Similar to our stay in Mauritius in 2013,
our stay in Borneo was aided by a conservation organisation and this time it was the Bornean
Orang-utan Survival Foundation (BOSF). And similar to the blog posts from Mauritius,
most blog posts from Borneo will be of limited use to “normal” birders visiting
this beautiful island, however they are still interesting and therefore I will
keep you posted.
From January to March we were based
non-stop in the North of Central Kalimantan in an area called Batikap
Protection Forest, which is located within the Ulu Barito IBA and is roughly 200.000 square hectares. This area is
situated just east of West Kalimantan and just South of the Mueller Range of
which the roughly 1.600 MASL high Bukit Batikap is a part of. The GPS
coordinates of the field station we stayed in (200 MASL) are N 0.04141; E
113.49924, for those who want to have an exact idea of the location. The area
is drained by several rivers, which also are the main travel routes for our
work. The river network is rather complicated, but to give you an idea: the
field station is located at the Posu River, which joins with the Joloi River. Before that Joloi River is joined by Tajoi Besar River
and Tajoi Kecil River. Further downstream the Joloi River is joined by the
Mohot River and later by the Tohan River. This is as far as our working area
goes. After this the Joloi River is joined by Naan River and finally drains into the
mighty Barito. The forest until the Mohot River is still in pristine condition.
Most of the forest in the Batikap area is primary lowland dipterocarp forest,
but on top of most hills the forest is dominated by kerangas, whose peat colours
the rivers dark brown.
Most of the time we helped with the
monitoring and radio-tracking of reintroduced Orang-utans. The area currently
holds 99 mature Orang-utans. 14 of those were released just last February and
we were fortunate enough to be able to help with this release. Next to this I
went out to do some birding of course, especially because of the fact that this
area has NEVER been birded by any other Western birder before. So far the
results were not disappointing and almost 200 species have been recorded by us
in the seven weeks we stayed here. I don´t want to discuss every species individually,
but some species deserve some more words.
Endemics
and near-endemics:
Of the more than 50 Bornean endemics I so far recorded ten endemics and one near-endemic in the Batikap Protection Forest, some of them being really good species that are hard or impossible to find on the standard Sabah tour most birders do when visiting the island. The endemics I recorded here are Bulwer´s Pheasant (heard-only), Bornean Peacock-pheasant (heard-only), Blue-headed Pitta, Blue-banded Pitta (heard-only), Bornean Black Magpie, Bornean Bristlehead, Yellow-rumped Flowerpecker, Bornean Spiderhunter, Bornean Blue-flycatcher and Bornean Wren-babbler, Some of them giving exceptional views. The only near-endemic I recorded was Dusky Munia.
Of the more than 50 Bornean endemics I so far recorded ten endemics and one near-endemic in the Batikap Protection Forest, some of them being really good species that are hard or impossible to find on the standard Sabah tour most birders do when visiting the island. The endemics I recorded here are Bulwer´s Pheasant (heard-only), Bornean Peacock-pheasant (heard-only), Blue-headed Pitta, Blue-banded Pitta (heard-only), Bornean Black Magpie, Bornean Bristlehead, Yellow-rumped Flowerpecker, Bornean Spiderhunter, Bornean Blue-flycatcher and Bornean Wren-babbler, Some of them giving exceptional views. The only near-endemic I recorded was Dusky Munia.
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| A male Blue-headed Pitta (Pitta baudii) photographed by Joy |
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| (Bornean) Black Magpie (Platysmurus leucopterus (arterrimus)) |
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| Female Bornean Blue-flycatcher (Cyornis superbus) |
Phasanidae:
The family that frustrated me more than any other family during my stay here. To give you an example of a week in Batikap: Missed a male Bulwer´s Pheasant foraging on the banks of Joloi River because I was ordered to stay on standby in a flying camp for Orang-utan monitoring; Missed a female Bornean Peacock-pheasant crossing our helipad because I was facing the other way, while my co-worker saw it crossing the helipad just a couple of meters in front of him as he was coming to join me; Missed a male Black Partridge singing because I was staring into the wrong opening between the bushes as it showed itself for a couple of seconds. On top of that I also missed a Storm´s Stork flying over in the distance because I was watching in awe as two Helmeted Hornbills flew over rather close. Not my best week ever… In the end I managed to record six species of the Phasanidae family of which I saw just two. The rest remained heard-only.
For Bulwer´s Pheasant I visited a lekking site, locally known as “sempidan helipet” (pheasant helipad). We were lucky enough to hear one or two females calling to invite males to the lek (unfortunately my gear, including recorder was still in Palangkaraya), unfortunately no males or females actually showed up at the helipad. Another try at this site was postponed until the very last day by extremely low river levels due to a prolonged period of drought. The second attempt also yielded no Bulwer´s Pheasant, but this time none were heard as well.
Bornean Peacock-pheasant also remained heard-only, even though I once heard a male calling from our kitchen. Despite long searches or long sit-and-wait sessions I haven´t caught a glimpse of this mega yet. The closest I´ve ever come to seeing one was hearing a pheasant taking off through the forest from a place where I heard a male Bornean Peacock-pheasant before without actually seeing anything…
Nothing of that however is comparable to the frustration and confusion Black Partridge has caused me. In my first week I heard a call I didn´t know and Joy (a keen, young colleague of mine with incredibly sharp eyes and very good knowledge of the local fauna) ascribed it to “Puyuh Hitam” and after asking he assured me the bird did not have a crest, so we went after it. After an hour of badly imitating the sound three birds crossed the path, but I was checking the other side of the path and when I turned around the birds were gone. The same thing happened some weeks later. Later when my gear arrived I recorded the presumed Black Partridge song and it turned out to be incredibly similar to the song of Black-throated Babbler, something which the locals confirmed. Now I hear the call everywhere and every time I invested time (a couple of occasions every day) to find out what its source was I saw either nothing (Black Partridge?) or a group of Black-throated Babblers… According to Myers (2010) the call of Black Partridge is poorly known, so it might as well be this call, but I definitely want to find out whether this call is actually produced by Black Partridge or not. I will keep you updated.
The family that frustrated me more than any other family during my stay here. To give you an example of a week in Batikap: Missed a male Bulwer´s Pheasant foraging on the banks of Joloi River because I was ordered to stay on standby in a flying camp for Orang-utan monitoring; Missed a female Bornean Peacock-pheasant crossing our helipad because I was facing the other way, while my co-worker saw it crossing the helipad just a couple of meters in front of him as he was coming to join me; Missed a male Black Partridge singing because I was staring into the wrong opening between the bushes as it showed itself for a couple of seconds. On top of that I also missed a Storm´s Stork flying over in the distance because I was watching in awe as two Helmeted Hornbills flew over rather close. Not my best week ever… In the end I managed to record six species of the Phasanidae family of which I saw just two. The rest remained heard-only.
For Bulwer´s Pheasant I visited a lekking site, locally known as “sempidan helipet” (pheasant helipad). We were lucky enough to hear one or two females calling to invite males to the lek (unfortunately my gear, including recorder was still in Palangkaraya), unfortunately no males or females actually showed up at the helipad. Another try at this site was postponed until the very last day by extremely low river levels due to a prolonged period of drought. The second attempt also yielded no Bulwer´s Pheasant, but this time none were heard as well.
Bornean Peacock-pheasant also remained heard-only, even though I once heard a male calling from our kitchen. Despite long searches or long sit-and-wait sessions I haven´t caught a glimpse of this mega yet. The closest I´ve ever come to seeing one was hearing a pheasant taking off through the forest from a place where I heard a male Bornean Peacock-pheasant before without actually seeing anything…
Nothing of that however is comparable to the frustration and confusion Black Partridge has caused me. In my first week I heard a call I didn´t know and Joy (a keen, young colleague of mine with incredibly sharp eyes and very good knowledge of the local fauna) ascribed it to “Puyuh Hitam” and after asking he assured me the bird did not have a crest, so we went after it. After an hour of badly imitating the sound three birds crossed the path, but I was checking the other side of the path and when I turned around the birds were gone. The same thing happened some weeks later. Later when my gear arrived I recorded the presumed Black Partridge song and it turned out to be incredibly similar to the song of Black-throated Babbler, something which the locals confirmed. Now I hear the call everywhere and every time I invested time (a couple of occasions every day) to find out what its source was I saw either nothing (Black Partridge?) or a group of Black-throated Babblers… According to Myers (2010) the call of Black Partridge is poorly known, so it might as well be this call, but I definitely want to find out whether this call is actually produced by Black Partridge or not. I will keep you updated.
Night
birds:
A species group that always has fascinated me, but it took some time before the first results of my nightly searches paid off. In the end we found five Owl species, one Nightjar species and one Frogmouth species here. The Frogmouth was found during the day on its tiny nest hanging over the Muara River and it turned out to be a Large Frogmouth! Not a bad find at all. The next day two more were found roosting rather close to the field station. Strange that they never responded to my playback… The same goes for the other night birds. During my nightly searches I never saw a night bird, just heard them and they would never react to playback, however every now and then I found them roosting during the day. In the end I managed to see all four of the five Owls, the Frogmouth and the Nightjar.
A species group that always has fascinated me, but it took some time before the first results of my nightly searches paid off. In the end we found five Owl species, one Nightjar species and one Frogmouth species here. The Frogmouth was found during the day on its tiny nest hanging over the Muara River and it turned out to be a Large Frogmouth! Not a bad find at all. The next day two more were found roosting rather close to the field station. Strange that they never responded to my playback… The same goes for the other night birds. During my nightly searches I never saw a night bird, just heard them and they would never react to playback, however every now and then I found them roosting during the day. In the end I managed to see all four of the five Owls, the Frogmouth and the Nightjar.
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| Brown Hawk-owl (Ninox scutulata) |
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| Large Frogmouth (Batrachostomus auritus) |
Apodidae:
But because I spend so much time traveling on rivers, I got a lot of time to look at Swifts dipping in the water, which aids their complicated identification. In the end I managed to identify five Swiftlets, two Needletails and two Treeswifts. The best species was Waterfall (or Giant) Swift(let), which was observed twice. It is a truly gigantic Swift and has a rather different way of flying, smooth and direct without the fast wing beats that are typical of the smaller species. However I did not see the white margins on the undertail coverts nor did I manage to take a picture (who could on a moving cis/klotok/prahu), but I´m sure of the identification.
But because I spend so much time traveling on rivers, I got a lot of time to look at Swifts dipping in the water, which aids their complicated identification. In the end I managed to identify five Swiftlets, two Needletails and two Treeswifts. The best species was Waterfall (or Giant) Swift(let), which was observed twice. It is a truly gigantic Swift and has a rather different way of flying, smooth and direct without the fast wing beats that are typical of the smaller species. However I did not see the white margins on the undertail coverts nor did I manage to take a picture (who could on a moving cis/klotok/prahu), but I´m sure of the identification.
Bucerotidae:
Probably the most enigmatic species group of Borneo. In Batikap seven of the eight hornbill species of Borneo occur. Strangely the most common Hornbill, Oriental Pied Hornbill, which can be seen simply in the city of Palangkaraya, is missing in this forest. Maybe it gets outcompeted by the other, larger species? The most common Hornbill in Batikap is Black Hornbill; the rarest is White-crowned Hornbill. Helmeted Hornbill is heard reasonably often, but seeing this Pterodactyl-like bird is a different thing. The others are fairly common.
Probably the most enigmatic species group of Borneo. In Batikap seven of the eight hornbill species of Borneo occur. Strangely the most common Hornbill, Oriental Pied Hornbill, which can be seen simply in the city of Palangkaraya, is missing in this forest. Maybe it gets outcompeted by the other, larger species? The most common Hornbill in Batikap is Black Hornbill; the rarest is White-crowned Hornbill. Helmeted Hornbill is heard reasonably often, but seeing this Pterodactyl-like bird is a different thing. The others are fairly common.
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| Wreathed Hornbills (Aceros undulatus) |
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| Rhinoceros Hornbills (Buceros rhinoceros) |
Pittidae:
An all-time favourite of families. In Batikap I recorded five species and I suspect three more to be present. Surprisingly I saw four of the five species well and that without using playback. Unfortunately the Fairy Pitta that chose the area around the field station as wintering ground (it was found by Adhy, field station manager and keen birdwatcher from Java, and it is probably the second record for Central Kalimantan) seems not to have returned this year and I had to console myself with “just” two wintering Blue-winged Pittas.
An all-time favourite of families. In Batikap I recorded five species and I suspect three more to be present. Surprisingly I saw four of the five species well and that without using playback. Unfortunately the Fairy Pitta that chose the area around the field station as wintering ground (it was found by Adhy, field station manager and keen birdwatcher from Java, and it is probably the second record for Central Kalimantan) seems not to have returned this year and I had to console myself with “just” two wintering Blue-winged Pittas.
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| Blue-winged Pitta (Pitta moluccensis) |
Rare
lowland specialist species:
Quite a lot of lowland specialists that are rare or gone elsewhere are still quite numerous in this area. Examples of species like this are: Large Green Pigeon (their goofy calls can be heard every single morning from my bed and some roosting trees hold more than 40 individuals!), Short-toed Coucal, Great Slaty Woodpecker (we even found a group of six birds!), Blue-banded Kingfisher (on some boat rides the Blue-banded Kingfisher – Blue-eared Kingfisher ratio was 1:1!), Straw-headed Bulbul, Blue-headed Pitta, Bornean Wren-babbler and Long-billed Blue-flycatcher (it took some time to find this species, but when I found them they turned up regularly at different sites). At is a pleasure to be in a place where so many endangered species occur so numerously.
Quite a lot of lowland specialists that are rare or gone elsewhere are still quite numerous in this area. Examples of species like this are: Large Green Pigeon (their goofy calls can be heard every single morning from my bed and some roosting trees hold more than 40 individuals!), Short-toed Coucal, Great Slaty Woodpecker (we even found a group of six birds!), Blue-banded Kingfisher (on some boat rides the Blue-banded Kingfisher – Blue-eared Kingfisher ratio was 1:1!), Straw-headed Bulbul, Blue-headed Pitta, Bornean Wren-babbler and Long-billed Blue-flycatcher (it took some time to find this species, but when I found them they turned up regularly at different sites). At is a pleasure to be in a place where so many endangered species occur so numerously.
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| A crappy flight shot of a Blue-banded Kingfisher (Alcedo euryzona) |
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| An even more crappy record shot of a Large Green Pigeon (Treron capellei) |
Unexpected
findings:
Of course when birding a blank spot on the map like Batikap, some strange things pop up. An example of an unexpected record is a Dark-sided Flycatcher taking a shower in the rain, after Adhy had found another one just a couple of days earlier on a different location. There are very few records for Central Kalimantan of this species. There are no photographs of my sighting, but luckily there are of Adhy´s record. According to Myers (2010) there are no records in Central Kalimantan of this species. However according to Mann (2008) there is one old record from Barito Ulu in 1969. These statistics make our sightings sound very special, but I think this migrant is very under recorded in Central Kalimantan as this species was also found during the Murung Raya expedition by Martin Holland. Another unexpected finding was a female Crimson-breasted Flowerpecker with a just fledged chick, while Yellow-rumped Flowerpecker is common in this forest. Myers (2010) states that both species are not known to occur together… I´m sure more discoveries such as these will follow!
Of course when birding a blank spot on the map like Batikap, some strange things pop up. An example of an unexpected record is a Dark-sided Flycatcher taking a shower in the rain, after Adhy had found another one just a couple of days earlier on a different location. There are very few records for Central Kalimantan of this species. There are no photographs of my sighting, but luckily there are of Adhy´s record. According to Myers (2010) there are no records in Central Kalimantan of this species. However according to Mann (2008) there is one old record from Barito Ulu in 1969. These statistics make our sightings sound very special, but I think this migrant is very under recorded in Central Kalimantan as this species was also found during the Murung Raya expedition by Martin Holland. Another unexpected finding was a female Crimson-breasted Flowerpecker with a just fledged chick, while Yellow-rumped Flowerpecker is common in this forest. Myers (2010) states that both species are not known to occur together… I´m sure more discoveries such as these will follow!
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| Dark-sided Flycatcher (Muscicapa sibirica) photographed by Adhy Maruly |
Batikap Protection Forest is also a good
site for other animals. Besides the reintroduced Orang-utans and their wild
born babies, Southern Bornean Gibbons (and possibly Agile Gibbons, as Batikap
is part of the hybridization zone between the two), Maroon Langur, Silvered
Langur, Pig-tailed and Long-tailed Macaque can be seen here. Other mammals we
have recorded are Sambar, Greater Mouse-deer, Bornean Red Muntjak, Bearded Pig
and a large variety of squirrels including Tufted Ground, Sunda Giant,
Prevost´s, Ear-spot, Horse-tailed, Black-eared Pygmy and Plain Pygmy Squirrel. We
got very close to seeing some other, rarer mammals, but in the end we did not
see them. We saw the bushes moving as a Bornean Yellow Muntjak spurted away, we
saw trees moving as a Clouded Leopard was moving through them (not a single
glimpse of the animal!) and we found tracks of Otters, small felids and other
mammals. We also recorded a large array of reptiles of which we identified some
including Reticulated Python, Malaysian Flat-shelled Turtle, Frilly Gecko, Ornate Shrub-lizard, (this record is one of the few records from Central Kalimantan of this species) and three species
of the flying genus of Draco, which
are in my opinion another one of the many wonders of the Bornean heart of
darkness.
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| A very cute Least Pygmy Squirrel (Exiliscuiris exilis) |
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| A baby Reticulated Python (Python reticulata) slept in our camp (photograph made by Anna van der Kaaden) |
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| Ornate Shrub Lizard (Aphaniotis ornata) (Picture made by Ike) |
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| Frilly Gecko (Hemidactylus craspedotus) |
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