Proboscis Monkeys revisited

In many of the male proboscis monkey photos, the monkey is manspreading and its privates  are exposed. Chris made Mike find PG rated photos with branches strategically placed. 

Apparently they are well known for this habit and even the dolls are R-rated

Morning activity: Canopy walk, Abs Nut, and Chris Saves the Day.

We went on a drive this morning in a golf cart along the entrance road we have been walking on.  We first saw a Great Angus, a type of partridge.

Eventually we made it to the canopy walk, Chris waited in the golf cart while Mike braved the hanging bridges with Casey.   He saw absolutely nothing, abs nut, as we abbreviate it on our usual bird walks at home.

It was a  pretty uneventful morning until Chris saw a fluorescent green bird in the distance which turned out to be a blue-crowned hanging-parrot.

Our luck changed after that and we eventually found a Blyth’s Paradise Flycatcher.

On the way back, we spotted several babbler species that move too fast to photograph but Mike lucked out on a scaly-crowned babbler.

Mike won at scrabble

Who knew that PYA was a word?  It’s the currency of Myramar that may be our next birding adventure.

Our villa at Borneo Rainforest Lodge

Finally, the helmeted hornbill.

We went birding at 6:00am and immediately “saw” the helmeted hornbill.  However, it was still fairly dark and misty.  We waited by the fig tree for about 90 minutes for sun to rise, the fog to dissipate, and the birds to come out from behind leaves. Persistence paid off. (Mike was going to patience but he was impatient the entire time).  

Here are some of the photos from the early morning

Eventually, they ate some figs and flew to an another tree and briefly stayed in the open.

Arriving at Borneo Rainforest Lodge

The lodge is about 4 hours from Sukua by car. We switched cars and drivers about half way as we were handed off from one lodge to the other (and stopped at a pharmacy for Mike’s back and Chris’s belly).  Our driver for the second lodge was also a birder, and we briefly stooped a few times for birds and restroom breaks.  We got better views of the whispered tree swift.

Borneo rainforest lodge is inside the Danum River valley conservation area. Only 100 people are allowed in this area at a time.  It’s very remote (no cell phone data) but our room, a two story villa complete with butler and private guide is more elegant than Sukua.  However, the villa is a bit awkward with extra beds rather than a sitting room.  I see furniture rearranging in our future.  After one look at the buffet, we decided we’ll have private dining in our room from now on.

We went out for an afternoon trek with Cassy our guide. It wasn’t great for birding, we got brief distant and leaf blocked views of the the helmeted hornbill.  We did see a orangutan and a red leaf monkey though.

Last morning trek at Sukua Rainforest Lodge

On our last day, we went in search of some birds that we had not gotten good photos of. The rhinoceros hornbill was first on our list. Mike also wanted to photograph the proboscis monkey again.  The first thing we saw were Black hornbills.

We saw a wrinkled hornbill fly overhead and went to go photograph that as well.

We couldn’t see it from where it landed and waited for it to come out. It never did, but the guide pointed out the proboscis monkey.

We saw a rhinoceros Hornbill fly overhead and raced to where it had landed.

We got better photos this time than last

As we left, we were surprised to encounter a Pygmy elephant. In retrospect, if we spoke Malay, we would have learned that another boat told our guide that there was an elephant down the road. We’d already seen elephants, so the guide didn’t think it was that important and he’s right except it was a really good view of a male elephant with tusks..

We saw lots of other things, but we have to head out for our afternoon trek now.

Silvery langur monkey

Two days ago, we spotted silvery langur monkeys from the boat.   

Yesterday morning , we were woken up by a screeching sound.  Later that day, we saw another silvery langur around the lodge and figured out that was the creature that woke us up. 

Hornbills