Blue Eyed Birder: Borneo for Bird's Wildlife & Nature - Day 15

The final day and it began only a few hours into it and by 4am we were on the bus with Andy our driver and the re-emerged Nevin and wending our way out of KK and up pinto the hills once more. Sleep was nabbed and I woke as the road became more sinuous. There were so many small birds feeding in the roadside and flying across in front and I could id Sunda Ashy Drongos, Munias and a few Bulbuls but I itched to stop and investigate some of the more interesting shapes!

Trusmadi in the Kinabalu foothills beckoned although Lee’s description of a luxury hide with carpet, a toilet, wifi, coffee facilities and comfortable chairs was slightly amiss – at least for the main set up at the bottom of the jungle slope. We were there not too long after 6am in the hope that the once mythical Bulwer’s Pheasant may put in an appearance before the sun chose to set.

We attempted to settle into the tiny child size plastic chairs and peak out of the wind prove mesh windows through small cut squares and there he was – the male Bulwer’s was down slope a little but in the low light you could see the glowing white bushel of a tail bobbing along. I ‘power whispered’ to everyone to look left. The blue face and red legs stood out and a brown female was in close attendance. All too soon he walked out of view but we had done it! Literally anything else would be a bonus. There were Red-breasted and funky Crested Partridges down there too and a zillion small brown Squirrels of one sort or another.

Bulwer’s Pheasant

Bulwer’s Pheasant - Helen Stedman

Bulwer’s Pheasant

I settled in to the other end of the hide and stared at the closer feeding station which was overrun with the aforementioned Squirrels. Some were clearly Black Striped, Jentink’s and Bornean Mountain Ground Squirrel but there were others that I am sure were Low’s. There were a few small birds popping in and out with Temminck’s Babblers making frequent visits to the ground table and it was good to see them so well after the first ones on Kinabalu all those days ago. A flash of red and blue and a pair of Rufous Chested Flycatchers appeared and we were glad of Nevin’s guidance to separate them from Mugimaki.

Rufous Chested Flycatcher

Temminck’s Babbler

Bornean Mountain ground Squirrel

Black-striped Squirrel

Jentink's Squirrel

Low's Squirrel - I think

The Bulwer’s Pheasant suddenly reappeared in front but changed its mind about visiting the table and walked back down the slope and out of view for the last time. It had brought the Crested Partridges with it and I have to admit to being equally pleased to see these super funky punky birds. I have a childhood memory of seeing them in a bird hot house at some zoo or park when I was a kid. The females are just as vibrant as the males.

Crested Partridge

Crested Partridges

Crested Partridge

It was dark, and oppressive in the hide and we all opted to escape back outside and start heading back up the slope to the top hide (where the ‘rustic’ toilets and kettle were…). A pair of Crested Serpent Eagles dipped in and out of view through the tree tops and Crimson-headed Partridges were shouting from cover. Bornean Treepies moved through with the odd Sunda Ashy Drongo and gangs of Penan Bulbuls and Chestnut-crested Yuhinas.

We settled into the slightly plusher hide which gave us a well lit grandstand view of another feeding area but this one was small bird focused and once some mealworms had been out the birds flocked in and we had a superb hour watching puffy throated Penan Bulbuls, Chestnut-hooded Laughing-Thrushes, Temminck’s and Grey-throated Babblers, a family of Oriental Magpie-Robins and some quality Flycatcher action. Big blue and orange Dayak Flycatchers came down for worms – ‘Dayak?’ we asked. It was not even in the book and I still can’t work out what it was split from. A striking male Pale Blue Flycatcher dropped in it was good to compare with a shiny turquoise Verditer Flycatcher that we saw back up by the bus a little later.

Temminck’s Babbler

Penan Bulbul

Not a Pitta but a young Oriental Magpie Robin

Pitta Robin

Oriental Magpie Robin - Dad

Dayak Flycatcher - female

Dayak Flycatcher - male

The Bornean Banded Pitta was singing off in the trees and it gradually came closer but there was no guarantee it would come in and then suddenly I was looking almost eye to eye with a bouncing stripy mega-lemon. I got everyone onto it and we spent the next few minutes absorbing this most magnificent of birds which relegated the far rarer Bulwer’s Pheasant. It bounded off and was replaced by a party of Bornean Scimitar-Babblers which meant that everyone had now seen this beady eyed species too.

Bornean Scimitar-Babbler

Bornean Banded Pitta

There was time a celebratory coffee before we moved back up to the main road for a look. It was quite quiet and we were all flagging but we did quite well and saw a Bornean Barbet for the first time singing on the top of a sang with a Verditer Fly for company. Bold-striped Tit-Babblers and Rufous-fronted Babblers were singings and Malaysian Pied Fantails flashed back and forth across the road.

Allograpta sp

Magpie Crow - Euploea radamanthus lowii

Nodding heads suggested that it was time to go so we started on the long journey back down the mountain stopping on the way for some lunch before a final poodle around the KK paddy fields gave us a final look at Striated Grassbirds, Wandering Whistling Ducks and huge flocks of Munias with had descended on the fruiting grasses and were coming down in the rain to drink and bathe in the puddles ahead. There were fat Javas, Chestnut, Dusky and Scaly-breasted mixing with the Spotted and Zebra Doves.

Nodding - tired but happy

A late afternoon kip was in need before our final dinner out on the town and an early night. All too soon it was 3am and we were on our way to KK airport for the first leg of the long journey home to England after a trip full of amazing wildlife encounters.

The Birds List: endemics in yellow - new ones - well, most of them