Primates

We are now at Sakau Rainforest Inn. We were just relaxing in our room in an after lunch stupor when a good size troop of long tailed macaques started running over our roof and around our villa - so that brought us to life 😂

Internet has been slow (and I think we are a little slow as well due to the heat.)  The first two photos are from our visit to the orangutan rehabilitation center. It is well done! Our driver Irwan and guide Kazree picked us up early from Sandakan Hotel and our journey began by stopping at the center. There are no fences keeping the orangutans inside and they roam freely. They do get fed but they keep the diet routine and boring so the animals begin to go forage by themselves. You get to view one of the feeding platforms from inside a little air conditioned room and Kazree told us to sit on the floor right up by the glass. It was a blast to watch! There were three adult orangutans that came in and many many macaques. You are instructed by the staff to be as quiet as possible since the animals can hear us - imagine the difficulty not laughing out loud hysterically at their antics or constantly saying to each other look at that one - we were very well behaved. And the orangutans are well behaved as well, but the macaques are naughty so the keeper stays out there along enough for the orangutans to feed as much as they want before the macaques run rampant.

We left there and went to the outside feeding platform and on the way two mothers with babies came right along the boardwalk. There are several security employees walking along to protect both animals and people. After leaving the center we crossed the street to see the sun bears. Really boring compared to the primates 😂 but cute just the same, and that’s where we saw the first crimson sunbird.

Then it was onward to lunch, a quick grocery stop for snacks and then a 2 and 1/2 hour boat ride to Sakau. It was rather a tedious journey after the fun morning. We thought based on the way it was described that there would be many birds and animals to see - fortunately we at least ran into our first proboscis monkey. We made it to the lodge and then went out on our first boat safari with Kazree - and we went straight to the elephants, as they can be more difficult to find, and postponed more in depth birding for our first morning.

Here is a video of one of the orangutans from the center. Why walk if you can somersault 😂

Pygmy Elephants

On our first afternoon, we were supposed to go out on a boat looking for birds.  They told us s ome Pygmy elephants  had been spotted up the river and asked if we wanted to  se them. Without hesitation, we agreed and they brought out a larger faster boat. We speed down the river and spotted them about 20 feet deep into the forest. Eventually, they came out to the grass at the river bank.  Chris even spotted a baby that was just a little taller than the grasss 

Chris manifested a male crimson sunbird.

Yesterday, we saw a drab sunbird and after using Merlin we decided it was a female crimson sunbird.  The Merlin photos showed the stunning brilliant crimson color of a male.

She said we really needed to see the male.  Today, she saw one flew by and pose right in front of us.

My new friend in Sandakan

We left Kuala Lumpur early Sunday morning and took a flight to Sandakan. Got some good steps inside the airport with the lovely air con! Landed and were picked up promptly by Borneo Eco Tours. Since we had the whole afternoon free we jumped in a taxi to go explore the Rainforest Discovery Center. We were on our own walking around and there was no way Chris was walking out on the suspension bridges! Chris waited in one of the cafes while Mike bravely took a look. She met this little bug who looks just like a crumpled up leaf. 

I survived boot camp

The first two days of birding felt like training for what’s to come. Still no leeches but I did not freak out at all with all the skinks, lizards, and snakes scurrying about while we were camped out watching the kingfisher watering hole. Our guide that day, Lee, said sometimes there are up to 20 people around the site. There were only 2 on camping chairs when we were there and as we were leaving another photographer arrived who had driven four hours from Singapore.

Overall our bird guides have been great but we feel they use the recorded calls a little too much. It is a dense forest situation so perhaps you would see nothing if you didn’t call them in but to us it seemed over amplified and bordering on harassment to the birds.

We really enjoyed our room at Villa Samadi even though we did not use the pool as much as we expected to. Our room made us feel like we were still in the midst of nature even while we were truly in a large city surrounded by many embassies and high rises.

The food wasn’t that great so on the way back from the half day of birding, so Mike found a nice Mediterranean place and we relaxed with a cold beer and a good meal. We walked to a 7 eleven for snacks and took a Grab back to the hotel. Grab is like Uber. We almost got out of the car without paying 😂 because at home uber is all linked to a credit card but here we paid cash.

Everyone we have encountered has been extremely pleasant and helpful! 

More birds from Kuala Lumpur

Chris likes the little birds, perhaps because she doesn’t try to photograph them as they dart about.

We saw most of these on our first day with our guide Weng Chu.  We learned many things about Malaysia from him, including they have a rotating kingship where a sultan from each region become king for five years.   We had breakfast at an Indian place and got some delicious roti. We went to a Chinese place for lunch where they brought out a “dog bowl” of hot water so we could sterilize our silverware.

Dark-necked tailorbird

Orange-bellied flowerpecker

Purple-naped spiderhunter 

Rufous-tailed tailorbird

Velvet-fronted nuthatch

Baya weaver

Chestnut-winged babbler

Rufescent Prinia 

Little bronze-cuckoo 

Four Kingfishers

We went out for a half day of birding today.  Some of the highlights were the new kingfisher species that we observed.

Our guide brought crickets and fish, and we waited by a stream for the kingfisher to come by.

Rufous-backed Dwarf Kingfisher

 

Blue eared kingfisher

Rufous collared kingfisher

White throated kingfisher.