Sabahtical - Day 3 - Surprises

While we were talking with the Pedroques yesterday, Armao, the boy wonder, informed us that he saw a lot of birds in the area around their hotel. Intrigued by what he said, we made arrangements to visit them today. Inasmuch as the Forest Edge B&B was only a short distance from our hotel we decided to go there by walking. Which turned out to be a good idea. Along the way birds were singing by the roadside. One of them gave us a surprise when it suddenly popped into view. Apparently it wanted to show these two human beings that not only does it sing well, it also looks good too.

At first we were wondering if this was the Bornean version of the audacious cisticolas of the Philippines. It was only after we have gone home and utilized the social media that we were able to know the identity of this cute but loud bird. It was an immature Yellow-bellied Prinia, indeed a distant cousin of the cisticola.

We were met by Armao and his brother Joao at the lawn of their hotel. They showed us around ticking off the names of the birds that they have seen at a particular place with their quaint accent, pronouncing yellow-rumped flowerpecker as "yellow rum-ped flowerpecker" and pied fantail as "pee-yed fantail". Thanks to these young boys, we saw the surprisingly common Thick-billed Spiderhunter.

During a pause, I showed Armao the pictures of the birds I have taken at Kinabalu Park and at Fraser's Hill. He identified each and every one of them with incredible ease. When I asked him how many birds he had already seen, he replied, "about a thousand."

"And how long have you been birding?"

"Three years."

A thousand birds in three years by a 9-year old boy!!! And here I am, who had been birding for some nine years, have only about 800 birds in my lifelist! No, I wasn't envious, I was in awe! Surprised and awed.

The wonder boys bade us goodbye as they were about to have breakfast and will be leaving soon afterwards for the Kinabatangan River. "Just go around the place because there are many birds", they assured us.

We saw a sign that said "jungle trail". My wife and I trodded (it was a slight uphill climb) until we came to a point where we were literally at the edge of the forest. I was catching my breath when Cynthia yelled, "look!"

There perched before us was an adult male Red-bearded Bee-eater in all its colorful glory! We've seen the plain green immature one yesterday at the RDC and this was a pleasant surprise.

As were about to hike back down the trail, my wife heard a screech. "Parrots!" she exclaimed. She followed the source of that sound and after some effort, "there!" she pointed at the green leaves. Cynthia was already taking shots at the "parrot" and I was still seeing nothing but leaves. Exasperated, she grabbed my camera which was mounted on a tripod and pointed it to the where the "parrot" was supposed to be. I peeped through the lens and a sheepish grin formed on my face. It was a Long-tailed Parakeet -yet another immature bird - and another lifer for us.

That afternoon we went back to RDC. Thankfully there were only a few people there unlike yesterdays throng. We tried the Bristlehead tower again hoping against hope that its namesake bird would show up. It didn't. In its place we were rewarded by another lifer - the Brown Barbet - and yes, it was another immature bird. 

Continuing on the canopy walkway, we finally saw the Black-and-yellow Broadbill. It was at the time and place that our friend Rommel Cruz told us to expect it.

The canopy also yielded a very friendly Black-naped Monarch.

A Lesser Green Leafbird was curiously bathing in a knot of a tree trunk.

Then another surprise! A pair of Raffles' Malkohas were right next to the walkway. The male got so close that my big lens cannot focus on it. I had to move way back and even then got only half the body.

Cynthia was able to get a better shot of the cute and cuddly-looking female.

That evening as we were returning to our own hotel, we noticed a group of birders looking at something close to the entrance gate. I hurried over and asked them what it was that they're seeing. "Just a common bird" they said and pointed at the Yellow-vented Bulbul. "Ah yes" I agreed. Just then a large black bird alit on a distant tree. I quickly looked through my lens and almost fainted when I realized that it was a Rhinoceros Hornbill! The three birders next to me where oohing and aahing as they watched this magnificent bird.

Another surprise to end our third day.

Sabahtical - Day 2 - Discoveries

This day we get to explore the Rainforest Discovery Center (RDC), a prime birding place in Sabah, Borneo. We were as excited as children about to go to Disneyland for the first time.

At six in the morning as we waited for the van to take us there we discovered graciousness.

Actually it started yesterday. While we were having a late breakfast at the Banana Café (the house restaurant of the Sepilok Jungle Resort where we were staying) a group of American birders joined us. With them was their tour guide Susan Myers, the famous author of the book “Birds of Borneo”. She approached us and we got into a cordial conversation with her. As they were about to resume their birding activities (which will be at the RDC) she graciously offered to take us along. However, since we still have not checked-in yet and my camera gear were still tucked inside our luggage, we had to decline her offer.

This morning, Susan and her group were going back to RDC. Once again, she offered to take us along. However we had already arranged for van to take us there so we had to turn her down again. We also felt that it would be unfair to the members of her tour group who very likely paid thousands of dollars if we joined them and not pay a single cent (which I’m certain that Susan would not ask from us).

We discovered as we were traversing the Canopy Walkway at the RDC that the birds were not as plentiful as we had expected. Perhaps it was the time of day or the intense humidity even at half-past six in the morning. We did get our first lifer of the day though. An immature Red-bearded Bee-eater. (Another discovery we had in this trip was that many of the birds we saw were still in their juvenile stage.)

We discovered the hard way that today was a Malaysian holiday. We were sort of taken aback when several school busses unloaded hordes of noisy school children who immediately went up the Canopy Walkway! Of course, where there were boisterous kids, there were very, very few birds to be seen.

While lounging at the restaurant (a total misnomer because they don’t serve any food, only soft drinks, bottled water and ice cream – at horrendous prices even) we met Wonder Boys. Brothers Armao and Joao Pedroque, ages 9 and 7 respectively, were avid birders. They (along with their Mom and Dad and younger sister) were natives of Catalan, Spain and had been travelling all over Southeast Asia just looking for birds.

After “lunch” Cynthia and I explored the trails. While catching our breath at a place appropriately named Birders Rest, we heard some squawks and several huge birds flew in. I thought they were just the “usual” Oriental Pied Hornbills but when I looked through my lens they definitely looked different. They were Bushy-crested Hornbills! (Whoever named these birds must have a very vivid imagination.)

At two in the afternoon, things began to quiet down a little as most of the visitors have already left. We returned to the Walkway only to be greeted by Armao who came running towards us and in an excited tone told us that he just saw the Bornean Bristlehead about 20 minutes ago.  The adrenaline rush took over my fatigue as I sprinted up about 4 stories high into the aptly named Bristlehead Tower. Elizabeth, Armao’s mother was already there and announced that the rare endemic was already gone.

We waited with the hopes that the Bristlehead would return. Occasionally, we would wander around just to shake off the oncoming ennui. It was during one these wanderings that I saw another lifer. Another immature bird whose identification escaped me. It was only when we were back home and after processing the photo that I was able to find out what kind of bird it was – thanks to Steve Pryor and our friend, Irene. It was a Blue-eared Barbet. Another lifer for us.

We gave up on the Bristlehead and as we were exiting the Canopy Walkway, we got another lifer, the Hairy-backed Bulbul (again an interesting name given by someone whose imagination had gone wild).

As we waited for the van to take us back to our hotel, we discovered that the flowering plants lining the street were host to some beautiful birds. Among them were the dark-colored Copper-throated Sunbirds.

That night my wife and I discovered that we no longer had the energy to do some night birding. As if to confirm our decision, it rained.