Gunung Lucia of Tawau Hills Park, Part 2.

Here are the birds that I managed to photograph, the punishing terrains as well as the long jungle trekking preclude us from lugging our usual bird photography gears, hence most images are only good for record.

 Eyebrowed Wren-babbler Napothera epilepidota, my lifer,  scarce sub-montane and montane resident, a small terrestrial wren babbler with very short tail, seen once below Lucia Camp and once above. It can be distinguished from the similar endemic Mountain Wren-babbler Napothera crassa by white spots on tips of its wing covert feathers.

 Endemic Blue-banded Pitta Pitta arquata, one of the most sought-after pittas, my only other lifer for the trip,  an elusive slope specialist, saw it once and photographed under very dark forest cover.

 

 Red-bearded Bee-eater Nyctyornis amictus, resident near Lucia Camp.

 Endemic Bonean Spiderhunter Arachnothera everetti, another resident near Lucia Camp.

 Cinereous Bulbul Hemixos cinereus, feeding on trees next to the Helipad above Lucia Camp.

 Ashy Drongo Dicrurus leucophaeus, most probably the only place to see this sub-montane and montane bird in Tawau is here in Lucia and Magdelena.

 Spotted Fantail Rhipidura perlata, occurs from lowland to montane forests, my second encounter in Tawau Hills Park.

 Dark-sided Flycatcher Muscicapa sibirica above 900 m, a common northern winter migrant to Borneo, from my observation, it is commoner than Asian Brown Flycatcher Muscicapa dauurica.

 Orange-breasted Trogon Harpactes oreskios, a mainly sub-montnae species, quite a number of birds were heard above the Lucia Camp approaching the Summit, but not easy to take good photograph.

 A young Moustached Babbler Malacopteron magnirostre , feeding next to the Helipad above Lucia Camp, around 1,000 m.

 An evidently nesting Grey-chested Jungle Flycatcher Rhinomyias umbrantilis, between Lucia Camp and Summit, around 1,000 m, contrary to 500 m as stated  in Myers.

An endemic female Bornean Banded Pitta Pitta schwaneri,  it had been calling from its road side perch, I mistook its call for something else, as it sounded coarser than those on record.

Other birds heard or seen but not photographed are:-
Brown Fulvetta (heard almost along the entire journey,  to well over 1,000 m).
Yellow-rumped Flowerpecker (the only Flowerpecker seen, feeding infront of the Lucia Camp).
Great Argus (heard and seen a pair crossing the trail).
Spectacled Bulbul (seen feeding above Lucia Camp).
Brown Barbet (seen feeding above Lucia Camp).
Asian Paradise Flycatcher (seen feeding near Lucia Camp).
Verditor Flycatcher (seen feeding near Lucia Camp).
Bold-striped Tit Babbler (seen feeding near Lucia Camp).

Happy birding.

Photodocument of the wild birds of Borneo.

Standard references for my blog.

The birds of Tawau Hills Park

Okay, its time to get back to Borneon birds.

I will talk about Tawau Hills Park today, the following passage is taken from my Naturalist's Guide to The Birds of Borneo.

"Tawau Hills Park is an unlogged water catchment for the surrounding areas. Gunung Magdalena within the park reaches over 1,000m above sea level. Most of Borneo's lowland birds have been recorded here, but the thick forest cover and dense undergrowth do not make observation easy."

This summarises why my bird photography buddies and myself, being resident of Tawau, do not make the Park as our first choice for bird photography. Many birds are evidently there, easily heard but hard to see and even harder to photograph.

Being an unlogged forest, trees are tall with canopies only visible over patches of forest openings, which are created by fallen trees that pulled the surrounding branches, liana and the attached epiphytic growths to the forest floor, creating a temporary opening that would last until the new growth takes over. The thick forest cover and lush undergrowth block most of the light and make the dim forest floor extraordinary challenging to bird photography.

 Typical forest floor scene in Tawau Hills Park.

Typical forest floor scene in Tawau Hills Park.

However, knowing well that bird photography is more luck than skill, we did visit there occassionally over the years. In photography, when you are at the right place at the right time, you will be rewarded,  and here I share some of the bird images that I took at Tawau Hills Park, with some birds which are considered quite rare in other areas.

 Scaly-crowned Babbler Malacopteron cinereum, quite regularly seen here. The very similar looking Rufous-crowned Babbler Malacopteron magnum is also frequently heard and seen.

 A pair of Wreath Hornbill Rhyticeros undulatus, stopping over on top of a  far away tree.

 White-crowned Hornbill Aceros comatus one of the scarcer Bornean hornbill.

 Yellow-breasted Flowerpecker Prionochilus maculatus, one of the Bornean forest flowerpeckers.

 Stock-billed Kingfisher Pelargopsis capensis cyanopteryx, a regular at the lotus pond behind the chalets.

 Grey-headed Babbler Stachyris poliocephala, one of the rarer babblers in Sabah, much shyer and harder to photograph.

 Horsfield's Babbler Trichastoma sepiarium, a locally common understorey skulking babbler, similar looking the Short-tailed Babbler Trichastoma malaccense.

 Juv. Barn Swallow Hirundo rustica, an abundant migrant from the north, numerous birds perch on the power lines outside the Park, including pale looking juveniles like this.

 Blue-eared Kingfisher Alcedo meninting, this one has its entire bill black.

Rufous-backed Kingfisher Ceyx erithaca motleyi, a Sabah specialty.

 Javan Hawk-Cuckoo Hierococcyx fugax.

 Scarlet-rumped Trogon Harpactes duvaucelii,  a smaller and friendlier trogon.

 Pacific Swallow Hirundo tahitica, this one shows the bluish upperparts nicely.

 Silver-rumped Spinetail Rhaphidura leucopygialis, I do not know of anywhere else that this species fly so low to enable you to photograph its upperparts.

 

 Female Asian Paradise Flycatcher Terpsiphone paradisi, this species is considered fairly common deep inside the Park.

 Bushy Crested Hornbill Anorrhinus galeritus are quite regularly heard and seen in the Park, also seen feeding on oil palm fruits in the surrounding plantations. 

Brown Wood Owl Strix leptogramica is the resident owl of the Park Headquarters.

Blue-banded Kingfisher Alcedo euryzona  a not so common Bornean kingfisher is resident of the lotus pond behind the chalets.

Black-headed Pitta Pitta ussheri,a Sabah endemic.

 

Happy birding.

Photodocument of Wild Birds of Borneo.

Standard References for my blog.



Orange-breasted Trogon

Orange-breasted Trogon Harpactes oreskios is a scarce medium-sized trogon inhibiting the primary and secondary hill and montane forest of Borneo, from 200m to 1,500m. It is, however, absent from Brunei and Kalimantan Selatan. It's male  is the only male trogon in Borneo with no red in plumage.

It is chiefly a highland to lower montane bird in Borneo, however, in other parts of South East Asia it occurs from sea-level up to 1200 m.

A pair was chanced upon in Tawau, my lifer and making my photographed wild Borneo bird count to 312.

 Male

 Male

Female

Happy birding.

Photodocument of Wild Birds of Borneo 

Standard References for my blog

30th August 2009

Edited on 30 March 2018 text with green background.

6.00 am on 30th August saw us arrived at Power Station, a lot of activities were seen happening there at the wee hour. First, we were greeted by the Bornean Whistling Thrush Myophonus borneensis, formerly Sunda Whistling Thrush Myophonus glaucinus  (split by Collar 2005), which was busy feeding on moths and insects on the ground.

Bornean Whistling Thrush

Fruits and insects brought along Golden-naped Barbet Megalaima pulcherrima (now Psilopogon pulcherrimus), Indigo Flycatcher Eumyias indigo, Short-tailed Green Magpie Cissa thalassina (now Borneo Green Magpie Cissa jefferyi), Bar-winged Flycatchershrike Hemipus picatus, Mountain Black-eye Chlorocharis emiliae (now Zosterops emiliae), Temminck's Sunbird Aethopyga temminckii, Ashy Drongo Dicrurus leucophaeus, Bornean Treepie Dendrocitta cinerascens, White-browed Shrike-babbler Pteruthius flaviscapis (now Blyth's Shrike-vireo Pteruthius aeralatus), Sunda Bush-warbler Cettia vulcania (now Horonis vulcanius), Sunda Laughing-thrush Garrulax palliatus (now Sunda Laughingthrush Leucodioptron palliatum), White-breasted Woodswallow Artamus leucorhynchus, Pacific Swallow Hirundo tahitica and Swiftlets (looks like Glossy Swiftlet Collocalia esculenta (now Plume-toed Swiftlet Collocalia affinis)).

Golden-naped Barbet

Short-tailed Green Magpie

Mountain Black-eye

 Temminck's Sunbird

Sunda Laughing-thrush

Went to have brunch at the Koporasi's Canteen across the road from KP head quarter, both their food  and price were acceptable. Went to Liwagu trail immediately after brunch and was rewarded with a pair of Whitehead's Trogon Harpactes whiteheadi, the male bird would always perch on a branch that would never enable us to get an unblocked view for photograph. This is my second Whitehead's bird and what a delight to have them on the sensor of my camera. The other Whitehead's bird that I am after is the Whitehead's Spiderhunter Arachnothera juliae, which I am sure I will be rewarded if I try long and hard enough. Here are the Trogons;

Whitehead's Trogon male

Whitehead's Trogon Female.

Further along the trail we were greeted by the incessant singing of a small group of endemic Mountain Wren-babbler Napothera crassa (now Turdinus crassus), indeed another bonus for the trip.

Mountain Wren-babbler

The  Bornean Whistler is also endemic to Borneo.

The Bornean Forktail Enicurus borneensis (Split by Moyle et al 2005), exist in rocky streams in Montane primary forests, where it replaces the very similar lowland White-crowned Forktail Enicurus leschenaulti (now Malayan Forktail Enicurus frontalis) . We waited for two hours for it to show and we were eventually rewarded  when it showed up along the Liwagu River. Light level was not ideal inside the dark under-storey along the river, I was forced to use ISO 1600 for the shots, as flashing the feeding Forktail would guarantee its immediate departure.

Bornean Forktail

Bornean Forktail

Left Liwagu river after shooting the Bornean Forktail and to our delight we found that Mount Kinabalu, which was usually covered by low lying clouds in the afternoon,  was clearly in view.

 

Mount Kinabalu

Mount Kinabalu

To be continued and happy birding.