Borneo, Day 5, 30 March 2016 - Mount Kinabalu NP & Poring Hot Springs

We were due to move on a short distance to Poring Hot Springs today but I had enough time to have a last early morning assault on the Kinabalu park trails. Once again solo I initially checked the area around the Hill Lodge which was quieter than the previous day by gave nice views of Little Cuckoo-dove, Black-capped White-eye, 3 Bornean Green Magpies and 2 Bornean Treepies. Next I moved onto the Bukit Ulat trail again and this yielded a superb Long-tailed Broadbill, 2 Orange-backed Woodpeckers, Grey-throated Babblers and Mountain Leaf Warbler. I then decided to concentrate my efforts on the Upper Silau-Silau trail where it joins the road. Within 30 minutes I'd hit gold with 2 Whitehead's Trogons, 3 Whitehead's Broadbills and 3 fly-over Wreathed Hornbills. I was a happy boy as I bid farewell to the park and made my way back to Kundasang for breakfast and check-out before moving onto Poring Hot Springs.

Little Cuckoo-dove

Bornean Treepie

 Whitehead's Broadbill (honestly!)

Whitehead's Trogon

We arrived at Poring Hot Springs in the heat of the day but luckily our luxurious bungalow within the park was ready for us so we settled in and enjoyed the birds around our garden and the grounds. It was the easiest birding we did in the whole trip! Blue and White Flycatchers were numerous and obvious, Black-headed Bulbuls equally so and within a few minutes sitting on our patio we had visits from a Cinereous Bulbul, a gorgeous Scaly-breasted Bulbul, Plain Sunbird, Ashy Tailorbird and Orange-breasted Flowerpecker. Despite the heat we walked the area around the football pitch and the bamboo garden adding Buff-vented Bulbul, White-crowned Shama and a surprise Rufous-tailed Shama while back at the bungalow in the trees from the living room shuttered windows 2 Maroon-breasted Philentomas, a Mugimaki Flycatcher and a showy Bornean Blue Flycatcher added to the growing list. We then had a dip in the hot springs for a while and in that area I had Rufous-tailed Tailorbird, Crimson Sunbird and a stunning Black and Crimson Oriole.   

Asian Red-eyed Bulbul

Plain Sunbird

Cinereous Bulbul

Buff-vented Bulbul

Blue and White Flycatcher

Ashy Tailorbird

Bornean Blue Flycatcher

 Mugimaki Flycatcher

Borneo, Day 4, 29 March 2016 - Mount Kinabalu NP & Kundasang

Our 3rd day in the Mount Kinabalu area and it was up and out early again. This time Blin decided on a relaxed start to the day so it was a solo early morning crack at things in the park for me.

Stopping by the Hill Lodge area on the lower Power Station Road proved a good call with the trees there holding Chequer-throated Yellownape and good numbers of both Chestnut-hooded and Sunda Laughingthrushes in the first rays of sun of the day. A Little Cuckoo-dove flew over the road too. Up at the Powerstation itself an Indigo Flycatcher was showing at ridiculous range and an Eyebrowed Thrush was flushed off the path. Ignoring the trail closed signs I then opted for the lower Bukit Ular trail which produced a nice feeding wave of birds which included 2 Hair-crested Drongos, c5 Bornean Green Magpies, Bornean Treepies, Orange-backed Woodpecker, 2 Grey-chinned Minivets and a Brown Fulvetta while 2 fairly low down Flavescent Bulbuls were just below the Timophon Gate. I also clocked up 3 Bornean Whistling Thrushes, Bornean Whistlers, White-throated Fantails, Arctic Warbler, Mountain Leaf Warbler, Yellow-breasted Warbler, 3 Velvet-fronted Nuthatches, numerous Chestnut-crested Yuhinas and 3 Grey-throated Babblers. 

Glossy Swiftlet

Indigo Flycatcher

Flavescent Bulbul

Grey-throated Babbler

Bornean Green Magpie

Back in Kundasang over a late breakfast of chicken floss rolls (don't ask!) a Grey-faced Buzzard was soaring over a ridge plus Grey Wagtail, Pacific Swallows, White-breasted Woodswallow and Chestnut Munias.  

For our late afternoon walk we decided on walking up the Liwagu Trail and then down the Power Station Road to complete a loop. The trail was initially quiet but further up I got onto a surprise Rufous-tailed Jungle Flycatcher that showed very well then a rufous female White-browed Shortwing. Then, as we joined the road a guide with 2 birders kindly put me onto a lovely Eye-browed Jungle Flycatcher. More Grey-throated Babblers and Ashy Drongo were beside the road on the walk back down.    

Borneo, Day 3, 28 March 2016 - Mount Kinabalu NP & Kundasang

An early start to hit the trails in the park again but our plans were thwarted somewhat by closed trails. The biggest disappointment was not being allowed to go beyond the Timophon Gate. Day passes have been suspended indefinately which means unless you have paid mega wonga and want to climb the whole mountain over 2 days you can't access anything above the gate. Effectively this shuts out birders and means none of us are going to get Kinablu Friendly Warbler, Island Thrush, Mountain Blackeye etc.
In addition the upper part of the Bukit Ular trail is blocked by a landslide and even though the bottom end of the same trail is marked as closed it is easily accessible to those of us who like to ignore signs!

This map may help

 
Back to the birding - as our original plan had been thwarted we walked the Mempening, Pandanus, Silau and Klias View trails at various points during the day and early evening. On the drive up the Power Station Road we stopped at some birders scrutinising a small overhanging cliff by the road - it turned out it was a mega rare Bornean Swiftlet on a nest, bingo! Further up we stopped as the sun started to catch the trees and scored with Golden-naped Barbet, then another real stroke of luck - an Everett's Thrush briefly beside the road and on a roadside barrier before quickly disappearing. Also along the road were a Sunda Bush Warbler and around the trails we eventually winkled out 3 +Yellow-breasted Warblers, 3 Mountain Leaf Warblers, several Arctic Warblers, Mountain Wren-babbler, Chestnut-hooded Laughingthrush, 2+ Bornean Whistlers, c5 Black-capped White-eyes, Ashy Drongo (here of the pale grey race), and 3 Bornean Treepies

Bornean Swiftlet

Golden-naped Barbet

Chestnut-hooded Laughingthrush

Ashy Drongo

Mountain Leaf Warbler

Mountain Leaf Warbler

Bornean Whistler

  
Back in Kundasang during the day we had 2 Long-tailed Shrikes, c6 Olive-backed Sunbirds, White-breasted Woodswallow and both Dusky and Chestnut Munias.

Borneo, Day 2, 27 March 2016, Mount Kinabalu NP & Kundasang

Collecting our hire car at the airport we were soon leaving the Kota Kinabalu area on a week long loop out into the mountains and back. By lunchtime we were at the entrance gates to Mount Kinabalu NP where we quickly grabbed some lunch in the cafe opposite, paid our entry fee to the park and began exploring. On this first afternoon/evening we walked the Upper Liwagu Trail, the Powerstation Road and the Bukit Burung and Bukit Tupal trails. Birds seen included Blyth's Hawk-eagle, 2 Ochraceous Bulbuls, 2 obliging Bornean Whistling Thrushes, Little Pied Flycatcher, 2 Indigo Flycatchers, a Snowy-browed Flycatcher on the road, White-throated Fantail, 4 Arctic Wablers, a Yellow-breasted Warbler, c5 Chestnut-crested Yuhinas, 2 Grey-throated Babblers, Sunda and Chestnut-hooded Laughingthrushes, Blyth's Shrike-babbler, 3 Bornean Whistlers with their very distinctive song, Black-capped White-eye, a stunningly luminous male Temminck's Sunbird, Bornean Green Magpie and Bornean Treepie.

In Kundasang which was our base for 3 nights we got a half price hotel deal and also a free upgrade - bonus! Around the village were Long-tailed Shrike, Oriental Magpie Robin, Dusky Munias, a fly-over Mountain Imperial Pigeon and Grey Wagtail.    

Bornean Whistling Thrush

Bornean Whistling Thrush

Long-tailed Shrike

Indigo Flycatcher

Borneo, Day 1, 26 March 2016 - Tanjung Aru Beach and Klias Wetlands

Our first day dawned hot and hazy but luckily Tanjung Aru Beach was just a 20 minute walk away from our small guesthouse. After a strange breakfast of cakes and coffee in the cafe below our rooms we strolled towards the beach picking up a few of the common birds en-route - Chestnut Munia, the endemic Dusky Munia, Brown-throated and Olive-backed Sunbirds, an Intermediate Egret on a grass verge (!), Cattle Egrets, Spotted Dove, Zebra Dove, Common Sandpiper and the ubiquitous Tree Sparrows and Yellow-vented Bulbuls.

Brown-throated Sunbird

Intermediate Egret

Down at the beach and Prince Phillip Park which is just behind the beach I managed to find 3 of the resident Blue-naped Parrots plus a few Dollarbirds, 2 Collared Kingfishers, Crested Mynas, Pacific Swallows, White-breasted Woodswallows, 2 Pacific Reef Egrets, 3 Little Egrets and then back at the beach carpark the only Common Ioras of the whole trip.

Blue-naped Parrot

Dollarbird

Common Iora

For the afternoon and evening we'd arranged a trip south to the Klias Wetlands with Borneo Dream. This included 2 boat trips along the mangrove-lined Klias River and dinner in between. We were picked up on cue at 14.15 and 2 hours later were on the boat. This trip is supposed to be for Proboscis Monkey but in that was quite disappointing as we only found a single female. Several Long-tailed Macaques and Silvered Langur were also seen.  Birds included an obliging Stork-billed Kingfisher, Hill Myna, Ashy Tailorbird, 4 Common Sandpipers and 2 Long-tailed Parakeets. The 2nd boat trip was after dark to see Fireflies which were superb!

Proboscis Monkey

     Stork-billed Kingfisher  

Borneo Introduction and Logistics

The state of Sabah in the Malaysian part of Borneo has long been on my 'bucket list'. With the added lure of plenty of good mammals as well as birds Belinda and I booked flights to Kota Kinabalu last June and planned our trip over the following months.
We flew with Royal Brunei Airlines from Heathrow via Dubai and Brunei on 24/25 March and returned on 18/19 April at the cost of £585 per person.

Our final itinerary of birding sites looked like this:

26 March - Tanjung Aru Beach, Kota Kinabalu and Klias Wetlands
27 - 30 March - Mount Kinabalu National Park
30 March - 1 April - Poring Hot Springs
2 April - Crocker Range
3 - 4 April - Sepilok
5 - 8 April - Kinabatagnan River/Gomantong Cave
9 - 10 April - Sepilok
11 - 15 April - Danum Valley
16 - 17 April - Mantanani Besar Island
18 April - Kota Kinabalu

Our accommodation and main movements were:

25 & 26 March - Hin Loi Guesthouse, Tanjung Aru
27, 28 & 29 March - Nabalu Kundasang, Kundasang
30 & 31 March -  Sutera Resort, Poring Hot Springs
1 April - Tambunan Inn, Tambunan
INTERNAL FLIGHT, KOTA KINABALU - SANDAKAN  
2, 3 & 4 April - Sepilok Forest Edge Resort
5, 6 & 7 April - Kinabatagnan Jungle Camp
8 & 9 April - Sepilok Forest Edge Resort
TAXI, SEPILOK - LAHAD DATU
10 April - Bike and Tours Bed & Breakfast, Lahad Datu
TRANSFER BY SCHEDULED MINIBUS TO DANUM VALLEY FIELD CENTRE
11, 12, 13 & 14 April - Danum Valley Field Centre
TRANSFER BACK TO LAHAD DATU
INTERNAL FLIGHT, LAHAD DATU - KOTA KINABALU
15 April - Jessleton Hotel, Kota Kinabalu
PICK UP AND TRANSFER BY MINIBUS AND BOAT TO MANTANANI BESAR ISLAND
16 April - Mari Mari Backpackers, Mantanani Besar
TRANSFER BACK TO KOTA KINABALU BY BOAT AND MINIBUS
17 April - Jessleton Hotel, Kota Kinabalu

We booked a hire car from 26 March to 1 April to drive the Kota Kinabalu, Mount Kinabalu NP, Poring Hot Springs, Crocker Range loop. The cost was only c£140 and petrol is really dirt cheap being a quarter of the price it is at home.  Driving was easy as Malaysians drive on the left although some of roads are bumpy and have patches of half-finished gravel road works. 
 
Most of our hotel bookings were made on Booking.com or Agoda except Kinabatagnan Jungle Camp and Danum Valley Field Centre which were booked direct by email and the Mantanani Island package which was booked through Amazing Borneo

To contact Robert Chong who runs Kinabatagnan Jungle Camp use kjcjunglecamp@yahoo.com.my or look at their Facebook page

To contact Danum Valley Field Centre is a right pain in the arse because they are notorious for not replying to emails. After at least 10 emails I eventually got a reply from rifhanmar@yahoo.com but if you have real problems Sticky Rice Travel can arrange things with them (but the cost doubles as they insist on providing a guide). Also, the wonderfully friendly owners of Bike and Tours B&B in Lahad Datu (Simon & Tisha) offered to contact DVFC for us for a small admin fee if we continued to have problems.

All of our birding was done without a guide except at Kinabatagnan Jungle Camp where the birding consists of boat trips on the river with an excellent guide called Romzi.

At this point it is probably worth pointing out that the forest birding in Sabah is tough. Sometimes you can walk for an hour or two without seeing a single bird but perseverance is the key. You'll always find something even if it's often not what you're looking for! This year has been very dry in Sabah and most birds are well into breeding meaning there was little response to playback. The good news with that is there are few leeches about although I got one on my leg at Poring Hot Springs and a couple at Danum Valley after rain.       

 

Here is a clickable interactive map showing birding locations and accommodations which may also help. Birding sites are in red and accommodations in orange
   

Redgrave and Lopham Fen, 13 March 2016

A long sunny walk around the 6.5km Waveney Trail today but it was a tad on the boring side for birds. Plenty of signs of spring amongst the common resident birds but nothing too much to bother the scorers. A couple of 'squealing' Water Rails, displaying Little Grebes, 2 Siskins, c4 Reed Buntings, 2 Common Buzzards, Shoveler, Gadwall, Teal and my first butterfly of 2016 - Small Tortoiseshell was about it.
In the summer I'm going to make a point of trying to nail Fen Raft Spider here.

Back at home an Early Bumblebee was my first bumble of the year.  

Much closer Lapland Buntings! Blakeney, 12 March 2016

After Belinda took care of a little business this morning we headed up to North Norfolk to get her a pait of bins I'd been promising her for our trip to Borneo. Cley Spy came up trumps with a nice pair of Bushnell 8x42s which I have to say are impressive for £129! A Common Buzzard there proved useful for Belinda as she trid them out. The traditional lunch from Picnic Fayre followed and then Belinda got to try here new bins out on the Lapland Buntings along Blakeney Bank. This time they showed much closer which was what I'd been hoping for! In all there were at least 7 with a few Skylarks and c3 Reed Buntings but still no Twite for me. We finished with a 4 mile walk from Blakeney up to Wiveton Downs. 

 

Another Cattle Egret, 6 March 2016

A walk around North Cove and Barnby this lunch time was a case of dodging the heavy hail and sleet showers but luckily we managed it without getting too wet. The Cattle Egret was found on the 2nd look after our circular walk but it proved quite flighty, probably due to the farmer tending his Highland Cattle. 3 Cetti's Warblers were along the river with one seen when flushed out of a shallow ditch. There were plenty of winter thrushes about too with a few Redwings and many more Fieldfares and a single distant Marsh Harrier. 

 

Countdown to Borneo!

With just 3 weeks to go the countdown is on - in reality I've been counting down for ages!
Hopefully my pre-ordered Birds of Borneo field guide due out on 10 March will arrive in time!

Our itinerary includes Kota Kinabalu, Tangang Aru Beach, Klias Wetlands, Mount Kinabalu NP, Poring Hot Springs, The Crocker Range, Sepilok, Kinabatangan River, Gomantaong Caves, Danum Valley and Mantanani Island and I can't wait to get stuck in!

As usual it'll be a steep learning curve with no specific targets which is how I prefer to roll on our foreign trips. The only place we'll have a guide is the Kinabatangan Jungle Camp where we have several boat trips along the river including a night trip or two.


Obviously the mammals like Oran-utang, Proboscis Monkey and Pygmy Elephant are high on Belinda's agenda!

Whitehead's Broadbill would do nicely!