October 20, 2024
And just like that, it was our final day in Borneo. The previous afternoon saw Laura and I driving to the town of Kundasang which is the main jumping off point to visit Kinabalu Park. There remained several Bornean endemics that would be lifers for Laura here, including Bare-headed Laughingthrush, Eyebrowed Jungle-Flycatcher, Bornean Forktail, Whitehead's Broadbill and Pale-faced Bulbul. I still needed the bulbul as well, despite having spent around ten days in this park over the years. In addition to the allure of potential new birds, we were also looking forward to the cool mountain air and birding mixed flocks on our own.
We were met with cool, foggy conditions upon our arrival. Vehicle access is now restricted to park vehicles and workers along the main park road beyond the Hill Lodge and so we parked at the Liwagu Restaurant, loaded up our day packs and began hiking up the road.
One of the first species we observed was not a bird, but this Small-toothed Palm Civet trotting along the utility wire alongside the road.
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| Small-toothed Palm Civet (Arctogalidia trivirgata) - Kinabalu Park, Sabah, Malaysia |
We quickly found one of Laura's targets, the Eyebrowed Jungle-Flycatcher. This species is a relatively common inhabitant of the understory of montane forests of Borneo. They often hunt alongside the road in Kinabalu Park, as this one was doing.
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| Eyebrowed Jungle-Flycatcher - Kinabalu Park, Sabah, Malaysia |
We continued up the road towards Timpohon Gate which is the furthest that one can go unless they are signed up for an expensive, multi-day guided trek to the summit. Unfortunately, bird life was almost nonexistent other than a couple of small mixed flocks containing just the common birds. I kept an ear out for our other bird targets, but not much of anything was vocalizing. However, we came across another mammal highlight.
This Tufted Pygmy Squirrel is an endemic species to Borneo's highlands and it also happens to be one of the smallest squirrel species in the world. We had only seen one with the group earlier in the trip and Laura had missed it, so this was a big highlight for her. We watched the squirrel for a few minutes as it frenetically scampered around the tree limbs, stopping only briefly to scrape the lichen off the bark (delicious!).
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| Tuted Pygmy Squirrel (Exilisciurus whiteheadi) - Kinabalu Park, Sabah, Malaysia |
Eventually Laura and I reached the Timpohon Gate. We spent a couple of hours in the vicinity as the birding here is often great. Occasionally, Pale-faced Bulbuls can be found in the trees here but we had no luck. If only we were allowed to walk further beyond Timpohon Gate. Not only is the bulbul much easier beyond the gate, but that is the only way to see the Friendly Bush-Warbler or the Sundaic Island-Thrush, neither of which we had seen before. Oh well!
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| Snowy-browed Flycatcher - Kinabalu Park, Sabah, Malaysia |
The birding was excellent and we quickly found two endemic bird species that are often targeted by visiting birders here: Fruit-hunter and Mountain Black-eye.
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| Fruit-hunter (female) - Kinabalu Park, Sabah, Malaysia |
The female Fruit-hunter, above, is clad in orange, tan and black, while the male has an interesting combination of slate gray, black and tan. These nomadic thrushes are endemic to the highlands of Borneo, where they move around altitudinally in search of specific fruiting trees.
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| Fruit-hunter (male) - Kinabalu Park, Sabah, Malaysia |
A pair of Mountain Black-eyes were sneaking around some of the fruiting trees, allowing me to capture my best photos so far of this species.
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| Mountain Black-eye - Kinabalu Park, Sabah, Malaysia |
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| Mountain Black-eye - Kinabalu Park, Sabah, Malaysia |
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| Mountain Black-eye - Kinabalu Park, Sabah, Malaysia |
I purchased some coffee from the shop at Timpohon Gate to prolong our visit by a few minutes, just in case a pair of Pale-faced Bulbuls decided to come through. It didn't work.
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| Gray-chinned Minivet - Kinabalu Park, Sabah, Malaysia |
Eventually, we cut our losses and began walking back down the road. We hoped that the occasional ray of sunshine and the slightly warmer temperatures would stir up some bird activity.
Not 15 minutes into our walk Laura got on a couple of interesting birds in the canopy, which she identified as Pale-faced Bulbuls! They flew back from the roadside before I could see them well and ten minutes quickly passed without a reappearance. I was debating whether the fleeting glimpse was enough to count (I could see its pale face, after all), when suddenly they appeared in the shrubbery right beside the road!
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| Pale-faced Bulbul - Kinabalu Park, Sabah, Malaysia |
As much as I have a hard time getting excited about a bulbul, this one was a big highlight for me. It seemed everybody but me could find these things at Timpohon Gate and finally, on my fourth trip to Borneo, I connected. Laura and I spent about ten minutes with the bulbuls as they fed on fruits just a few meters from us.
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| Pale-faced Bulbul - Kinabalu Park, Sabah, Malaysia |
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| Pale-faced Bulbul - Kinabalu Park, Sabah, Malaysia |
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| Pale-faced Bulbul - Kinabalu Park, Sabah, Malaysia |
And just a few more photos...
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| Pale-faced Bulbul - Kinabalu Park, Sabah, Malaysia |
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| Pale-faced Bulbul - Kinabalu Park, Sabah, Malaysia |
Laura and I continued birding our way down the road, hoping for a Whitehead's Broadbill but coming up short. We turned off the road at the Mempening Trail to escape from from the occasional vehicle and other pedestrians along the road. The forest was beautiful.
We found a mixed flock right away but this was a special mixed flock as it contained a bunch of Bare-headed Laughingthrushes! These bizarre birds are actually a type of babbler, and they are only found in montane forests in Borneo. I had only seen one before (on my very first trip here in 2017) and never managed any photos, so I was pretty excited to have another encounter with this species. It was, of course, a new one for Laura. Though they were a little shy and I never managed the photos I had hoped for, we had an awesome experience with them.
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| Bare-headed Laughingthrush - Kinabalu Park, Sabah, Malaysia |
We followed the Mempening Trail all the way back to the headquarters area, though bird activity was quite low. We saw a male Crimson-headed Partridge on the trail and I heard a distant Orange-backed Woodpecker, but mostly I occupied myself with investigating the plant life.
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| Heptapleurum bipalmatifolium - Kinabalu Park, Sabah, Malaysia |
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| Lindsaea oblanceolata - Kinabalu Park, Sabah, Malaysia |
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| Bulbophyllum sp. - Kinabalu Park, Sabah, Malaysia |
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| Medinilla crassifolia - Kinabalu Park, Sabah, Malaysia |
Rain was threatening upon our arrival at the park headquarters. However, before the precipitation arrived with earnest we were able to turn up a pair of Bornean Forktails, another lifer for Laura! Luckily, one perched on a rock in the creek for a minute or so which allowed prolonged binocular views. We had already seen White-crowned Forktail and Chestnut-naped Forktail in the Danum Valley, so this completed the Borneo forktail sweep for us.
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| Bornean Forktail - Kinabalu Park, Sabah, Malaysia |
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| Bornean Forktail - Kinabalu Park, Sabah, Malaysia |
And then the rains came. Laura and I took this time to have lunch at the Liwagu Restaurant and wait out the weather. The restaurant is quite over-priced compared to options just outside the park gate but we were willing to pay for the convenience this time.
The rain eventually subsided, allowing Laura and I to hit the trails once again. Our afternoon session was less productive as bird activity had dropped and the Whitehead's Broadbills remained unaccounted for. One final highlight was a pair of very cooperative Orange-backed Woodpeckers along the Silau-Silau trail.
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| Orange-backed Woodpecker - Kinabalu Park, Sabah, Malaysia |
And with that, we called it quits and began the drive back to Kota Kinabalu. The drive was uneventful and the rental car exchange went well, and we soon found ourselves in the airport waiting for our flight. It had been an incredible trip!
In total, we found 313 species of birds on the trip, of which 110 were lifers for Laura and 19 were lifers for me. We also documented 31 species of mammal, 34 species of reptile, and 10 species of amphibian, along with countless insects.
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