Sabah, end of March

Last weekend we went for a small family get away; a couple of days in Kota Kinabalu and 1 night on Mantanani island. The weather was close to perfect and the hotel swimming pool a big hit with my son. I did get up one morning for a little walk around the Tanjung Aru area. The pacific reef egrets were showing well in the soft light of the early morning.

Pacific reef egret (Egretta sacra)

Pacific reef egret (Egretta sacra)

A group of night herons flew overhead in the direction of Gaya Island, which I expect is where they roost. I guess this could also be a group of migrant birds.

Black-crowned night heron (Nycticorax nycticorax)

On Sunday we left Kota Kinabalu for a 1 night stay at Pulau Mantanani. Mantanani is a group of 3 small islands of Sabah's West coast and can be reached from Kota Kinabalu in roughly 3 hours by bus and boat. We stayed at the Mari Mari backpackers lodge. A blue rock thrush had its foraging grounds in front of our hut.

Blue rock thrush (Monticola solitarius)

The islands are mostly known for good diving and snorkeling. It is not just the aquatic life that is on offer in Mantanani; there is also has some good avian fauna. 

Every evening, literally hundreds of frigate birds come to roast on the two smaller islands, and both lesser and Christmas island frigate bird can be seen well. With the setting sun and the water lapping at our toes we got a little lost in the moment - so no pics...

In the evening I went out to search for the scops owl that shares its name with island. This small owl species is only known from Mantanani and some islands in the Philippines. I had been told that the owls are commonly heard, but are very challenging to see. And indeed, the first owl was already heard from the grounds of the Mari Mari lodge, but didn't show. Luck was with me however this evening and on the small trail I had chosen I saw no less than 4 different individuals and the one below posed very well!

Mantanani scops owl (Otus mantananensis)

Mantanani scops owl (Otus mantananensis)

Besides the frigatebirds and the scops owl, the islands are also good for a couple of other island specialists and the next morning I had an hour or so to explore the island a little more. I decided to walk north towards the limestone hills on the main island. The forest and coconut groves that I passed were  very good for the Philippine megapode and saw a couple birds, mostly flying off. I also flushed a pair of Nicobar pigeons, which was an unexpected bonus. High up in the trees, grey imperial pigeons could be heard but proved very difficult to see well. 

Grey imperial pigeon (Ducula pickeringii)

The remainder of the morning was spend leisurely relaxing next to the beach. Early afternoon the boat left again for the mainland, and our journey home.

Folkert, 06/04/2014

Happy new year!

A quick post on some of the egrets and herons I have recently seen. And for good measure I'll throw in a pic of a snake as well. End of last year we had a brief holiday in KK (see also previous post) and I spend one morning along the waterfront at Prince Philip's park. The first birds I saw were some whimbrels. One of the birds had only one leg left, but seemed to manage quite well.

Whimbrel (Numenius phaeopus).

I was aiming for some good pictures of the local specialties; blue-naped parrots and crested myna's. Both these birds were easily spotted, but the pacific and chinese egret's along the coast-line drew must of my attention. Here is the myna:

Crested myna (Acridotheres cristatellus).

And the pacific reef egret:

Pacific reef-egret (Egretta Sacra).

The star of the morning was however the chinese egret.

Chinese egret (Egretta eulophotes).

This bird was quite undisturbed by my presence and even approached me rather then the other way around. Here it is flying along the coastline.

Chinese egret (Egretta eulophotes).

Today most people were back in the office. One of my colleagues, Axel, informed that he had seen a Malaysian night heron yesterday. This was the second sighting as some other friends had probably seen one in their garden a fortnight ago. After my failed attempts to locate that heron, I had a lot more luck this time. The night heron was still at the same patch were it was seen by Axel yesterday! Big thanks to Axel for showing me!

I quickly drove back to get my camera and got a couple of shots before the bird disappeared in the undergrowth when some passersby approached this weird looking guy (me) to ask what I was looking at. It is definitely also true that you don't see a foreign expat lying in the grass next to the road in his office attire everyday... I'll try to go back again tomorrow afternoon to get some better shots.

Malaysian night heron (Gorsachius melanolophus).

The final picture of today is this Malaysian Brown Snake that I nearly turned into road kill yesterday. Luckily I noticed it just in time - and the snake seemed grateful enough to allow me some close-ups.

Malaysian brown snake (Xenelaphis hexagonotus).

Happy new year!

Folkert, 07/01/2013