Thursday 15 March 2018

15th March 2018 Kinabatangan River, Sabah

Another early morning boat trip along the Menanggul River. With most of our targets already seen I wanted to concentrate on trying to see Blue-headed Pitta that ever since seeing at Danum Valley with JFC it had remained my favourite species of Pitta. It took some time but we eventually enjoyed some breathtaking views of a male - I'm glad to say that it seemed every bit as good as it had in 1993 when on seeing our first male we could hardly believe what a gem was hopping up a staircase of a trail in front of us. Whilst enjoying watching the Pitta we heard a Chestnut-necklaced Partridge calling, but despite getting close, we failed to see it. In the afternoon we went downstream along the Kinabatangan River and entered some oxbow lakes. They felt somehow primeval and there were good numbers of Proboscis Monkeys present but the birding proved a little slow. A spotlighting session around Romzi's homestay produced a Sunda Flying Lemur. 

GRAYDON'S CHESTNUT-NECKLACED PARTRIDGE h
Green Imperial Pigeon 6
Indian Cuckoo h
Moustached Hawk-Cuckoo 1
Oriental Darter 6
Storm's Stork 1
Lesser Adjutant 1
Eastern Great Egret 2
Purple Heron 8
Black-crowned Night-Heron 1
Jerdon's Baza 2
Crested Serpent-Eagle 4
Brahminy Kite 2
Scarlet-rumped Trogon 2
Bushy-crested Hornbill 8
Oriental Pied Hornbill 2
Black Hornbill 4
Rhinoceros Hornbill 1
Stork-billed Kingfisher 1
Sabah Dwarf-Kingfisher 1
Blue-eared Kingfisher 2
Common Kingfisher 1
Blue-throated Bee-eater 10
Dollarbird 2
Long-tailed Parakeet 6
Black-and-red Broadbill 2
Blue-headed Pitta 1 male
Sunda Slender-billed Crow 6
Pacific Swallow 1
Puff-backed Bulbul 2
White-chested Babbler 2
Asian Glossy Starling 2
Common Hill Myna 4
Malaysian Blue Jungle-Flycatcher 4







Male Blue-headed Pitta along the Menanggul River

Oriental Pied Hornbill along the Menanggul River




Female Black Hornbills along the Menanggul River


Male Black Hornbill along the Menanggul River


Male Blue-eared Kingfisher along the Menanggul River


Male Scarlet-rumped Trogon along the Menanggul River


Crested Serpent-Eagle along the Kinabatangan River



Proboscis Monkeys along the Kinabatangan River


Sunda Flying Lemur at the Menanggul homestay