gryllosblog   Gryllo's (aka Ian Lewis') blog. All things to do with travel, wildlife especially birds, history, architecture and anything else that interests me.

Our lodge at Tabin was right by a river and abutted the forest, various wildlife could be seen on the balcony such as these Oriental Pied Hornbills ……

… and this male Pig-tailed Macaque

A large troop of Pig-tailed Macaques patrolled the area behind the chalets. The females often took to sitting on the rocks mid-stream, keeping their youngsters out of trouble.

Normally seen only in flight or perched high in a tree, we were amazed to see this Storm’s Stork walking around in the open near the lodge.

Early morning mist at Tabin

Flying Squirrels, including this Thomas’ Flying Squirrel were common at Tabin and Danum. We even got to see them in flight.

Far smaller was this diminutive Plain Pygmy Squirrel, perhaps the smallest squirrel in the world.

One trail led to the ‘mud volcano’. Heat from volcanic action pushes mud to the surface like a slow motion geysir.

Of all the hornbills the Helmeted is the most spectacular, both visually and acoustically. This one flew over whilst we were at the mud volcano …

.. and perched up nicely for photos.

Danum Valley Lodge gives great accommodation and superb food – at a price!

One of the features of Danum reserve is the canopy walkway …..

… which allows you to get great views into the tree tops, although moving around a swaying bridge to get good views is fraught with difficulty.

One day we climbed the coffin cliff trail on the far side of the river, named as an ancient burial site of indigenous people was found there. Climbing several hundred metres of elevation in the near 100% humidity was exhausting but was most rewarding – see photo of Blue Banded Pitta below.

From here we could get a great view down onto the lodge

In such a hot and humid environment the early morning mists produced spectacular effects.

Most days followed the same pattern, early morning along the roads then along the narrow trails once the birds became active.

Along with heat and humidity, Asian tropical forests have another unpleasant feature –  leechs. Initially they caused some consternation within the group but we soon got used to their presence and flicked most off before they could start blood sucking. I only got three leech bites but they took three or four weeks to completely heal.

As well as wonderful birds and mammals Danum has a range of exquisite butterflies, I’m afraid I don’t know their names.

We saw many birds and I photographed what I could. Here is a selection – Ferruginous Babbler

Ruby-cheeked Sunbird

Whiskered Treeswift

Banded Broadbill

Female Grey-and-Buff Woodpecker

We did a night drive on each of our four nights at Danum. They weren’t as productive as at Tabin but we did come across this Banded Palm Civet.

… this huge roosting Rhinoceros Hornbill …

and a tiny roosting Yellow-bellied Prinia.

But the best birds of Danum where the Pittas. Not needing to spend hours waiting for Bristleheads to appear gave us time to locate these mega elusive dwellers of the forest floor. Borneo has four endemic species of Pitta and either here or at Tabin and we saw them all. This Blue-banded Pitta required an exhausting hike up the coffin cliff trail but after a bit of effort we finally got great views of this seldom seen species.

Near the lodge we came across this Blue-headed Pitta but light levels were very low and this was the best I could do.

This murky shot of the another endemic, the Black-headed Pitta, pushes the definition of a ‘record shot’ to its limits. The final endemic Pitta is Bornean Banded Pitta which we saw (but couldn’t photograph) at Tabin.

One of the final birds of the trip was this Crested Honey-buzzard soaring over the lodge on our final morning.