Borneo; Day 21 - Kilas Peat Swamp & Departure

   After three weeks our Borneo trip final reached its end today. Our flight was not until the evening, so we had the morning to explore. Laura opted to stay in bed, so I drove the 90 minutes south to the Kilas Peat Swamp Forest, which is known destination for a few specialized species, but which had become much harder within the last year. 

  Setting off at 05:30, I made good time and arrived at the site at 06:40. The gate was open and staff were around, so I paid my entry and then started exploring. The boardwalk was in a sorry state, with many sections broken by falling trunks and many loose panels throughout. It was a bit of a minefield, but I still enjoyed the forest and the birding here, even though I ultimately missed the main target species.

  I got four new species in the three hours that I birded here, with Red-billed Malkoha, Chestnut-bellied Malkoha, Rufous-tailed Tailorbird and Thick-billed Green Pigeon. Sadly, none of them posed for pictures and I didn’t get anything of the two non-Malkoha species. Bornean Black-capped Babbler was nice to see again, and there were nice views of several other species I had become familiar with over the preceding three day. Additionally, it was nice to see Proboscis Monkeys again, although they were distant and there was very limited visibility through the trees.

  At 10:00 I set off back to the hotel to prepare for checkout and our flight home. Once again I made good time and was back with time to pack and shower. We left the hotel at midday, and headed for lunch, then souvenir shopping and then to the airport. A little early for sure, but with few other options, it was nice to be free of the responsibility of the car and allowed us an afternoon break before we flew. Thus draws to a close our trip to Sabah in Malaysian Borneo. 

-Ashy Tailorbird

-Red-billed Malkoha

-Chestnut-bellied Malkoha

-Blue-throated Bee-eater

-Proboscis Monkey

Borneo; Day 20 - Crocker Range

   From our base in Kota Kinabalu, we were able to strike at several sites with species we had missed out on during the regular part of our trip. For the first of our mornings here, we decided to return to the Crocker Range, where we hoped to catch up with some of the birds we missed out on at Mount Kinabalu and Trus Madi. It was a 90 minutes drive from our hotel, so we set off at 06:00 and arrived to start birding at 07:30. 

  We started our birding on the Gunung Alab Substation Road, where we had birded before. However, we did not travel as far as on our previous visit. We birded here for an hour, but for the most part could only find familiar species. A pair of Mountain Blackeye was nice, as was a smart male Temminck’s Sunbird. But the highlight came as we walked back to the car, when we picked out an immature male Pygmy Flycatcher as part of a mixed-species flock. I certainly did not expect the birds constant wing flicks, which were very quirky. It was not a species we had anticipated finding here, so was a good one to get back for the trip! 

  At 08:30 we set off slightly further down the mountain to the Rafflesia Information Centre, where we hoped to find some more birds, as well as see one of the Rafflesia flowers. What we did not realise was that a guide was mandatory, and we could not explore the forest here by ourselves. Still, we wanted to see the flower so paid our entry, drove down to another area of the site, met our guide and then hiked to see the flower. Although it was only 600 metres from the car park, it was an incredibly steep descent down concrete stairs. At the bottom was waiting for us a 6-day-old Rafflesia pricei, not the enormous flower but one of its smaller relatives. 

  We did not see many birds on the trail down to the flower, although Spotted Fantail was an unexpected new species for me. However, without a guide we could explore the open area around the car park so we spent about an hour doing this. Indeed this was very productive. No sooner had we returned to the car than two Mountain Barbet responded to our playback, offering excellent views. Then we continued birding and found a brief pair of the Pygmy Heleia (or White-eye), before finally catching up with the Bornean Barbet, which did not show as well but was still very much appreciated. Sadly the gloomy conditions did not help our chances for Mountain Serpent Eagle, and Whiteheads Spiderhunter was always a long shot, but to get back three species was a great reward for the morning. 

  At 11:00, with the clouds already gathering, we headed back down into the city and our hotel, arriving at 12:30. The rest of the afternoon was a complete washout, although we had a short look at the beach adjacent to our resort during a short break in the weather. There were no waders but a couple of Little Terns flew past, which was quite unexpected. We ended the day drinking cocktails, watching the geckos whilst the rain fell down outside. 

-Pygmy Flycatcher

-Sunda Bush Warbler

-Temminck's Sunbird

-Bornean Barbet

-Pygmy White-eye

-Mountain Barbet

-Spotted Fantail

-Bornean Leafbird

Borneo; Day 19 - Mantanani Island

   In the morning I had one last birding session on Mantanani Island, accompanying the three young Dutch birders I had met the previous day. I was unable to add anything new, but we had nice flybys from three Grey Imperial Pigeons as well as another Pied Imperial Pigeon. The Philippine Megapodes were once again abundant, with several seen scratching around in the leaflitter across the island. 

  Because we had to checkout of our room at 10:00, but could not leave the island until 14:00, the rest of the day was essentially a write-off, not helped by cloudy weather and occasional downpours. Once 14:00 came around, we boarded a small local vessel, to take us back to the Chinese day visitors, with whom we got a lift back to the mainland. The boat back played several songs over their speaker, including MCR Welcome to the Black Parade!

  Once we returned to the mainland at 15:30 we reunited with our car and headed off south to our next destination, a beach resort just south of the city of Kota Kinabalu, the final destination of our trip. Thanks to traffic and incredibly heavy rainfall, it took us almost three hours to complete the journey, so we were glad once it was over and we could finally relax. 

-Grey Imperial Pigeon

Borneo; Day 18 - Mantanani Island

   For our only full day on Mantanani Island, I woke up at 07:00 and set off for a short walk in the island's forest. I could hear many of the Philippine Megapodes calling, but none seemed interested in the playback. Eventually I spotted a pair distantly feeding in a coconut plantation, meaning I finally got nice views of them. There were limited other birds on the island, but Pacific Reef Heron and Emerald Dove were both nice to see. 

  Most of the rest of the day was spent relaxing or snorkling. The latter was very productive, with another Moorish Idol seen, as well as Picasso Triggerfish and most importantly my first Common Clownfish! But the highlight was swimming alongside sea turtles! Other guests had said they had seen them whilst swimming off the beach, so we watched for surfacing animals before heading into the water, since we knew where they were. We had fantastic views of at least two but possibly three different turtles under the water, as we swam alongside them. The only animals we identified were Green Sea Turtles, but Hawksbill Sea Turtles also apparently occur in the area.

  At 16:30, after chatting to a young Dutch birder, we set off for a walk around the island. This was very productive, and we landed several good birds. First we spotted a distant perched Grey Imperial Pigeon, which is a rare species found on the island. Next we had two Pied Imperial Pigeons fly past us, another new pigeon for me, and then as we were walking back we found a group of five Metallic Pigeons feeding on a fruiting tree, my third new pigeon of the afternoon. Additionally we enjoyed more views of several Philippine Megapodes and a large Water Monitor. 

  We arrived back at the lodge at sunset and spent the next half an hour filtering through the hundreds of Frigatebirds flying overhead to roost. Most of them were Lesser Frigatebirds, but we picked out a couple of Christmas Island Frigatebirds as well. Having seen the owl yesterday, we were able to relax this evening before heading back to the mainland tomorrow.

-Philippine Megapode

-Metallic Pigeon

-Pied Imperial Pigeon

-Grey Imperial Pigeon

-Collared Kingfisher

-Lesser Frigatebird

-Christmas Island Frigatebird & Lesser Frigatebird

-Philippine Megapode & Common Water Monitor

-Common Water Monitor

-Green Sea Turtle

Borneo; Day 17 - Mantanani Island

   From Kota Belud, we drove half an hour north to a riverside jetty, from where we would take the boat to Mantanani Island, a small forested island offshore from Borneo, which would offer us a nice chance to relax and a couple of new bird species. From the jetty, we took a boat with the company Arunava, which specializes in day-trips for snorkelling near the Island. Our hosts on the island had arranged for us to partake in this activity, which was very generous of them.

  The snorkelling itself was fun, and we got the best part of an hour. It was sad to see much of the coral had been damaged by the anchors of the numerous tourist vessels, but there were still quite a few healthy sections and here we spotted a few iconic fish, such as Moorish Idol, Humbug Damselfish and Sergeant Major Damselfish. We returned for lunch with Arunava at 13:00, before a small fishing vessel collected us and took us round to the Greenhouse Ecolodge, where we would be staying for two nights.

  During the afternoon we did some more snorkelling, although most of the fish could not be identified. A short walk at the end of the afternoon got us the first of our targets, the Philippine Megapode, but it was only a flushed bird. Most importantly, we enjoyed our first real relaxation time of the trip.

  At night, after dinner, we set off looking for the islands main target, the Mantanani Scops Owl, which can only be found here in Malaysia. Before we even left the lodge grounds we could hear several, and it took about five minutes before one flew across the torchlight and sat perfectly nearby. It was a relief this process did not take too long, as the mosquitoes were really quite vicious.

-Mantanani Scops Owl

Borneo; Day 16 - Danum Valley

  Our final morning in Danum! We had a 90-minute walk along the road trying to pick up some last species, which landed us Grey-cheeked Bulbul, but otherwise it was similar species to the previous evening. In the end we had enjoyed our time here a lot, although the birding was slower than we anticipated and the cost was still astronomical! We boarded the vehicle back to Lahad Datu, and at 09:30 we left the Danum Valley Field Station. 

  We reached Lahad Datu at 11:30, a little earlier than anticipated. This was great, as we had a long days drive ahead of us. On paper it was almost seven hours, but with the trucks and the state of the road we anticipated it to be longer. Fortunately it did not take us that long, thanks to fewer trucks than expected and some frankly daft driving from me! It was nice to drive past some of our previous stops on the trip, including seeing Mount Kinabalu again. We stopped at a restaurant near the mountain, where I thought I might have heard the Whitehead’s Spiderhunter, but it did not come back to playback. We finally arrived in the town of Kota Belud at 19:00, but having already eaten and completed necessary errands, meaning that we could head straight to the hotel and crash! 

-Little Spiderhunter

-Brown Barbet

-Malaysian Pied Fantail

-Black-headed Bulbul

-Spectacled Bulbul

-Malaysian Crested Fireback

Borneo; Day 15 - Danum Valley

   For our second full day, we started again on the grid trail. There was a little more activity than there had been the previous afternoon, but it was still quite a slog. I added one more new species before we returned for breakfast, with a Horsefield’s Babbler, although it did not show especially well and it scuttled away before more pictures could be taken. 

  After breakfast we headed back to the area we had birded the previous morning. This was quite a productive session and we encountered several interesting species. On the forest edges we added another Bornean endemic with Cream-eyed Bulbul, and once inside the forest there were several new species for me which we encountered. Scale-crowned Babbler and Rufous-crowned Babbler were both nice to see and showed well. Yellow-breasted Flowerpecker and Rufous-winged Philentoma were also good to see and we had excellent but brief views of a Black-crowned Pitta sitting on the path before heading to cover. We landed another key target with Bornean Blue Flycatcher, but it did not show well despite singing relentlessly in response to playback. In the end we had to leave it with a few really poor views, with the song confirming the identification. 

  In the afternoon, under the gloom of an impending thunderstorm that somehow never arrived, we birded along the main road. The more open habitat gave us better chances of finding canopy birds, and so it transpired as we managed to find a group of six Bornean Bristleheads that lingered for some time. Additionally finally found our first lowland Trogon species with Diard’s Trogon, a very handsome male that seemed to prefer lingering in the gloom rather than sitting in the open. We finally found the endemic Yellow-rumped Flowerpiercer, probably the most silly endemic we had not yet found, and I also had a new species with Chestnut-rumped Babbler. 

  For our final night we once again decided to do the night drive offered by the site. Although it never reached the highs of the previous evening's effort, we had a great time. Both Malay Civet and Small-toothed Palm Civet offered very intimate encounters, with the latter containing a family of adult and two offspring. We had distant canopy views of both Giant Red Flying Squirrel and Thomas’s Flying Squirrel, the latter being another new mammal for us. Brown Wood Owl was once again the bird of the evening, although a sleeping pair of Malaysian Blue Flycatchers were also very much enjoyed.

-Diard's Trogon

-Bornean Bristlehead

-Yellow-rumped Flowerpecker

-Chestnut-rumped Babbler

-Rufous-winged Philentoma

-Purple-naped Spiderhunter

-Rufous-crowned Babbler

-Scaly-crowned Babbler

-Cream-eyed Bulbul

-Brown Wood Owl

-Malaysian Blue Flycatcher

-Maroon Leaf Monkey

-Bornean Small-toothed Palm Civet

-Malay Civet

-Red Giant Flying Squirrel

-Thomas' Flying Squirrel