Sarawak: Birding at Kuala Baram

Miri, in eastern Sarawak, does not have as many readily accessible birding spots as Kuching in the west.  Nonetheless it possesses an active branch of the Malaysian Nature Society, as we were visiting relatives in the area anyway, I was glad to accept an invitation (on January 25, 2014) to join some MNS members on a birding trip to Kuala Baram, north of the city on the way to the Brunei border.

Kuala Baram is mostly open country, wetlands alternating with areas of rough grass, dotted with settlements planted with casuarina, coconut palm and other trees.

The wetter areas can be good places for freshwater birds, including Wandering Whistling-Ducks (Dendrocygna arcuata).  Ducks of any kind are hard to come by in Kuching, and are a comparative rarities in Malaysia - odd as that may seem to a birder from duck-diverse North America.

The wetlands are also good for egrets, including this Eastern Cattle Egret (Bubulcus coromandus) and its attendant livestock.

In the more open ponds, we found the odd Black-winged Stilt (Himantopus himantopus).

Songbirds were about, too, but mostly on overhead wires, like this family of  White-breasted Woodswallow (Artamus leucorynchus).

Also making use of the wires was this Paddyfield Pipit (Anthus rufulus).

One of the most interesting birds at Kuala Baram, from the point of view of a Kuching-based birder, is the Striated Grassbird (Megalurus palustris).  This species was once known on Borneo only from eastern Sabah, but as the country has opened up and forest has beenm cleared it has expanded its range, and is now fairly common around Miri.  I expect it will turn up around Kuching one of these days.

Not everybody interested in birds is a birder.  At one point we came across this obvious, but illegal, funnel trap; we were unable to determine if its owners had caught anything.

Between birds, I paid attention to the local insect life: a Shield Bug (Pentatomidae)...

...an attractive  Carpenter Bee (Xylocopa aestuans)...

...and one of the handsomest Sarawakan dragonflies,  Rhyothemis phyllis.

A set of fishponds turned up a  Common Sandpiper (Actitis hypoleucos)...

... and a few wintering Barn Swallows (Hirundo rustica).  This bird's clear white belly and narrow breastband are typical of the common wintering race gutturalis, which breeds from the Himalayas to Japan, Korea and Taiwan.

The fish ponds were, most of all, a very good place to get on close terms with a group of unusually cooperative Whiskered Terns (Chlidonias hybrida); I will close this brief writeup with a Whiskered Tern gallery.

Lovely birds all, and a fitting end made for a very nice day indeed.