Pheasant-tailed Jacana

Pheasant-tailed Jacana Hydrophasianus chirurgus is another rare bird of Borneo. I photographed this bird in winter plumage in Tawau on 8th November 2007 with Mr Kong Ket Leong. We flashed it out from the wetland and when in flight we immediately noticed its white underwing, and it looked  different from other water birds that we have seen. It than stayed hidden among the water plants.

Pheasant-tailed Jacana

Its status in Borneo per available fieldguides are as follows;

- Widespread but discontinuous in Southeast Asia, from India to Philippines. There was no recent records from Kalimantan and the only recent record from anywhere in Borneo is one winter-plumaged bird seen at Kota Belud, Sabah, in Feb 1986. (Smythies and Davison 1999)

-A rare vagrant. The only record is a winter-plumaged bird seen near Kota Belud in Feb 1986. (Sheldon et al 2001)

- Present status unknown, and has been seen only once since 19th century; probably no longer occurs in Borneo. (Mann 2008)

- Probably resident in the Barito drainage of Southeast Borneo, but there are no breeding records. (Mackinnon and Phillipps 1993)

Robson put a question mark on this species when describing  its range and status in Borneo (Robson 2008).

REFERENCES
MacKinnon, J. and Phillipps, K. (1993) A field Guide to the birds of Borneo, Sumatra, Java and Bali. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Mann, C.F. (2008) The birds of Borneo, an annotated Checklist. Peterbourough, UK: British Ornithologists' Union.

Sheldon, F.H., Moyle, R.G. and Kennard, J. (2001) Ornithology of Sabah: History, Gazetteer, Annotated Checklist, and Bibliography. Washington D.C.:The American Ornithologists' Union.

Robson, C. (2008) A field guide to the birds of South-East Asia. London: New Holland Publishers (UK) Ltd.

Smythies, B.E. and Davison, G.W.H. (1999) The birds of Borneo. Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia: Natural History Publications (Borneo) Sdn. Bhd. and the Sabah Society.

Semporna and Tawau 11th & 12th September

Edited on 1 May 2018 text with green backgound.

I have been leaving all my landscape and people photography behind  after I got poisoned by photographing avianfauna of Borneo.

This trip to visit the outlying islands off Semporna with Datuk CK Hon to do some landscape and people photography at the invitation of my photo kakis in Tawau proved to be challenging, refreshing and at the same time 'avian' rewarding as well.

The boat we chartered developed engine problems in the middle of the sea. Emergency calls were made to request for backup boat to continue our journey. During the wait, Lesser Frigatebird Fregata ariel, Greater Crested  Tern Thalasseus bergii and Aleutian Tern Sterna aleutica (now Onychoprion aleuticus) came to investigate.

Lesser Frigatebird

 

Greater Crested Tern

We eventually needed to be towed by a friendly fishing boat.

We were offered to buy this fish from the rescuing fisherman, which we did and it eventually ended up on our dinner plate.

Our journey continued with our replacement boat and we were greeted by this group of Common Tern Sterna hirundo.

Common Tern

Common Tern

Here are some of the pictures taken.

The next day, we had Datuk CK Hon, an expert landscape and travel photographer visiting our usual birding ground in Tawau. Here is one for the album.

Group Photo by Winston Tai

Datuk was well equipped when he brought along two top-of-the-range Canon pro-bodies; something called 1D mk III,  and a 100-400mm lens.

 Photo by Winston Tai

These are some of the birds photographed that day.

Pied Fantail Rhipidura javanica

 Chestnut-brested Malkoha Phaenicophaeus curvirostris

Black Hornbill Anthracoceros malayanus

 

 Changeable Hawk Eagle Spizaetus cirrhatus (now Nisaetus limnaeetus)

Happy birding.

REFERENCES

Datuk CK Hon's Blog

Winston Tai : winston-tai@hotmail.com

Makassar Myna - New Bird for Sabah

Edited on 30 March 2018 text with green background.

This species is now  Makassar Myna Acridotheres cinereus.

Mynas are gregarious birds, generally in more open habitat.  In Southeast Asia, Jungle Myna Acridotheres fuscus is classified as common or locally common in some areas (Robson 2008).

Jungle Myna  which is not listed in all the field guides on Borneo currently available has been photographed in Tawau on two occasions, in May 2007 and in June 2008. Mr. Kong Ket Leong and Mr Ku Kok On were there in June 2008 and also noted the peculiarity of the birds. The photos include both Juvenile and adult. Will keep this blog updated if new photos are available in future.

 They are suspected to be either from captive origin or from a ship.

Juv. Jungle Myna  May 2007

 

 

Adult Jungle Myna  June 2008

Happy birding.

REFERENCES

Eaton, J.A., van Balen, B., Brickle, N.W. & Rheindt, F.E. (2016). Birds of the Indonesian Archipelago, Greater Sundas and Wallacea. Lynx Edicions. Barcelona.

MacKinnon, J. and Phillipps, K. (1993) A field Guide to the birds of Borneo, Sumatra, Java and Bali. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Mann, C.F. (2008) The birds of Borneo, an annotated Checklist. Peterbourough, UK: British Ornithologists' Union.

Sheldon, F.H., Moyle, R.G. and Kennard, J. (2001) Ornithology of Sabah: History, Gazetteer, Annotated Checklist, and Bibliography. Washington D.C.:The American Ornithologists' Union.

Smythies, B.E. and Davison, G.W.H. (1999) The birds of Borneo. Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia: Natural History Publications (Borneo) Sdn. Bhd. and the Sabah Society.