saw;

20. Fruithunter Chlamydochaera jefferyi (Bornean endemic)

21. Bar-winged Flycatcher shrike Hemipus Picatus

22. Bornean Flowerpecker Dicaeum monticolum (Bornean endemic)

23. Long-tailed Broadbill Psarisomus dalhousiae (Too fast to get a photograph)

24. Sunda Cuckoo-shrike Coracina larvata 
25. Temminck's Sunbird Aothopyga temminckii

Ku making a video of  the Chestnut Crested Yuhina's nest hole

We left for Kinabalu Park at noon, saw (26.) Blyth's Hawk-eagle Spizaetus alboniger while we were driving,

The afternoon was a complete wash-out by the non-stopping rain at Kinabalu Park.

On the morning of 31st August, we were at Kinabalu Park from 6.20 am to 10.00 am and had the following birds added to our list.

27. Bornean Whistling Thrush Myophonus borneensis (Bornean endemic) (Too dark to get a photograph)

28. Sunda Laughing-thrush Garrulax palliatus (Too dark to get a photograph)

29. Grey-chinned Minivet Pericrocotus solaris

30. Little-pied Flycatcher Ficedula westermanni

31. Grey Wagtail Motacilla cinera

32. Mountain Leaf-warbler Phylloscopus trivirgatus

33. Eye-browed Jungle Flycatcher Rhinomyias gularis (Bornean endemic)

34. Black-and-crimson Oriole Oriolus cruentus

35. Bornean Treepie Dendrocitta cinerascens (Bornean endemic)

36. White-browed Shrike Babbler Pteruthius flaviscapis 
37. Bornean Whistler Pachycephala hypoxantha (Bornean endemic)

At least 16 out of the 37 birds are Bornean endemics and I have 7 birds which I have not photographed before, all in all not a bad harvest for a 2 days session.

Happy birding.

Photodocument of Wild Birds of Borneo

Standard References for my blog

May 29th to 31st of May, Tawau to Rafflesia Centre

Edited on 30 March 2018 text with green background.


Mr Kong Ket Leong, Mr and Mrs  Ku Kok On, Mr Liew Lun Fatt and myself, travelling in Mr Kong's Isuzu Invader 3.0, set out from Tawau on the morning of 29th May to Rafflesia Information Centre (RIC). Taking the recently opened Tawau-Kalabakan road which hasn't been fully sealed at that time. The tarred road stopped right at Kalabakan town and it was gravel road all the way until somewhere near Sook.

Rafflesia Information Centre, Tambunan.

The main target of the trip was to photograph the elusive Whitehead's Spiderhunter and Black-breasted Fruithunter. At the end of the trip, we did not get these birds but managed to photograph Whitehead's Broadbill as a consolation.

Whitehead's Broadbill Calyptomena whiteheadi

We put ourselves up at Gunung Alab Resort (GAR) which is by the road side of the Penampang Keningau Road, not far away from RIC. It generates its own power every evening til late night despite a high tension power line passing nearby. Food is decent and accommodation is not of the standard of the 'starred' hotels, but sufficient for our purpose.   Night temperature can be cool here as it is over 5,500 feet above sea level and lies on the ridge of the Crocker Range and catches the blowing wind.

Gunung Alab Resort

We reached GAR about 3.00 pm on 29th May 2009 and was on our way to  Gunung Alab hill right after checked in. There are two telecommunication towers on top of the hill. On one side it offers complete view of Kota Kinabalu city and areas surrounding it.

Saw Sunda Bush Warbler, Indigo flycatcher, Mountain Blackeye, Glossy Swiftlets, and a female Little Pied Flycatcher coming very close to the staff quarter to feed on insects on the ground.

Female Little Pied Flycatcher Ficedula westermanni

Drove up Gunung Alab early morning of 30th May 2009, hoping to get some early birds that came to feed at the telecommunication stations. Saw  Ashy Drongo, Little Cuckoo Dove, Indigo Flycatcher, Glossy Swiftlet.

Ashy Drongo Dicrurus leucophaeus

Little Cuckoo Dove Macropygia ruficeps

Went back to GAR for breakfast, later proceeded to RIC only to discover that it would be closed for 2 days for the Harvest Festival, so,  no chance to set foot in there for this trip.

Notice on the Door of RIC saying it will be closed for two days.

Since we had travelled a few hundred kilometers to come here, we were forced to try our luck along the stretch of road in front of the RIC and Gunung Alab, hoping that our two target birds would show themselves, but they did not, may be they were busy feeding themselves inside the RIC.

A brief and incomplete list of this trip includes Mountain and Borneo Barbets which were heard and seen, so were Grey-throated Babbler, Yellow-bellied Warbler, Bornean Whistler, Bornean Blue-winged Leafbird, Ochraceous Bulbul (Now Penan Bulbul), Black-crested Bulbul (Now Bornean Bulbul), Ashy Bulbul (Now Cinereous Bulbul), Bornean Treepie, White-browed Shrike Babbler, Black-headed Munia, Mountain Tailorbird (Now Mountain Leaftoiler), Blyth's Hawk-eagle, Grey-chinned Minivet, Sunda Cuckoo-shrike, Whitehead's Broadbill, Long-tailed Broadbill, Chestnut-crested Yuhina, Black and Crimson Oriole, Verditer Flycatcher and Short-tailed Green Magpie (Now Bornean Green Magpie). Here are some of the pictures.

Mountain Tailorbird Orthotomus cucullatus cinereicollis

Now Mountain Leaftoiler Phyllergates cuculatus

Indigo Flycatcher Eumyias indigo

Ochraceous Bulbul Alophoixus ochraceous

Now Penan Bulbul Alophoixus ruficrissus

Black-and-crimson Oriole Oriolus cruentus

Black-crested Bulbul Pycnonotus melanicterus montis

Now Bornean Bulbul Pycnonotus montis

Ashy Bulbul Hermixos flavala connectens

Now Cinereous Bulbul Hermixos cinereus

Happy birding.