Final day in Borneo and reflections on Malaysia

 May 6

On our final morning we left at 4am, driving for 2 hours to reach a private bird viewing location at 1800 m  in the Crocker Range as the sun rose.  The young family that operates this venue took an abandoned “home stay” complex and built a long covered porch overlooking a wooded slope. They added shrubs, water features, and logs on which to set out birdseed and grubs to attract the birds. Simple, attractive, and very effective. 

While we did not see many new species, it was certainly a new experience to see them less than 3 feet away instead of high in the trees or running through the underbrush. There was a “hide” at the bottom of the hill dedicated to seeing partridges, so we got another chance at the roadside glimpse from yesterday of the Red-breasted Partridge. We also did a little roadside birding looking for specific mountain endemics.  We got to watch a Mountain Barbet repeatedly bring food into its nest in the hollow of a large dead tree. 

After lunch we departed to drive back to Kota Kinabalu. This is a 90 minute drive if conditions are good; however on a previous trip a landslide closed the road forcing an 8-hour detour, so our guides were taking no chances.  As we started driving out of the mountains a heavy rainstorm began, lending some credence to the landslide idea. As we reentered the lowlands the rain stopped and the heat and humidity increased (but not nearly as high as earlier in the trip).  Since we had no issues on the road, we had time for a quick birding stop by the beach in Kota Kinabalu, where we saw several new and beautiful birds, particularly the Blue-naped Parrot. 

We have a bit more verification work to do in terms of our bird viewing lists, but our current estimate is that across the two trips / three weeks we saw over 300 new species of birds, 10 primates, 12 squirrel species, about a dozen other mammals as well as a few snakes, assorted insects, and dozens of amazing butterflies.

Malaysia is a very multicultural country. Unlike some countries where “multicultural” means that  the different cultures are somewhat invisible in daily life, here the prevalence of Islamic and Chinese communities affects signage, what foods are served in restaurants, and the rhythm of the society.  To our inexperienced ears, the Malay language sounds similar to Chinese, and in some communities the signage (particularly at restaurants), uses Chinese-like symbols, On other signs, the Latin alphabet is used to transliterate the Malay, a remnant of its history as a British colony. And in some communities Arabic symbols predominate, particularly on schools or houses of worship. Most of the restaurants we ate in served variants of Chinese dishes, with an occasional curry available. For most of the Peninsular Malaysia we noticed a high content of Islamic dress, reminders of the direction of Mecca on the ceilings of hotel rooms, and broadcast calls to prayer. Once we reached the Selangor area on that trip, the incidence of Buddhist temples increased. On our Borneo trip, we did not see a large Islamic presence except in Kota Kinabalu itself, but most restaurants did not serve alcohol, and advertised whether or not they were halal. As we moved into the mountains, every village had a Catholic Church. In the Danum Valley, the cultures of indigenous communities are particularly highlighted and protected. 

The people of Malaysia with whom we interacted were kind, friendly, and everyone spoke at least some English. Younger people had excellent language skills. It is, in that regard, an easy country to visit. 

Pictured: Blue-naped Parrot, Long-tailed Parakeet, Mountain Barbet (with debris from his breakfast), Bornean Leafbird, Red-breasted Partridge, Bornean Spiderhunter. 

Last full day in Borneo

May 5

We spent the morning walking trails and roads in Kinabalu park, repeating many of the areas we visited yesterday. A number of the species are quite specific in their preferred elevation or surroundings, which influences where birders look for them. Our guide got a bit annoyed when a ground-squirrel started eating the berries that the Fruit-hunter likes. As ever, the actual birds and other species we saw changed day to day. 

After lunch we left the park briefly to look for two elusive endemic species ( the Bornean Barbet and the Whitehead’s Spiderhunter)— and found them both! We then returned to the park for “one final round of birding” as we will leave well before dawn tomorrow to make our way to Kota Kinabalu and the long trip home.  Each of us had a “bird we wish we had seen more clearly”, and we were able to do that, although our first attempt at the Golden-naped Barbet was foiled by mist coming in just as we were ready to take the photograph. We also saw two new kinds of partridge, which is really difficult as they scuttle through the underbrush… one was a lucky roadside sighting in the morning, but the second took over an hour of searching and luring the bird to come out. 

Pictured: Golden-naped Barbet (Kevin’s bird), Bornean Green Magpie (Katharine’s bird), Sunda Cuckoo, Dark Hawk-Cuckoo, Bornean Ground-Squirrel with the “Fruit-hunter’s berries”, Mountain Tailorbird, “barbet in the mist” 

Kinabalu National Park

May 4th

We spent most of the day in Kinabalu National Park, a UNESCO World Heritage site. While it is famous as a birding location, it is even more popular for climbing Mt Kinabalu. We saw well over 100 avid hikers setting off to climb the peak while we spent our time searching for endemic and mountain birds.

The birds we saw today were entirely different from those in the Bornean lowlands. A few mountain species were repeats from the Fraser’s Hill part of the Peninsula Malaysia trip, but there were many Borneo highland endemics. Our guides came with a mental list for the day, and we had seen nearly all of them before our lunch break. 

This afternoon the mist lowered and visibility (and bird activity) was poor. After two hours the mist lifted— because it started to rain! We had spent those hours walking back and forth on a section of park road where the Whitehead’s Trogon had been most recently heard and seen — to no avail.  This is a species that has very limited geographic range, making our location today a rare opportunity to see it.  Then our guide’s cell phone beeped that another group had seen the trogon a little further down the road, so off we raced to see it. It was a lesson in persistence (the other group had spent four days looking for this bird!) and friendship (in that the other guide shared their discovery with us).

We saw so many wonderful birds (and three new squirrels) today that it is hard to choose what to post. We particularly loved the tiny tufted squirrel, also endemic to the Bornean highlands. It is slightly bigger than the Pygmy squirrel we saw in the lowlands.

Pictured: Whitehead’s Broadbill, Sunda Owlet,  Bornean Stubtail, Tufted Pygmy Squirrel , female and male Whitehead’s Trogon, the foggy trail 

Into the mountains

May 3

We did one more bird walk in Sepilok this morning, first near a pond behind our hotel and later on the same trails as yesterday. We saw a number of new species, and were reminded that even the same trails yield very different birds on different days.

Everywhere we have gone, we have been reminded to keep our rooms well locked to prevent the macaques from entering and ransacking. This morning we watched a group of macaques peer in the window of a parked car and then proceed to try to open the door using the handles! 

 After an early lunch we drove for 4.5 hours southwest into the Kinabalu National Park. The roads in Sabah have gone from “bad” on previous days to “terrible” today, in the words of our local guide. Some of the bumpiness was due to construction, and some just potholes in the area not yet under construction. For the first two hours, palm oil plantations lined the roads, but after that we started heading up hill, adding twists and turns to the bumpiness. 

We stopped at the 4-hour mark to do some roadside birding for species that won’t appear as high as we will be the next few days. We were pleased to get a much closer view of the tiny white-fronted falconets: they are so small (5.5 to 6.5 inches long) that it is not surprising that they primarily hunt insects.  We also got our first glimpses of Mount Kinabalu (elevation 13,435 ft) wreathed in clouds. Our hotel is in the foothills of the mountain, at about 1300 m of elevation. The cool dry air was a nice change after a week in the heat and humidity of the lowlands. A quick round of birding on the hotel grounds yielded us one more endemic, the tiny Pygmy Heleia. 

Pictured: White-bellied Woodpecker, White-fronted Falconets, female Diard’s Trogon, Pygmy Heleia, cool butterfly, male Rufous-collared Kingfisher, Black-eared Barbet 

Sepilok

May 2nd

We had one final boat trip on the Kinabatangan River this morning. The mist coming off the water as the sun rose was really lovely. We saw a few new birds and again saw elephants.

We drove two hours northwest to Sepilok, a nature reserve best known for its orangutan and sun bear rehabilitation centers. Two of our trip-mates went to the orangutan center, while we opted to walk and bird on boardwalks and trails through the forest. The first thing we saw was a small group of Bornean Gibbons very high in a distant tree. As they swung through the branches we realized that one of the adults was carrying a very tiny baby— so tiny that it had no hair yet, which means it was less than a week old. Until their hair grows in, baby gibbons must cling to the mother for warmth. 

Our objective was to see two charismatic endemic species, the Sabah Partridge and the Black-capped Pitta. Both had proven elusive when we looked for them along the river. While we were looking for them, we saw a mother and baby orangutan in thick foliage some distance from the trail.  We returned to watch them a second time, when they were a bit more visible and active. 

We had great views of the partridge and the pittas, and finally saw, in daylight, a tiny forest kingfisher we’d seen sleeping on two night walks. Near the end of the afternoon we stopped along a raised boardwalk near a tree that had a water-filled hollow in its side. This is clearly the “public bird bath” and we were delighted to watch four different species take turns coming for a bath.

Pictured: Bornean Gibbons, Orangutans (mom’s face, baby clinging on upside down), Black-crowned Pitta, Sabah Partridge, Rufous-backed Dwarf Kingfisher, female Purple-naped Spiderhunter exiting the bath 

Birding by boat

May 1st

Today we took three different skiff rides (6 am, 9 am, 3:30pm) along the Kinabatangan River and its side streams. Sitting (albeit in hot sunshine) with space to spread out your gear was a big change after all our hiking the past few days (and weeks). We were warned to prepare not only for the heat and sunshine, but to expect to remain in the boat at all times: the shorelines have snakes and leeches, and the river has saltwater crocodiles. 

We are in Sakau, an area about midway along the 575 km long river. To the north and south, the forest extends for a mile or more back from the river’s edge, but here in Sakai the forest is more shallow. This means there is less forest ofor the birds and animals to hide in, and consequently easier wildlife viewing. 

It is well-known  that birds are most active at dawn and less so in mid-day, but here, as soon as the sun is fully up (by 9 am) the heat kicks in and the birds disappear. 

On our early morning ride we saw many birds, including some new species and a much better look at a tiny kingfisher. One of the new birds was the Straw-headed Bulbul, now in decline because of the pet trade. We also watched two elephants swim across a side stream. The rest of the herd has moved to another section of the river, so seeing these two was a surprise.  In the second morning trip we saw much less activity, but we did get good views of proboscis monkeys, as well as macaques and silver leaf monkeys. 

The late afternoon ride was “monkeys and hornbills”. We saw several troops of proboscis monkeys as well as the other two species. We saw four species of hornbills, in some cases 6-8 birds in a noisy group. As has been a theme for our whole trip, we saw some unexpected hornbill species and not the one that is very common along the river. Rain had been predicted but we only had light sprinkles, and a rainbow. 

After dinner, we went for a short night walk in search of the Large Frogmouth. He seems to have moved away. We did find fire ants (yikes), frogs, spiders, and a sleeping kingfisher. It’s always fun to be out in the woods at night. 

Pictured: male Proboscis Monkeys (one young, one mature), Bornean Pygmy Elephants crossing the river, Blue-eared Kingfisher, Straw-headed Bulbul, White-crowned Hornbill, Striped Bronze-back (snake), Saltwater Crocodile. 

From Danum to the Kinabatangan River

 April 30

Today was largely a travel day, driving back to Lahad Datu (3 hours) and then 2 hours to the jetty for the boat transfer to our new lodge on the banks of the Kinabatangan River. Ironically the unpaved roads from Danum were significantly less bumpy that the “paved” roads after we left Lahad Datu.

We starting this morning’s bird walk  at 6:00 am (breakfast at 5:30) which included time on a set of hanging bridges up in the canopy, as well as another visit to the “blind”. We were rewarded with a new sunbird and terrific views of the Great Argus. Both of the trails we’d used yesterday showed evidence of elephants passing through overnight. 

On the drive back to Lahad Datu, about 70 km from the lodge, we saw evidence of elephants along the road. Then the shrubs along the side of the road started to wave energetically. Kevin saw a small gray trunk reach up to shake a branch, and then we got a good view of a bull (Pygmy) elephant through an opening in the roadside shrubs. All very exciting! We also saw a number of birds in the garden at our “leg stretch” break, including an endemic barbet.

The final leg of the journey was a 10-minute motor skiff ride to our new lodge. It consists of a set of cabins and a central building on the shores of the Kinabatangan River. 

Pictured: Pygmy Elephant, Brown Barbet (an endemic), male Great Argus (with his long tail feathers tucked away), Red-throated sunbird, Purple-naped Spiderhunter.