Borneo Birding Trip Report: Bristleheads & Broadbills 2022

Blue-headed Pitta perched on a mossy branch, Danum Valley

Blue-headed Pitta, Danum Valley. Photo Ken Behrens, Tropical Birding.

Trip report by Ken Behrens, Tropical Birding, with local guides Yeo Siew Teck (Sarawak), Ali Osman bin Sahril (Danum) and Hazwan Suban (Sepilok to Crocker Range)

Point-blank views of a Rail-Babbler that climbed onto the log we were sitting on, a glowing male Hose's Broadbill after a long search in Sarawak, wonderfully cooperative Bornean Bristleheads and a Bornean Pygmy Elephant bathing in the Kinabatangan River: this Tropical Birding set departure covered a new Sarawak pre-trip and the classic Sabah circuit from Danum Valley to Kinabalu Park between 14 June and 2 July 2022. Ken Behrens led the group to 329 bird species (50 endemics) and 37 mammal species, with the full checklists further down this page.

A Tropical Birding set departure. Leader: Ken Behrens.

Sarawak Pre-Trip

A new addition for 2022, five nights in Sarawak added a suite of specialty birds never seen in Sabah. The group worked through Lawas and Ba'kelalan before finishing at Klias Forest, and the effort paid off: Black Oriole, an unusually small blackish oriole with a red-orange bill; both Dulit and Bornean Frogmouths; and, after a lot of persistence, a glowing male Hose's Broadbill — one of the toughest targets anywhere in Borneo. The extension's outright highlight came almost by accident, when a Rail-Babbler climbed onto the very log the group was sitting on, more than once.

Malaysian Rail-babbler on the forest floor, Sarawak

Rail-Babbler, Sarawak. Photo Ken Behrens, Tropical Birding.

Male Hose's Broadbill perched in forest, Sarawak

Male Hose's Broadbill, Sarawak. Photo Ken Behrens, Tropical Birding.

Blue-banded Pitta on the forest floor, Sarawak

Blue-banded Pitta, Sarawak. Photo Ken Behrens, Tropical Birding.

Danum Valley

The main tour opened with a flight to Lahad Datu and a drive into Danum Valley, protecting some of the richest forest on Earth. Danum demands hard work — hiking in sweaty conditions and braving leeches — but the rewards were immediate: Blue-headed, Bornean Banded and Black-crowned Pittas, Helmeted and Rhinoceros Hornbills, several Bornean Orangutans and Bornean Gibbons, and a couple of groups of Bornean Bristleheads, cooperative enough for several minutes of close-range views right on the main road near the lodge. One especially memorable sighting was of Bristleheads feeding on huge insects, which they had to bash into submission before swallowing.

Bornean Bristlehead, Danum Valley. Photo Ken Behrens, Tropical Birding.

Female Bornean Orangutan with juvenile feeding in a fruiting tree, Danum Valley

Female Bornean Orangutan with juvenile, Danum Valley. Photo Ken Behrens, Tropical Birding.

Chestnut-necklaced Partridge on the forest floor, Danum Valley

Chestnut-necklaced Partridge, Danum Valley. Photo Ken Behrens, Tropical Birding.

Sepilok Rainforest Discovery Centre

Sepilok's Rainforest Discovery Center boasts one of the world's most impressive canopy walkways through a nice patch of lowland rainforest, and filled in species missed at Danum: White-bellied, Rufous and Orange-backed Woodpeckers, Long-tailed Parakeet and Diard's Trogon. A night walk was well worth staying up for — Red Giant Flying Squirrel emerging at dusk, a North Philippine Temple Pitviper, Mangrove Cat Snake, Sunda Scops-Owl and, best of all, a bizarre and beautiful Western Tarsier.

Western Tarsier clinging to a branch at night, Sepilok

Western Tarsier, Sepilok. Photo Ken Behrens, Tropical Birding.

Rufous-backed Dwarf-Kingfisher perched on a thin branch, Sepilok

Rufous-backed Dwarf-Kingfisher, Sepilok Rainforest Discovery Centre. Photo Ken Behrens, Tropical Birding.

Kinabatangan River & Gomantong Caves

The middle of the tour was spent along the Kinabatangan River, where daily boat trips on the main channel and quieter tributaries turned up kingfishers, hornbills, Black-and-red Broadbills, Proboscis Monkeys, more Orangutans, Long-tailed Macaques, Silvered Langurs and beautiful Hooded Pittas. Soon after arriving at the lodge, word came of an elephant sighting nearby; within minutes the group had two Bornean Pygmy Elephants in view, bathing in the river, and a second, even closer sighting followed on the last morning. A group of Great Slaty Woodpeckers — the world's largest woodpecker — gave an unforgettable spread-wing display on a dead tree right beside the boat, and an evening visit to Gomantong Caves brought Bat Hawks and Peregrine Falcons hunting the bats emerging at dusk.

Bornean Pygmy Elephant bathing, trunk raised, Kinabatangan River

Bornean Pygmy Elephant, Kinabatangan River. Photo Ken Behrens, Tropical Birding.

Male Proboscis Monkey in the canopy, Kinabatangan River

Male Proboscis Monkey, Kinabatangan River. Photo Ken Behrens, Tropical Birding.

Male Wrinkled Hornbill perched on a bare branch, Kinabatangan River

Male Wrinkled Hornbill, Kinabatangan River. Photo Ken Behrens, Tropical Birding.

Great Slaty Woodpecker on a dead tree, Kinabatangan tributary

Great Slaty Woodpecker, Kinabatangan River. Photo Ken Behrens, Tropical Birding.

Storm's Stork perched near the water, Kinabatangan River

Storm's Stork, Kinabatangan River. Photo Ken Behrens, Tropical Birding.

Kinabalu National Park & Crocker Range

The tour finished in the highlands around Mount Kinabalu, seeking the many endemics found there. On an epic first day the group completed the "Whitehead's Trio" — Trogon, Broadbill and Spiderhunter — starting with a Whitehead's Broadbill heard calling before sunrise; a quick charge after the bird found a group of three, and later the group lucked into a photographer who had staked out an active nest just off the road, giving awesome views of a male and two nestlings. An excellent photography stakeout produced point-blank views of both Red-breasted and Crimson-headed Partridges, joined by Snowy-browed Flycatchers and an Orange-headed Thrush. Other highlights included Bornean Stubtail, Sunda Owlet, Bornean Green-Magpie, Indigo Flycatcher, Mountain Black-eye and an increasingly elusive Bare-headed Laughingthrush, before a last morning in the Crocker Range added Bornean Bulbul, Mountain and Bornean Barbets, and a male Fruithunter in a fruiting tree.

Whitehead's Broadbill perched in montane forest, Kinabalu National Park

Whitehead's Broadbill, Kinabalu Park. Photo Ken Behrens, Tropical Birding.

Whitehead's Trogon perched in montane forest, Kinabalu National Park

Whitehead's Trogon, Kinabalu Park. Photo Ken Behrens, Tropical Birding.

Crimson-headed and Red-breasted Partridges at a photography stakeout, Kinabalu National Park

Crimson-headed and Red-breasted Partridges, Kinabalu Park. Photo Ken Behrens, Tropical Birding.

Indigo Flycatcher perched on a mossy branch, Kinabalu National Park

Indigo Flycatcher, Kinabalu Park. Photo Ken Behrens, Tropical Birding.

Daily itinerary

13 June — Arrival, Kota Kinabalu
14 June — Morning Pulau Manukan; afternoon drive into Sarawak
15 June — Lawas to Ba'kelalan
16–17 June — Ba'kelalan area
18 June — Ba'kelalan to Beaufort; afternoon Klias Forest
19 June — Morning Klias Forest; afternoon drive to Kota Kinabalu
20 June — Kota Kinabalu to Lahad Datu to Danum Valley
21–22 June — Borneo Rainforest Lodge, Danum Valley
23 June — Danum Valley to Sepilok
24 June — Sepilok Rainforest Discovery Center
25 June — Sepilok to Kinabatangan River
26–27 June — Kinabatangan River and Gomantong Caves
28 June — Kinabatangan River to Kinabalu National Park
29–30 June — Kinabalu National Park, headquarters area
1 July — Poring Hot Springs to Crocker Range
2 July — Crocker Range to Kota Kinabalu; departure

Enquire about this trip ›

Full species list

329 bird species (50 endemics under current Clements taxonomy) and 37 mammal species were recorded on this trip, plus 15 herps and around 80 butterflies — the full checklists below, with names linking through to their species pages where available.