20th January 2009

With a help from Eugene who works at Kota Kinabalu Wetland Centre (formerly known as Kota Kinabalu Bird Sanctuary), found this single Rufous Night Heron at one of the mangrove tree next to the office hehehe. Dennis found this bird last Sunday around 5 in the evening and managed to get eye level shot !

Rufous Night Heron

2 years ago, i found big colony of this bird together with Black-crowned Night Heron near Queen Elizabeth Hospital at small patch of land. Juvenile was also present that time but unfortunately, few months later, the colony has moved to other unknown place. So finding this bird at Wetland Centre is a relief for me and my 1st decent shot of this uncommon species for Sabah :)

Other birds seen and heard:

• Purple Heron
• Great Egret
• Brahminy Kite
• White-breasted Waterhen
• Common Sandpiper
• Common Greenshank
• Rock Dove
  
• Spotted Dove
• Zebra Dove
• Greater Coucal
• Blue-eared Kingfisher
• Blue-throated Bee-Eater
• Common Iora
  
• Pied Triller
• Yellow-vented Bulbul
• Chestnut-rumped Babbler
• Oriental Magpie Robin
• Ashy Tailorbird
• white-breasted Wood-Swallow
• Asian Glossy Starling
• Olive-backed Sunbird
• Black-headed Munia

Eurasian Tree Sparrow at last !!!

Collared Kingfisher

Little Egret

Crab sp.

Bird Tower good for raptors in flight

Breeding place for Purple Heron

Boardwalk at the centre along the mangrove

The Wetland Centre is opened from Tuesday until Sunday only and closed on Monday. Conservation fee is RM 3 per person and has resource library for visitor too. Please visit their website at http://www.sabah.org.my/kkcbs/

Happy birding !

Kota Belud Bird Count

8th January 2009

Weather a bit overcast but produced nice birds during my count covering Taun Gusi, Rampayan and Tempasuk Village at Kota Belud district which takes around 75km from Kota Kinabalu city.

Main highlight today was the sighting of juvenile Eurasian Marsh Harrier (spilonotus) being harassed by Black-winged Kite at Taun Gusi and another adult female at Tempasuk Village hahaha. It is a common winter visitor to this area but the number usually less than 5 when my observations of this raptor started since 2004.

Mt. Kinabalu

Abandoned paddy field

Cattle

Small stall on the roadside where i had my breakfast :)

Rampayan beach


Fisherman boat where i saw 30 over Lesser Frigatebird gliding on top

Birds seen and heard: Total 45 species

• Lesser Frigatebird (One female flew very low and near to me :p)
  
• Grey Heron
• Purple Heron
• Cattle Egret
• Great Egret
• Little Egret
• Wandering Whistling Duck
• Black-winged Kite
• Brahminy Kite
• Eurasian Marsh Harrier
• Changeable Hawk Eagle (Pale morph)
• White-breasted Waterhen
• Common Moorhen
• Purple Swamphen
• Pacific Golden Plover
• Little Ringed Plover
• Kentish Plover (1 seen at the beach and many at Tempasuk paddy field)
• Marsh Sandpiper
• Common Greenshank
• Wood Sandpiper
• Common Sandpiper
• Long-toed Stint
• Black-winged Stilt
• Whiskered Tern
• Spotted Dove
• Zebra Dove
• Plaintive Cuckoo (Heard)
• Collared Kingfisher
• Blue-throated Bee-Eater
• Barn Swallow
• Pacific Swallow
• Pied Triller
  
• Yellow-vented Bulbul
  
• Striated Grassbird
• Yellow-bellied Prinia
• White-breasted Wood-Swallow
• Brown Shrike
• Yellow Wagtail
  
• Paddyfield Pipit
• Asian Glossy Starling
• Olive-backed Sunbird
  
• Dusky Munia
• Scaly-breasted Munia
• Black-headed Munia
• Eurasian Tree Sparrow

Pictures was digiscoped with Nikon Fieldscope ED82, SRB-Griturn Mk II adapter and Fujifilm F31d

Cattle Egret

Changeable Hawk Eagle (Pale morph)


Straited Grassbird


Juvenile Lesser Coucal

Happy birding !

Raining Season

12th January 2008

Raining around the west coast of Sabah and few places was flooded too. After i sent my wife to her office, drove up to one of the building in the city facing the Signall Hill and digiscoped few common species around Kota Kinabalu.

Digiscoped with Nikon Fieldscope ED82, SRB-Griturn Mk II adapter and Fujifilm F31d

Rock Pigeon is common around Gaya Street.

Asian Glossy Starling



Yellow-vented Bulbul in the rain

Pink-necked Green Pigeon taking shelter from the rain

The shots was taken from the 6th floor and one of the best place to get eye level pictures of birds such as Green Imperial Pigeon, House Swift and White-breasted wood-Swallow.

And recently, friends in Kuching, Sarawak found new birds for Borneo; Pied Avocet and White-faced Plover during their outing at Buntal Village. Info regarding this will be post soon hehehe :)

Happy birding !

Birding With Paul and Ruth

9th - 10th January 2008

Stayed for a night at Kinabalu National Park and on this particular trip, I've missed the Whitehead's trio (except for Spiderhunter which was heard along Silau-Silau Trail). What surprised me too is the absent of Little Pied Flycatcher and Eyebrowed Jungle Flycatcher which i always see while birding. Probably another sign of declining species at the mountain ?

The good news is, saw my lifer, Red-throated Flycatcher which was seen and digiscoped by my friend Ck last November hahaha but only Ruth missed it as she was a bit far that time.

Saw and heard:

• Red-breasted Partridge (heard)
• Crimson-headed Partridge
  
• Oriental Cuckoo (heard)
• Large Hawk Cuckoo (heard)
• Mountain Imperial Pigeon
• Little Cuckoo Dove
  
• Barn Swallow
• Glossy Swiftlet
• Golden-naped Barbet (endemic)
• Maroon Woodpecker
  
• Ashy Drongo
  
• Black and Crimson Oriole
• Bornean Treepie (endemic)
  
• Grey-chinned Minivet
• Sunda Cuckooshrike
• White-browed Shortwing
• Grey-throated Babbler
• Chestnut-crested Yuhina
  
• Ochraceous Bulbul
• Flavescent Bulbul
• Short-tailed Magpie
  
• Chestnut-hooded Laughtingthrush (endemic)
• Sunda Laughingthrush
• Bare-headed Laughingthrush (endemic)
• Bornean Whistling Thrush (endemic)
  
• Orange-headed Thrush (heard)
  
• Everett's Thrush (endemic)
• White-crowned Forktail
• Mountain Tailorbird
• Yellow-breasted Warbler
• Mountain Leaf Warbler
• Bornean Stubtail (endemic)
• Indigo Flycatcher
• Snowy-browed Flycatcher
  
• Asian Brown Flycatcher
• Red-throated Flycatcher (lifer)
  
• White-throated Fantail
  
• Mugimaki Flycatcher (Did not see this bird last year)
• Bornean Whistler (endemic)
• Grey Wagtail
  
• Plain Sunbird
• Olive-backed Sunbird
  
• Temminck's Sunbird
• Whitehead's Spiderhunter
• Black-sided Flowerpecker (endemic)
• Black-capped White-eye
• Mountain Blackeye (endemic)

Non-bird seen:

• Giant Squirrel
• Bornean Black-Banded Squirrel
• Treesrew

Mt. Kinabalu

Pretty looking Butterfly landed on Paul's shoulder

Liwagu River

Golden-naped Barbet



Chestnut-hooded Laughingthrush nesting near the restaurant

Hahaha

They are on their way to Sepilok and Kinabatangan River then at Danum Valley Field Centre. Before they came, they've been touring around West Malaysia and saw many birds especially at Fraser's Hill.

Planning for trip to Mantanani Island this month with Ck hehehe hoping to see the Mantanani Scops Owl and Nicobar Pigeon :p

Digiscoped with Nikon Fieldscope ED82, SRB-Gritun Mk II adapter and Fujifilm F31d

Happy birding !

Record Shot Of Asian Koel

7th January 2009

At last after waiting for 2 hours, the male Asian Koel was spotted at one of the fig tree but unfortunately it was a bit dark and far, only managed to get record shots of this shy bird which is a winter visitor to Borneo :)

The female was seen in flight but no opportunity to take any pictures ...

Male Asian Koel


My best shot so far of this Dollarbird compared with the previous one

Magpie Robin (Bornean subspecies without white on the belly)


Supposed to be a parking lot for visitors to the beach but it is not well maintained


Karim testing my new toy hahaha :p

Earlier this morning, i went to Lok Kawi Beach to check the waders and the tide was higher and most of the waders was found feeding along the beach. Only few usual species seen today.

• Great Egret x 1
  
• Little Egret x 1
• Chinese Egret x 1
  
• Terek Sandpiper x 1
  
• Malaysian Plover x 2
  
• Lesser Sand Plover x 20
• Greater Sand Plover 10
• Grey Plover x 1
• Ruddy Turnstone x 8

A bit dirty ...

Greater and Lesser Sand Plover with Ruddy Turnstone

Female Kentish Plover resting not far from where i was sitting

Little Egret with Greater Sand Plover around

Single Grey Plover and considered uncommon visitor to this beach

Endangered Chinese Egret

Digiscoped with Nikon Fieldscope ED82, SRB-Griturn Mk II adapter and Fujifilm F31d

Happy birding and digiscoping !

Daily Birding In Kota Kinabalu City

5th January 2008

Spent few hours at Tanjung Aru Beach around the Prince Phillip Park today hoping to see the Red-throated Flycatcher and Oriental honey-Buzzard, but no luck with these two birds. Weather was a bit dull in the morning and quite challenging while taking pictures against the grey sky.

Some of my shots today;

View of Sulug and Manukan Island

Shell Traffic Competitions for school childrens held yearly at this place

Neat and clean park suitable for picnic and barbeque during weekends and school holidays

Dollarbird is common around the beach

Collared Kingfisher in action !

Great Egret

Little Egret

Tanjung Aru beach is a nice place for beginners in bird watching as most of the common species could be seen here especially the noisy Blue-naped Parrot and Asian Glossy Starling with combination of waterbirds too example like the Chinese Egret and Whiskered Tern were seen today.

Other birds seen today;

• Pacific Reef Egret
• Intermediate Egret
  
• White-bellied Fish Eagle
• Pacific Golden Plover
• Grey-tailed Tattler
• Whimbrel
  
• Green Imperial Pigeon
• Pink-necked Green Pigeon
• Spotted Dove
• Zebra Dove
• Asian Palm Swift
• Pied Fantail
  
• Crested Myna
• White-breasted wood-Swallow
  
• Olive-backed Sunbird
  
• Black-headed Munia
• Eurasian Tree Sparrow

Pictures was digiscoped with Nikon Fieldscope ED82, SRB-Griturn Mk II adapter and Fujifilm F31d

Happy birding !

Bird Count January 2009

3rd January 2008

A bit busy during New Year's Day with family for bird count, so woke up around 7am this morning and left home at 8.30am for my official bird count this year covering few villages in Tuaran district.

My 1st bird was the commonest Yellow-vented Bulbul followed by Spotted Dove and Rock Pigeon. When i arrived at my favorite patch, saw few Wandering Whistling Duck, Common Moorhen and Zebra Dove. No Northern Pintail and Shoveler ...

Then moved on to Dungang village where some of the paddy field plots have been grown with rice and others just started being ploughed by machine. Great, Intermediate, Little and Cattle Egret feeding around the field and suddenly, Cinnamon Bittern flew past and landed at one of plot nearby.

Paddy fields at Dungang village

Sabandar Beach

My last stop was at Sabandar Beach and few picnickers were having fun and what a nice ending of my count when i saw around 33 Lesser Frigate Bird flying low ! Hahaha :p

Total species seen and heard: 49 birds

• Oriental Darter
• Lesser Frigate Bird
• Grey Heron
• Purple Heron
• Cattle Egret
• Great Egret
• Intermediate Egret
• Little Egret
  
• Cinnamon Bittern
• Wandering Whistling Duck
• Brahminy Kite
  
• Black-winged Kite
• White-breasted Waterhen
• Common Moorhen
• Pacific Golden Plover
• Little Ringed Plover
  
• Kentish Plover
• Marsh Sandpiper
• Wood Sandpiper
• Common Sandpiper
• Long-toed Stint
• Black-winged Stilt
• Whiskered Tern
• Pink-necked Green Pigeon
• Rock Pigeon
• Spotted Dove
• Zebra Dover
• Common Kingfisher
• Stork-billed Kingfisher (heard)
  
• Sunda Woodpeker (heard)
• Barn Swallow
• Pacific Swallow
• Pied Triller
• Common Iora
• Yellow-vented Bulbul
• Magpie Robin
• Striated Grassbird
• Ashy Tailorbird (heard)
• Yellow-bellied Prinia
• Pied Fantail
• White-breasted Wood-Swallow
• Yellow Wagtail
• Asian Glossy Starling
• Crested Myna
• Olive-backed Sunbird
• Dusky Munia
• Scaly-breasted Munia
• Black-headed Munia
• Eurasian Tree Sparrow

Images was digiscoped with Nikon Fieldscope ED82, SRB-Griturn Mk II adapter and Fujifim F31d

Little Egret

Scaly-breasted Munia

Wood Sandpiper


Yellow-vented Bulbul

I will be conducting few bird counts with friends for the West Coast of Sabah and Kota Kinabalu was covered by my friend Ck on the 1st January 2009. Members of Borneo Bird Club @ BoBC at different districts will conduct their bird count soon.

Happy birding folks !