Labi road, April 20th

Sunday a week ago Kolbjorn and I went to Labi road to check out a locality that I hadn't been to in ages. Lady luck was not with us this morning; almost as soon we had parked the sky opened its floodgates and the downpour quickly forced us back in the car. Rather than waiting it out we decided to head back to the main road, with some idle optimism that conditions would be better there.

A big fruiting tree along to the main road provided a perfect shelter for seemingly all barbets in the area and I had good views of blue-eared, red-throated and red-crowned. As soon as the rain stopped though a group of glossy starlings flew in and almost immediately claimed exclusive rights to the fruits. Only a couple of very persistent blue-eared barbets stayed around. This is a very common species and their incessant calls can be heard almost anywhere. I have never gotten a clean shot though!

Blue-eared barbet (Megalaima australis).

We stayed while the sky cleared up, secretly hoping the more exotic species would return to the tree. They didn't. A couple of tree-sparrows offered some distraction as they were peeping through a fence next to my car. The first breeding records of this species in Borneo only date back to the early 1960's - now it's a common bird just about everywhere humans live and work.

Eurasian tree-sparrow (Passer montanis).

After 20 minutes we gave up and headed back to the first locality. The first bird we noticed was this dark-sided flycatcher. I was a little unsure about the ID, so thanks to Dave and Wong for helping out!

Dark-sided flycatcher (Muscicapa sibirica).

Same bird: dark-sided flycatcher (Muscicapa sibirica).

A chestnut-bellied malkoha also showed reasonably well while it was creeping through the trees. Labi seems a good area for this generally uncommon species.

Chestnut-bellied malkoha (Phaenicophaeus sumatranus).

We soon noticed this second flycatcher, another dark-sided. I find the ID of this bird more straight forward, especially since the diagnostic grey spots below the vent are a lot clearer.

Dark-sided flycatcher (Muscicapa sibirica).

By now it was getting late in the morning and although we heard and saw some interesting species, the activity was rapidly slowing down. Labi-road still had one good surprise on the way back. Just before turning onto the highway back to Panaga a very large bird flew overhead: a Lesser adjutant!

Lesser adjutant (Leptoptilos javanicus).

In the past, this species was still seen on occasion in and around the Seria grasslands close to Panaga. The last record however dates far back to 2009 and sadly seems to be in line with the decline of this species. Due to primarily hunting pressure the Lesser adjutant is listed as vulnerable by the IUCN.

It's always nice to end a morning out with a good species; needless to say that I was very pleased to finally add this species to my Brunei list!

Folkert, 01/05/2013

Labi road, September 1st

Went for an early morning birding trip on Saturday morning together with Kolbjorn. We left Panaga around 05:30 and drove straight to Labi road. A first, very brief stop was at Luagan Lalak, a shallow fresh water lake roughly halfway between Labi and Sungai Liang. Luagan Lalak was very quiet and we soon headed off again. Our second locality was the side-road towards Kampung Rumah Panjang. As soon as we turned onto this my morning was instantly successful: a pair of large green pigeons was sitting high up in a dead tree. These birds are quite rare in Brunei and this was only the second time I've seen these largest of the Bornean green pigeons. As luck would have it we saw another pair (the same pair?) flying in front of a group of approximately 6 thick-billed green pigeons half an hour later. I wasn't quick enough to get any of the pigeons on camera though.

After driving on a little further we saw some hill myna's up in another bare tree. One of the birds looked suspiciously different and upon closer inspection it was a red-crowned barbet. The light was very bad and the bird high up in the treetop; the below (heavily cropped) snap was the best I could manage.

Red-crowned barbet (Megalaima rafflesii)

A couple of months ago on May 26th, and before the birth of my weblog, I got some more decent pictures at the same location of this barbet species enjoying a fruiting bonanza:

Red-crowned barbet (Megalaima rafflesii)

Red-crowned barbet (Megalaima rafflesii)

We walked up and down the road for a little while and soon spotted a flycatcher. We observed this little fellow for some time, as it returned to the same branch after each sally for insects. I am still not fully certain which species this exactly is; my guess is a dark-sided flycatcher but I am open to alternative suggestions (brown-streaked?)...

Dark-sided flycatcher (Muscicapa sibirica)

Dark-sided flycatcher (Muscicapa sibirica)

Dark-sided flycatcher (Muscicapa sibirica)

We continued to follow the road past the Kampung and as far as we could by car. In the past I think you could drive all the way to the river, but the road now stops roughly two kilometers short. After parking the car we walked probably a couple of 100 meters further into the forest. This is a very nice area. As it was getting a little later the activity did drop, but we still managed to see some nice birds including some babblers, a black-naped monarch and an emerald dove. I didn't get any great photo opportunities and most frustrating was a perfectly perched purple-naped sunbird at 1 meter, well within my minimum focus distance! This female black-and-yellow broadbill provided some reasonable views.

Black-and-yellow broadbill (Eurylaimus ochromalus)

The big birds stayed out and we didn't see a single raptor or hornbill this time. Still, we had a great morning with over 40 species recorded, and this side-road of the Labi road remains one of my favorite areas. The morning's list:

white-breasted waterhen, large green pigeon, thick-billed green pigeon, emerald dove, blue-crowned hanging parrot, stork-billed kingfisher, rufous woodpecker, brown barbet, red-throated barbet, red-crowned barbet, greater racquet-tailed drongo, crow-billed drongo, slender-billed crow, dollar bird, hill myna, blue-throated bee-eater, raffles' malkoha, chestnut-bellied malkoha, black-and-yellow broadbill, black-and-red broadbill, black-naped monarch, pied fantail, green iora, common iora, dark-sided flycatcher(?), fiery minivet, black-headed bulbul, red-eyed bulbul, cream-vented bulbul, sooty-capped babbler, scaly-crowned babbler, chestnut-winged babbler, olive-backed sunbird, crimson sunbird, purple-throated sunbird, little spiderhunter, spectacled spiderhunter, dark-necked tailorbird, whiskered tree-swift, white-breasted woodswallow, pacific swallow, chestnut munia.

Folkert, 02/09/2012