Fruithunter

Fruithunter Chlamydochaera jefferyi is endemic to Borneo where it is a decidedly local montane species (700–3,200  m),  occurring  in  Sabah  and  Sarawak (Malaysia)  along  the  highland  chain  from  Gunung Kinabalu  to  Gunung  Mulu,  and  also  Gunung  Dulit (Smythies  and  Davison  1999).  In  Kalimantan (Indonesia) it has been recorded west to Gunung Nyiat (Prieme and Heegaard 1988) and south to Bukit Baka Nature Reserve (Rice 1989). It is an aberrant, strikingly marked, thrush-like bird occupying a monotypic genus that was once linked with trillers Lalage or orioles Oriolus (MacKinnon and Phillipps 1993), but is now thought to be associated with thrushes Turdinae (Ames 1975, Ahlquist et al. 1984), or cochoas Cochoa (Olson 1987). (Forktail 18, 2002).

It is not recorded in Kelabit Highland in Sarawak.

It is an unmistakable bird in the field, its black and buff pattern on the head and black breast are diagnostic. When sitting, their position is pigeon-like, but when they congregate at berry trees, they act much like bulbuls. They also resembles laughingthrushes in some behaviors and often occur in pairs. Their flight is like that of a campephagid, in that they dip their pointed wings in and out rather than flap.

This pair is photographed in Rafflesia Centre, Tambunan, my new bird.

 Male

  Male

Female

Happy birding.

Photodocument of Wild Birds of Borneo

Standard References for my blog

Mountain Barbet

Mountain Barbet Megalaima monticola, is the last barbet for me to complete my photo collection of all the Bornean barbets.

It is a common Bornean endemic in hill and montane forest, it has been found almost in all mountains of Borneo that collections have been made.

It looks a little like the female bird of the Red-throated Barbet Megalaima mystacophanos, however, Mountain Barbet has an evidently  smaller bill and the lack of red spot at the base of the rictal bristles on each side (area touching the base of upper mandible just in front of the eye).

It was usually heard  but  it was very difficult to get a decent photo because it was either too hard to locate or perched too high. I managed to photograph the birds at Rafflesia Centre in Tambunan, my new bird.

Happy birding.

Photodocument of Wild Birds of Borneo

Standard References for my blog

September water birds in Tawau.

These are some of the migratory and resident water birds photographed  in Tawau in the third week of September 2010.

A juvenile Little Tern Sterna albifrons

Non-breeding Little Tern

Breeding Little Tern

Little Tern is the smallest tern in Borneo and is the only tern that breeds here, comprising of both wintering and resident breeding populations. Recorded to breed in Sarawak and Kalimantan.

A lone Asian Dowitcher Limnnodromus semipalmatus (my new bird) among a group of Black-tailed Godwits Limosa limosa.

 A Little Egret Egretta garzetta which resembles a Chinese Egret Egretta eulophotes.

 Marsh Sandpiper Tringa stagnatilis

 A group Red-necked Stints Calidris ruficollis

 The middle bird looks a bit bigger than the others but it is still a Red-necked Stint.

 Another odd-looking Red-necked Stint

 Curlew Sandpiper Calidris ferruginea

A mud-crap trying to chase away a  Common Redshank Tringa totanus.

 Little-ringed Plover Charadrius dubius

 Wandering Whistling Ducks Dendrocygna arcuata

  Crab in 'HULK' stance.

 Mud- crab

 You know where the inspiration for Transformer comes from.

Many thanks to Sifu Dave Bakewell for confirmation on IDs of the Stints and Egret.

Happy birding.

Photodocument of Wild Birds of Borneo

Standard References for my blog