Birding in Borneo

Crocker Range

February, 2012

Click on any image for a larger view;
Contact garya at this domain if you would like the high quality image for printing

We left Kota Kinabalu early, and I, for one, didn't have a very good idea of where we were headed. Ram had told us our itinerary, but it had just said "around Kota Kinabalu" for this, our first full day of birding in Borneo. We headed up into the mist, slow going on a winding two-lane mountain road where we often had to slow down for heavy truck traffic.

Crocker R Crocker R
Crocker Range Crocker Range
Ram and C.K. In Van Crocker R Truck
Ram and C.K. in Van Slow Traffic

We would pass through small villages, and the same dog seemed to be zipping up the highway ahead of us, showing up alongside one of the houses in every town we came to.

Crocker R Crocker R
Crocker Range Crocker Range

Crocker Range
Crocker Range
Crocker Range Spider
Spider

Crocker Range Flower Xxx Blue Crocker Range Flower Xxx Crocker Range Flower Xxx White
Flower Xxx Blue Flower Xxx Flower Xxx White
Crocker Range Ram
Ram

We worked our way up the road and over some pass at the top, pulling off periodically and looking for birds. I don't know what C.K. was looking for, but he has keen eyes, knew what he was looking for, and was familiar with the territory. C.K. got pretty excited at one of them, and we had quite a collection of cool birds flying around all at once.

Crocker Range Bird Longtailed Broadbill Crocker Range Bird Bornean Leaf Bird Crocker Range Bird Grey Chinned Minivet
Longtailed Broadbill Bornean Leaf Bird Bird Grey Chinned Minivet

Crocker Range Bird Chestnut Hooded Laughing Thrush Crocker Range Bird Everetts White Eye Crocker Range Bird Xxx Blue White Flycatcher
Chestnut Hooded Laughing Thrush Everetts White Eye Xxx Blue White Flycatcher
Crocker Range Bird Xxx Mugimaki Flycatcher Crocker Range Bird Mugimaki Flycatcher F
Xxx Mugimaki Flycatcher Mugimaki Flycatcher F
Crocker R Bird Common Iora Crocker R Bird Common Iora
Common Iora Common Iora

We worked our way down to the Rafflesia Forest Reserve. Unfortunately, there were no Rafflesia flowers in bloom that anyone knew about. They have the largest "single" flower in the world, with a blossom up to 1m in diameter! An endoparasite, they live inside a host vine except for their cabbage-sized bud. Apparently they smell like rotting flesh; one of the local names for them translates to "corpse flower".

On the way back we stopped for lunch at a place with a bunch of swiftlets nesting under the eaves. Some Swiftlets' nests are prized for birds' nest soup; there was a collection of Glossy, Mossy-Nest, and Edible-Nest Swiftlets here. We didn't order any edible nest soup, and I don't think any was on the menu. Their nests are made of vegetable matter and copious amounts of saliva; apparently it's the saliva which makes it such a delicacy. Not exactly the most appetizing thing in the world...

Crocker Range Bird Xxx Swift
Glossy, Mossy-Nest, and/or Edible-Nest Swiftlets

Then we headed back down to Kota Kinabalu, where we checked out the beach for shorebirds and some parks and other places for more birds.