Searching of elusive tropical bird species and Borneo endemic bird species…….
BORNEO SABAH – The Best Birdwatching / Birding Destination In South East Asia
Borneo Sabah is a very strategic land with the advantage of different high level for different habitats of birds species, ie.Upper montane forest (1,800m-3,500m) bird species, Montane forest (900m-1,800m) bird species, Hill and submontane forest (300m-900m) bird species, Lowland rainforest bird species, Peat swamp forest bird species, Freshwater swamp, river, lake and padi fields bird species, and secondary forest bird species. With all these geographical advantage in BORNEO SABAH make all different interest of birder satisfactory in searching different kind of bird species.
Media and Articles
The Beautiful Avifauna In Sabah
Birding or birdwatching is an activity that can be enjoyed in many ways. It can be done professionally or casually, with or without binoculars, or it can be done more intensively, using spotting scopes and sketching or photography one’s discoveries.
In my forum, some people bring out a question as “why birders love to do birdwatching in Borneo?” and some birders from overseas will ask “I aspect to search more special species, what would you advice if birding in Borneo? How’s the birdlife in Borneo Sabah?”
Yes, searching of “more special species” is one of the momentum drawing interest to the birder and birdlife photographer from all over the world. Borneo, Sabah has rich of nature resources to preserve the local birdlife as well as migratory. There are amazingly to observe varieties of wild birds in different kind of forest jungle. Here we have mangrove swamp forest, lowland tropical rainforest, sub-montane and montane forest. All of these jungles have different humidity, different plants and insects to feed different species of wild birds.
These forests boasts its own unique variety of wild birds, many of them splendidly coloured such as Whitehead’s Trogon, Whitehead’s Broadbill and Golden-naped Barbet which can be found at montane forest. Whereas Black-crowned Pitta, Pygmy Blue Flycatcher and Oriental Dwarf Kingfisher are among the brilliantly coloured birds that owe their vivid hues to the structure of their feathers. Especially the blue of Black-crowned Pitta is produced by air pockets encased in the layer of material that forms the outermost layer of the feather which is actually dark grey with melanin. The air pockets scatter the light that strikes them, particularly the wavelengths of blue, indigo and violet. Thus, the feather appears to be blue. It is very good experience and enjoyable while observing each special species, knowing their features, characters and behavior. There are more than six hundred of bird species make Borneo tropical rainforest their home. With these huge numbers of bird species to be observed, no wonder most birders choose Borneo, Sabah as one of the ‘must visit’ birding destination.
by,
Stephen Siaw
Nature & Birdlife Photography Guide
Founder Of BORNEO NATURE TOURS AND PHOTOGRAPHY SDN BHD
www.birds.my
