TROPICAL BIRDING Trip Report: BORNEO June-July 2012 A Tropical Birding Set Departure Tour BORNEO: BROADBILLS & BRISTLEHEADS RHINOCEROS HORNBILL: The big winner of the BIRD OF THE TRIP; with views like this, it’s easy to understand why! 24 June – 9 July 2012 Tour Leader: Sam Woods All but one photo (of the Black-and-yellow Broadbill) were taken by Sam Woods (see http://www.pbase.com/samwoods or his blog, LOST in BIRDING http://www.samwoodsbirding.blogspot.com for more of Sam’s photos) 1 www.tropicalbirding.com Tel: +1-409-515-0514 E-mail:
[email protected] TROPICAL BIRDING Trip Report: BORNEO June-July 2012 INTRODUCTION Whichever way you look at it, this year’s tour of Borneo was a resounding success: 297 bird species were recorded, including 45 endemics . We saw all but a few of the endemic birds we were seeking (and the ones missed are mostly rarely seen), and had good weather throughout, with little rain hampering proceedings for any significant length of time. Among the avian highlights were five pitta species seen, with the Blue-banded, Blue-headed, and Black-and-crimson Pittas in particular putting on fantastic shows for all birders present. The Blue-banded was so spectacular it was an obvious shoe-in for one of the top trip birds of the tour from the moment we walked away. Amazingly, despite absolutely stunning views of a male Blue-headed Pitta showing his shimmering cerulean blue cap and deep purple underside to spectacular effect, he never even got a mention in the final highlights of the tour, which completely baffled me; he simply could not have been seen better, and birds simply cannot look any better! However, to mention only the endemics is to miss the mark, as some of the, other, less local birds create as much of a stir, and can bring with them as much fanfare.