Mount Kinabalu

Today really encapsulated just what Asian birding is all about – it was a real rollercoaster of a ride, with highs & lows, the perseverance needed more than in any other continent and ending with the rewards. I’m not going to labour on about the blood, sweat and tears though! Anyway, after an early breakfast we left at 5.45am and it only took ten minutes to get inside the park and drive up into great habitat. Literally the first bird of the day, even before it was anywhere approaching light enough to bird was an endemic Bornean Forktail in the headlights. But this was nothing compared to the awesome endemic Everett’s Thrush feeding on the grass verge beside the road. With everyone out of the van, the bird kept feeding totally unconcerned but we needed a little more light so used our flashlight which really helped to get more detail on this stunning bird and a zoothera thrush to boot. A Snowy-browed Flycatcher was nearby and we followed this with Pale-faced Bulbul (considered an endemic by some authorities), Sunda Bush-Warbler and the endemic Bornean Whistling-Thrush. 

Walking up to the Timpohon Gate right at the top of the road produced lots of bird activity with tickable views of endemic Bornean Treepie, Black-capped White-Eyes, Mountain Leaf-Warbler, Yellow-breasted Warbler, numerous Chestnut-crested Yuhinas, Indigo Flycatcher and endemic Bornean Swiftlet. A stunning endemic Golden-naped Barbet appeared in a small tree right in front of us before we walked back down the road and we well and truly nailed the skulking endemic Bornean Stubtail. 

Bornean Stubtail - note the jewellery

You can see the jewellery adorning the stub tail above. Apparently there are a group of American students ringing/banding everything they can catch up here - and we saw many, many species with these brightly-coloured rings on. I have to ask what valuable scientific results they will get from birds that don't leave this mountain...? They don't migrate and I can only think that they are doing it solely to get their bloody doctorate or thesis from whatever university they come from. I hate this so much. Rant over.

The final piece of action this morning came along the otherwise quiet trails where we amazingly located a group of Tawny-breasted Parrotbills feeding so quietly beside the trail in a loose stand of bamboo. Incredible birds and rarely sighted in Sabah. Wow!

Bornean Green Magpie

The afternoon session began with a pair of Sunda Cuckooshrikes calling back at us form some roadside trees, followed by another lengthy search for Whitehead’s Trogon. Whilst waiting a pair of endemic Bornean Green Magpies provided us with superlative views as they circled us several times. A Sunda Cuckoo then flew in before we walked up the road and eventually a magnificent Whitehead’s Trogon was spotted and we watched this extraordinary beast for a long time. 

Whitehead's Trogon - not the greatest photos but it's a stunning endemic

At the same spot an endemic Eye-browed Jungle Flycatcher showed briefly but we’d get it again later this evening, plus a White-browed Shortwing appeared (split by HBW as Bornean Shortwing). Then we tried one last trail before the light faded and found another Eye-browed Jungle-Flycatcher but an endemic Whitehead’s Broadbill called and we raced off after it, gaining very brief and poor flight views in the gloomy light. Boy we'd walked a fair few miles today and I was glad to get my boots off tonight!

Other species seen today included Wreathed Hornbills, Hair-crested Drongo and White-throated Fantail.

Crocker Mountain Range

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.

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. 

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.

Borneo - The Beginning

Following an overnight flight via Kuala Lumpur we eventually arrived in Kota Kinabalu around 11.15am, minus some of our luggage. We met our excellent guide Lee Kok Chung and drove the short distance into downtown Kota Kinabalu where we checked in to our rooms, had some lunch and then drove out to a coastal site just 30 minutes away from the hotel. The tide was just receding and there were a few shorebirds present. Within a couple of minutes we were scoping a female Malaysian Plover, a much wanted bird for some of the group. And what a nice way to kick-start the tour. More and more shorebirds began arriving and we enjoyed decent scope views of both Greater and Lesser Sandplovers, Kentish Plovers, Pacific Golden Plover, Grey Plover, at least 6 delightful Terek Sandpipers and a pair of Ruddy Turnstones. I was surprised to hear a Yellow-bellied Prinia singing and it eventually showed reasonably well, alongside a Yellow-vented Bulbul. A Blue-throated Bee-eater also appeared nearby and a Striated Heron flew close by. 

From here we drove to an area of wasteland with large trees and bumped the list up even more with Green Imperial-Pigeon, Pink-necked Green-Pigeon and a pair of lovely Blue-naped Parrots. 

Blue-naped Parrots

This latter species was something of a surprise and it turns out that there is a self-sustaining feral population around the town, just like the 3 Java Sparrows we also encountered here. Again, another big surprise. 

This area was also good for White-breasted Woodswallow, Sunda Pygmy Woodpecker, Zebra Dove, Chestnut Munia, Pied Triller, Pacific Swallow, Brown-throated and Olive-backed Sunbirds, Malaysian Pied Fantail, Asian Glossy Starling and even our first endemic – Dusky Munia. 

So, as I said earlier, we saw mainly a bunch of list padders but it was enjoyable to get out and put binoculars on some birds after the long flight from Europe. We returned to the hotel by 5pm and met up with Martin, our final group member, who had just flown in from Germany.

West Mexico - The End

We spent a few hours at Cerro de San Juan this morning and got off to a decent start with a displaying male Bumblebee Hummingbird, but it was more heard than seen but still an amazing sighting. The first of many Rufous-capped Warblers gave crippling views and excellent photographic opportunities, and there was also a female Anna’s/Allen’s Hummingbird, and both Broad-billed & White-eared Hummingbirds here as well.

Rufous-capped Warbler

 Moving higher up the mountain a large flock of buntings were feeding in the fields and we were particularly pleased to see our first Lazuli Buntings amongst the numerous Indigo and a few Varied Buntings, with White-collared Seedeater and both Stripe-headed and Rusty Sparrows as well. A walk through the pine forest was pretty quiet but a close White-striped Woodcreeper and Crescent-chested Warbler showed exceptionally well. 

Crescent-chested Warbler

White-striped Woodcreeper (endemic)

And that was it, the Fat Lady was singing and we had to head back to the highway and drive 3 hours to Puerto Vallarta for a shower and change of clothes before our evening flight to Mexico City and onward journey to London.

We had enjoyed a fabulous time in Mexico with Kim Risen, nailing 327 species seen and of those, 47 were Mexican endemics. Not too shabby huh? I look forward to repeating this tour in March 2019, but let's do Oaxaca next year....

Copala - Tepic

We spent the first couple of hours looking for Five-striped Sparrow without any joy, but picked up our only Yellow Grosbeak of the tour along with plenty of other previously seen species including more Military Macaws and Mexican Parrotlets. By mid-morning it was time to set out on the drive south towards Tepic and we made pretty good time arriving around 2pm. 

After a long siesta we headed up into the hills shortly after sunset where one of the major highlights of the tour appeared within just a few short minutes of our arrival. Surrounded by large oak and pine trees the huge shadow of a Mexican Barred (Cinereous) Owl flew over us and we tracked it down to an overhanging branch where this monster stared balefully at us from its perch. What a view we had and for once there wasn’t a branch or a leaf across the bird in question! 

Cinereous or Mexican Barred Owl (endemic)

At the same spot a Mexican Whip-poor-will called repeatedly but we couldn’t locate that sucker as it remained high in the canopy around us. But just a short distance away we were surprised to hear an Eared Poorwill calling and after a little judicious tape playback it landed on a nearby branch where we enjoyed nailing this much-wanted species. 

Eared Poorwill (endemic)

And we ended a really excellent spot of night-birding with a Mexican Whip-poor-will flying down the road in front of our vehicle.