Three Kingfishers of Tawau Hills Parks

We were alerted of the presence of a Banded Kingfisher Lacedo pulchella by our good friend, Mr. Gary Albert, at the hanging bridge in Tawau Hills Parks last October.

Since I have not seen a Banded Kingfisher nor have it in my photo collections, we set out to try our luck there, however, luck was not with us despite a few visits. The Banded Kingfisher was heard a couple of times but was never seen, so must try harder in 2011.

Our attempts, however,  resulted in the following three Kingfishers.

Stork-billed Kingfisher Pelargopsis capensis innominata, however, this form is included in cyanopteryx by some authors. This differs from the Peninsular race by lacking the contrasting brown cap and side of head. The Bornean race is also slightly smaller at 35 cm compare to 37cm to 41 cm of the peninsular race.

Stork-billed Kingfisher

Blue-eared Kingfisher Alcedo meninting verreauxi, a bird that is common along the Kinabatangan river and its tributaries, one of the star birds on any visit there. I am glad that it is also here at Tawau Hills Park.

Blue-eared Kingfisher

Oriental-dwarf Kingfisher Ceyx erithaca, jewel of the forest, taxonomy is still unfinalised among some authors.

Basically there are two forms in Borneo, the form that is shown here, being the commoner one with darker wings and a rarer form with rufous wings, and out of these two forms there exist many variable plumages and many features that are evident of cross hybridization. As a result you would see authors using Black-backed Kingfisher Cyex erithaca , Rufous-backed Kingfisher Ceyx rufidorsa motleyi and Oriental Dwarf Kingfisher Cyex erihaca and/or Ceyx rufidorsa in their various books for this sepcies.

Oriental Dwarf Kingfisher

Happy birding.

Photodocument of Wild Birds of Borneo

Standard References for my blog

Lantern Bugs

Lantern Bugs are so named because many species exhibit bright red/orange colours at their  bulbous  tips,  bearing  resemblance to a glowing torch or lantern.

Lantern bugs Fulgoridae belong to the order Hemiptera which also includes cicada, aphids etc. Insect of this order share a common arrangement of sucking mouthparts, in this case,  the form of a proboscis.

From Wikipedia:

The family Fulgoridae is a large group of hemipteran insects, especially abundant and diverse in the tropics, containing over 125 genera worldwide. They are mostly of moderate to large size, many with a superficial resemblance to Lepidoptera due to their brilliant and varied coloration. Various genera and species (especially the genera Fulgora and Pyrops) are sometimes referred to as lantern flies, though they do not emit light.

The head of some species is produced into a hollow process, resembling a snout, which is sometimes inflated and nearly as large as the body of the insect, sometimes elongated, narrow and apically upturned. It was believed, mainly on the authority of Maria Sibylla Merian, that this process, the so-called lantern, was luminous at night. Linnaeus adopted the statement without question and coined a number of specific names, such as laternaria, phosphorea and candelaria to illustrate the supposed fact, and thus aided in promoting a belief which centuries of observations have failed to confirm.

Happy birding.

Photodocument of Wild Birds of Borneo

Standard References for my blog

Brown Fulvetta

Brown Fulvetta (14 cm) Alcippe brunneicauda is widespread lowland and submontane resident of Borneo.

It is generally uncommon and usually found in small parties feeding in mid-storey. It could be underecorded as its call , an up and down series of notes : do-di-do-di-do-di-do, is one of the commonest one can hear in the Sabah forest.

It is a similar looking bird to the Mangrove Whistler Pachycephala cinerea, but should not be mistaken in the field because of distinctive habitats and songs.

Smythies listed A.b. brunneicauda for North Natunas and North-west Borneo, A. b. eriphaea elsewhere.

Myers lists this as monotypic, while Mann follows Smythies while maintaining that the race eriphaea might not be valid as the boundary between the two forms is unclear and they are also poorly differentiated.


One observation is that Phillipps does not list this in both his Common name and Scienticfic name indices in his book.

This bird was photographed in Tawau (my new bird), one among the small party that came to feed. Like other babblers, they are active birds and to get a sharp and infocus shot is a real test to your skill.

Happy birding.

Photodocument of Wild Birds of Borneo

Standard References for my blog