Tabin Wildlife Reserve 29th November 2009

The last day at Tabin was greeted by the laud singing of this Rufous-tailed Tailorbird Orthotomus sericeus outside the cabin.

 Rufous-tailed Tailorbird

This Black Hornbill Anthracoceros Malayanus was flying over the Resort and perched for a little breather.

Black Hornbill

The fruiting fig near the Resort's reception attracted, among others, Scaly-breasted Bulbul Pycnonotus squamatus and Asian Fairy Blue-bird Irena puella.

 

Scaly-breasted Bulbul

Asian Fairy Blue Bird Male

Asian Fairy Blue Bird Female

While down on the ground, nature lovers were watching in earnest.

This pair of Oriental Pied Hornbill Anthracoceros albirostris was perched quite a distance away.

Oriental Pied Hornbill

Another pair of much rarer White-crowned Hornbill Aceros comatus was perched not far away. I have found the easiest place to take picture of White-crowned Hornbills is here in Tabin.

White-crowned Hornbill

After breakfast we continued to try our luck along the road to the Core Area and was rewarded with a pair of Red-bearded Bee-eater Nictyornis amictus.

Red-bearded Bee-eater Female

 

Red-bearded Bee-eater Male

We went back to the location where we found the White-crowned Forktail Enicurus leschenaulti yesterday to try to get better photograph, and was lucky to see this tiny Oriental Dwarf Kingfisher Ceyx erithaca. Taxonomy of this species is still not resolved, whether the three forms, C. erithaca, C. rufidorsa, and C. motleyi, that occur in Borneo are separate species or merely three forms of the same species is still undecided.

Oriental Dwarf Kingfisher

The White-crowned Forktail showed up later but it kept itself in the scrubs and only managed some record shots.

White-crowned Forktail

Went back to the Resort to pack up our things before going back to Tawau. The ensuing heavy rain, typical in the afternoon in the rainforest, slowed our departure for about an hour.

Heavy rain in the rainforest

Waiting for the rain to stop

The last bird we took picture of along the road to Lahad Datu was these two Blue-crowned Hanging Parrots Loriculus galgulus.

Blue-crowned Hanging Parrot

A group photo of the participants for the trip.

The end and happy birding.

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.