Birding in Sandakan, Sabah

I went to Sepilok, Sandakan, Sabah from 17 to 26 of May, and stayed at Sepilok Bread and Breakfast.  Sepilok RDC (Rainforest Discovery Center) is one of the best birding localities in east Sabah, it is an annual event host for Borneo Bird Festival. Sepilok RDC is part of the Kabili-Sepilok Forest Reserve, which is recognized as one of the Important Bird Areas (IBA) by BirdLife International, Click HERE to find out more about the IBA.

I had my bird watching activities mainly at Sepilok RDC, and spent a day at Sandakan Batu Lima for the magnificent water bird, the Oriental Darter. I have many lifers in this birding trip, which include three endemic species (namely the Dusky Munia, White-crowned Shama (18-May), Black and Crimson Pitta (20-May) ), and one endemic sub-species of Oriental Magpie Robin (adamsi), but I missed the star bird of Sepilok, the Borneo Bristlehead. In Sabah, Kinabalu Park has the highest number of endemic species of birds, and they are mainly montane species.

On the first day of my visit to RDC, I was greeted by the Dusky Munia, it is a common bird in Sandakan, but endemic species in Borneo.

Dusky Munia

White-crowned Shama, it is also a common bird at Sepilok RDC.

The adult and the Juvenile White-crowned Shama

Black and Crimson Pitta, I saw it twice in Kingfisher Trail but the digiscoped picture is not clear, it is therefore not shown here. Its call is similar to Garnet Pitta but slightly more prolonged, click HERE to listen to the recorded call. (coming soon)

The subspecies endemic of the Oriental Magpie Robin (adamsi) is a common bird at Sepilok RDC.

Oriental Magpie Robin

Other non-endemic lifers are the Oriental Dwarf Kingfisher (Black-backed), Orange-backed Woodpecker, Buff-necked Woodpecker, Rufous Piculet, Gray-capped Woodpecker, Banded Broadbill, Oriental Darter, Jambu Fruit-Dove, White-bellied Woodswallow, Ruby-cheeked Sunbird, Velvet-fronted Nuthatch, White-chested Babbler, Short-tailed Babler and Black-capped Babbler.

In fact, Sepilok is rich in Piciformes, Coraciiformes, Trogonidae, Eurylaimidae and Pittidae. I spotted ten species of Piciformes (nine species of woodpeckers, a Brown Barbet), thirteen Coraciiforms (four types of Hornbills, seven species of Kingfishers, Blue-throated Bee-eater, and Dollarbird), one species of Trogon, three species of Broadbills and one species of Pitta.

Click on the following links to find out more:
Oriental Darters in Sandakan
Buffy Fish-Owl in Sepilok 
Hornbills in Sepilok
Kingfishers and Allies in Sepilok 
Woodpeckers and Allies in Sepilok
Diard's Trogon in Sepilok
Broadbills in Sepilok
Corvidans and Passeridans in Sepilok

Ashy Tailorbird, one of the common birds at Sepilok RDC.

Ashy Tailorbird

Happy Birding and Digiscoping!

Oriental Darters in Sandakan.

Oriental Darter is lifer in Sandakan, it is an interesting waterbird that I have ever seen. They are really magnificent birds that not only can fly, but can also swim and dive into the water effectively. I spotted nine Oriental Darters at the same spot in Batu Lima, Sandakan. I spent whole day (20-May) there to observe their interesting behavior.

let's take a closer look of the darters, from the front view, to side and back view. Do you notice that they have a pair of wings with very shinny and beautiful feathers:

Darter is a good swimmer and a good diver, it can dive in the water for minutes, it swims only with its head and long neck emerge out from the water, like a snake swimming in the water. View the video clip HERE. (will be uploaded soon)

Due to the wet feathers after the dive, the darter couldn't effectively fly out from the water. In order to come out from the water, the bird has to slowly crawl up the river band to reach a safe spot. Once it reaches the safe spot, it would then spread its wings under the sun to keep their feathers dry.

warning call from the darter:

Three darters spread their wings under the shed of a coconut tree, and not necessary must be directly under the sun. The purpose of spreading their wings is obviously to drain the excessive water out from their feathers.

Another lifer on that day was a beautiful White-bellied Woodswallow. It is one of the common birds in Sandakan. 

White-bellied Woodswallow

Besides the Oriental Darter and Woodswallow, I also spotted four species of raptors in Batu Lima, Sandakan, namely the Changeable Hawk-Eagle, White-bellied Sea Eagle, Crested Serpent Eagle and Brahminy Kite, but I only managed to digiscope three species of raptors except the Crested Serpent Eagle.

Changeable Hawk-Eagle, black morph.

White-bellied Sea Eagle, juvenile.

The sea eagle can turn its head 180 degree to have a better view of me

A beautiful Brahminy Kite

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Buffy Fish-Owl in Sabah.

Buffy Fish-Owl was the only nocturnal bird that I spotted in Sabah and digiscoped during the day time, and I saw two of them. I didn't go out for owling at night, because I was really tired after spend the whole day for birding, only the call of the Oriental Bay Owl was recorded at night.


Buffy Fish-Owl (ketupa ketupa).

Is the owl really look like a mad scientist?

One day, I'm going to look like the owl, with the round round eyes staring hard at you...

Owl is currently threatened by illegal hunting, due to a recently-emerging taste of owl meat in Asia. Therefore, the recorded call of the Oriental Bay Owl in Sepilok would not be uploaded. Click HERE to read the news.

Please stop killing and eating our adorable owls.  请停止杀害和食用这些可爱的猫头鹰.

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Hornbills in Sepilok, Sabah.

There are eight species of hornbills in Sabah, but I only spotted four species in Sepilok, they are the Rhinoceros, Oriental Pied, Black and Bushy-crested. The Oriental Pied and Black Hornbills are the most common in Sepilok, you can even see it at the Sepilok B&B.

The Oriental Pied Hornbill is the most common hornbill in South-east Asia, you can find it in Borneo, Singapore, Peninsular Malaysia and Thailand. Singapore has successfully re-introduced the Oriental Pied Hornbills, check out HERE to find out more.

The male Oriental Pied Hornbill

A juvenile Oriental Pied Hornbill

The juvenile Oriental Pied Hornbill with its parents

The Black Hornbill, is also one of the common hornbills in Sepilok, it is very easy to distinguish them by their call, its call is very similar to the motorbike engine sound. Black Hornbill is very interesting hornbill, it has two variants, with and without the white strip over the eyes to nape.

The male Black Hornbill without white strip over the eyes to nape:

The male variant, with white strip over the eyes to nape:

The female Black Hornbill without white strip over the eyes to nape:

The female variant, with white strip over the eyes to nape:

Bushy Crested Hornbill is not so common in Sepilok. I saw it once, there were three of them foraging food on the canopy. They are the only hornbill with no white in plumage.

The male Bushy Crested Hornbill

The female Bushy Crested Hornbill

The last species of hornbill I spotted was the male Rhinoceros Hornbill. This species of hornbill is always by itself, and is a shy hornbill. Here is the picture of the hornbill:

Rhinoceros Hornbill

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Kingfisher and its allies in Sepilok, Sabah.

I spotted seven species of Kingfisher and its allies (Blue-throated Bee-eater and the Dollarbird) in Sepilok. The kingfishers that I spotted were the Rufous-collared Kingfisher, White-collared Kingfisher, Ruddy Kingfisher, Blue-eared Kingfisher, Stork-billed Kingfisher, Banded Kingfisher and Oriental Dwarf Kingfisher.

Rufous-collared Kingfisher, I spotted both male and female, and also the juvenile, but didn't able to digiscope the female. I noticed that the male was the one responsible to take care and feed the juvenile, the male would always trying to attract my attention. I found the juvenile always like to hide in the bush, stay alert and quiet.

Adult male (back view, front view and side view):

Juvenile Rufous-collared Kingfisher:

Oriental Dwarf Kingfisher (Black-backed Kingfisher, Ceyx erithacus)is the most common kingfisher at the Kingfisher Trail in Sepilok, if you are lucky, you can spot it at the natural bird bath and the man-made pond.

Oriental Dwarf Kingfisher with side view, front view and back view:

Banded Kingfisher is rare and most quiet kingfisher, I was lucky to spot this female Banded Kingfisher at the Kingfisher Trail.

In Sepilok, Blue-eared Kingfisher and Ruddy Kingfisher are the most difficult to spot and digiscope. Blue-eared is small in size, prefers shady places, and very alert, I therefore have to stay far from the kingfisher and decide the right combination of shuttle speed and aperture to be used to digiscope the Kingfisher. Ruddy Kingfisher is a shy bird, I saw the kingfisher flew across the trail once but did not manage to digiscope it.

Blue-eared Kingfisher:

White-collared Kingfisher is the most noisy kingfisher, and it is very common at the Sepilok B&B:

Stork-billed Kingfisher, one of the common kingfishers, can be seen at the lake in Sepilok RDC:

Kingfisher's allies, the Blue-throated Bee-eater, the only Bee-eater I spotted in Sepilok at the Kingfisher Trail.

Adult Blue-throated Bee-eater:

Juvenile Blue-throated Bee-eater:

The Dollarbird, one of the common birds in Sepilok RDC.

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Woodpeckers and its Allies in Sepilok, Sabah.

Sepilok is very rich in woodpeckers, you can easilly spot a woodpecker in the Sepilok RDC. The total of nine species of woodpeckers I spotted were the Rufous Woodpecker, White-bellied Woodpecker, Banded Woodpecker, Orange-backed Woodpecker, Great Slaty Woodpecker, Rufous Piculet, Buff-necked Woodpecker, Sunda Pygmy Woodpecker, and Grey and Buff Woodpecker. Brown Barbet was the only woodpecker's allies that I spotted. Following are the woodpecker pictures that I digiscoped in Sepilok RDC:

White-bellied Woodpecker, one of the large size woodpeckers, it is very common in Sepilok RDC.

The male White-bellied Woodpecker:

White-bellied Woodpecker, female:

Rufous Piculet, one of the smallest woodpeckers, also very common there :

The male (right) and female (left) Buff-necked Woodpecker, also very common in Sepilok RDC:

Banded Woodpecker, not so common:

I spotted both male and female Orange-backed Woodpecker, but only managed to digiscoped the female:

Sunda Pygmy Woodpecker, not so common:

The only woodpecker's allies that I spotted in Sepilok, the Brown Barbet:

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