Journey to the west. Part 1.

30th and 31st of May was Harvet Festival followed by DYMM King's birthday on the 2nd of June, the extended public holidays were perfect for an overland travel to Kinabalu Park, Rafflesia Centre and Crocker Range Park.

It took eight hours to drive from Tawau to Kinabalu Park, we spent two days there, trying our luck with the elusive Partridges, my travel companions managed to photograph the Crimson-headed Partridge Haematortyx sanguiniceps while I had to contend with a glimpse of them running across the trail.

We bumped into two Chinese bird photographers from Shen Zhen, China, who would be in Sabah for about a month, travelling to the usual popular birding spots here. One of them at 61 years had just retired from government service. We met him the next day at the power station near the Timpohon Gate, to our shock, he had remarkably walked from Park Headquarters lugging with him his 600mm f4, and Cannon 1D Mk 4 on a huge hydraulic Video head sitting on an equally huge Manfrotto tripod, the combined weight could easily exceed 15 kgs, mind you, they were not packed in back-packs but fully set-up with tripod extended and ready to shoot. The walking alone was 5.5 kilometers, and it was all the way up from 1550m to 1866m above sea level. Our walk from Bukit Ular Trail back to Timpohom Gate at 1.5 km uphill drained most of our energy, his feat put all of us to shame.

The Gentleman with a cap is the one I mentioned in the paragraph above.

I only managed to photograph 3 lifers which was not as good as my fellow bird photographers Ku Kok On and Kong Ket Leong who scored 5 lifers each. The duration of the trip was dominated by rain which had severely reduced our opportunity to take photographs.

 Endemic Chestnut-hooded Laughing-thrush Rhinocichla treacheri feeding on moths just outside the restaurant.

 Ashy Drongo Dicrurus leucophaeus foraging at eye-level outside the restaurant.

 My second lifer of the year, Checker-throated Woodpecker Picus mentalis which occur both in lowlands and montane habitats in Borneo.

 Checker-throated Woodpecker Picus mentalis

 Chestnut-hooded Laughing-thrush Rhinocichla treacheri feeding in the rain

Endemic Bornean Green Magpie Cissa jefferyi.

 Endemic Golden-naped Barbet Megalima pulcherrima

 The rain made visibility so low that I was struggling to shoot this male Snowly-browed Flycatcher Ficedula hyperythra with ISO 6400.

 Here is the female also at ISO 6400

 Endemic Bornean Whistling-thrush Myophonus borneensis.

 Juvenile Bornean Whistling-thrush Myophonus borneensis.

 Indigo Flycatcher Eumyias indigo

My first time encounter with the Female Temminck's Sunbird Aethopyga temminckii.

Coming up next are photos from Rafflesia Reserve and Crocker Range National Park, our next stop.

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.