We left the hotel at 4.30am and drove up into the Crocker Mountain
Range, eating our picnic breakfast before it was light enough to actually see
the calling endemic Bornean Treepie above us. As the light improved we saw our first Ashy Drongo and then spent some time calling in a Dark Hawk-Cuckoo that flew over us
several times but was pretty tricky to see perched, although some of us managed
to get it in the scope. A group of 7 Wreathed
Hornbills flew across the valley below us, and there was a lot of activity
further along the roadside. We saw Ochraceous
Bulbul (split by HBW as Chestnut-vented Bulbul and endemic to Borneo), Black-and-crimson Oriole, lots of endemic Chestnut-crested Yuhinas, a pair of nesting Long-tailed Broadbills, Grey-throated
Babbler, endemic Bornean Bulbul, Cinereous Bulbul (split by HBW as
Green-winged Bulbul and another Bornean endemic), endemic Sunda and Chestnut-hooded
Laughingthrushes appeared later, along with several Temminck’s Sunbirds, and a distant Fiery Minivet.
We drove down the road, stopping several times to play the call of Bornean Barbet, which continued to elude us, although we did get crippling views of a fine trio of other endemics: Mountain Barbet, as well as a group of Bornean Brown Barbets and Bornean Spiderhunter, plus a great view of a Spectacled Spiderhunter gleaning spiders from a web on a lamp post.
Other species seen this morning included Bar-winged Flycatcher-Shrike, Blyth’s Shrike-Babbler, Asian Brown, Blue-and-white, Mugimaki and Little Pied Flycatcher and Scarlet Minivet. Overhead we had a couple nice views of a cracking Blyth’s Hawk-Eagle.
 |
| Long-tailed Broadbill was nesting along the road |
We drove down the road, stopping several times to play the call of Bornean Barbet, which continued to elude us, although we did get crippling views of a fine trio of other endemics: Mountain Barbet, as well as a group of Bornean Brown Barbets and Bornean Spiderhunter, plus a great view of a Spectacled Spiderhunter gleaning spiders from a web on a lamp post.
 |
| Mountain Barbet showed well today |
 |
| Spectacled Spiderhunter |
Other species seen this morning included Bar-winged Flycatcher-Shrike, Blyth’s Shrike-Babbler, Asian Brown, Blue-and-white, Mugimaki and Little Pied Flycatcher and Scarlet Minivet. Overhead we had a couple nice views of a cracking Blyth’s Hawk-Eagle.
 |
| Blyth's Hawk-Eagle |
We reached our well-appointed lodge around 3.15pm after a 90 minutes
drive during which most of us had enjoyed a snooze! We decided to just chill
out around the lodge as this is a superb place for the endemic Pygmy White-eye, so we staked out its favourite tree. Sure enough after
a 20 minute wait a pair flew in and did their thing for a while before flying away.
Over the next hour or so we had repeated views and got really great looks at this sometimes tricky-to-find species. There was also Oriental Magpie Robin, Long-tailed Shrike and lots of Chestnut Munias in the gardens as well, along with amazing views of Mount Kinabalu towering above us.
a 20 minute wait a pair flew in and did their thing for a while before flying away.
 |
| Pygmy White-eye (endemic) |
Over the next hour or so we had repeated views and got really great looks at this sometimes tricky-to-find species. There was also Oriental Magpie Robin, Long-tailed Shrike and lots of Chestnut Munias in the gardens as well, along with amazing views of Mount Kinabalu towering above us.
No comments:
Post a Comment