Borneo; Day 14 - Danum Valley

   Myself and Jonathan set off into the forest at 06:00, for a short walk before breakfast. This turned into quite a productive venture. Although we were not searching for it specifically, it was great to see a Blue-headed Pitta jumping around the understorey, with its neon blue head giving it away. Additionally we saw Black-throated Wren-Babbler again, this time much better than the previous day, and had nice views of Striped Wren-Babbler. 

  After breakfast, we all went out to try and track down the Great Argus pheasant. Sadly, despite hearing the bird close many times, we were never able to see anything on it, and the bird did not seem to move. It is undeniable that the birding was very slow during this walk, with only a handful of species seen, albeit a selection of new ones for me; Whiskered Treeswift, Maroon-breasted Philentoma and Purple-naped Spiderhunter. We also ended the walk with a nice Bornean Green Pit Viper. 

  After lunch we birded a bit on the Grid Trail across the river. There had been a short rainshower but it had passed and we were ready to go. Sadly, the afternoon birding was extremely slow, and we saw very little in the trail. A few flyover Hornbills were about the best that we could muster, with Wreathed Hornbill and Rhinoceros Hornbill. A Helmeted Hornbill was calling close but never came. It was actually a very frustrating afternoon. Fortunately, at the end of our walk, we stopped on the bridge over the river and here I had two new species, both Barbets that I had previously not really searched for; Golden-whiskered Barbet and Black-cheeked Barbet. The highlight however, was a Whiskered Treeswift that came and perched on the bridge about a half a meter away from me, giving incredible views. 

  At night we did a night walk as opposed to a night drive. This meant we spent more time within the confines of the forest, where we found several sleeping birds. Most of these were common species, although a male Bornean Crested Fireback was nice, as well as a really fluffed-up Hairy-backed Bulbul. The mammals were great once again however. There was a very obscured Greater Mouse Deer in the understorey, which we got terrible views of. As we got back to the field centre we spotted a Malay Civet on the lawn, but it scuttled away before we could get some nice photos. However, as we walked away I scanned behind with the thermal and spotted that it had returned. However, once we got the lights on it we realized that it was infact a different civet, a Philippine Palm Civet, which was new for us!