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 in the afternoon previous, 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 Moustached 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 evenings 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 distant canopy views of both Giant Red Flying Squirrel and Thomas’s Flying Squirrel, the latter being another new mammals for us. Brown Wood Owl was once again the bird of the evening, although a sleeping pair of Malaysian Blue Flycatchers were very much enjoyed also.