Pale-bellied Myna

Further to my earlier posts on the new bird of Sabah, Borneo; here and here.

The birds had been identified as Pale-bellied Myna Acridotheres cinereus, an endemic species of Southern Sulawesi. They could have been introduced here as caged birds.

They have been here for a number of years now. A visit recently showed that they are doing very well, I saw about 40 to 50 birds on a bare tree, flocking with some Asian Glossy Starling Aplonis panayensis and a darker individual suspected to be a Javan Myna Acridotheres javanicus.

Here are the pictures.

The darker bird in the middle is suspected to be a Javan Myna.



Happy birding.

Photodocument of Wild Birds of Borneo

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Three Lonchuras at my neighbour's backyard

My next door neighbor moved to KL  a number of years ago and he stopped renting out his house recently in preparation for sale. Long grass unattended attracted three members of the seed-eating Lonchuras. I just need to stand at my kitchen door to photograph them.

First is the extremely common Chestnut Munia Lonchura atricapilla. This bird is all over the place, nesting in housing estates' gardens, traffic islands and even in your potted plant.

Than, the attractive feral Java Sparrow Lonchura oryzivora. Originally introduced as pet birds, the escapees are evidently well established as large party numbering more than 50 birds can be seen congregating to feed on suitable locations here.

Later the rarer White-bellied Munia Lonchura leucogastra palawana, this bird is, unlike its Chestnut Munia cousin, very shy and difficult to approach, it will flee at the slightest sign of you approaching.

Interestingly, Borneo has four races of this. Both Phillipps' and Susan Myer's Fieldguides illustrate the L. l. smythiesi found in western Borneo (Sarawak). The race in Sabah is L. l. palawana, similar to L. l. smythiesi but with less chestnut on the flanks. Also note that only the belly is white, not the vent.

And this is a shot of three of them together, Java Sparrow on top, White-bellied Munia at the bottom.

Happy birding.

Photodocument of Wild Birds of Borneo

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Bird with Sifu Jason in Kota Kinabalu areas

I was in Kota Kinabalu for some personal matters and took time off to photograph some birds with Sifu Jason, Sifu agreed to fetch me to visit all those interesting places and thanks to him, I managed to get three lifers in 24 hours.

First we got this Black-headed Gull Larus ridibundus (my lifer) at Tanjong Aru at late afternoon, when the sky was heavily overcast and a storm was brewing. There were about ten of them there, in winter plumages and mostly first winter birds, flying above the shallow sea  occasionally diving for the surface for food.

Black-headed Gulls are very scarce winter visitor to coast of northern Borneo, however, despite scarce, they are quite regular along coasts of Sabah during the migratory season.

 Black-headed Gull

Common Teal Anas Crecca (my lifer) was photographed at Tuaran the next morning. A pair was seen there, the male bird was in the process of moulting into summer plumage, leisurely preening amongst the thick weeds growing on the unplanted paddy field.

Common Teal is a vagrant of Borneo, 4 records before this, only one from Sabah at Padas Damit in December 1984. This is the second record in Sabah.

 Common Teal - Male (top), Female (bottom)

A Common Kingfisher was also feeding from a stick placed in the middle of the flooded paddyfield.

 Common Kingfisher

After photographing this beauty, we left to look for the earlier spotted Garganey Anas querquedula , Northern Shoveler Anas clypeata and Tufted Duck Aythya fuligula but they were no where to be found. Hope they have made their way back to their respective homelands and not trapped and ended in dinner plates of some uninformed farmers.

Hoping to have a glimpse of the Buff-banded Rail Gallirallus philippensis, Tampasok plain was our next destination,  this bird too was not seen but the place was rife with activities.

A group of otherwise foraging Black-winged Stilt Himantopus himantopus took flight, flashed by the fastest raptor in the world from above, the migratory Peregrine Falcon Falco pereginus, who was looking for lunch.

Black-winged Stilt

Its lunch was an unlucky White-breasted Waterhen Amaurornis phoenicurus.

 Peregrine Falcon

Yellow Wagtails Motacilla flava, an abundant passage migrant,  can be seen in some open fields in Tawau, where it is often seen singly, in Tampasuk, they are all over the place, all seen were of the race tsuchutschensis,  flying and perching on dried paddy straw.

Yellow Wagtail

A hovering Black-winged Kite Elanus caeruleus was looking for lunch as well.

Black-winged Kite

We too went to lunch and later dropped by at Lok Kawi. We were handsomely rewarded with this rare Chinese Egret Egretta eulophotes (my lifer), which I have been trying to photograph for quite a while. This elegant looking bird was oblivious of our presence while busy feeding close to the shore.

Chinese Egret

Chinese Egrets are uncommon winter visitor to Borneo, IUCN red list status is vulnerable due to lost of habitats to human economic activities.


Happy birding.

Photodocument of Wild Birds of Borneo

Standard References for my blog