17th October 2010:Borneo Bird Festival, Sepilok, Sabah

I opened my door at sunrise to this sight! Apparently there was a new 'happening' fig restaurant in town and it was just outside my chalet! This was one of a group of four orang utans who had dropped in for breakfast.

All the regular customers were there...









































Some male Black Hornbills.



Mrs Rhino spent a long time in an adjacent tree having a post-breakfast sunbathe.



Front and back!



A sudden look of annoyance...



A Black Hornbill gets a glare!



A bit of privacy please, while I pick my teeth! The right foot might have been an easier option though.



Not only mammals and birds were attracted to the fruiting fig.






















This is Apterygodon vittatus, a common skink in Sabah's forest.





A couple of fly-overs - Oriental Honey-buzzard and Violet Cuckoo.



I finally found where the Thick-billed Spiderhunters were feeding, but I only had time to grab a couple of shots before having to catch the shuttle bus to the Rainforest Discovery Centre.

At RDC it was the last full day at the Festival, and there was a good crowd, as yesterday.





The illustrators of a future edition of Birds of Borneo! I was amazed by the plumage detail and colour accuracy of some of the pictures in the kids' painting competition. Here are Red-naped and Whitehead's Trogon and Bristlehead - instantly recognizable!



Some impressive sculpting was underway as well!

After the last of the talks, I took Alan McBride, of Wildiaries to check out the Black-and-Crimson Pitta I'd photographed last March. It put on a fantastic show for us. Here are some of the many pics I took.



















































While we were watching the pitta, this Black-capped Babbler walked right up to us. This shot was taken with the zoom set at 100mm and at minimum focusing distance. At times I couldn't get the whole bird in the frame!



Eventually we had to walk away from the pitta, with the bird still hopping around in full view, apparently having forgotten that it is supposed to skulk in thick undergrowth!



This juv White-crowned Shama delighted festival-goers near the RDC entrance.











































A good way to end the day - at the fruiting fig restaurant!

28th March 2010: Kinabatangan Jungle Camp, Sabah

There's been a drought in Sabah apparently. However, since I arrived on 21st, the drought ended! It had rained every day in Sandakan while I was there, but in Sukau, there had not been a drop. I arrived at Kinabatangan Jungle Camp at about 11am. At 1pm the rain started! It poured till 3pm. Robert Chong, our expert guide, rubbed his hands in anticipation. The birds had been very quiet for the previous two weeks, but now he was sure the rain would bring the birds out!

Birding on the Kinabatangan is literally laid back! You sit in a boat and are taken down the river, and all the birds and wildlife are viewed from the reclining position. Very cool!



Within five minutes of leaving the jetty we came across this fine male Orang utan stuffing his face.



I believe only the dominant male grows the enlarged cheek flanges, so I felt very fortunate to see this guy. Nearby was a female and a cute baby, but the light was so bad I could not take any decent photos.



The light didn't improve, but the birds seemed to love the rain, and were out in force. This subadult Wallace's Hawk-Eagle was drying itself out on a dead branch.



One of several Rhinoceros Hornbills - including six in one tree. The white iris reveals that it's a female.






















These ropes have been strung across a tributary of the Kinabatangan by the Sabah Wildlife Dept to help orang utans cross the river, but the Proboscis Monkeys were very happy to use them too!






















Mum and baby. Note the webbed feet!



The alternative to crossing the bridge is swimming, which is not to be recommended with these hungry monsters around!



Later on we saw a male Proboscis Monkey, with his adoring harem around him.



"It's a tough job being the alpha male, but somebody's gotta do it!"



Wrinkled Hornbill is one of the rarer hornbills in the Peninsula, but they seem common here. This is a male - one of a group of eight birds.





The books show male Wrinkled Hornbills as having a rather wan, pale yellow neck and bill - not very exciting at all. But in reality, they are a riot of colour - yellows, oranges, red and blue. The literature claims that the yellow and orange is just 'staining', but all the males we saw looked to have very similar 'staining'. I reckon they get a bad press!



Females are less impressive.



If only there'd been a bit of sun...!





A PINK hornbill! Finally the setting sun did poke its nose through the clouds, resulting in a pink glow on the breast of this male White-crowned Hornbill.





The hornbills here do seem to like to fly across rivers, which is great for photographers!





Sitting in a boat going upstream into the sunset is a particularly relaxing way to end the day!





Did I say end? Not quite! After dinner we were back in the boat again doing a night cruise. This was a bit disappointing after the excesses of the afternoon. Only Buffy Fish-owls seemed determined to please and were out in force. We saw six.



One more treat was in store on our return to camp however. A Malay Badger regularly comes hunting for worms around the camp. She's known as Elizabeth by the staff. A bit camera-shy on this occasion, so I only got a rear view!