Sabah Birding (4): Exploring My Nature resort

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When: July 2023 Weather: Hot and wet, 30C

Nikon P900, Nikon P950 and Leica Q3

At various times we explored the and birded along the boardwalk behind the resort at night and in the early morning….

The outdoor area next to the restaurant where the red giant flying squirrels can be observed flying at dusk…..the resort is literally in the rainforest
The wooden and slippery boardwalk behind the resort which we explored at daybreak and at night
As we walked along the boardwalk, we heard the kingfisher call….eventually he settled on a branch in reasonable light ….
the stunningly beautiful Rufous collared Kingfisher…..
And in the rain, this miserable looking Bornean black magpie or black crested magpie posed…it is endemic to Borneo
a gazillion miles away up in the tallest tree we spied something dark moving around….the P900 was able to catch this blurry shot of the always welcome Asian Fairy Bluebird
Not all the birds in Borneo are colourful…here a streak eared bulbul
red eyed bulbul
Spiderhunters were everywhere….here, the Yellow-eared spiderhunter
Yellow-eared spiderhunter having lunch
The beautiful shape of the body and especially the beak make this spiderhunter’s silhouette interesting
The Little Spiderhunter
Little spiderhunter
Thick billed spiderhunter
This is a sheltered walkway leading from the dining room to the swimming pool area and the chalets….on either side are many sunbirds and spiderhunters who like the orchid trees and other flowers there….always took us longer than we expected to walk this 30m path!
Brown throated sunbird
Hill mynah
common iora
sometimes even the commonest yellow vented bulbul can look nice with the right background and lighting
Then from afar Razis spotted movement far away in the trees behind our chalet…..there were three birds there that gradually flew closer and closer…
the wonderfully comical black and red broadbill
They are so colourful and stunning that they merit more than one photo!
Here’s a pair of them canoodling
and finally this charming female buff rumped woodpecker highup in the tree
Male buff-rumped woodpecker
Black winged flycatcher shrike outside our balcony
we had 12A and 12B in this chalet….at the back is the balcony from which many photos were taken….

My Nature resort is a great resource in Sepilok to stay at..you can bird from dawn to dusk and more in the resort or in the RDC next door. Although Razis tried very hard to locate the Bornean Bristlehead, we only heard it but didn’t see it….another time maybe. Resort wise, the staff were eager to please. The food was so-so. One issue to note is that many of these ”eco” friendly resorts rely on solar energy to provide hot water…..on dull rainy days we had to shower in cold water….to be fair they did open up another chalet for us to shower in the last night….I guess some chalets must have back up generators or electrical supplies….

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