Birding in Borneo (Sabah)

Borneo is the third largest island in the world. The island of Borneo is politically divided among three countries; Indonesia, Malaysia and Brunei. Being a very large island and holding some of the world’s oldest rainforests it holds a good number of endemic species. So birding in Borneo is high on the list for many birders. It certainly was for me when I was based in Kuala Lumpur for a year.

My trip to Borneo came towards the end of June in 2017. The trip was for 4 days to the Malaysian state of Sabah in Borneo. It was a duration not sufficient to cover all the major hotspots. But that is all I had with me. So I chose to cover two spots; Mount Kinabalu and Sepilok. This would give a chance to cover some montane species as well as some of the lowland species.

I caught an early morning flight out from Kuala Lumpur to Kota Kinabalu. The approach to the Kota Kinabalu offered some fantastic view of the island coast with its blue waters. Here is a short video taken from inside the plane on my phone:

 

 

 

Upon arrival at Kota Kinabalu I went through immigration (yes, all visitors from mainland have to undergo it) and exited the airport. I had engaged the services of the local birding guide Andrew Siani for the entire trip. Andrew met at the airport and soon we were on our way to Mount Kinabalu in his 4WD vehicle.

Mount Kinabalu Park

It was a good 2.5 hours drive to the Kinabalu Park gates from the Kota Kinabalu airport. We reached a a bit before noon. We wanted to spend the whole afternoon birding. So we decided to first grab lunch at the restaurant opposite the park gates before we got into the park. Here is the view of the Kinabalu Park entrance from the restaurant.

It was an overcast day. It even started to drizzle when we were having our lunch. The weather certainly was not looking favourable for birding. But I guess we had no choice but to try our luck. Well, it rained heavily for a significant part of the afternoon session. So much of the time was spent waiting under a shelter. But it was not a completely washed out. Here are some of the new birds that I got to see in the afternoon session:

We were to going to spend the whole first half of the second day again at the Kinabalu Park. We started at dawn the next day. The hotel staff had organised a breakfast spread early on. So we could fill up our tummies before we left for the park. The session turned out very productive with no rain encountered at all. Here are some of the birds from the session.

In the afternoon it was time to drive to Sepilok. The drive took us around 4 hours. It had been a good decision to drive to Sepilok instead of catching a flight as it saved us time as well as gave me two new birds, the White-fronted Falconet and the White-breasted Woodswallow.

Sepilok – Rainforest Discovery Centre

This was going to be our place of exploration for the two days. We did an early start reaching the gate of the centre by 5:50AM. Well staying at very close to it helps 🙂 . I just loved the place. It has broadly two sections; one section having a canopy walk over the rainforest

 

 

 

 

 

 

and the other section offering various trails into the rainforest

 

 

 

And boy, were some of the tree tall!

We spend almost the whole day walking on the various trails as well as the canopy walkway and birding; except for the breaks we took for breakfast, lunch and evening tea. That is the only way to go about it. And it turned out to be a very fruitful day. Here are some of the birds that I got to see, most of which were new to me:

The next day we followed a similar routine. Here are some of other birds that I got to see then:

By evening it was time to catch my flight back to Kuala Lumpur. Andrew dropped me at the Sandakan airport where we bid our goodbye.

So did the birding trip to Borneo meet my expectations? It certainly did. The variety of birds was just spectacular. And I had only been to a couple of the hotspots! The place obviously warrants a much longer trip to do justice, something I hope I will be able to do in the future.

Birding in Peninsular Malaysia has also been extremely rewarding for me. You can read of the various hotspots and the associated information in my post here.

Bird Checklist

Here are the birds that I had seen during the trip:

1	Oriental Darter
2	Crested Serpent-Eagle
3	Wallace’s Hawk-Eagle
4	Rufous-bellied Eagle
5	Crested Goshawk
6	Spotted Dove
7	Zebra Dove
8	Little Green-Pigeon
9	Pink-necked Pigeon
10	Green Imperial-Pigeon
11	Greater Coucal
12	Raffles’s Malkoha
13	Chestnut-breasted Malkoha
14	Barred Eagle-Owl
15	Silver-rumped Needletail
16	Bornean Swiftlet
17	Plume-toed Swift (Andaman Glossy Swiftlet)
18	White-nest Swiftlet (Edible-nest Swiftlet)
19	Germain’s Swiftlet
20	Asian Palm-Swift
21	Grey-rumped Treeswift
22	Rhinoceros Hornbill
23	Black Hornbill
24	Rufous-backed Dwarf-Kingfisher
25	Collared Kingfisher
26	Blue-throated Bee-eater
27	Oriental Dollarbird
28	Brown Barbet
29	Blue-eared Barbet
30	Golden-naped Barbet
31	White-bellied Woodpecker (Great Black Woodpecker)
32	Banded Woodpecker
33	Checker-throated Woodpecker
34	Rufous Woodpecker
35	Buff-rumped Woodpecker
36	Maroon Woodpecker
37	White-fronted Falconet
38	Long-tailed Parakeet
39	Black-and-red Broadbill
40	Black-and-yellow Broadbill
41	Black-crowned Pitta
42	Blue-headed Pitta
43	Hooded Pitta
44	Large Woodshrike
45	Black-winged Flycatcher-shrike
46	Rufous-winged Philentoma
47	White-breasted Woodswallow
48	Common Iora
49	Green Iora
50	Fiery Minivet
51	Grey-chinned Minivet
52	Sunda Cuckooshrike
53	Bornean Whistler
54	Blyth’s Shrike-Babbler (Blyth’s White-browed Shrike-Babbler)
55	Black-and-crimson Oriole
56	Ashy Drongo
57	Hair-crested Drongo (Spangled Drongo)
58	Greater Racket-tailed Drongo
59	Malaysian Pied-Fantail
60	White-throated Fantail
61	Black-naped Monarch
62	Bornean Green-Magpie
63	Bornean Treepie
64	Slender-billed Crow
65	Pacific Swallow
66	Puff-backed Bulbul
67	Grey-bellied Bulbul
68	Flavescent Bulbul
69	Yellow-vented Bulbul
70	Olive-winged Bulbul
71	Cream-vented Bulbul
72	Red-eyed Bulbul
73	Spectacled Bulbul
74	Hairy-backed Bulbul
75	Ochraceous Bulbul
76	Charlotte’s Bulbul
77	Streaked Bulbul
78	Bornean Stubtail
79	Sunda Bush Warbler
80	Mountain Leaf Warbler
81	Yellow-breasted Warbler
82	Dark-necked Tailorbird
83	Ashy Tailorbird
84	Yellow-bellied Prinia
85	Chestnut-crested Yuhina
86	Mountain Black-eye
87	Black-capped White-eye
88	Fluffy-backed Tit-Babbler
89	Chestnut-winged Babbler
90	Chestnut-rumped Babbler
91	Grey-throated Babbler
92	Sooty-capped Babbler
93	Rufous-crowned Babbler
94	White-chested Babbler
95	Mountain Wren-Babbler
96	Sunda Laughingthrush
97	Chestnut-hooded Laughingthrush
98	Oriental Magpie-Robin
99	White-rumped Shama
100	Pale Blue Flycatcher
101	Indigo Flycatcher
102	Bornean Whistling-Thrush
103	White-crowned Forktail
104	Pygmy Flycatcher
105	Asian Glossy Starling
106	Javan Myna
107	Lesser Green Leafbird
108	Yellow-breasted Flowerpecker
109	Yellow-rumped Flowerpecker
110	Yellow-vented Flowerpecker
111	Orange-bellied Flowerpecker
112	Black-sided Flowerpecker
113	Ruby-cheeked Sunbird
114	Plain Sunbird
115	Copper-throated Sunbird
116	Temminck’s Sunbird
117	Crimson Sunbird
118	Thick-billed Spiderhunter
119	Long-billed Spiderhunter
120	Little Spiderhunter
121	Purple-naped Spiderhunter
122	Eurasian Tree Sparrow
123	Red Avadavat
124	Dusky Munia
125	Chestnut Munia

Mammals Sighted

Here are the mammals that I got to see in the trip

• Genting Squirrel
• Bornean Black Banded Squirrel
• Whitehead Pygmy Squirrel
• Giant Tree Squirrel
• Prevost’s Squirrel
• Red Giant Flying Squirrel
• Pig-tailed Macaque

Weather

Mount Kinabalu was cold.  It also rained for a few hours on the first day. Having a rain jacket will help. The region around Sepilok was very humid. Take some small towels or handkerchiefs. Being in the tropics it is very humid and you will be sweating a lot, atleast I did. Also keep drinking water as it is easy to get dehydrated given the constant perspiration.

 

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