Birds of Borneo

Asian Red-eyed Bulbul - Kubah national park, Sarawak

On my recent trip to Sarawak and Sabah (see my previous Borneo post here) I had the opportunity to photograph this island’s wonderful avian fauna.  There are over 400 species of birds on this beautiful island, including over 60 endemic species only found in Borneo.  Needless to say, I was not going to get anywhere near shooting all those species during a short stay and with little time at each location.  But that didn’t stop me trying to capture images of as many birds as possible.

See more bird images in my Borneo gallery here.

Lesser Green Leafbird - Sandakan, Sabah

I packed my longest focal length – the 800mm lens – to optimise my chances.  Not surprisingly I faced two common challenges of photographing birds in the tropics.  The first, is the lack of light – even in the middle of the day – in the depth of the jungle.  The layers and layers of dense foliage up to 80-100m made the forest floor quite dark most of the time.  Low shutter speeds and high ISO were the order of the day.

Stork-billed Kingfisher - Kinabatangan River, Sabah

Secondly, many of the island’s birds – such as the majestic large hornbills – prefer to be high up in the canopy.  You find yourself pointing the lens up at their bellies with often strong backlight from the sky and sun.  This creates problems for the camera’s sensor with a dynamic range much less effective than a human eye.  Either you under-expose the subject and prevented blowing out the highlights, or you exposed correctly for the bird and end of with washed out background void of detail.  Either way it is tricky and can require quite a bit of post processing to eek out an acceptable image.  This can be quite frustrating when you see a rare bird, such as the spectacular Helmeted Hornbill, for the first time in your life (and maybe the last!) and you cannot find a position which avoids the bright sky. There is just no option to create a less contrasty and more pleasing backdrop.  This can be highly frustrating, particularly if you know you have limited time on location and cannot re-visit for a better composition.

Helmeted Hornbill - Danum Valley, Sabah

But, alas, that is the challenge with bird photography, and the reason it is highly tempting to re-visit Borneo to seek better images of some of the spectacular birds on this island.  The majestic and large hornbills were a favourite. Ditto, the hunt for species deep in the dense rainforest, such as trogons, drongos and barbets among others.  It is fun to go hunting for birds to shoot without knowing what species you’re aiming your camera at.  You must wait till the end of the day to analyse the images and find out.

White-crowned Shama - Danum Valley, Sabah

On one trek through the rainforest in Sabah I came across a bird with a beautiful song deep among the trees in poor light.  It didn’t seem to notice me, and I managed to get quite close and take some good images.  It was a bird I had never seen before.  Only when I got back to the camp ant the end of the day could I determine that it was a White-crowned Shama.  Not only is this bird endemic to Borneo, but it has a range limited to a small pocket of the rainforest in Sabah on the northern edge of the island.  Quite a special bird to photograph.

Blue-throated Bee Eater - Kuching, Sarawak

Local knowledge is always helpful when photographing birds in an area unknown to you.  In Sarawak, I was lucky enough to team up with Julianna Sim, a local bird expert, for a couple of days.  Her knowledge was immensely helpful, and I managed to obtain images I would not have been able to capture without her guidance.  One such bird was the shy Red-legged Crake which inhabits dense wetland locations and it hard to find.  It was a treat to photograph this elusive bird (even at the cost of quite a few mosquito bites!) and there is no way I would have been able to do that without her expert guidance.  Thank you, Julianna!

Red-legged Crake - Kuching, Sarawak

All in all, I managed to photograph 91 species of birds during my Borneo trip.  The full list can be found below.  Borneo is a beautiful and magical place, with wonderful and friendly people, topped up by a spectacular wildlife scene.  I had a brilliant time.

The full list of bird species photographed:

  • Asian Fairy-bluebird

  • Asian Glossy Starling

  • Asian Red-eyed Bulbul

  • Black and Red Broadbill

  • Black Drongo

  • Black Hornbill

  • Black-crowned Night Heron

  • Black-eared Barbet

  • Blue-throated Bee Eater

  • Bornean Blue Flycatcher

  • Bornean Spiderhunter

  • Brown Wood Owl

  • Brown-throated Sunbird

  • Buff-banded Rail

  • Buff-rumped Woodpecker

  • Charlotte's Bulbul

  • Chestnut-breasted Malkoha

  • Collared Kingfisher

  • Common Iroa

  • Common Kingfisher

  • Common Myna

  • Crested Serpent-Eagle

  • Dollarbird

  • Dusky Munia

  • Edible-nest Swiftlet

  • Great White Egret

  • Greater Racket-tailed Drongo

  • Greater Sand Plover

  • Green-billed Malkoha

  • Grey-breasted Spiderhunter

  • Grey-cheeked Bulbul

  • Gull-billed Tern

  • Helmeted Hornbill

  • Javan Myna

  • Large Woodshrike

  • Lesser Adjutant

  • Lesser Cuckooshrike

  • Lesser Fish-Eagle

  • Lesser Green Leafbird

  • Little Spiderhunter

  • Long-tailed Shrike

  • Malaysian Pied-Fantail

  • Malaysian Plover

  • Mangrove Blue Flycatcher

  • Maroon-breasted Philentoma

  • Medium Egret

  • Olive-winged Bulbul

  • Orange-bellied Flowerpecker

  • Oriental Darter

  • Oriental Magpie-Robin

  • Oriental Pied Hornbill

  • Ornate Sunbird

  • Pacific Swallow

  • Pied Triller

  • Pink-necked Green Pigeon

  • Plaintive Cuckoo

  • Plume-toed Swiftlet

  • Purple Heron

  • Red-crowned Barbet

  • Red-legged Crake

  • Red-naped Trogon

  • Rhinoceros Hornbill

  • Rock Dove

  • Ruddy Turnstone

  • Rufous-tailed Tailorbird

  • Scaly-breasted Munia

  • Scaly-crowned Babbler

  • Scarlet-rumped Trogon

  • Spectacled Bulbul

  • Spectacled Spiderhunter

  • Spotted Dove

  • Stork-billed Kingfisher

  • Storm's Stork

  • Striated Heron

  • Stripe-throaded Bulbul

  • Sunda Crow

  • Terek Sandpiper

  • Tree Sparrow

  • Velvet-fronted Nuthatch

  • Violet Cuckoo

  • Whimbrel

  • White-bellied Sea Eagle

  • White-breasted Woodswallow

  • White-crowned Forktail

  • White-crowned Shama

  • White-rumped Shama

  • White-throated Kingfisher

  • Wrinkled Hornbill

  • Yellow-rumped Flowerpecker

  • Yellow-vented Bulbul

  • Zebra Dove

Rhinoceros Hornbill - Kinabatagan River, Sabah

For many more bird images see my Borneo Wildlife gallery.

Mangrove Blue Flycatcher - Gaya Island, Sabah

Little Spiderhunter - Danum Valley, Sabah

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Borneo through Nikon’s Z 800mm lens