Sabah nights (6) : Kinabatangan Wetland Resort birds and night cruise

Posted on by

0

When : July 2023 Weather: Hot and wet 30C

Nikon P900, Nikon P950, Leica Q3

The rainforest is full of surprises even at night and we did a couple of night nature walks and one night cruise to look for fireflies.

next to the main boardwalk leading to the jetty, we found this charming rufous backed or oriental dwarf kingfisher sound asleep
Rufous backed kingfisher….brilliant colours
and high up above the boardwalk. one of the target birds of this trip…the rhinoceros hornbill..this is the female
female rhinoceros hornbill
the rather more splendid male rhinoceros in much dimmer light…
and in the boardwalk forest….a pair of eyes peeked out
a curious civet
another critter’s eye aglow
a mousedeer!
a menacing centipede
green paddy frog
and so we set off for our night cruise to seek the fireflies
we didn’t get very far before Razis spotted the stork billed kingfisher perched…
somehow these pretty birds look even more stunning by night…just like the formula 1 racing cars look better in the night race under lights in Singapore!
and another smaller stork billed KF
as the night darkened the night skies over kwr had many stars….the brightest of which is probably venus…
mini star trails from t
and when we reached the ‘firefly’ tree about 20min away, it was stunningly beautiful…here the tree in the foreground has numerous fireflies twinkling which blend into the stars in the sky. It was difficult to photograph but the Leica Q3 managed to shoot these few night images with aplomb
and as we headed back to KWR, a distant glow on the horizon heralded the moonrise…the stars can still be seen
Moonrise over Kinabatangan…such a stunning vista even though it was all dark around us…a night outing that will live long in our memory

This was one of the best activities we did….make sure you go out on a night cruise…although it’s a bit scary to start with, the boatmen are very good and of course having a good guide is crucial…

highly recommended

Leave a comment