Birding in Borneo
In and around Kota Kinabalu
February, 2012
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I arrived in Kota Kinabalu, a.k.a. "KK", in the middle of the day,
and Ram and Dawn weren't getting in until close to midnight.
Our guide, C.K. Leong,
met me at the airport and took me to the hotel he had arranged,
the Gaya Centre Hotel.
I was a bit disappointed,
as it was way too upscale for me.
Part of the fun of visiting other places is being in the same situation
as ordinary people and not being treated like wealthy tourists.
But I'm sure the average birder wants a high class hotel
with all the modern amenities,
and that's what C.K. got us.
I stashed my stuff in my room,
then went for a walk about town.
I gravitated to the harbor and the open markets,
The fish market was in full swing,
although I was late in terms of normal fish-market time.
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| Kota Kinabalu Harbour |
Pulau Gaya |
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| Fishing Boats |
Flower Xxx |
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| KK Fish Market |
Squid... Big ones! |
More fish... |
Out in the parking lot, a guy had some bins full of small sharks.
The dorsal fins had been cut off,
and I presume sold already for a higher price.
Traditional medicine is ok most of the time,
but when it leads to the decimation of species for doubtful gains
it makes no sense.
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| Fresh Shrimp |
Crabs |
Sharks, dorsal fins removed |
I wandered into the vegetable market,
and loaded up on fruit.
I tried to find some raisins,
but there were few to be had and those were pretty expensive.
Nor were there any nuts.
As I had feared, my diet might suffer a bit...
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| KK Market |
KK Market |
I came to a place where a woman was selling chickens,
and a guy was buying.
I was impressed with how docile the chickens were
after going crazy when first picked up to be weighed;
they calmed down once put in the pan on the scale.
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| Weighing Chickens... initial ruckus |
Calming down... |
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| All Quiet on the Chicken Front |
I walked to the "back" of town,
away from the South China Sea, up against a hill known as "Signal Hill."
On the way up I had my first encounter with long-tailed Macaques
who were feeding in the trees.
I found a cool sunbird, which I couldn't identify in spite of my Borneo bird book.
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| Sailfish Statue |
Bird Olive Backed Sunbird |
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| Macaque |
Macaque |
I changed some money,
and to my surprise got a better rate for travelers' checks
than for cash.
The first money-changer I tried would give me RM 0.2 less for "old" style U.S. bills,
apparently because of counterfeit risk.
Fortunately, we didn't need a huge amount,
as we had pre-paid our guide for the first ten days of the trip.
Also fortunately, the Malaysian Ringgit is worth more than the Indonesian Rupiah,
so it didn't take up too much space.
I had been worrying a bit about that,
as when I went to Bali a few years ago
I ended up with a whole shoebox full of bills when I changed money.
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| Evening in Kota Kinabalu |
Sailfish Statue |
Waterfront Evening |
There is a large community of squatters in small buildings on stilts
off the nearby island, Pulau Gaya.
apparently the people are not allowed to build on the island itself,
so many have elected to build houses on stilts and commute to Kota Kinabalu
by boat for work.
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| Stilt Village off Pulau Gaya |
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| KK Stilt Village |
Early the next morning,
C.K. picked us up at the hotel after breakfast
and we headed for the Crocker Range,
a higher elevation area to the southeast.
When we returned from Crocker Range,
we checked out the seashore for shorebirds,
then went to a local park where we were rewarded with cool
Blue Naped Parrots and Pygmy Woodpeckers.
One pair of Blue Naped Parrots was hanging around a big tree,
and when we looked at the tree,
we saw a baby parrot hanging out in a hole in the tree!
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| Blue Naped Parrot |
Blue Naped Parrot |
Blue Naped Parrot |
Blue Naped Parrot Baby |
We spent half an hour following a Sunda Pygmy Woodpecker around,
then checked out other places in the park and around town
for more birds.
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| Sunda Pygmy Woodpecker |
Sunda Pygmy Woodpecker |
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| Xxx Dove |
Great Egret |
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| White Breasted Water Hen |
Monitor Lizard |
After a good night's sleep,
C.K. picked us up early the next morning and we headed north to Mt. Kinabalu Park.
But before we got there,
we stopped at a small marsh which he described as one of his favorites,
and which would not be there much longer;
it was going to be filled in for a mall or housing development.
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| KK Round About |
Estuary north of KK |
