The Wood Sandpiper is a very elegant Tringa and easily the commonest wader during the winter migration here.  It frequents our padi fields and wetlands, feeding alone or in small groups.  It is usually the first to arrive (late July) and last to leave (April).  I figure this bird spends more time here than at its breeding grounds in northern Asia.

Ruff, feeding

This palaeartic winters in Africa and South Asia but once in a while, we get a straggler (two, in this sighting) in Borneo.  I have never seen a Ruff in breeding plumage.  Still, you get what you can.  I consider myself lucky to get this photo of a male feeding,  its back feathers raised.  It was moving around in a wet paddy and I assume it is partial to rice and seeds of various grass.

Visitors to the well-known Borneo Rainforest Lodge would have seen this bird on the (Danum) river as seen from the restaurant.  I have also seen the Great-billed Heron Ardea sumatrana along the river at the Tabin Wildlife Reserve.  It is also reported along the coast but so far I have only seen it along  the two rivers mentioned.  A graceful flyer, it is usually seen alone.  Easily the largest heron in Borneo.

The Purple-naped Sunbird Hypogramma hypogrammicum is one of the more common sunbirds in Borneo.  It feeds on small insects and is also partial to pollen of various flowers in the lowland forest. It utters a loud tsip while moving from blossom to blossom, with an occasional series of notes.  It is easy to miss the metallic purple band on its nape (absent in females) if you are looking up at the bird.

The Gold-whiskered Barbet is the largest barbet in Borneo and probably the loudest.  The subspecies M. c. chrysopsis has a broad black facemask ending in blue.  Found in lowland and hill forests but more often heard than seen.