Part three of a blog recounting a trip to Malaysia that Nick Preston and I made in summer 1987. Poorly illustrated with scanned slides of dubious quality and heavily reliant on half-forgotten memories ...
Sepilok (13-17 August). Best laid
plans nearly came crashing down soon after 05:00 when we attempted to leave the
hotel in Kota Kinabalu to walk to the airport for our early flight to Sandakan. The grill was across the front door and we
could not get out. The gaps
were too narrow to squeeze out of and there was nobody in the lobby to open it
for us. We tried climbing out of an
upstairs window with the idea of dropping onto the ground and were about to
drop our bags out first when the noise we were making must have woken up
whoever was supposed to be on duty. He
opened the grill and pointed out that it hadn’t actually been locked! Idiot foreigners! We quickly walked to the airport and caught
our flight to Sandakan arriving on time at 07:45. We got a bus to the entrance road to Sepilok, walked to
the Field Centre and reclaimed our room.
We went back into the forest and headed along the Waterfall Trail. We had only just reminded ourselves of the
call of Blue-headed Pitta and were half way to the Tree Platform at about 10:30
when we heard one calling the other side of a small ridge directly ahead of
us. We hurried on and there it was just
off the trail. According to my notebook
it was ‘a totally amazing bird, probably
the best I’ve ever seen. Brilliant
bright blue forehead, crown and nape, black mask from bill onto lower
nape,. White throat extending onto sides
of face below mask. Bright chestnut mantle,
back and rump. Bright blue tail. Black upper breast grading into dark royal
blue belly. Black wings with thick white
bar separating wings from chestnut back.
Black bill and long almost white legs.
Calling regularly, a disyllabic mournful tooi-oo’ We followed it for 50m while it quite quickly
hopped along parallel to the path before being lost to view. It was an unbelievable feeling of excitement
and relief to see such an amazing bird, one of my best ever, and within an hour
of returning. Later that afternoon, at
about 17:00, we heard a second bird and had nearly as good views of another
male near the bridge. How had we managed
to go eight days without seeing one on our previous visits? They must have been silent then. What a difference it makes having pittas calling.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMxUR8ON0HIGCnoXymLee71PKv8-JlyI_0-fmo5zBK5XUAVRY3MxxEB3WKGmjxP7KTvv8800ccvzDSVDfXMS7ev3lSAsRHCXNJznQw6-DcwKNPeXn_b0CimBt8VrCQjd3mrphR4_M1xks/s1600/87-08-17d+Sabah+from+air.jpg) |
Sabah coast |
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIyr42X8AdLsgidoMf-qza4hO1QtLJduop-XZjlv_oToq-ErIYOqBUucjo_EBRN4-FwoW5qcenZ-Taga88YNzKmPV8gEGBthlq26-o26OTJa5rMxxnPMvnpggFJaBeQ7eoeOLiYF5Kyl8/s1600/87-08-17a+Sabah+from+air.jpg) |
approaching Sandakan |
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiN-6nGEiQiTdpLST8Y3qUugkXDFc6Yrcytqz7lCAjwX4MI4kBr49jgUEvxfPG10LfF09i21xvESi37PRtgWSQ8ybhG_ps3-Mt0u-uB5ZMtBU9rb-UoWI_eyEVb0virXuK0lFBLdCuLeK4/s1600/Sepilok+Pittas+P3213495.JPG) |
best birds of the trip and amongst the best birds ever |
The next
morning Nick went straight into Sandakan to book flights back to Kota Kinabalu
for the afternoon of 17th and our return to Kuala Lumpur on 18th. I’ve no recollection of going back with him
to do this so doubtless made some excuse …
Back at Sepilok the female Giant Pitta was by the seat 10:30. We spent the rest of the day on the Waterfall
Trail seeing Chestnut-backed Scimitar-Babbler and Bornean Blue Flycatcher but
little else of note and at about 17:00 saw our ‘second’ male Blue-headed Pitta
by the bridge again. I then saw the male
Giant Pitta by the seat at 18:00 and the female nearby from 18:05-18:15. I really was enjoying our return for Sepilok
as for the first time on the trip I could go birding without the pressure of
looking for a major target bird, although the lack of Bristlheads, especially
from the Tree Platform, was disappointing.
Another day on the Waterfall Trail produced further views of the Giant
Pittas near the seat - the female at 07:00 and the male from 18:-00-18:15. Both were amazing. Being privileged to have prolonged views of
the female and now the male on consecutive days it was clear that Blue-headed
Pitta’s reign as my all time favourite bird had been short lived. Nick found a Rufous-tailed Shama that I got
to see but I wasn’t so fortunate with a Banded Broadbill that promptly
vanished. Our last full day at Sepilok
was spent wandering along the Mangrove Trail with an Olive-backed Woodpecker, Green Broadbill and 2 Crested Jays the best
birds. Our final morning wouldn’t have
been complete without a Giant Pitta and the male performed by the seat at
06:15. They had been astoundingly good.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLvmD-VEX6NbslLSxx-yLw_aWYpz4BNFWXYDGq6sj2Brj20CWl776_MOqLdP808y40ChZW5ANy6jsf2egVZRWFOXXw7Bdlnk2UbZNXjzcFVAQwLaNA7CwPIaIZbTho4dpgi8NAJQB07zw/s1600/87-08-14+Sepilok+tree.jpg) |
tall tree at Sepilok |
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrQhgqlsHCOZUVOlbON9vZRA5269ppfPmtRiL064pTJ5hF-s0ALWPDtfSk5TbvzhtrqzxswTWnTRs-MV2LjZefoimqkBNU21bNMiOlZB5Y3Pf-bKDUiW3WIRP1IRKrfeudFDA5s_iW5C4/s1600/87-08-14+Sepilok.jpg) |
near the seat at Sepilok |
We caught
our flight to Kota Kinabalu and slept in a quiet spot at the airport as we had
an early departure the next morning to Kuala Lumpur and didn't want to risk not being able to get out of a hotel again. Great plan but the flight was delayed and we
were taken to the nearby Hyatt Hotel where we were given a room and a
meal. We did some birding around the
airport seeing 23 Pacific Golden Plovers and a Pied Triller before our delayed
flight left that evening. We arrived in
KL after midnight and slept at the airport again until it got light. We caught a bus into town and got a taxi to
the National Park Office. There we
booked the next five nights at Taman Negara and returned to the bus
station. We had missed the only bus that
would have got us to Tembeling in time for the 14:00 boat so had to get a
shared taxi.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbTFQui3ywz3wN4UtCkYYpsReJlTGhXk6KI9pSZDHkC4ROUke-PeTEkIZg6amcLEqaYGzoEXWdj5W5o5JbFKYUIYShBPHL2ofPByoHd9QZC02Nq0WV9hm8-b8tiG9vnVzElGGSVo-DMeE/s1600/87-08-17c+Sabah+from+air.jpg) |
over Sabah |
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4mftvaoLknnnXOMOvS7GeLhP14yv2CdvOEd8Y9c6vlUvLVgLt-cOc4iJvXsIP03HByMnsjr0zLHizCFjoq-67bZcKjb7fNuN0nbHsXBuAXTCZynnB1LD8cTxRcJ-NaZPzHFR10DvoTGg/s1600/87-08-17e+Sabah+from+air.jpg) |
coastal village |
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifnXcBCeHTr_Xq9T_WshJ7gzNMAi2_HCRctPfrjjvu0kMYLVwTR1a3gEtOL8i_LclCjABhUOntbJxrwQUECRr-MdpwZNUSwhP0ZUEFBGelrfO4Ji6x2w2uR3FEDYkms0kaOHAdPSdMc-c/s1600/87-08-18a+Kota+Kinabalu.jpg) |
outskirts of Kota Kinabalu |
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMHsGQ_zuQAZcjQlQMX3fhGAvAElsBHXxgyTUlkTPpexA4Gyp0VAwM4zYDLb9QotYrBtwXj7gk8LBsIbLuZSq0QRVFXlAclzwE06Hetdx0NeyQNh4GmY75ntPFgVZanWxgRU0OZ0509J8/s1600/87-08-18b+Kinabalu+from+KK.jpg) |
Mount Kinabalu from KK |
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjiOe1MMFsvyzBMHWVKX-dPSM0cl-Yh0C-egCxEgfF8CmnmWj4pUN51t5O3dzpq7GCs4N9dPomMoWBl757FrJxjfzj59-6GcwKl2uJxEgkGEO1hY2cnzwN9QCCeBdOzx3Q6yQPestt5TOE/s1600/87-08-18c+KK+airport.jpg) |
KK runway |
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6LWTS8VM5tCktPJ_LolJ8MbCvdzfb5nH7A2OhHgqYdN3tkiQoQHo8EfljHc0JzoR1HUhAfITHWW7I7rKArrpIxmJNx42BLXoAw-mfEgMFZTgNUsxIn1vK8uCe8nTI5jfC3P_oiNcqpjM/s1600/87-08-17f+KK+airport.jpg) |
KK sunset |
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