Mt Kinabalu still

We spent all day walking the trails in search of Whitehead’s Trogon without any joy, with the morning being spent in very pleasant sunshine but deteriorating around midday. We did get a group of endemic Bare-headed Laughingthrushes moving through the canopy, plus views of Bornean Swiftlets, and a pair of the endemic Pale-faced Bulbul feeding in a flowering tree. 

Pale-faced Bulbul

The afternoons slog through beautiful moss-encrusted forest resulted in Black-and-crimson Oriole, Blue-and-white Flycatcher, and not a lot else……

Mt Kinabalu Day 2

I found this a rather frustrating day as the mountain was cloaked in low cloud and we had drizzle most of the day. We started off well with our first Sunda Laughingthrush amongst a group of Rufous-hooded Laughingthrushes and followed this up with a close encounter with a Red-breasted Partridge standing on the trail in front of us, followed by a couple views of a Crimson-headed Partridge that we called in beside the road. What a pair of cracking endemics! As we scanned the forested slopes of Mount Kinabalu during a clear period, Ron picked up a Golden-naped Barbet calling from nearby and that was our last new endemic for several hours as the weather deteriorated. 

We spent the remainder of the morning walking the trails and notching up plenty of previously seen species, plus White-throated Fantail, Asian Brown, Little Pied and Ferruginous Flycatchers, more Bornean Treepies, Yellow-bellied Warbler, Mountain Leaf-warbler, Mountain Tailorbird, and a Sunda Bush-warbler. 

Bornean Stubtail

Driving down the mountain a random stop resulted in a Bornean Stubtail responding rather aggressively to the ipod and perching out in the open for quite a while. We ended the morning session with a pair of stunning Black-sided Flowerpeckers feeding low down in some flowering bushes after quite a search. 

Black-sided Flowerpecker

Following lunch we walked the trails again but the weather began to deteriorate but still managed to have a close look at a Mountain Black-eye that flew in and landed right next to us, plus an inquisitive Sunda Laughingthrush. 

Mountain Black-eye

Sunda Laughingthrush

Our mammal list finally got off the ground with Mountain Treeshrew, Low’s and Jentink’s Squirrels and some biscuit-eating Bornean Black-banded Squirrels that certainly provided some entertainment for us whilst sheltering from the rain.

Sabah, Borneo - The Start

Away from the hotel in Kota Kinabalu just after 5am and hour and a half later we were near the Rafflesia Reserve in the Crocker Range. Roadside birding amidst great submontane forest brought our first endemics with both Mountain and Bornean Barbets, a pair of Rufous-hooded Laughingthrushes, several flocks of Chestnut-crested Yuhina, a showy Bornean Spiderhunter, Bornean Treepie, plus brief views of Bornean Leafbird and Bornean Bulbul. We also enjoyed several fine male Temminck’s Sunbirds, along with Ruddy and Little Cuckoo-Doves, Blyth’s Shrike-babbler, Sunda Cuckoo, Indigo and Mugimaki Flycatchers, Spectacled Spiderhunter, a flock of Black-capped White-eye, Grey-chinned Minivet, Bar-winged Flycatcher-shrike, and we even had a close look at a Temminck’s Babbler. With the temperature rising and a lovely clear blue sky overhead it wasn’t surprising to see a few raptors soaring around, but it was surprising when the first bird of prey turned out to be the often-difficult Mountain Serpent-eagle. There was also Blyth’s Hawk-eagle and a Black Eagle here as well, plus a high-flying Wreathed Hornbill.

Eye-browed Jungle-Flycatcher - one of our first endemics on Mt Kinabalu

Leaving here we stopped for lunch in a small town en-route to our lodge at the base of Mount Kinabalu. Arriving around 2pm we had a little time to settle into our rooms before driving the short distance to Mount Kinabalu and our first taste of birding on this fabled mountain. We were aware the birding can be slow in the afternoons and the first hour certainly proved that point with low cloud smothering the forest and obscuring pretty much every bird we tried to see. A Bornean Whistler showed to some of us and apart from some white-eyes and a constantly calling Golden-naped Barbet that was our lot. So we drove lower and this turned out to be a very good move with a Bornean Whistling-thrush perched beside our minibus. Along a narrow trail we picked up a number of excellent birds with the endemic Eye-browed Jungle-Flycatcher, followed by the endemic Mountain Wren-babbler, and much better views of the striking Yellow-breasted Warbler than we’d had earlier today. 

Mountain Wren-babbler - very brown & very skulking, sort of!

A little further along there was a brief appearance by a Snowy-browed Flycatcher, but that was totally overshadowed by a pair of Bornean Green Magpies circling us repeatedly high above our heads in the canopy. It took a while but eventually everyone managed to get a clear view of them – and what total stunners they are. A Bornean Forktail also showed well a little later to round the day off and with low cloud descending to this level we decided to call it quits and head back for an early dinner. As an aside, I’m not sure how anyone gets decent photos of anything here with low cloud, dull, gloomy forest and skittish birds….. So let's see how the next few days go!

Kaeng Krachan Update - The END

Kaeng Krachan National Park once again turned up some interesting sightings with our animal list stretching to 35 species with a couple of Golden Jackals showing well here. Broadbills were excellent with Long-tailed Broadbill being seen ‘up the hill’, and along the main road we had Black-and-red, Black-and-yellow and Silver-breasted Broadbills all being seen within 200 yards of each other!

Black-and-yellow Broadbill

Other new birds here included Red-throated Barbet, Great Slaty Woodpecker, and a superb Rufous-browed Flycatcher. At the waterhole a Slaty-legged Crake appeared at dusk and took our minds off the King Cobra that dropped in for a drink a few hours earlier!

Great Slaty Woodpecker showed well for half an hour

Slaty-legged Crake finally appeared at dusk

Rufous-browed Flycatcher came in to check us out

 There was also Black-headed and Rufous Woodpeckers seen at another site, whilst the icing on a rarity-laden cake was another 1^st for Thailand – Collared Pratincole. It had been reported a few weeks earlier by some visiting birders and we relocated it on our last day - and it certainly does seem to be a Collared and not the expected Oriental Pratincole. The white trailing edge, short primary projection and a few other key features were all seen - just a shame there was such a haze as the photos aren't very good….

Collared Pratincole - another 1st for Thailand

 And that was it, 494 species seen over the 3 tours and we can’t wait to return next year. Now it’s time for Borneo in a couple of days…

Wader Heaven & more Rarities

Petchaburi Province is home to the famous overwintering Spoon-billed Sandpipers at Pak Thale and we managed to find one within 2 minutes of our arrival, unlike the 2 hours it took on our previous visit a few weeks ago. Instead of blabbing on about our day, suffice it to say we saw all the same birds as before which I wrote about on this blog, and instead will leave you with a few photos from our day…. 

Asiatic Dowitchers

Long-toed Stint is quite common

Lesser Sandplover is very common

Curlew Sandpiper

Broad-billed Sandpiper

Spot the Nordmann's Greenshanks….?

Chinese Egret and Eastern Great Egret.

Oh but we did find a Grey-tailed Tattler which was new for the tour, along with a Black-tailed Gull, Plaintive Cuckoo, White-shouldered Starling and we also saw the first Bay-backed Shrike for Thailand….

Bay-backed Shrike - 1st record for Thailand

Khao Yai (again)

A brief update from our latest visit to Khao Yai as part of the 3 back-to-back tours we are running. It is amazing how different things can be in such a short space of time since my last visit there just a couple of weeks ago. And as you can see from the following photos a Blue Pitta has been showing exceptionally well. 

Blue Pitta

As we sat down in a secluded spot to wait for this bird to show, we were entertained by 2 Orange-headed Thrushes, Hainan Blue Flycatcher, Puff-throated and Abbott’s Babblers, a pair of White-rumped Shama and 2 male Siberian Blue Robins. Not a bad little haul huh?

Siberian Blue Robin

The other main highlight was this Coral-billed Ground-Cuckoo running around in the open for 5 minutes! Wow!

Coral-billed Ground-Cuckoo

 Other new birds here included two sightings of a flock of Austen’s Brown Hornbills – a different species from the birds at Kaeng Krachan.  And our extraordinary run of great mammal sightings continued with an Asian Elephant and Asian Black Bear…..

North Thailand - The End

Our final day at Doi Inthanon started along a fast-flowing river where a pair of Black-backed Forktails showed repeatedly, despite being rather shy. We then spent the next few hours birding our favourite trail in the hopes of finding a big flock, which never really materialised so had to content ourselves with a few smaller flocks. The best new bird along here was a Clicking Shrike-babbler calling from right over our heads, and we also saw White-throated Fantail, Spectacled Barwing, Black-winged Cuckoo-shrike, another brief Martens's Warbler, several Grey-throated Babblers and plenty more species we'd already seen. A Bay Woodpecker was calling but remained unseen as well. So by now it was 11am and we decided to check out the feeding station by the checkpoint and it was really nice to get lengthy views of Pygmy Wren-babbler again. This time there was also a male Small Niltava putting on a show, whilst a male Large Niltava was present constantly here as well. 

Pygmy Wren-babbler

Small Niltava

Yellow-cheeked Tit

After lunch we didn't have much time before we had to leave for the airport so made a last-minute decision to check out the Black-tailed Crake spot just down the road. With no sightings for several months it was really a time-filling exercise but when we arrived a bird responded to my ipod and after repositioning ourselves a pair appeared in a small pool and everyone had a decent view. A great result and high five's all round before we had to hotfoot it to Chiang Mai and our evening flight back to Bangkok after a very successful northern Thailand tour.