The Chickens of Borneo

 

After my weekend in East Java, my work trip to Indonesia finished with a few more days of work meetings, after which I flew back to the Philippines. The international travel wasn't done, however; I met Nikki and the airport and spent less than 5 hours in Manila before immediately flying out of the country again. Mid-April was Holy Week, and we decided to do a birding trip to Sabah to check out some of our old favorite birding sites and some new ones as well. 

Sabah, the province of Malaysia at the northeastern end of the island of Borneo, was actually the site of Nikki and I's first-ever international birding trip, way back in early 2017 when we were brand new to birding. We since returned in 2020 (squeezing in some international travel right before the pandemic), and we were excited for the possibility of returning as it's quite possibly our favorite spot to bird outside the Philippines. As far as tropical birding destinations go, Borneo sort of has it all: vast stretches of pristine rainforest, easily-accessible birding sites, decent infrastructure, and a dizzyingly diverse biosphere including some of the rarest and most sought-after birds and mammals in the world. It's the sort of place one could live in for decades and never run out of new things to see or places to explore. 

Like all tourism destinations Sabah's economy suffered during the pandemic, but one surprising silver lining was that a number of birding guides used their sudden free time to look for some of Borneo's most difficult endemic birds, and for a number of species managed to not only find them but to set up hides where they now be photographed- in some cases for the first time ever in the wild. This has led to a new influx of birding tourism in to Sabah as the world opens up, and it means that a few birds that were previously considered mythically rare and difficult are now trivially easy for anyone willing to pay the exorbitant prices to visit their blinds. 

One of these species is the Bulwer's Pheasant, a Borneo endemic that looks like nothing like any other bird on earth, with the male's bright blue sickle-shaped wattles and bushy white tail. Ever since researching the birds of Borneo back in 2016 this bird has held a special draw for me by virtue of being both absurd-looking and nearly impossible to see. After about a year of being gripped off seeing others' pictures from the pheasant hide, this was finally our chance to see it ourselves, stupidly expensive hide be damned. For the first section of the trip, we set up a visit to the Bulwer's Pheasant hide with Calvin Ng, a Sabah-based guide who was one of the driving forces behind the establishment of the first hides, and is still the best person to organize with. I would be renting a car for other parts of our trip, but Calvin arranged to have us picked up in a little town a couple hours outside Kota Kinabalu, as the actual area of the hide is only accessible via 4x4. 

Nikki and I flew out of Manila late in the evening of April 5, arriving in Kota Kinabalu on the west coast of Sabah around 2 in the morning of April 6. It was about 3AM by the time we finally got to sleep, which meant that we were a little later than intended picking up our rental car and getting on the road. After a 2-hour drive on a winding road over the Crocker Range, we parked in the village of Apin-Apin. In Apin-Apin we met with Mr. Jimmy the manager of the camp, and the driver who took us up to where we were staying. From Apin-Apin it was another two hours before we got to camp where we were staying that night. I had heard that a 4x4 was required, and that was definitely true- it was two hours of some of the dodgiest roads I've ever been on- steep, rutted dirt roads with steep slopes, mud puddles, and sudden divots that were only drivable in the lifted 4-wheel-drive truck we were in. 

The base for the Bulwer's Pheasant was Borneo Jungle Girl Camp, located in the middle of the jungle on the slopes of Mount Trus Madi. The camp was actually established as an entomology camp of all things, and was mostly frequented by insect enthusiasts prior to the discovery of Bulwer's Pheasants in the area. As such it's home to an amazing array of invertebrate life, but happens to have some great chickens on the side, the best known of which are Bulwer's Pheasant, Great Argus, and Crested Partridge. We were shown to our rooms at the camp where we put down our stuff and had a little bit of time for lunch and walking around before we headed to the hide. There were several Temminck's Sunbirds and Black-sided Flowerpeckers in the flowering bushes by the camp building, and surprisingly a Lesser Green Leafbird, much higher up than they're usually found.

The road outside Jungle Girl Camp

Temminck's Sunbird

Black-sided Flowerpecker

Lesser Green Leafbird

After we'd eaten lunch, we got in the truck and headed back down the road to where the hide was. As it turns out, the best place to see one of the rarest Bornean endemics is in a small clearing about 20 feet off a road where surely hundreds of birders have driven by without thinking a thing about it. In this clearing Calvin and the Jungle Girl team have set up a blind for photographers with some seats, and cleared a bit of vegetation where they can spread some grain and rice for the pheasants to come into. 

Just as we were ducking into the hide and getting settled, a rustle of movement off the side alerted us to a Bulwer's Pheasant! That disappeared out of view before we could get good looks or pictures, but it was reassuring they were still there as Mr. Jimmy said they had lately been difficult. As we waited for more to come in, a gorgeous male Dayak Blue Flycatcher (an uncommon and difficult Bornean endemic)came in and perched on a log right next to a hide. Finaly, the Bulwer's Pheasant returned- this one a male with a pretty raggedy tail, but still absolutely gorgeous, and the sort of view I never would have dreamed of a few years ago. The main target bird of the trip was seen, and with lots of time to spare.

Dayak Blue Flycatcher

Bulwer's Pheasant!

It was worth waiting more time though, as the hits just kept on coming: after the pheasant wandered off, a pair of brilliant Bornean Banded Pittas came through to feed on rice and mealworms, possibly the best-looking pitta I've seen anywhere in the world. The Dayak Blue Flycatchers continued to come in and out, and were eventually joined by a few Temminck's Babblers, which were a lifer for us. A few White-crowned Shamas came in, acting like the bullies of the hide as shamas generally are, but it was my first chance to get a proper view of them which was nice. A pair of Bulwer's Pheasants came through once again, this time including a much more impressive adult male. Aside from the Bulwer's and the pittas, the highlight was a pair of Great Argus, including a male with his incredibly long wing plumes. It was poor lighting and backlit and difficult to get the full bird in the frame even with my zoom lens, but still amazing to watch them doing their things. As I've said before, it doesn't matter how weird and rare pheasants are, they're really just fancy chickens at the end of the day.

As for the photo ops? Well, a small selection of the pictures from the afternoon is below...

Male Bulwer's Pheasant

Female Bulwer's Pheasant

Male Great Argus

So annoying when I'm photographing a Great Argus and a Bulwer's Pheasant gets in the way

Male Bornean Banded Pitta

Male and female Bornean Banded Pitta

Female Bornean Banded Pitta

*most annoying photographer in the world voice* "Passport photo!"

Male Dayak Blue Flycatcher

Female Dayak Blue Flycatcher

Temminck's Babbler

White-crowned Shama

Low's Squirrel

Long-footed Treeshrew

It was about sunset by then, so we headed back to the Jungle Girl Camp. Most birders who visit go to a separate hide where Crested Partridges are regular visitors, but it was too late for us to visit that night. I expected that meant we would visit the next morning, but Mr. Jimmy told us that they weren't reliable there in the morning so it didn't make sense to try. That was a little bit annoying as we paid more money than I care to admit to be there and I'd have liked to at least give it a try, but I suppose at the end of our day it was our fault for getting out there late.

Instead that night we spent looking at the bug lights at the Jungle Girl Camp, which were truly fantastic. I'm much more of a bird person than a bug person (and Nikki is definitely not a bug person), but I've been known to geek out at my moth light when I have the energy and appropriate place to put it up. The set-up in Trus Madi, however, is like that on steroids: multiple lights and sheets set up that were literally crawling with moths, beetles, and other insects of other times. I spent several hours out there with my macro lens documenting as much as I could, and even Nikki got into it by the end of it. That wasn't the only nocturnal wildlife around: Malayan Palm Civets and Masked Palm Civets came in to eat food scraps behind the camp, and an enormous, demented-looking Barred Eagle Owl hung out by the moth lights waiting to snatch up tasty-looking insects. It was some of the most fun nighttime wildlife-watching I've ever had. A very, very small selection of some of the stuff out that night is below, but it really is just a tiny fraction of the incredible biodiversity there was to see.

Barred Eagle Owl

Now for a spooky one

Malayan Palm Civet

Masked Palm Civet

Cyana malayensis

Glyphodes stolalis

Borbacha altipardaria

Macrobrochis staudingeri

Barsine lucibilis

Pagyda salvalis

Absolutely no idea where to even start with this one

Lista sp., I think

Seems like this one should be extremely distinctive but I've gotten nowhere so far

Pseudonoorda nigropunctalis

Plutodes flavescens

This one caused a bit of excitement among the hemiptera people on iNaturalist as it's apparently never been put on the website before- possibly an undescribed species...

Spectroreta hyalodisca, a moth that looks like a spaceship

Also no idea on this one

Isocentris filalis

Tanaorhinus rafflesii

Telchines vialis

Cyana perornata

Boletobiinae sp., I think

Chalcidoptera emissalis

Sinna calospila, one of the most brilliantly colorful animals I've ever seen of any species

Ammatho roseoauroratus

Alcis sp., I think

Banisia cyclothyris

The moth lights at dusk

Sunset at Trus Madi

The next morning there wasn't much to do as apparently it didn't make sense to go back to the hides, so I birded some around the camp. A walk down the road at sunrise got me lots of birds, although it was surprisingly hard to get good looks at most of them. There weren't that many lifers- partly because most of the birds on Trus Madi are also at Mount Kinabalu where I've birded a lot more, and partly because I just didn't have time to study up on calls before the trip, so lots of heard-onlys were left unidentified. That was a bit embarrassing, but also my own fault and a good reason to return to Borneo once more. Highlights of the early morning were flocks of difficult-to-see Bold-striped Tit-Babblers, my lifer Sunda Scimitar Babbler (very similar to the Javan Scimitar Babbler I'd seen the previous week), and a cryptic Black-bellied Malkoha, also a lifer. There was a flock of Chestnut-crested Yuhinas, a common but attractive endemic, in the flowering bush by the lodge, along with a cool flower mantis and some moths from the night before.

Chestnut-crested Yuhina

Record shot of a Black-bellied Malkoha

Chestnut-crested Yuhina

Biston insularis

Creobroter labuanae

We had our breakfast, and I walked around a bit more while Nikki went for a run. There were still a number of moths hanging out on the lights even after sunrise, and it was nice to see them in the daylight as well. Also nearby were some flocks of Pygmy White-eyes, a rather difficult Bornean endemic, and a Spectacled Spiderhunter flew in and gave me good but brief views. I struggled for ages to identify an incredibly loud, whooping call from the deep jungle off the road, and only much later realized that it was the call of a troupe of Bornean Gibbons. Nikki, meanwhile, ran into an impressive (and kind of scary) male Pig-tailed Macaque.

Pygmy White-eye

Spectacled Spiderhunter

Miltochrista synestramena

Asota producta

Mimela insularis

Some sort of impressive froghopper

Teulisna insularis

Cyana cruentata

Arna bipunctapex

Adites pseudofrigida

Some kind of soldier beetle

Mimela chrysoprasa

Nikki finished her run and we spent some more time birding around the camp before we headed out. We could have stayed a bit longer but bird activity was pretty slow by that point in the morning so we chose to get on the road a little earlier to get to our next destination. We birded for a while around the camp, and had great looks at a pair of Bornean Bulbuls, a rare and localized endemic, coming in to eat fruits. A Little Cuckoo-Dove came in to another bush at eye level, and I tried and failed to get better pictures of the local Temminck's Sunbirds. Male and female Verditer Flycatchers were also obliging in the area, as was a much-less-exciting Asian Brown Flycatcher, a White-crowned Shama, and an aptly-named Plain Sunbird. On the drive out we happened upon a very cool Oriental Whipsnake crossing the road. The mammalian highlight of the morning was a tiny, adorable Tufted Pygmy Squirrel hanging out by the side of the road.

Bornean Bulbul

Little Cuckoo-Dove

Temminck's Sunbird

Male Verditer Flycatcher

Female Verditer Flycatcher

Plain Sunbird

White-crowned Shama

Asian Brown Flycatcher

Tufted Pygmy Squirrel

Geniotrigona thoracica

Jungle Jade Swallowtail

Oriental Whipsnake

Selfie at Trus Madi

Back down at the village, we picked up our rental car and headed onwards to Mount Kinabalu, our next destination. But that will have to wait for a future post...