Sarawak: A Borneo Highlands Excursion

Near the end of last year's spring trip to Sarawak, the Kuching branch of the Malaysian Nature Society asked me if I could help lead a birding trip to Borneo Highlands Resort on the Indonesian border. 

Faithful readers of this blog will already know that Borneo Highlands is one of my favourite places in Sarawak. Of course I jumped at the opportunity, and at the chance to share my own enthusiasm about this lovely spot.

And, so, on May 14, 2011, I met a group of eager birders and photographers at the lookout point below the summit of Mount Penrissen, on the Indonesian border.

We certainly did see birds, though perhaps not as many, this time around, as I would have liked.  This is one of them: a Black-headed Bulbul (Pycnonotus atriceps), a common species in Malaysian forests.  Of course we saw more, and I was able to show my companions such highland delights as the endemic Bornean Barbet (Megalaima eximia), a specialty of the area, and a Gold-whiskered Barbet (M. chrysopogon) visiting a nest hole in a tree at the edge of the overlook clearing.

However, as the day advanced we found that the birds (who seemed a bit reluctant to emerge from the forest) seemed to by supplanted (especially for those of us with cameras) by the variety of invertebrates.  

This large millipede certainly got the photographers' attention!

The overlook point is also a great spot for butterflies of many kinds.  Some (including some species I have posted before) were brightly-coloured; others were quite plain.  In the latter category are members of the large and difficult genus Ypthima; I think (mind, I say, I think) that this one is Ypthima horsfieldi.

This one may be Ypthima fasciata; notice the dark bars crossing the wings.

Many butterflies are plain, or marked with camouflaging patterns, on the underside, but flash with colour when they take flight (thereby, one assumes, startling any potential predator.  Here's an example: a Mycalesis, presumably the Kinabalu Bush Brown (Mycalesis marginata) though the row of three small eyespots at the leading edge of the hindwing doesn't quite match pictures I have seen of this (or any other) species.

Brown and orange seems to be a popular colour combination among nymphalids.  This is a female Wizard (Rhinopalpa polynice).

For a really spectacular bit of camouflage, you can't beat the Striped Palm King or Koh-i-noor (Amathuxidia amythaon).  I was astonished to see how thoroughly this large and spectacular butterfly vanished among the dead leaves of the forest floor.  It wasn't easy to photograph, either; despite its camouflage it was particularly shy. I never did get a shot of the striking upperwings.

For sheer brilliance, this Cratilla metallica outshone even the butterflies.  It is hard to imagine a more spectacular dragonfly.

The insect that got everyone's attention, though - and the most colourful find of the day - was, of all things, a walkingstick.  I knew that Borneo was loaded with remarkable stick insects, ranging from from thick and spiky to impossibly long and thin (including the longest insect in the world, Chan's Megastick (Phobaeticus chani), named after our friend Datuk Chan Chew Lun, owner of Natural History Publications (Borneo). Colourful walkingsticks, however, were another matter, and I was not prepared for Orthonecroscia pulcherrima.

Neither were my companions, apparently, and once the insect flew down onto the grass and within range of the cameras, birds were completely forgotten.  None of us had seen anything quite like this.

"Garish" was hardly the word - Orthonecroscia looks like something designed by Kandinsky.  Name a colour, and it's there somewhere.  Yellow, green, red, turquoise - you name it.

O. pulcherrima isn't exactly small, either, even if it was hardly in the category of Chan's Megastick.  A spectacuar creature - and only one of a fairly long list of Orthonecroscias out there.  Take a look at this one, from Gunung Mulu at the other end of Sarawak - a truly psychedelic insect.

Eventually most of my fellow birders and insect-watchers had to leave.  A few of us stayed on; I am always willing to linger in this enchanting spot.  I took the opportunity to wander a little way along the trail following the ridge into the forest, looking for interesting-looking plants.  I don't know the names of the ones I found, so I'm simply going to present them in a little gallery:

If anyone out there can supply identifications, please let me know (yes, I know the first one is a fern of some sort).

The mist gathered at the overlook as I prepared to leave.  I'd be back (I know that, of course, because I'm over a year late writing this up) - but the account of that will have to wait for a while.  For now, my postings will shift from our stay in Sarawak to West Malaysia at the end of May, the first stage of our journey back to Canada.