Long-tailed Broadbill by Ck Leong

Due to the difficulty in getting to the Trus Madi mountain range where the Long-tailed Broadbill Psarisomus dalhousiae is common, this beautiful bird is locally considered to be quite a twitch.  My friend Jason spotted this pair carrying nest material along the Tambunan road earlier this week.  Many years ago in the same area I saw a party of 5 birds.  My only other big encounter was in Cuc Phuong National Park near Hanoi in north Vietnam about 4 years ago when I saw a party of 30 to 40 moving through the forest in a fantastic and noisy spectacle.  It is difficult to forget the brilliance of this bird.

Along the seafront of Kota Kinabalu, the Whiskered Tern Chlidonias hybridus can be easily seen.  During the winter migration, birds are usually in non-breeding or juvenile plumages.  The flight is absolutely delightful,  broken only when they plunge into the water for fish.

Here’s a regular visitor during the winter migration.  The Grey Heron Ardea cinerea is found in small numbers in the ponds and paddy fields along the north-west coast of Borneo.  Previously I saw a cinerea in its more familiar surroundings along the Thames river outside of London.  I supposed with the recent icy conditions there, it would have preferred the much warmer paddies outside of my home in Kota Kinabalu.

Little Ringed Plover, Kota Belud

The Little Ringed Plover Charadrius dubius has got to be one of my favourite birds.  Not only is it a nice little package but even the name has a comfortable “ring” to it.  I look out for it every migration season and it has yet to disappoint.

I used to have a lot of difficulty identifying the Javan Pond-heron Ardeola speciosa as during the winter migration we usually had eclipse birds which were quite difficult to tell  apart from visiting eclipse Chinese Pond-heron.   Nowadays it is quite possible to see the Javan in breeding plumage in the padi fields of Kota Belud in north-west Sabah.  I took this picture last month and there were quite a few others in breeding plumage.  I also saw them in the padi fields outside of Kota Kinabalu recently.  Now we just have to confirm whether they have taken residency.