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Enjoying a misty early morn in Borneo's "wild, untidy, luxuriant" lowland rainforest. Here, more than 40 species of trees--mostly dipterocarps--reach 200 feet, with two genera regularly reaching 250 feet. We're walking above the "closed" canopy at 80-100 feet. The very tallest emergents, known as Menggaris or Giant Honey Bee trees, belong to the genus Koompasia, a legume that sometimes reaches 280 feet! (photo by guide Richard Webster)

Darwin described Borneo as "one great, wild, untidy, luxuriant hothouse made by nature for herself." Indeed, we had a wonderful trip to this equatorial "land below the wind," the world's third-largest island. It would be hard NOT to have a great experience in one of the richest places on Earth.

Happily, everyone came to Sepilok three days early, allowing us time for some very rich lowland birding before the tour officially began. By the time Hazwan joined us, we had some great "goodies" already under our belts--from eye-to-eye Velvet-fronted Nuthatches, Copper-throated Sunbirds, and most of the lowland spiderhunters to a fabulous Black-crowned Pitta, a pair of White-fronted Falconets, and the world's largest flying squirrels sailing right overhead! We had seen our first flying lizards, an arboreal snake, and even a "flying" caterpillar!

For the next two weeks--from the primary dipterocarp forests of Sepilok, Gomantong, and Borneo Rainforest Lodge (BRL) and the floodplain forests of the Kinabatangan to the montane forests of Kinabalu--we would sample some of the richest and most bizarre biota on Earth. Highlights were many, each day producing new birds, mammals, herps, invertebrates, and plants. In the list below I've tried to stoke our memories of most of the critters we encountered, but I must mention a few highlights here:

At Gomantong Caves, after seeing our first Orangutans and all the echo-locating swiftlets on their nests, we witnessed the exodus of thousands of bats as hungry raptors gathered to hunt them; the Bat Hawks had a good evening! Meanwhile, an extended family of Bushy-crested Hornbills flew in to roost shoulder-to-shoulder nearby.

The Kinabatangan Wildlife Sanctuary produced kingfishers and storks and then fish owls by night; hornbills and raptors and primates aplenty. Who could forget those big-bellied, big-nosed Proboscis Monkeys? Or the antics of the young Pig-tailed Macaques at play? Or their frightened expressions as they clung tightly to their mothers in crossing that rope "primate bridge"? Yes, the one near the mouth of the Tenangang, where we watched an Orangutan cross--for the first time in Hazwan's considerable experience! The lovely Menanggul produced another bird highlight of the trip: a family of bizarre Bornean Bristleheads that uttered their weird growls and whistles as they worked their way in above our boat; their monotypic family Pityriaseidae is the only bird family endemic to Borneo.

The exceptional service and hospitality we received at BRL, not to mention Paul's guidance, contributed to our falling in love with the hill forest of the Danum Valley. From Crested Firebacks and Whiskered Treeswifts to Chestnut-naped Forktails and Striped and Bornean wren-babblers; from a roosting male Colugo to the white, winged dipterocarp seeds floating above the canopy walkway, where we watched an Orangutan with a baby build its roosting platform and settle to sleep; from nocturnal encounters with flying treefrogs, fancy geckos, slug-eating snakes, swimming pythons, to sleeping lizards, kingfishers, and pittas, we saw an astounding array of life. The forest gives up its secrets slowly, but one morning on the Hornbill Trail seemed exceptional in the succession of secrets revealed: a Bornean Ground-Cuckoo scolding us at close range; a male Blue-headed Pitta frozen on its perch; a male Bornean Banded-Pitta hopping circles around us; and then a fabulous fruiting fig full of hornbills, barbets, and a Binturong. It doesn't get any better than that!

But then we headed for Kinabalu via Crocker Range National Park. That morning near the Tambunan Rafflesia Center offered a chunk of new birds rapid-fire, including one rarity, the Chestnut-tailed Jungle-Flycatcher, that turned out to be new for us all! And yet the rarity of the day--indeed of the trip--was Anne's discovery of that fabulous Rafflesia pricei flower, freshly opened right beside the road! It too was a lifer for all.

Kinabalu brought a cool, rejuvenating climate and a whole array of upper montane specialties. We'll never forget that family of Whitehead's Trogons foraging in the Silau-Silau forest, the female wrestling down a huge katydid. And what of that wonderfully responsive Collared Owlet that attracted so many scolding birds into view? Or that Whitehead's Spiderhunter that responded well despite the season? The greatest rarity here was that black-morph Oriental Honey-Buzzard or Kinabalu Honey-Buzzard, the documentation of which in 2013 is said to be "one of the most exciting discoveries in Borneo ornithology in the last hundred years" (Phillipps).

Finally, there was our last morning at Kinabalu when all of our remaining targets fell into place, from the pair of Everett's Thrushes at the road edge at dawn, to the Crimson-headed Partridges on Mempening, to the responsive Bornean Stubtail that interrupted our search for Fruit-hunters, which themselves then showed up! It was quite a finale to a fabulous trip.

It's been fun reliving the trip while processing photos and recordings and annotating the list. Hopefully, the comments below--and the media embedded in the online version--will enliven your memories, as well as identify a few of the "additional critters" we enjoyed in the field. For the online version, go to www.fieldguides.com/triplists/bor16p.html.

Throughout this triplist, I've used the following abbreviations:

RDC = Rainforest Discovery Center (at Sepilok)

BRL = Borneo Rainforest Lodge (in Danum Valley)

"Sundaland specialty" refers to a species whose range is generally limited to (and sometimes restricted within) the Thai-Malay Peninsula, Borneo, Sumatra, Java, and surrounding islands, all of which were connected during the last ice age. The eastern boundary of Sundaland is Wallace's Line, a deepwater trench between Borneo and Sulawesi and between Bali and Lombok, east of which is Wallacea/Australasia. Many of the birds of Borneo, marked with an S on the checklist, are Sundaland specialties, and many of these Sundaland birds have taxa which are endemic to Borneo, as noted in the Myers field guide. I have indicated some of those on the triplist with the trinomial, emphasizing the taxa for which there is a good possibility of elevation to species status in the near future (as is the current trend in thinking about polytypic species).

Taxonomy in the current triplist follows the Clements checklist with online updates, including the most recent version (2016-10, August 2016). To access or download the updated Clements checklist online, simply google "eBird-Clements checklist."

Conservation status is drawn from the publications of Birdlife International and the IUCN Red List. It's sobering to realize how many of the species we saw are considered Near Threatened, Vulnerable, or even Endangered. We'll hope that our visit will contribute a bit toward their preservation.

We thank our superb local guides (Hazwan & Paul), our captains, our boatmen, and the staffs of our wonderful lodgings throughout the tour, as well as our tour managers in Austin and KK. Special thanks to David & Suzanne for contributing some great photos for the online triplist; there were many more wonderful photos than we have room to include, but we'll make sure you receive a DVD of Richard's photos.

Finally, we had a terrific time with you guys! Thanks to Shelli and Anne for initiating the trip and to all of you for coming, and for your sense of wonder at discovery, your keen spotting and sharing, and for all the laughs and fun during our exploration of the astounding nature of Borneo.

--Rose Ann (& Richard)

KEYS FOR THIS LIST
One of the following keys may be shown in brackets for individual species as appropriate: * = heard only, I = introduced, E = endemic, N = nesting, a = austral migrant, b = boreal migrant

We celebrated July 4 with breakfast on the deck at Sepilok Nature Resort, where we all met up and began our birding. We would see some dynamite birds right from our breakfast tables. (photo by guide Richard Webster)

Unlike their relatives in Sumatra and Malaya, male Bornean Crested Firebacks have cinnamon-buff tail feathers (instead of pure white) and chestnut belly (instead of blue-black). They are lowland rainforest specialists and move quietly in groups of up to 10 birds, foraging for seeds, leaves, fallen fruit, and insects. Where protected, they can become relatively confiding; these individuals--and their whole group of five--crossed the BRL road as we watched. (photo by guide Richard Webster)

The Oriental Honey-buzzard we watched circling overhead at Kinabalu (at 1500m) shows the small head, long tail with a broad pale band, and fingered primaries typical of the species. But this dark morph, which may deserve full-species status, is a rarity that was recently rediscovered in Kinabalu Park. (photo by guide Richard Webster)

By coming early to Sepilok, we had time to recover from jetlag and explore the area on our own--a good way to get our "feet on the ground" and figure out what some of those new birds were. (photo by participant Steve Wilson)

This adult Wallace's Hawk-Eagle is mimicked by the smaller Jerdon's Baza that we saw near the mouth of the Tenangang, presumably to protect the smaller raptor from large predators that would hesitate to attack a Wallace's Hawk-Eagle. This is an example of Batesian mimicry. (photo by guide Richard Webster)

Rufous-bellied Eagle is known to eat bats pouring out of Gomantong, where we saw a distant perched bird. But overall it's considered a specialist at eating medium-sized birds such as the green-pigeons, of which there are VERY few at Kinabalu, where this photo was taken. That could explain their rarity in the park, but it made us wonder what they're eating in these montane forests. (photo by guide Richard Webster)

Just a few minutes by boat from Sukau Rainforest Lodge, the quiet waters of the forested Menanggul were a natural destination for an early-morning cruise. The electric motor allowed us to locate important targets, such as the Bornean Bristlehead, by ear and then maneuver quietly to see them well. (photo by guide Richard Webster)

A peaceful late afternoon on the big Kinabatangan River (photo by guide Richard Webster)

Specialists at swallowing large fruits whole, and then regurgitating the seeds (thus perpetuating their food trees), Mountain Imperial-Pigeons are fairly common breeders at Kinabalu. This one is inflated, delivering its deep, three-note territorial call after flying in from some distant perch. (photo by guide Richard Webster)

Given the structure of the Bornean rainforest--comprised mostly of somewhat scattered but very tall trees--it's little wonder that so many critters would have evolved mechanisms to glide from the canopy of one tree to another. The energy savings must be well worth it. (photo by guide Richard Webster)

Most of the trees in Borneo's lowland rainforest are di-ptero-carps (= two-winged seeds), belonging to an ancient family found throughout SE Asia, but at their greatest diversity in Borneo--where there are more than 150 endemic species. Many species have seeds with more than two wings, but they share a mutually supportive survival strategy: masting. So many seeds are produced at once that not all can be destroyed or eaten. We were very lucky to have observed impressive numbers of these winged seeds floating in the breeze from the BRL canopy walkway. (photo by guide Richard Webster)

Smallest of the malkohas, Raffles's Malkoha is the only one showing sexual dimorphism, the male here being all chestnut and the female having a whitish head and breast. It's also the only one with both blue beak and eyering. We watched pairs hunting insects among the viny tangles and heard their distinctive calls repeatedly throughout the lowland forest. (photo by guide Richard Webster)

The smallest of the hornbills, White-crowned Hornbills are primarily carnivorous, taking only a low percentage of fruit. That may explain why they have the smallest territories of the 8 species of Bornean hornbills. They are also unusual in having a cooperative breeding system, with members of the family helping feed the young of the next generation--a behavior they share with Bushy-crested Hornbills. This pair was actively calling and moving up the banks of the Tenangang, where they were photographed by participant David Smith.

The most common of the big owls in Borneo, the Buffy Fish-Owl eats primarily fish and frogs, which are probably its normal prey along the Kinabatangan and its tributaries. But it also takes some insects and rats, which it may be hunting near the staff quarters at BRL. (photo by guide Richard Webster)

The little Collared Owlet, a congener of our pygmy-owls, is the only diurnal owl in Borneo. It eats birds, apparently preferring Ashy Drongos--which could explain why they were such avid mobbers of this bird we saw in Kinabalu. Given its distinctive call, it's one to "put in the bank" for a future split. (photo by guide Richard Webster)

Borneo Rainforest Lodge is situated amid primary forest right in the heart of the Danum Valley Conservation Area. Here, we view primary hill forest across the Danum River, where Rhinoceros Hornbills passed overhead each morning at dawn as they left their roost across the river. (photo by guide Richard Webster)

Our first Whiskered Treeswift, a male enroute to BRL, was an exciting intro to the riches that lay ahead. Unlike true swifts, the treeswifts hunt from a perch, flying out to catch insects and often returning to a favorite perch--like the one off the dining area at BRL. (photo by guide Richard Webster)

Primarily insectivorous, the Red-naped Trogon hunts from perches usually high in the canopy--as opposed to the understory, which is favored by Diard's, the other big trogon of lowland Borneo. We scoped this male along the trail at the RDC. (photo by guide Richard Webster)

The only truly montane trogon in Borneo, Whitehead's Trogon is a definite candidate for "most beautiful of the trogons." It can also be hard to find, especially after the young have fledged and are moving about. We were lucky to see this stunning male with the family group in Kinabalu. (photo by guide Richard Webster)

This female Whitehead's Trogon flew across the road and hover-plucked a large green katydid. The species feeds primarily on insects, from ants and grasshoppers to large stick insects, as well as taking some fruit. Stones have been found in the stomachs of this species, suggesting deliberate ingestion to assist with processing tough plant material or insect exoskeletons. (photo by guide Richard Webster)

Helmeted Hornbills have a relatively small bill and a casque unique among hornbills in being solid ivory (hence comprising 10% of the bird's total body weight). This bird shows the bare red neck skin and casque that distinguish it as a male. Like other Asian hornbills, he can swallow a number of fruits, carry them in his esophagus to the nest, and regurgitate them one at a time to the tip of the bill to feed the female through a narrow slit in her mudded-in nest-hole. (photo by guide Richard Webster)

The bright bills and casques of Buceros hornbills are colored not by pigment, but by the cosmetic application of colored oils from the preen gland on the rump and thus are somewhat variable in individuals. This pair of Rhinoceros Hornbills was in our fabulous fruiting fig at BRL (note the big orange fruits below them). We watched them come and go from the tree, making a roaring "whoosh" with each flight. Remember how to tell that that's the female on the left? (photo by participant David Smith)

Bushy-crested Hornbills belong to a small genus distinguished by broad, bushy head feathers and the fact that juveniles of both sexes resemble the adult male in plumage. We watched this group assembling to roost from the slope at Gomantong. (photo by guide Richard Webster)

Two features unique to hornbills, both visible on this Oriental Pied-Hornbill, are well developed eyelashes on the upper eyelid and bare bases to the flight feathers owing to the lack of underwing coverts. The whooshing sound of hornbills in flight, especially in the larger species, is produced by air rushing through either the flight feathers or the small, stiff outer primaries. (photo by guide Richard Webster)

Of the Bornean hornbills, the Wreathed is responsible for the loudest "whooshing" noise in flight; it's audible to humans at over a kilometer! This male, showing his inflated yellow pouch, is probably a fairly young bird, as it lacks much of a wreathed casque as well as the reddish-brown ridges on the bill that develop over a period of years. (photo by guide Richard Webster)

By day or by night, the tiny Rufous-backed Dwarf-Kingfisher is stunning. Note the tip of the bill over the rump of the sleeping bird. (photos by Richard Webster)

We watched Blue-throated Bee-eaters chasing and catching both Clipper Butterflies and what appeared to be bees or wasps above the Menanggul. These birds, without the central tail streamers, appear to be young ones. (photo by guide Richard Webster)

Like most Asian barbets, the Golden-naped Barbet is primarily green, which makes it hard to locate amid the leaves of the fruiting trees in which it feeds. It occurs at higher elevation than any other Bornean barbet, overlapping slightly with the Mountain Barbet in the lower portions of its range. We heard the two calling simultaneously from as high as the vista point of Gg. Kinabalu, but the Mountain was way downslope. Both species are slow to tire of their own voices! (photo by guide Richard Webster)

The big White-bellied Woodpecker, which belongs to the same genus as our Pileated Woodpecker, is a specialist feeder on beetle larvae in dead wood. Here a female--with a black forehead and lacking the red whisker of the male--works a dead tree along the Menanggul. (photo by participant David Smith)

Like most members of the genus Picus, the Checker-throated Woodpecker has a specialized tongue for obtaining its food by probing, in this case for ants, termites, larvae, beetles, and other insects. The tongue is long, equipped with a few barbs at the tip, and coated with an adhesive substance produced by a mandibular gland. The long tongue, protruding from the tip of the bill, is visible in this photo of a bird we saw at Kinabalu. (photo by guide Richard Webster)

Considering both families of broadbills, Borneo is the world's "hot spot" for broadbills, supporting 8 of the world's 15 species. The impressive bills are well adapted for insectivory and even carnivory. This Black-and-red Broadbill has a diet of mostly insects, but it also takes some small aquatic animals, such as molluscs and freshwater crabs. This bird was photographed by guide Richard Webster at Sepilok.

Sexes are similar in the broadbills, the Banded Broadbill usually occurring in pairs and being monogamous. But the species sometimes joins mixed foraging flocks, which was the case at BRL where participant David Smith saw and photographed this bird.

It was an exciting morning at the RDC Bristlehead Tower. First, Mary hollered with surprise when a caterpillar with very long, recurved fuzz floated down from above, landing on the railing right beside her. It was surely a "flying caterpillar," well adapted to float from the high canopy! That afternoon, we watched a handsome Black-and-yellow Broadbill pounding and flattening the fuzz off the same, or a very similar, type caterpillar. It was the first such caterpillar I had ever seen. (photos by guides Rose Ann Rowlett & Richard Webster)

Dusky Broadbills are very social, living in groups that usually consist of a family. They are cooperative breeders, at least in the nest-building duties, and it's likely the young of one generation also help feed the young of the next, in a hanging nest that's defended by the whole group. Being quite vocal, they are easily detected by their harsh calls, and they responded well to playback along the Menanggul--at least 3 birds coming to the edge of the forest. All the broadbills are dependent on primary forest and thus are likely decreasing in population, though not yet to the point of being listed as Near Threatened. (photo by guide Richard Webster)

Borneo is a center of the distribution of pittas, supporting 10 species (including migrants), which is about a third of all the pittas worldwide. They are ground- and understory-foragers in primary rainforest and are exceptionally colorful among such birds, which are usually cryptically colored for camouflage. The dazzling Black-crowned Pitta exemplifies the beauty of pittas and also the fact that the bright colors are usually on their underparts. Dark upperparts contribute to their being surprisingly difficult to spot inside the dark of the rainforest, especially considering that most predators approach from above. (photo by guide Richard Webster)

Male Maroon-breasted Philentoma in "our tree" at the BRL canopy tower (photo by participant David Smith)

Bornean Bristlehead (photo by guide Richard Webster)

The Green Iora has to be one of the most under-appreciated birds of Borneo's forest canopy. We watched males singing and displaying their normally-hidden, white back patch at close range. (photo by guide Richard Webster)

A male Fiery Minivet at the Sepilok RDC (photo by guide Richard Webster)

This spiffy male Blyth's Shrike-Babbler, now in the vireo family, was photographed near our lodgings in Kinabalu Park by guide Richard Webster.

The Black-and-crimson Oriole feeds on both insects and fruits. Here it shows agility in reaching just the right fruit near the Tambunan Rafflesia Center. (photo by guide Richard Webster)

Participant David Smith caught the morning sunlight through early mist inside the forest of the Danum Valley, where the days often start with a fog along the river.

Birding can be rich right along the road at BRL, but furtive Giant Pittas and shy Crested Jays can be problematic to induce into view. (photo by guide Richard Webster)

Occurring from coastal woodlands to the stunted forests of upper Kinabalu, the handsome Velvet-fronted Nuthatch has one of the widest altitudinal ranges of Bornean birds. In each habitat it searches bark and trunks for insects, here (at Sepilok RDC) having found one. (photo by guide Richard Webster)

We saw this Flavescent Bulbul (of the race leucops) along the Kinabalu-Timpohon road at a surprisingly low elevation. (photo by guide Richard Webster)

Danum River from the bridge at BRL (photo by guide Richard Webster)

Finsch's Bulbul is one of the most poorly known of all the bulbuls. It's scarce and somewhat shy, hence easily overlooked inside the forest. BRL has proven one of the most reliable places to see it, the canopy walkway contributing to our getting good looks--as we did this trip. It's currently placed in the genus Alophoixus, and it can puff its throat and crown out, as do the bigger Ochraceous and Gray-cheeked bulbuls. But both those species seem to have permanently erected crests and puffed throats. Finsch's and Yellow-bellied seem divergent in morphology, behavior, and voice (very different!), and may deserve monotypic genera. (photo by participant David Smith)

The Buff-vented Bulbul, with its white iris and rusty crown, entertained us even during the afternoon showers at BRL by coming in close for berries in a fruiting tree right off the deck of the dining area. (photo by participant David Smith)

The diminutive Bornean Stubtail puts its whole body into its song, exposing its yellow mouth lining as it opens its mouth widely to sing. And its song competes with that of a Blackpoll Warbler to test a birder's hearing! Most folks who couldn't hear it at a distance were able to hear this bird singing right beside us at Kinabalu. (photo by guide Richard Webster)

By midday the misty clouds were settling onto the upper slopes of Gg. Alab, but it didn't deter us from enjoying our first Mountain Black-eyes and Black-sided Flowerpeckers and Nepenthes pitcher plants. It did bring out some pretty, purple umbrellas. (photo by participant Suzanne Winckler)

We celebrated Shelli's birthday with a Whitehead's Broadbill, a Temminck's Sunbird, and dinner and dessert at the Liwagu. (photos by guides Rose Ann Rowlett & Richard Webster)

The long, almost needle-like bill of the tailorbirds is probably an adaptation for feeding on very small insects, such as gnats and small flies and their larvae, which are most efficiently caught with a forceps-like bill that can probe into small cracks and crannies to pick prey items from their hiding places (HANDBOOK OF BIRDS OF THE WORLD). We watched a responsive pair of Rufous-tailed Tailorbirds duetting at close range at Sepilok Nature Resort, where guide Richard Webster took this photo of the male. When singing, he exposes a patch of bare, blackish skin on his throat.

This Pygmy White-eye, photographed with a small flock near the Tambunan Rafflesia Center, is almost life-size, showing its yellow underparts (unlike the illustration in Phillipps & Phillipps), the small spots on its head, its pale iris and narrow eyering, and its orangy-yellow legs (unlike the illustration in Myers). It belongs to a monotypic genus and is poorly known, raising questions as to whether or how much plumage varies with age. We had exceptionally good looks at several birds that looked like this one. But could leg color or color of underparts vary with age? (photo by guide Richard Webster)

The Mountain Black-eye, a monotypic, aberrant white-eye, is quite common at high elevations on Mt. Kinabalu, where it occurs all the way up to 4000m. It feeds primarily on insects, but it does take some fruit and is known for piercing the base of the corollas of rhodendrons to filch nectar. Normally seen in flocks of 4-5 birds, foraging through the trees and shrubs along the Summit Trail, it apparently also forages in dwarf clumps of heather close to the bare summit. Another montane Bornean endemic. (photo by guide Richard Webster)

Black-capped White-eye is the "typical" white-eye (i.e., of the genus Zosterops) of montane forest at Kinabalu. We saw many moving through the canopy of flowering and fruiting trees, often joining mixed-species foraging flocks, where they take insects as well as some fruit, nectar, and buds. (photo by guide Richard Webster)

For anybody but Paul, this cryptic ball of feathers would be hard to discern in the spotlight from a moving truck, much less to ID! Of course, he saw it and stopped the truck for it. Fortunately, the two-toned buffy ball had a short blue tail protruding (visible from some angles), which helped convince us it was a sleeping female Blue-headed Pitta! All pittas typically roost alone in such a posture 1-2 m above the ground, the brighter males appearing to be a fruit or flower, the more cryptically-colored females essentially disappearing. It was quite a find! (photo by guide Richard Webster)

For us Borneo Rainforest Lodge and the pristine forest it preserves constituted the "pot of gold" at the end of the rainbow. (photo by guide Rose Ann Rowlett)

Like the pittas, wren-babblers are ground-dwelling foragers of undisturbed primary forest, turning dead leaves in search of insects. Unlike the pittas, they are cryptically colored and sometimes move in small family groups. With some effort, we saw two species in one morning along the Pitta Trail at BRL. This Striped Wren-Babbler was the most cooperative, allowing good views and even photos, this one by guide Richard Webster.

After hearing and glimpsing a small party of them along the Mempening Trail, we secured good looks at the endemic Mountain Wren-Babbler near the entrance to the Kiau View Trail. The species is very vocal as pairs or (presumably family) groups forage through the low understory of mossy montane forest, seeming to prefer dense forest where the terrain is broken by steep slopes and rocky ravines or streams. (photo by guide Richard Webster)

The bizarre Bare-headed Laughingthrush was a fairly recent split from the equally bizarre Black Laughingthrush of Sumatra and Malaya, with which it shares very similar vocalizations--themselves bizarre duets (listen to the songs I recorded where we saw them, below). But the bare head of this species (as an adult; the young have feathered foreheads) is unique. Sometimes the two species are placed in a separate genus, Melanocichla. Originally heard in the distance with a bird wave, the birds we saw responded territorially, eventually showing well. (photo by guide Richard Webster)

A scarce resident of good forest, the pretty Pale Blue-Flycatcher has a melodious song that drew our attention to it. Even then, it took a while to locate it in the canopy. Unlike its congeners, which generally forage in the understory or mid-levels, the Pale Blue-Flycatcher is a canopy specialist. Ultimately, we succeeded. (photo by guide Richard Webster)

This rare Chestnut-tailed Jungle-Flycatcher, a.k.a. Rufous-tailed Jungle-Flycatcher, was foraging at the road edge in Crocker Range forest at 1200m, in conjunction with a mixed flock in the area. It flycatches at levels of 2-10 m above the ground, as it did while we watched--delighted to be seeing a new bird for everyone, even Hazwan! (photo by guide Richard Webster)

Anne points out her big discovery: a real, blooming Rafflesia pricei in Crocker Range National Park--right beside the road! It was one of the foremost highlights of the trip. (photo by guide Rose Ann Rowlett)

We reached Kinabalu Park before sunset and enjoyed the play of light on the misty montane forest. (photo by guide Richard Webster)

Highly secretive and very poorly known, the rare Everett's Thrush is known from only five mountains in Borneo, where it forages amid leaves, usually on the moist floor of montane forest between 1200 and 2100m. Insects, worms, and leeches have been found in its stomach. At the time the HANDBOOK OF BIRDS OF THE WORLD, vol. 10 (covering the thrushes), was published in 2005, the song was still unknown and the first nest had only recently been discovered--in Kinabalu Park. It was a rare treat to have watched a pair feeding at the road edge, where they sometimes emerge from the forest in the low light between dawn and sunrise. (photo by guide Richard Webster)

The forested slopes of Gg. Kinabalu still secret many critters about which little is known. Thanks to a longterm research project on breeding birds at Kinabalu, supported by a University of Montana research grant, we are rapidly learning more about Kinabalu's residents. (photo by guide Richard Webster)

Like most flowerpeckers of the genus Dicaeum, the Black-sided Flowerpecker sports white pectoral tufts that are frequently hidden, but are important adornments in display. While eating melastome berries near the Hill Lodge, this species would sometimes manipulate a berry until it had secured all it wanted of the nutritious interior and then drop the (relatively indigestible) skin. (photo by guide Richard Webster)

The second-commonest flowerpecker in Borneo (after Orange-bellied), the handsome Scarlet-backed Flowerpecker is a bird of second growth and edge, happily consuming mistletoe berries and a variety of berries produced by cultivation, as where guide Richard Webster photgraphed this male--at the edge of the parking lot of Sepilok Rainforest Lodge.

A sampling of but a few of the many orchids we saw, many of them thanks to David's keen eye for orchids. After all, Kinabalu is the richest single place on Earth for orchids, with more than 1200 species! (photos by participant David Smith & guide Richard Webster)

Nectarivorous sunbirds of the Old World play the role of the New World hummingbirds in pollinating showy flowers. The iridescent Copper-throated Sunbird is rather a specialist, feeding primarily on the nectar of coastal mangroves. But some birds have adapted to utilize various other nectar-rich flowers considerably inland, as in gardens at Sepilok, where we saw both males and females. They seem to be a bit more common here each year. (photo of a male by guide Richard Webster)

Most sunbirds eat some insects and small berries in addition to nectar. The widespread Olive-backed Sunbird takes mostly small insects and spiders, which it hover-plucks, but also some nectar and small fruits. It's Borneo's commonest sunbird in gardens and forest edge throughout the lowlands. (photo of a male in the garden at Sepilok by participant David Smith)

The view from our lodgings at Kinabalu Park--to the rugged peaks of the highest mountain between the Himalayas and New Guinea (photo by guide Richard Webster)

Rarest and most colorful of the spiderhunters, this Whitehead's Spiderhunter surprised us by showing well at Kinabalu. (photo by guide Richard Webster)

Before we get to the truly wild, native mammals--what Richard would call "real mammals"--here's a reminder of our cooperative troop of tool-using primates, at least temporarily bound together by a consuming interest in Borneo's remarkable biota. (photos by participant Suzanne Winckler and guide Rose Ann Rowlett)

This rufous Colugo, a.k.a. "flying lemur," is a scarce male on its day roost at BRL. It's neither a lemur, nor does it fly; but it does glide from canopy emergents at dawn, dusk, and by night--sometimes as far as 230 feet! It could be mistaken for a flying squirrel, but its tail is enclosed in its patagial membrane unlike that of a flying squirrel. A member of the order Dermoptera, the Colugo is our closest relative outside the primates. (photo by guide Richard Webster)

A Bat Hawk grabs a Wrinkle-lipped Free-tailed Bat from the edge of a cloud of emerging bats from Gomantong Caves. (photo by guide Richard Webster)

The endemic Mountain Treeshrew, Kinabalu Park (photo by guide Richard Webster)

The young Pigtail Macaques we watched in the Kinabatangan provided an endless source of amusement. (photos by guide Richard Webster)

The leaf monkeys, or langurs, are exclusively arboreal, with a multi-chambered stomach that allows them to digest their toxin-rich diet more efficiently than other primates. Baby Silvered Leaf Monkeys are bright rufous-orange for the first three months of their lives, presumably to make them conspicuous and easily protected by the whole troop. This mother with her young is crossing the Tenangang rope bridge and using her long tail for balance. (photo by guide Richard Webster)

This Red Leaf Monkey, a.k.a. Maroon Langur, was one of a troop foraging above the Jacuzzi Loop trail at BRL. (photo by guide Richard Webster)

Closely related to the langurs, the Proboscis Monkey too has a multi-chambered gut with a cocktail of bacteria to aid digestion of the leaves it eats, hence its huge belly—and its habit of sitting around digesting much of the time. The male’s long nose has been sexually selected for by females and seems to function as a resonating organ that enhances his vocal range, perhaps in defense of his harem. But they are not territorial and seem to “enjoy” socializing with other troops that gather along the rivers to roost. This male is calling. (photo by guide Richard Webster)

The so-called Lesser Apes, like these Gray Gibbons, live in monogamous family units, usually a pair with one or two young, as seen in Richard’s photo of the family we watched brachiating through the trees at BRL. Their territories range from 40-125 acres, which they defend by producing one of the most characteristic and far-carrying sounds of the rainforest. We awoke to their calls several mornings at BRL. Listen to the recording I made from the deck of our chalet pre-dawn; it's embedded above. (photo by guide Richard Webster)

Orangutans are generally solitary, save for mothers with their young, and may travel a kilometer or more per day in search of durians and the perfect figs, which are generally when they’re ripe enough to be nutritious, but before they’re too ripe, when the more agile gibbons and birds will ravage the trees. Almost exclusively arboreal, they are the largest strictly tree-dwelling mammals. Here’s a selection of photos taken by guide Richard Webster in the Kinabatangan and at BRL.

The largest tree squirrel in Borneo, the Pale Giant Squirrel makes a startlingly loud call that can be heard for a great distance--as we heard repeatedly. They were common in the lowland forests, especially at the RDC, where this photo was taken by guide Richard Webster.

The scarce Kinabalu Squirrel, here along the Pandanus Trail, is distinguished by its large size and the distinct reddish tinge to its face and the leading edge of its thighs. (photo by guide Richard Webster)

Jentink's Squirrels were seen dashing around rapidly through the trees of the montane forest, here at Kinabalu. They sometimes joined mix foraging flocks with birds and treeshrews. (photo by guide Richard Webster)

The Plain Pygmy Squirrel's diet is thought to include wood-boring beetles and their eggs, thus protecting the trees from attack. For this they are rewarded with edible bark. This one was foraging on a big trunk at Sepilok. (photo by guide Richard Webster)

In addition to Kinabalu's most charasmatic birds, one of Kinabalu's most charasmatic mammals, the Whitehead's Pygmy Squirrel, was named for the early British explorer and collector, who climbed Low's Peak in 1888. We watched this one rush along branches and trunks right beside the road at Kinabalu. (photo by guide Richard Webster)

There are 14 species of flying squirrels in Borneo, compared with two in West African rainforests and none in Amazonia! We saw the world's largest, the Red Giant Flying Squirrel, here showing the patagium between its legs that is used for "flying." Note that even the base of the tail is broadened and flattened; it's useful for balance and direction on glides of up to 330 feet! This was the one we watched before dark from the RDC canopy walkway. (photo by guide Richard Webster)

We saw one Thomas’s Flying Squirrel sailing overhead at dusk from the RDC walkway; it was a darker rust color and lacked the black-tipped tail of a Red Giant. (photo by guide Richard Webster)

This Greater Mouse Deer is distinguished from Lesser by its size and, at this angle, the broken white line extending down from its throat. (photo by guide Richard Webster)

File-eared Treefrog at the BRL frog pond (photo by guide Richard Webster)

Black-spotted Rock Frog (above) & Four-lined Treefrogs (below) (photos by guide Richard Webster)

Green Paddy Frog in water lily (photo by guide Richard Webster)

Crested Green Lizards are fairly common throughout the lowlands, these two having been observed at the Sepilok RDC. (photos by guide Richard Webster)

This Horned Flying Lizard (Draco cornutus), with the pointed yellow dewlap, is the commonest flying lizard on our route. This one was photographed from the RDC canopy tower by guide Richard Webster.

Looking closely at this Black-bearded Flying Lizard--which one must do just to see it!--one can see the elongated ribs on its sides. They are expandable and connected by skin that forms its "wings" for gliding. (photo by guide Richard Webster)

The small lizard we encountered along the Pandanus Trail at Kinabalu--where lizards are rare--is another Bornean endemic, Phoxophrys borneensis, known as Sabah Eyebrow Lizard or Bornean Shrub Lizard. (photo by guide Richard Webster)

A night walk along the Nature Trail at BRL produced the handsome, but well camouflaged, "Barking Banded Gecko" (Cyrtodactylus consobrinus) and the tiny Keeled Slug-eating Snake (Pareas carinatus)(inset), which does indeed eat molluscs. (photos by guide Richard Webster)

Clockwise from upper left: Black-banded Skink at BRL; Red-throated Skink at Sepilok Nature Resort; Striped Bornean Skink at Sukau Rainforest Lodge; & Leaf-nosed Lizard (Aphaniotis ornata) at BRL (photos by guide Richard Webster)

One of many big Water Monitors (Varanus salvator) we encountered in the Kinabatangan Wildlife Reserve (photo by guide Richard Webster)

We spotlighted this Reticulated Python on a night walk at BRL. It was swimming upstream in a small tributary of the Danum River. (photo by guide Richard Webster)

We saw these two arboreal snakes in the lowlands: Gray-tailed Racer & Dog-toothed Cat Snake (inset)(photos by guide Richard Webster)

A bud and an opening flower of Rafflesia keithii near Poring Hot Springs (photo by guide Rose Ann Rowlett)

The pitcher plant center of Borneo (and the world!) is upper-elevation Mt. Kinabalu. Our access to the best spot for viewing some of the fanciest Nepenthes was closed, owing to the big earthquake of June 2015 (which ruined the road to Mesilau). We examined an alternate spot for pitcher plants on Gg. Alab, where we could reach about the same elevation. It turned out to be good! Along the Nepenthes trail, we saw and photographed a diversity of species, which I've tried to ID, based mostly on info in Charles Clarke's 2006 book NEPENTHES OF BORNEO [Natural History Publications (Borneo), KK]. Clockwise from lower left: Nepenthes tentaculata, N. fusca, & N. reinwardtiana? (photos by guides Rose Ann Rowlett & Richard Webster)

A different kind of sap sucker: White Lantern Bugs (Pyrops sultana) on one of their preferred tree trunks at Poring (photo by guide Richard Webster)

Abandoned hive of Giant Honey Bees, which had absolutely covered the hive two days before! (photo by participant Suzanne Winckler)

The Common Birdwing is related both to our swallowtail butterflies and to the big birdwings of New Guinea. This one seems to be a female, with extensive pale streaks in the forewing. (photo by guide Richard Webster)

Anemone stinkhorn, Hoya imperialis, & Clipper Butterfly (photos by guide Richard Webster)

ADDITIONAL COMMENTS

There were, of course, many other fabulous plants and critters not listed on our checklist. Among the plants, we must mention a few:

--the fabulous "anemone stinkhorn" (Aseroe rubra or a close relative?) that David showed us along the base of the Silau-Silau trail opposite our lodge. Apparently it's a common and widespread basidiomycete fungus with the foul odor of carrion, which attracts flies that spread its spores.

--the numerous species of ferns, orchids, and the several blooming rhododendrons we saw. There are 500+ species of ferns in Borneo. That's 5% of the world's total--more than in all of Africa! Kinabalu is known as the single richest place in the world for orchids too. There are more than 1200 species on Kinabalu alone! That too is 5% of the world's total. There are around 30 species of rhododendrons on Kinabalu, a dozen of them endemic to the mountain.

--the blooming Hoya imperialis that David pointed out along the Menanggul. Hoya is in the family Apocynaceae, this species occurring in the Philippines and Malaysia. The genus has become a popular nursery plant, and this species produces some of the largest individual flowers of the Hoya group.

--the fabulous dipterocarp seeds--with long white wings--floating down from the canopy at BRL. We had seen some on the ground at the RDC. They weren't exactly masting, but I've only seen more in the air on one trip, and I've never seen the long white ones before. A real treat!

Among the "other critters" not already mentioned, there are a few that deserve inclusion, even without scientific names:

--the black-and-white tarantula that Paul showed us at BRL; and all the other spiders, many with green eyeshine, that we saw throughout the lowlands;

--the black whipscorpion at BRL;

--the wasps that build the horseshoe-shaped colonies under structures at Kinabalu;

--the many fireflies that lit up the lowland rainforest;

--and, best of all, the fabulous caterpillars, from the spiny green-and-blue one to the unbelievable "flying caterpillar" that so startled Mary when it floated down from the canopy, landing on the railing right beside her. The extremely long, fine, curled projections are surely adaptations allowing it to glide from the treetops.

Totals for the tour: 289 bird taxa and 33 mammal taxa