– a rushing and long day1, after main target ticked… while leaving saw few birds stay near the flower … decided make a quick stop and luck with us few leafbirds, little cuckoo dove come close for good view
a rare and beautiful monotypic Borneo endemic, always canopy level so never got a chance to have a good picture .. last week, finally, it came down slightly lower for feeding.
1. Bornean Bristlehead, 棘毛伯勞, 棘头鵙, Pityriasis gymnocephala, ブタゲモズ, TIUNG-BATU KEPALA MERAH
– very special lowland Borneo endemic.
– overall black under and back. on top Red-Yellow-orange
– won’t miss the call as very weird calling
– male without red flanks where the female has
– 非常特別的婆羅洲特有種。
– 下半身都黑。頭頸部，紅-橙黃。
– 叫聲很特別。吵，有像狗叫。
update 202410
– a “Black-red” bird that normally moving in group making noisy sound. A bird that everyone wish to see while in Borneo.
– Just another picture to clear, one of the best moment to see it low and still while feeding a katydid
– one of bird that not so rare but just need luck to be see one. Lucky guests have very good view even may not good chance to have good picture this round …
– finally back from a stress tour, leading 10 (2 cannot make it ) for 3 special monotypic families, we spend 2.5 days for this.. Everyone seem tired but still patient for the process of waiting and looking (thanks for the trust) finally we have very good view of this Borneo endemic for ~2-3 minutes low … lucky group also managed to record 200+ birds (only lowland forest and some amazing species)
– we had some hard time to have this main target at RDC due to just very short stop over. Everyone seem stress while we arrive Danum Valley with heavy rain … but lucky with rain slow down and we stop a quick birding .. and not that long, we have good view of the bird ! with some flying action too (may be due to raining)
– just another close encounter of this bird, sometime just need some luck for this wonderful looking bird.
– 另一次的近距离拍摄这鸟。
202405, RDC, Sabah, Malaysia
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update 202404
– a wonderful group and trip, even begin with little bit problem where Indonesia Mount Ruang eruption cause us reach Borneo with little be delay .. and group decided travel to Kuala Lumpur than direct to Sabah.
– we start ours day with Spotted Wood Owl and Dusky eagle owl .. follow with many good birds and today we had one of the highly wanted target .. 7 birds show up after 1 day search and day 2 early morning gave us very good picture opportunity
– sometime it is just luck, patient will bring luck … patient ……..
– a very special bird of Borneo
– 有时运气时非常重要的，耐心会给你带来运气的。。。。耐心。。。
– 这鸟很特别哦
202402, Sepilok, Sabah
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update 202401
– a very good start of 2024, a main target to be photograph of this beautiful canopy bird came down quite good level for photograph. All of us with good smile after first sighting than follow with even lower for 2nd sighting …
– 2024 号的开始，客人主要目标。站的蛮地，大家都笑了。可是第二天再次见到它。站的更低。
202402, Sepilok, Sabah
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update 202305
– It had been lucky day, while driving we saw a beautiful Blyth’s Paradise-Flycatcher and decided to make a stop. I hard some weird call, but everyone seem interested on the flycatcher as we already seen the Bristlehead. But one of the guest just spot it and they are low and nearby. Bingo ! The lucky just continue, the car opposite us told us there are many elephant on the road !!!, we just stop looking at the Bristlehead and drive for the Elephant and we did see ~12 of them and this is 2nd sight for the Borneo pygmy elephant
– a Borneo trip without Birstlehead, it going to be tough. We were worry so much but what a good view for everyone 2 times and low and near !!! lucky, as no one actually ask when we going to see the bird. everyone patient and with patient and luck we seen this one and immediate after with Pygmy Elephant !
– a lucky day to heard and seen this bird in the early morning. Target Ticked.
– but raining coming everyday make ours plan just screw
– 幸运与天时。一大早遇上这么好的鸟，可是雨终是下不停啊。
202210, RDC, Sabah, Malaysia
update 202210
– not really active like last few weeks ago, but only can see it bit far away but still one of the star bird to been see
– 比起几个星期以来。不很活跃。虽然有点远，可是客人们还是看的高兴的
202210, Sabah, Malaysia
update 202208
– even it is very active recently but luck still needed to have this bird. After a day searching for it (half a day raining). Finally heard and found this bird to make our day
– what a lucky group who got this bird in close (~10 feet) feeding with various food.
– a very special Borneo endemic which almost all birders #1 target. But for the lucky photography group, after Whitehead’s Trogon, Broadbill, Fruithunter, Bulwer’s Pheasant, Black-crowned Pitta and many more follow by this with real good moment and pictures. (and not the end yet with better endemic after this)
– 非常幸运的客人，看到这鸟2次还在近距离见这鸟吃东西还拍下很好的一些照片。
– 除了这每个鸟人的主打鸟，在这前还近距离拍到
黑头八色鸫，灰胸咬鹃，黑喉绿阔嘴鸟，食果鸫, 鳞背鹇等。
– 客人的运气还没完，这鸟后还拍到另几种婆罗洲稀有特有种
202207, Sabah, Malaysia
update 202101
#
update 2020 May 11
update 2020 May 8
Bornean bristlehead, 棘毛伯勞,Pityriasis gymnocephala, ブタゲモズ, Burung Jambul
update 2018 June 13
lucky guests 2018 May have this amazing bird for so good view for more than 20min
with Australia guests , this report only cover up to Kinabatangan river .
for day 1 arrive Danum Valley , arrived Borneo Rainforest Lodge late evening. so we do not have much activity for today .
we join the night drive, managed to see Colugo , flying squirrel and Sambar deer .
Sambar Deer
Day 2 , we start our morning walk nearby lodge area .. Yellow-rumped Flowerpecker is the first endemic tick … very soon with Dusky Munia follow by both White-crowned Forktail & Chestnut-naped Forktail. Very soon , 4 Bornean Bristlehead spotted far but good and long view with scope so a big relief after got this special endemic
Bornean Bristlehead
than nearby a Black-headed Pitta calling and very soon everyone got good view of the pitta too .. first Pitta of the tour 😀
Black-Headed Pitta
a tough walk in the trail with leeches keep track us non stop .. we do heard Blue Banded Pitta, Rail-Babbler etc but too bad bird is slow compare to the leeches. Very soon, we decided to move out from the trail without got any view of those birds . 2 Trogons show us good view : Diard’s Trogon & Scarlet-rumped Trogon
Scarlet-rumped Trogon
with the afternoon visit fruiting tree, we had fruitful bulbuls … which include black and white bulbul .
while walking for other birds without going into the trail (scare of leeches) , but lucky we managed got another rare endemic .. Bornean Chestnut-necklaced Partridge
Bornean Chestnut-necklaced Partridge
at night when we plan for night activity, too bad it start rain ~6pm until 11pm …
1 Chestnut-necklaced Partridge
3 Green Imperial-Pigeon
2 Raffles’s Malkoha
1 Whiskered Treeswift
1 Diard’s Trogon
3 Scarlet-rumped Trogon
1 Helmeted Hornbill — Heard from far
2 Rhinoceros Hornbill
5 Bushy-crested Hornbill
1 Blue-throated Bee-eater
1 Rufous Piculet
1 Gray-capped Woodpecker
1 Green Broadbill — Heard only
2 Banded Broadbill
2 Black-and-yellow Broadbill
2 Black-crowned Pitta
1 Blue-banded Pitta — Heard from far and not come close
2 Giant Pitta — Heard 2 birds loud at 2 location
3 Bornean Bristlehead
2 Spotted Fantail
1 Slender-billed Crow
1 Malaysian Rail-babbler — Heard only but not come close
1 Puff-backed Bulbul
2 Black-and-white Bulbul
2 Gray-bellied Bulbul
1 Cream-vented Bulbul
2 Red-eyed Bulbul
1 Spectacled Bulbul
4 Hairy-backed Bulbul
2 Gray-cheeked Bulbul
3 Yellow-bellied Bulbul
1 Buff-vented Bulbul
1 Streaked Bulbul
1 Chestnut-rumped Babbler
1 Fluffy-backed Tit-Babbler
1 Chestnut-backed Scimitar-Babbler
1 Sooty-capped Babbler
2 Bornean Blue-Flycatcher
2 Verditer Flycatcher
1 White-crowned Forktail
2 Chestnut-naped Forktail
1 Rufous-chested Flycatcher
2 Greater Green Leafbird
2 Yellow-breasted Flowerpecker
1 Yellow-rumped Flowerpecker
1 Yellow-vented Flowerpecker
1 Orange-bellied Flowerpecker
1 Bornean Spiderhunter
2 Dusky Munia
Day 2
We start our early birding just before light come in , we were lucky to saw 4 Orang Utan and a Straw-Headed Bulbul .. than our Targets look for more Pitta, wren-babblers etc ..
Again, soon we got Blue-Headed Pitta with clear view and picture ~10-20m
Blue-Headed Pitta
very soon , we also spotted Bornean Wren-Babbler and Black-throat Wren Babbler not far from the pitta
before rain hit, we were lucky to had Bornean Banded Kingfisher . too bad the male is way too high to get reasonable good picture ..
…. after dinner, rain stop and we decided to look for minimum one frogmouth or owl for the tour .. within 1km walk and less than 10 seconds wait, the Large Frogmouth stand at the usual perch again for long for us to good view and pictures
3 out of the borneo endemic , whitehead’s trio always main target for birders … we were lucky to photograph all 3 whitehead’s which include Spiderhunter, broadbill & Trogon by 2016 sept.
the beautiful colors of the trio attract attention easily
We had USA guests spend 9 days in Borneo from KNP, RDC, Sukau to Danum Valley … good trip, we managed to records ~250 birds and some highlights
1. Giant Pitta for few rounds
2. Bornean bristlehead
3. all Borneo Hornbills
4. Whitehead broadbills
5. Whitehead Spiderhunter
6. Large Frogmouth
7. Black Headed Pitta
8. Bornean Wren-Babbler
9. Bornean Banded Kingfisher
10. Black-throat Wren-Babbler
etc
we have tired walking and river cruise day and light …. lets start sharing some pictures that I managed to capture . (will be slowly update here due to tired to run through all the pictures )
– when I first found it .. it fly like a raptor !!!! and we found 3 birds keep surrounding us and guests say .. ohhhh may I have other pitta rather than this ? 😀
We receive a request for 3 days (even it is 12-15 but it is half day for start and end date) … special request RAIL-BABBLER is a must !!! and with a limited bird list to add on his 52xx++ bird count with few tour SEA before ..
Immediate from Airport to our first destination KRAU forest, we got our 1st target : Javan Myna !!!! very soon , we arrive KRAU for our target … and we managed to got full open view of Malaysian Rail-Babbler as 2nd bird and TARGET meet 😀
immediate we continue for other birds target and for day 1 we managed to have 8 lifers and main target meet ..
LANCHANG
12 Jun 2016
9:00 AM
Traveling
15.00 km
360 Minutes
All birds reported? Yes
Comments: Submitted from eBird for iOS, version 1.2.1 Build 65
We change our plan to Bukit Tinggi instead Taman Negara (original 2nd plan for Rail-Babbler) for more lifers … with very good morning start we managed to got 9 lifers with all good open view of Moutain Peacock Pheasant , Black Laughingthrush , Chestnut-backed Scimitar-Babbler, etc
Bukit Tinggi
13 Jun 2016
7:00 AM
Traveling
5.00 km
180 Minutes
All birds reported? Yes
Comments: Submitted from eBird for iOS, version 1.2.1 Build 65
Immediate after Lunch we heading Fraser and we managed to get another 8 lifers which include star bird of Malayan Hill Patridge, Bamboo Woodpecker, Rufous-Bellied Swallow.
Bukit Fraser
13 Jun 2016
1:00 PM
Traveling
10.00 km
420 Minutes
All birds reported? Yes
Comments: Submitted from eBird for iOS, version 1.2.1 Build 65
we have another morning for Fraser Hill , and we continue for more challenge birds target. and with the late lunch we managed to got another 10 lifers .. a good start with Malayan Whistling-Thrush which appear after long wait in the cold morning, it just show up on the road . Follow by Javan Cuckooshrike, Silver-Breasted Broadbill with little challenge … with luck we managed to got Marbled Wren-Babbler & Large Scimitar-Babbler with good view and long enough … last bird before late lunch below to lue Nuthatch.
Bukit Fraser
14 Jun 2016
7:00 AM
Traveling
40.00 km
600 Minutes
All birds reported? Yes
Comments: Submitted from eBird for iOS, version 1.2.1 Build 65
1 Spotted Dove
1 Large-tailed Nightjar
1 House Swift 1 Fire-tufted Barbet
1 Speckled Piculet 1 Silver-breasted Broadbill 2 Bar-bellied Cuckooshrike
2 Black-and-crimson Oriole
1 White-throated Fantail
2 Sultan Tit 1 Blue Nuthatch 2 Large Scimitar-Babbler 1 Marbled Wren-Babbler 1 Silver-eared Mesia
1 Asian Fairy-bluebird
1 Verditer Flycatcher 1 Lesser Shortwing 2 Malayan Whistling-Thrush
3 Slaty-backed Forktail 1 White-tailed Robin
Number of Taxa: 20
after the lunch , we have no luck till next day (raining) and we missed our the other easy target 🙁
for the 3 days birding , Dutch guest managed to have 35 lifers and MAIN target meet
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related posts
Birds Watch/Photograph tour feel free to contact me
I was lucky to visit , monitor, study and capture another rare Borneo Endemic , Dulit Frogmouth . A real great tour which need to transit flights, 4 wheel, walking over the bamboo bridge ..
1. Black-thighed falconet, 黑腿小隼, Microhierax fringillarius,モモグロヒメハヤブサ,RAJAWALI-BELALANG MELAYU
– normally stand on top of dry tree
– move fast and prey dragonflies, small insects
update 202411
– The only species in Peninsular Malaysia which also one of the world’s smallest raptors, often seen perched high, watching for prey.
– While testing the new Canon R1’s Pre-continuous Shooting and AF performance, I captured one of many frames. I’ll share more from the full sequence in the near future.
2. White-fronted Falconet, 白额小隼, 白額小隼, Microhierax latifrons, ボルネオヒメハヤブサ, RAJAWALI-BELALANG DAHI PUTIH
[Bornean Falconet, 婆罗洲小隼， 婆羅洲小隼]
– special to East-North Borneo Endemic
– almost same behavior of black-thighed falconet, small, stand high
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update 202405
– a very tiny special Endemic of Sabah. Cute and normal stand high up to look for prey
– another lucky came to this spot normally just for “bird seeing” which the small bird just stand 30-40m above from ground .. but when we arrive and looking for this bird just for bird watch. But after I walk around, I call everyone down it is low !!!! and 2 together ..
– it is weird this bird seem disappear from all common sites, especially almost not found at Danum Valley BRL, Kinabatangan River and etc… but this family found quite near to KK town ..any how, due to location, not all visit can be make there but for last special targets tour. We special arrange to be there and award with 2 in one frame
– after missed the Crimson-Headed partridge at common spot (after wait of ~1 hour), decided to continue to KNP and found this lovely tiny raptor. only with 500mm so it is a bit heavy crop but love to see it doing good and with lovely butterfly
– it is surprise to see it at this elevation again and this time not that high up at canopy, but backlit with quite a lot of shadow and highlight recovery.
– Found across the globe; considerable plumage variation across subspecies
(ebird)
#
update 202104
– we were actually searching the shorebirds near the beach and all of sudden all birds take off and we found this world’s faster bird dive down and trying to hunt the Lesser Sand Plover but it failed… and again it trying to hunt for another 2x Curlew Sandpiper but it failed again and leave without any success.
– it really dives down and flying all direction fast and make many frames out of focus. It can reach over 320 km/h while diving for hunting.
pitta – a bird normally long leg, short tailed, hopping around on forest floor for food , shy ….
many of the bird photographers just enjoy this bird very much and spend years, months, days, hours .. stay inside hide just to view, photograph this forest gem ..
*** will be keep updating this along my pitta fever *** so please book here 😀
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八色鸫 – 通常都长脚，短尾，害羞的在森林的地面，到处乱窜乱跳的找食物…
我们观/拍鸟人都很喜爱这种鸟。有些更会用上几年/月/星期/天躲在帐篷里等它的出现 ….
1. giant pitta,大蓝八色鸫
update 2018 Oct 4
update 2018 Aug 24
another good found, birds nearby there for months .. just need patient and luck to see it
Mangrove Pitta, 紅樹八色鶇,Pitta megarhyncha, マングローブヤイロチョウ, Burung Pacat Bakau,
update 2020 Jan 16
a missing or shy “Kuala Lumpur Mangrove Pitta” for almost whole year 2019 birding season … it finally return 2020 hope the small left over Mangrove can be protect for it
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5. Blue-winged pitta, 馬來八色鶇
update 2020 May 6
Blue-winged pitta ,馬來八色鶇,Pitta moluccensis, ミナミヤイロチョウ, Burung Pacat Sayap Biru
update 2020 Jan 17
6. Garnet Pitta , 榴红八色鸫
update 2020 May
Garnet Pitta , 榴紅八色鶇,Erythropitta granatina,ムラサキヤイロチョウ, BURUNG-PACAT DELIMA BIASA
update 2020 May
Garnet Pitta , 榴紅八色鶇，Erythropitta granatina,ムラサキヤイロチョウ, BURUNG-PACAT DELIMA BIASA
