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.
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