Borneo; Day 3 - Mount Kinabalu

   Today would be the first of three full days that we would spend in the Kinabalu Park. Armed with our birders pass and a whole bunch of new species to find, we set off early morning to work our what we could find. We arrived at the main entrance gate at 05:45 and began to work out what the craic was. We assumed that the gate to the substation road up the mountain would also be open at that time, but apparently it only opened at 07:00, and since we knew these early hours were when we needed to find the rare Everett’s Thrush, we were at a bit of a loss. We spent the next 90 minutes birding around the lodges not seeing too much, but hearing plenty. It was not in vain however, as we were able to find our first Bornean Forktail.

  Once the gate was open we drove up the substation road to the Timpohon Gate, which is as far up the mountain we could go. From here we birded and slowly walked down the mountain for the duration of the morning, sticking to the main road rather than birding any of the trails. Near the top we had a lively group of Sunda Laughingthrushes, as well as Sunda Bush Warbler, Sunda Cuckooshrike and our first Mountain Leaf Warbler. Talking to a birding group, we just missed a Whiteheads Spiderhunter, which would have been a great species to see.

  As we continued down the road, passing the Kiau Gap Viewpoint, it became apparent just how difficult birding here could be, as we saw very little throughout the morning. As we descended the only target we managed to add was a Bornean Whistling Thrush, although we also added another Bornean Forktail. Otherwise the only new species we added was a smart Checker-throated Woodpecker.

  We retuned to the bottom of the road at 11:00, but since we couldn’t have lunch at the Liwagu Restaurant until 12:00 we spent an hour birding around the lodge. Here we encountered a surprising number of species, although mostly common species. That said, we added Yellow-breasted Warbler and Black-capped White-eye to our list of targets seen, and had our best views yet of Black-sided Flowerpiercer.

  After lunch, we decided to return up the mountain and bird along the Mempening Trail. It was already drizzling when we set off, but decided to make the most of it and we had the best part of an hour before the heavens truly opened. During this time we found the train quite lively, with several mixed-species flocks passing through, albeit with species seen earlier in the day. It was not until our final mixed-species flock that we struck a key target when we spotted a Bornean Green Magpie in tow. It never showed well, but it was great to see this rare species! Additionally, we saw the rare Kinabalu Squirrel, an unexpected bonus for our afternoon walk in the rain.

  As mentioned, at 14:30 the heavens truly opened, so we beat a hasty retreat to our hotel to see what would happen. It carried on raining is what happened, so we spent the evening relaxing and recovering from our jetlag! 

-Mount Kinabalu

-Bornean Green Magpie

-Sunda Laughingthrush

-Chestnut-hooded Laughingthrush

-Temminck's Sunbird

-Black-sided Flowerpecker

-Mountain Leaf Warbler

-Chestnut-crested Yuhina

-Checker-throated Woodpecker

-Bornean Whistling Thrush

-Sunda Bush Warbler

-Little Cuckoo Dove

-Bornean Forktail

-Kinabalu Squirrel

-Bornean Mountain Ground Squirrel

Borneo; Day 2 - Trusmadi Bird Station & Mount Kinabalu

   Jet-lag meant I was awake at 01:00, and didn’t get back off to sleep after that, which meant when 05:30 rolled around, our time of departure, I was gnawing at the bit to get out and birding. Our first destination of the morning was the hide of CP Song, which we arranged through Calvin NG. This hide is one of two famous hides for Bulwer’s Pheasant, a species once mythical but now reliable. Sadly we knew no male was visiting at the time of our trip, but a female was still being seen, so we had hopes that we would at least see the species. 

  We turned up at the hide at 06:00 just as light was starting to break over the forest. It was dark and gloomy in the hide but there were birds and ample squirrels already scuttling around. It took about an hour for the Bulwer’s Pheasant female to appear, but she did not linger long, just a few minutes in total. The star of the show was a superb Bornean Banded Pitta which came and went throughout the two hours we spent in the hide.

  There was an excellent supporting cast of birds, with highlights including a lively flock of Crested Partridge and a small group of Rufous-breasted Partridge. A few endemics were visiting, such as Grey-hooded Babbler, Dayak Blue Flycatcher, Penan Bulbul and White-crowned Shama. In addition to the birds, the hide was alive with squirrels and treeshrews, but working them out will take a bit more effort. 

  By 08:00 the activity in the hide had died a death, so we spent the next hour birding along the adjacent road. It was quiet with no traffic and activity was not bad. We found several Bornean Bulbul, a species which we hoped to find here as it is difficult at other sites. A chance find of another hide not far away on the other side of the road turned up trumps with a Crimson-headed Partridge feeding there when we walked in. It was a great morning. At 09:00 we set off headed to Mount Kinabalu, a little earlier than expected but grateful for the extra time we would have to find birds there. 

  It took about two hours for us to reach Mount Kinabalu, although we made a short but unsuccessful stop at a stakeout for White-fronted Falconet. Once we had sorted ourselves out with a birders permit, which was very straightforward to organize, we headed to the restaurant for lunch. From the balcony here we had our first Black-sided Flowerpecker and a flock of Chestnut-crested Yuhina. The highlight of this lunch break was an excellent Prevost’s Squirrel, which was around throughout. 

  After lunch, we drove up the road and started birding the upper area of the Silau-silau Trail, before reconnecting with the road and walking back up that. It being early afternoon, it should not have been a shock that the activity was slow, but it was very slow. We recorded less than 10 species in about two hours walking, although we started to make slow work on our targets, with Golden-naped Barbet and a superb performance from a pair of Bornean Stubtail showing less than a metre away! We were also treated to a Tufted Pygmy Squirrel, which was one of the mammal target highlights of the trip and did not disappoint! 

  At 15:00 I was happy to keep birding the road, but Laura wanted to drive up to the Telepon Gate to see what was happening up there. This was a fortuitous event, as no sooner had we got into the car than the heavens opened and it did not relent. Although we went to the gate, we saw very little in the downpour, except for a small flock of showy Chestnut-headed Laughingthrushes. Tired and jetlagged, we decided to call it a day at 16:00 and headed to the hotel, very satisfied with our first day in Borneo! 

-Trusmadi

-Bornean Banded Pitta

-Crested Partridge

-Bulwer's Pheasant

-Red-breasted Partridge

-White-crowned Shama

-Grey-hooded Babbler

-Rufous-chested Flycatcher

-Penan Bulbul

-Dayak Blue Flycatcher

-Crimson-headed Partridge

-Bornean Bulbul

-Ear-spot Squirrel

-Low's Squirrel

-Jentink's Squirrel

-Bornean Stubtail

-Dark Hawk-Cuckoo

-Tufted Pygmy Squirrel

-Pale Giant Squirrel

Borneo; Day 1 - Arrival & Crocker Range

   Finally we come around to my first independent trip of the year, this time with my girlfriend Laura to the stunning island of Borneo. Specifically we would spend three weeks exploring the state of Sabah in Malaysian Borneo, where most of the island's endemics can be found, as well as an excellent array of other goodies.

  The flight was long, and not ideally timed to deal with jetlag. We arrived in Kuala Lumpur at 06:00 which was almost exactly the time to sleep in Western Europe. Still, we persevered and arrived in Kota Kinabalu at 10:30, where we had a smooth car pickup, and then we were on our way.

  We started our trip by driving the two hours to the town of Tambunan, where we checked into our hotel, took showers and caffeine, before doubling back half an hour to the Crocker Range or Gunung Alab Substation Road, where there was some upland forest and we could make a state on our altitudinal targets. There is supposed to be a hide here, but even with the grid reference we could not locate a trail that led to it. We did find an open area clearly used for bird feeding, but it was void of activity when we arrived. It did not help that it rained a considerable amount during the two hours exploring the site. 

  On the bird front we made a steady start to our birding despite the conditions. Our first target to fall was a particularly tricky Bornean Shortwing, followed by Bornean Whistler and an absolutely sodden Indigo Flycatcher. Exploring around the substation itself got us a few goodies, including our first Chestnut-hooded Laughingthrushes and a pair of very showy Mountain Blackeyes. Sadly the weather never relented and given our already exhausted condition, we decided to cut our losses and give ourselves a bit more time to recover for the subsequent days birding. 

-Crocker Range

-Mountain Blackeye

-White-browed Shrike-Babbler

-Indigo Flycatcher

Soil Hill

  I had completed my route around Soil Hill and was just on my way back home at around 07:20. As I passed the Entrance Copse my attention was caught by a high-pitched call. Over the past couple of weeks there have been many high-pitched calls which made me think of Treecreeper, but they always turned out to be fledgling birds of one species or another, normally tits. Consequently, I did not expect this to be any different, but tried to spot the culprit regardless. It was quite the shock when I tracked down the source of this call to find that it was indeed a Treecreeper! And more than that, the bird showed very well perching in the open for excellent views and nice photos.

  This is a species I had often considered for a Soil Hill tick, and summer often seemed like the best time as juveniles disperse from nearby breeding woodlands. Hence my increased interest in the various high-pitched calls I had encountered over the last week or so. However, it still caught me off guard this morning, being my 135th species for the Soil Hill!

-Treecreeper

-Broad-bodied Chaser

Soil Hill

   I was slightly delayed in starting my morning on the 5th June thanks to sporadic rain showers that continued on and off throughout the early morning, a continuation of the previous days' downpours. My morning visit to Soil Hill finally commenced at 08:00, when I predicted that it would be safe to venture out without the risk of becoming thoroughly sodden.

  As I headed up Taylor Lane I heard what sounded like the song of a male Quail, with the classic ‘whet-my-lips’ phrase uttered once. Unfortunately the song was faint and I could not hear it clearly with the other birds in full song around me, that and the fact that it had caught me completely off-guard.

  I waited, anxious that I may have let the bird slip by me, but after 10 minutes I heard the song again. After refreshing the Merlin App so many times to try and get a recording, I was frustrated that the app had not picked up the song. But at least I was now clear that I had a Quail on my hands.

  What I did not expect was that I would see the bird, but I caught it out of the corner of my eye as it flew across the road, crashing into the fields on the other side. From there, it continued to be extremely reluctant to sing, normally only uttering the single sequence of three notes. On only one occasion did it start to sing with any regularity, but during this period I was able to get several recordings of the bird. On my way back down the Hill an hour later, it was still sporadically singing, but it had once again crossed the road.

  Sadly the Quail was not heard by birders visiting in the afternoon, nor by me when I visited that evening. The following day was very wet but once again there was no sight or sound of the Quail, and now that a few days have transpired, I feel comfortable posting the record on here. 

  Because of the tall grasses in the hay fields around Soil Hill, Quail has long been a species I have imagined finding here. But its rarity in Calderdale always made it an unlikely prospect, one that I am overjoyed to have fulfilled. This was not only a Soil Hill and Calderdale tick for me, this was no less than a full British tick! I never thought I would have one of those on Soil Hill ever again!

-Quail