Another whole day on the slopes of Mount Kinabalu
proved to be another rollercoaster ride and we began at the Timophon Gate area
where we discovered a fruiting tree along one of the trails which only held a
pair of Eye-browed Thrushes. We
staked it our for a while in the hopes of a Fruithunter but alas it wasn’t to
be. In fact it was very quiet here this morning so we descended and staked out
the area we’d glimpsed the broadbill yesterday. Another briefest of glimpses
followed after a few hours here, but a pair of Whitehead’s Trogons showed incredible well, and in fact the male
appeared about 20 feet right in front of me.
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| The stunning endemic Whitehead's Trogon |
What views we had and it was a
real privilege to see this beauty up close and personal. From here we followed
the Silau-Silau Trail fro a long way seeing very little until all of a sudden
the magic happened and a Whitehead’s
Broadbill flew into a tree about 100 yards away and remained for some 20
minutes. OMG!
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| Whitehead's Broadbill - simply stunning! |
What an absolutely stunning bird and I cannot adequately explain
our emotions having been trying for 2.5 days for this baby. Nearby an endemic Eye-browed Jungle-Flycatcher showed
well – please don’t call it Bornean Shade-Dweller…!
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| Eye-browed Jungle-Flycatcher |
Once we had all reassembled
at the road we refound the broadbill again, but this time much, much closer.
Just look at this vision of emerald green and black. Votes are suspended for
Bird of the Trip already…!
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| Whitehead's Broadbill - it doesn't get much better than this.. |
Lunchtime was enlivened by close Temminck’s Sunbirds and a very vocal Blyth’s Shrike-Babbler.
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| Blyth's Shrike-Babbler |
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| Temminck's Sunbird |
Afterwards we
tried repeatedly for the elusive Whitehead’s Spiderhunter but did get a White-browed Shortwing (split by
HBW/Lynx as Bornean Shortwing and yet another endemic), some confiding Black-capped White-eyes, Orange-headed Thrush, the endemic Bornean Forktail, Asian Brown, Blue-and-white,
Snowy-browed, Indigo and Mugimaki
Flycatchers, and more Bornean
Whistling-Thrushes.
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| Black-capped White-eye |
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| Bornean Forktail |
Raptors were more in evidence today between the low
cloud, mist and surprising lack of rain with Crested Honey Buzzard and Changeable
Hawk-Eagle being seen. We returned to the Timophon Gate late in the day but
all we had to show for our efforts was the rare Red Langur.
Other species seen today included Little Cuckoo-Dove, Mountain Imperial-Pigeon, and several Bornean Whistlers.
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