Rare bird sightings in Sabah - 4th Quarter 2011

The followings are records of interesting bird sightings;  some rare, some very rare, including one new addition to Bornean list (Red-billed Starling),  in various parts of Sabah compiled from Internet postings,  photo sharing blog and personal communications throughout the 4th quarter of 2011, feel free to email me if I missed out anything,  left out any observer or made any error, so that appropriate amendments could be made.

A big thank you to all observers who have shared their observations.

These information will be very useful if they are centralized in one place instead of scattered all over the internet.I have, therefore, self appointed myself to make a list every month from all information available to me and will post it at my blog, Borneo Bird Club's Blog, and Borneo Bird Images when the appropriate web page is ready. By doing so, I hope these records will be stored permanently and readily available to everyone interested in such info.

All sightings included here are supported by photographs made by the observers.

 October 2011

  

November 2011

 December 2011

Edited to add on 5th April 2012 : As I do not know how to upload a Word file here.A Word file with clickable link to the relevant images is at Borneo Bird Images Document list.

Happy birding.

Photodocument of Wild Birds of Borneo.

Standard References for my blog.

Rare Roadkill

Malay Civet or Tangalung (Viverra tangalunga), nocturnal, occurs in forests and cultivated areas adjacent thereto. It is also reported to come to forest camps at night to feed on food scraps.

 

I once saw one walking on a road next to an oil palm plantation, I mistook it as a dog and missed the chance to get a photo of this species. I have seen another one during night safari in Tabin Wildlife Reserve. Too bad I have not had a good picture of this species yet.

 

We discovered this fine specimen one morning on our way to photograph birds, it was sad to see this beautiful animal lying lifeless on the tarmac. 

Happy birding.


Photodocument of Wild Birds of Borneo.

Standard References for my blog.

Pelagic Birding 3rd December 2011

We went again on 3rd December 2011, to yet another pelagic birding trip, hoping to see more of our migrating avian friends, as a Caspian Tern Hydroprogne caspia, a rare Borneo vagrant, was photographed in Tawau by two of my birding sifus a few days earlier.

The number of birds seen on this trip was only a little more than our previous trip (reported here), nothing much to shout about. However, I had a consolation in photographing a Lesser Crested Tern Sterna bengalensis as my lifer.

Here are the birds seen that day.

 Greater Crested Tern, a few seen flying around the boat.

 Lesser Crested Tern, a few seen.

 The lone Aleutian Tern in winter plumage.

 A low flying female Lesser Frigatebird. There was a large group of them.

 One of the handful of Common Tern

Black-headed Gull, the only gull positively recorded in Borneo.  I took this picture of one that was very far away, after noticing the different wings colors of this bird. A handful of them was in west coast of Sabah last year, see here.

 Adult winter Black-headed Gull

Happy birding.

Photodocument of Wild Birds of Borneo.

Standard References for my blog.