Borneo Birds

This very striking bee-eater Merops viridis is common to the rivers and open lowland country of Borneo. It performs aerobatic flights at insects from its perch, each flight ever more graceful. On the Kinabatangan River, this year’s breeding must have been particularly difficult. Lots of later than usual rainfall have damaged many of the sandy banks where the bird favours for its breeding ground. It is still a common bird, favouring the birdwatcher in many locations.

I took time off from my schedule to photograph this treeswift Hemiprocne comata because a friend had a picture of it and I thought it was a really handsome bird. Its beautiful white facial whiskers stood out conspicuously from its dark blue head plumage. Usually in pairs, they behave more like flycatchers than true swifts. They make short flights at nearby insects before returning to their perch. Look out for them when you are birding in lowland forest in the Sunda region.

The Yellow-bellied Prinia is a common inhabitant of grassland and scrub, up to 1,200m in places where the vegetation has been disturbed. Usually it is seen taking short flights between brief landings on the stem of grass or bush. When disturbed, it quickly drops into cover. But it will soon give away its presence by its shrill song. The race found in Borneo is the Prinia f. latrunculus with its underparts awashed in a light buff, quite unrepresentative of its vernacular name.

The bulbuls are a large family of Africa and southern Asia. There are 22 species here in Borneo. The Ochraceous bulbul Alophoixus ochraceus is a common bird of the mountains. They keep to the understorey feeding mainly on berries. With their puffed out throat feathers and loud calls, you can’t miss them.

This beautiful sunbird Aethopyga temminckii is generally considered as a bird of the hills and mountains of Borneo. On occasions I have also seen it in the lowland forest (300m) of Tabin Wildlife Reserve. The male bird announces itself with a continual cheet cheet usually from the tree canopy. Its red tail distinguishes itself from the closely similar Javan Sunbird A. mystacalis (endemic to Java) which has a purple tail.