Blue Eyed Birder: Borneo for Bird's Wildlife & Nature - Day 5

It was basically a rerun of the previous day on the Kinabalu road but the weather had closed in and the tops of the trees around us where more often or not in the low misty cloud. It was a fairly monochrome world and sounds were muffled as we once more walked slowly up the road.

A fair number of the species encountered were those from the first day here but of course there were additions too with two Woodpeckers in quick succession. Both were equally funky with the yellow olive and crimson Checker-throated and the completely and aptly names Maroon with its gleaming dagger of a yellow bill. It was not really a day for photography and we worked hard to follow the birds in the misty trees. Crimson Headed Partridges were audible and the Sunda Cuckoos could be heard while heard searching of the Chestnut Hooded and Sunda Laughing Thrush gangs eventually gave us good views of the Bare-headed species whose weird hoots and whistles we could hear off in the jungle.

Banded Peacock

Begonia beryllae

Impatiens dasysperma or similar

Mussaenda pubescens or similar

Schefflera actinophylla - Octopus Tree - I think!

Eye-browed Jungle Flycatchers followed us along the road, flitting in and out of the shadows along with Temminck’s Babblers and Black-sided Flowerpeckers and better views were had of Pygmy Blue Flycatchers but it was hard work until we reached the very murky climbers arch once again. Here at least there were plenty of birds and we very quickly added several very damp species with heavily made up black-eyebrowed Bornean Green Magpies, grey Sunda Cuckoo-Shrikes, a fine Blyth’s Shrike-Babbler to go with the song of yesterday and good views at last of the gorgeous Bornean Treepies.

Bornean Green Magpie

very damp Bornean Treepie

Bornean Treepie

A rescued Stick Insect

Ready for the final van dash

The Golden-naped Barbet was still there and as the cloud became rain we sort shelter under the overhang of the toilet block and stood there for an age watching through a curtain of water. The birds were still very active and Penan Bulbuls and both Laughing-Thrushes came through as well as White-throated Fantails and Indigo Flycatchers so close and fearless that you could almost touch them. A Little Pied Flycatcher (the importance of capital letters…) hunted from the compound fence and it seemed that Bornean Swiftlets were nesting in the out building and this time everyone got to see them.

Golden-naped Barbet

Sunda Laughing-Thrush

Chestnut Hooded Laughing-Thrush

Angie and the Indigo

Indigo Flycatcher

Indigo Flycatcher - such a delightful little bird

There were Squirrels too with Kinabalu, Whitehead’s Tufted and better views of the more rounded features of several Jentink’s.

Kinabalu Squirrel

Jentink’s Squirrel

White-throated Fantail - look at those rictal bristles

Little Pied Flycatcher

With the rain strengthening we made a bid for the bus and headed down the hill a ways but Sham decided that coffee was a better option and we stopped at one of the bigger bandstands and had a brew up while the rain gushed off the roof and flowed down the road. Even the Ants and Wasps sought shelter in their own way. A Fantail was the only bird seen but the coffee and Gold Bananas were a suitable distraction.

Cechetra lineosa

Ants under a leaf

And some sort of communal wasp

Technically it was lunch time but as the rain let up we all agreed to keep going for a while longer and headed back up to the top where the Indigo Flycatchers were still performing and Mountain Leaf Warblers stayed still long enough to watch.

Mountain Leaf Warbler

Indigo Flycatcher - and it was not that they were the only bird to take pics of - I just liked them and every pose set off the colours in a different way

Plutodes argentilauta once again

Back near the entrance we checked out the tiny babbling stream and could immediately hear the high pitched notes of the Bornean Forktail but it was just a couple of metre away this time in the gully below us and eventually a pair were found and watched as they bobbed and flicked like odd Dipper-Wagtails. I have to admit to being blown away by this one. It was one of those birds that I had actually wanted to see and it was a charismatic and stunning as I hoped. Smiles all round. The Hairy-crested Drongos decided it was time to stop playing games with us at this point and we got several excellent views as they moved through with a noisy gang of Laughing-Thrushes and Bornean Green Magpies.

Bornean Forktail - Angie Merrick

Back down and out of the park for a fine Lazy Susan lunch and then to a another establishment where a flowering tree was apparently attractive to Whitehead’s Spiderhunter. Angie immediately picked up a Spiderhunter but it was actually another new one – a Spectacled and we spent some quality time watching it slip that amazing bill deep inside the pink tubular flowers. Plume-toed and other larger Swiftlets cruised around us and Pacific Swallows were on the wires. There were some cool Orb Weavers strung between the bushes where Temminck’s and Ornate Sunbirds gleaned.

Byrsia dotata

possibly Thelacantha brevispina

Ornate Sunbird

Spectacled Spiderhunter

Spectacled Spiderhunter

On again and back into the park for one final session along the road in the fading light. Lee was after one particular target and eventually we both heard a response at the same time. A Whitehead’s Broadbill was nearby and it took just a couple of minutes to locate a pair of this vivid green bird. The male sat there and watched us over his shoulder with that curious almost bill-less head. They were much larger than I anticipated.