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Birds & Wildlife of Tabin Wildlife Reserve - May 2024

Sunday, May 26, 2024

Tabin Wildlife Reserve, located in Sabah, Malaysia, is a premier destination for bird and wildlife photography enthusiasts. Covering an area of approximately 300,000 acres, this reserve is home to a diverse range of flora and fauna, making it an ideal location for capturing stunning images of the natural world. A wildlife photography trip to Tabin Wildlife Reserve offers a unique opportunity to witness and photograph some of Borneo's most iconic wildlife species in their natural habitat. 

One of the main highlights of a wildlife photography trip to Tabin Wildlife Reserve is the chance to photograph the elusive Bornean pygmy elephant. These gentle giants are the smallest species of elephant in the world and are a sight to behold in the lush forests of Tabin. With a keen eye and a bit of patience, photographers can capture stunning images of these majestic creatures as they roam freely in the reserve. In addition to the Bornean Pygmy Elephant, Tabin Wildlife Reserve is also home to a wide variety of other wildlife species, including Orangutan, Clouded Leopard, Tembadau, Island Palm Civet (formerly known as Common Palm Civet) and Northern Grey Gibbon. With its diverse range of habitats, from dense rainforests to expansive mangrove swamps, the reserve offers photographers the opportunity to capture a wide array of unique and captivating images. 

Overall, a wildlife photography trip to Tabin Wildlife Reserve is a truly unforgettable experience for any nature enthusiast. With its diverse range of wildlife species, breathtaking landscapes, and rich biodiversity, the reserve offers photographers the opportunity to capture some of the most mesmerizing scenes of the natural world.

Our targets are mainly birds and personally, I would say the highlights for this trip are the frequent sightings of hornbills (Rhinoceros, Oriental Pied, Black, White-crowned, and Wrinkled), Striped Wren-babbler, Blue-headed Pitta, Black-crowned Pitta, Malaysian Blue Flycatcher, White-crowned Shama, Crested Serpent Eagle (Spilornis cheela pallidus) a subspecies to northern Borneo, Storm's Stork, Bornean Crested Fireback and Great Argus. I missed the latter species, though.    

This trip was a pre-arranged trip to focus on a few specific birds of Tabin Wildlife Reserve. I had to missed the first 2 days of the trip due to family matters. This is my 1st trip to Sabah for year 2024 and my 2nd visit to Tabin after almost 14 years. 

Nonetheless, it was a good trip for myself because I get to spend some time with the newly acquired Sony A6700 and the 200-600mm lens. The lens is surely heavy and not suitable for me to hand hold it for long period of time.

Blyth's Frogmouth (Blyth's) Batrachostomus affinis affinis
Distribution covers Southeast peninsular Thailand south to Sumatra and the Riau Archipelago, and virtually throughout Borneo (including Banggi Island). The vernacular name is in honor of Edward Blyth (1810–1873), an English zoologist who served as the curator of the Museum of the Asiatic Society of Bengal in Calcutta from 1841 to 1862. Blyth was also a renowned collector.

Malaysian Blue Flycatcher Cyornis turcosus
Distribution covers Malay Peninsula, Sumatra and Borneo. The small flycatcher is not globally threatened, but is currently classified as Near Threatened. The species can be found in Taman Negara National Park and other localized habitat in Peninsular Malaysia, where it is considered uncommon. However, the species is common and widely distributed in Borneo.

Olive-backed Woodpecker Gecinulus rafflesii dulitensis
There are 2 subspecies for Olive-backed Woodpecker and the dulitensis subspecies is smaller than the rafflesii. This subspecies is only found in Borneo.


Ruby-cheeked Sunbird Chalcoparia singalensis borneana
There are 11 subspecies and borneana subspecies is only found in Borneo and Banggi Island (the largest island in Malaysia, located north of Sabah). The diet of the insect-eating bird includes caterpillars, spiders (Araneae), fruit, pollen, and nectar. It forages primarily in the upper storey but can also be found in the lower levels. The bird is known to feed on spider webs and probes flowers for nectar. Additionally, it gleans insects from leaves.

Striped Wren-Babbler Kenopia striata
This species is generally uncommon, occurring at fairly low density. Sightings has been reported in Taman Negara National Park and some other forests in Peninsular Malaysia. It is also frequent in Borneo, although reportedly uncommon in Sabah. I heard this twice and saw once throughout the duration of our stay in Tabin. 

White-crowned Shama Copsychus stricklandii
This species is sedentary and typically found in lowland or lower montane forests, frequently near streams. They can also be found in primary and secondary heath forests up to 1,200 meters in northern Borneo, freshwater swamps, scrub areas near mangroves, tall closed island forests, logged forests, and other disturbed habitats. The diet of this species consists primarily of insects such as ants, worms, spiders, and centipedes, as well as berries.

Black-crowned Pitta Erythropitta ussheri
Endemic to Borneo.

Black-throated Wren-babbler Turdinus atrigularis
Endemic to Borneo.

Buffy Fish-Owl Ketupa ketupu ketupu

Crested Serpent Eagle Spilornis cheela pallidus
This subspecies is found in the lowland of North Borneo.

Red-legged Crake Rallina fasciata
Found this individual resting while we were on the way back to the resort at night.

Red Giant Flying Squirrel Petaurista petaurista




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Contact me to make a reservation for a private birding tour with an experienced and licensed tourist guide specialize in birdwatching and photography tours. I have been guiding professionally since 2007 with birders coming from United States, Canada, UK, Finland, Sweden, France, Germany, Denmark, Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, Brazil, Ecuador, Greece, South Africa, Australia, India, Sri Lanka, Singapore, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Japan, South Korea, Philippines, Brunei and others.

Send messages via email to wengchun@gmail.com

Follow my year 2024 sightings with photographs from camera and mobile phone: Bird of Year 2024 

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Licensed Tourist Guide specialized in birdwatching and photography tour in Peninsular Malaysia. BSc Forestry (Parks & Recreation Management).

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A collection of wildlife photographs in Peninsular Malaysia that includes mammals, reptiles and amphibians. Some photographs are taken with camera while some are taken with mobile phone whenever I get the opportunities to shoot while on a guiding assignment.

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You will see other interesting insects during your birding adventure with me. Here are some of the photos I have extracted from my hard drives..

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Collection of photographs for reference.

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Notable Plants While Birding
There will be some interesting flora that will definitely catch your attention while going out on a birdwatching trip with me. I am in the midst of compiling all the plants, please return to this website for updates. Thank you.

Southeast Asia Birding

Southeast Asia Birding
Sometimes I accompany my regular guests for birding trips out of Peninsular Malaysia. Check out what we found.
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About Me

Hi! I love watching birds, taking photographs (and video), and guiding people through nature. Welcome to my blog, A Malaysian Birder. I'll be sharing all the great birds I see and the photos I take right here on this blog. I got into bird watching when I was in university studying parks and recreation management. I used to work in parks and gardens, teaching people about the environment and organizing birding walks. Whenever I go out to look for birds, I always bring my binoculars and spotting scope to help me see them up close. Sometimes, I even bring a microphone to record their calls. It's always an adventure out in the field!

In the past, I will have my Kowa BDXD 8x32 binocular, Zoom H2N recorder, Kowa TSN-501 and my favorite Nikon1 V1 with a 70-300mm lens. This is the lightest setup I have tried and owned. From then onwards, I have used Omicron 8x26 binocular (and i bought 4 units), Leica Ultravid 8x32 binocular, Kowa Spotting Scope TSN773 with 20-60x eyepiece, Panasonic Lumix G7, Panasonic Lumix G9 with a 100-300mm lens and currently experimenting with Sony ILCE-A6700 and Sony SEL 200-600mm F5.6-6.3 G OSS lens.

Bird Watching Tours

There are quite a number of birding groups from Australia, United States and United Kingdom that come over to Malaysia annually visiting the traditional key sites that include Kuala Selangor, Fraser's Hill and Taman Negara. There is not doubt that the 3 sites are the preferred birding sites in Peninsular Malaysia. So if you are coming over for birding and intend to hire a guide, you can send me an email at nature2pixel@gmail.com and go over to posting section to view photos and summary of trip reports with testimonials from past clients.

Besides following the traditional route, I also customized trip according to clients needs, preference and interests. So there are some local patches that I can introduce to all bird watchers, digiscopers and photographers.

Here are a few of my favorite birding spots around Kuala Lumpur.

• Kuala Selangor - the habitats include mangrove forest. Good for woodpecker and kingfisher. Some amount of walking is required on flat terrain.

• Fraser's Hill - one of the traditional key sites for birding in Peninsular Malaysia and still the best place to visit. Elevation between 900 - 1200m above sea level. The species found here are different from the city of Kuala Lumpur. Targets may include Trogon, Woodpecker, Partridge, Laughingthrush, Leafbird, Spiderhunter and Sunbird.

• Hulu Langat - one of the most visited birding spot due to its proximity from the city centre. Walking is required but on easy terrain in this lowland forest. Sometimes need to wait at fruiting trees. Generally a good spot for Broadbill, Kingfisher, and Babbler.

• Bukit Tinggi - An alternative spot if you do not want to spend too long hours travelling to Fraser's Hill. It's about 900m to 1,000m above sea level and you get a combination of lowland and highland species at this elevation. Walking is required but just a short distance. Traditional known for Broadbill, Hornbill, Partridge and Pheasant.

• Gombak-Ampang - Generally recommended for photographers targeting Blue-eared Kingfisher and at times during fruiting season, it attracts many species of Bulbul and Barbet. Located in urban area.

Putrajaya - If you are staying in any hotel in Putrajaya, it's a good place to look for herons, egrets, bittern and storks.

Bird Families

Check the bird families and the taxonomy updates HERE.

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Bird Video

I am also interested to take video of birds. Here are some of my favorite videos for your viewing. Video taken with Nikon1 V1 attached to a Sigma 500mm f4.5 and most of the time iPhone SE through the spotting scope. Editing is done on smartphone Power Director for Android device and I also like the iMovie on iPhone. Enjoy.

Recommended Field Guides & Books

If you are interested to get a copy of field guides to assist you to learn and identify birds in Malaysia. Click the followings to find out more.

March 2024. Fortunate enough to meet 1 of the authors before it was launched in Kuala Lumpur. Another great field guide for all birders who want to get the most updated information about birds of Malaysia.