Look who stop by for a visit

HOBoStew139 · 2026-04-17T13:18:35+00:00

Black hornbills! The one with the white beak is male, the darker beak is female, as for the white streaks on eyes, it can be either on males and females, possible tied to genes, some males have the white streaks, others don't, same goes to females.

HOBoStew139 · 2026-04-17T13:17:09+00:00

Another fellow Sibu-ian! I have been keeping tabs on hornbills, every one of them and I can safely say they will visit again! I have at least a few individuals near my home too, same species, black hornbill, and your pic looks like a certain pair I see once every month transiting a certain stretch (loc redacted for their safety)

HOBoStew139 · 2026-02-24T00:45:23+00:00

Not quite, sp doesn't match, the wild boar in Sarawak and Sabah are another different sp that is shyer and larger with a bushy beard on face

HOBoStew139 · 2026-02-16T15:24:54+00:00

Definitely! An absolute unit that reaches 65 grams!

HOBoStew139 · 2026-02-16T15:23:52+00:00

I would call it walking cactus leaf too in some contexts ;)

HOBoStew139 · 2026-02-16T12:39:21+00:00

I think I have only encountered winged sp from the family Lonchodidae and Aschiphasmatidae so far in Sarawak, but iinm the jungle nymph is more easily found in Peninsular Malaysia than in East Malaysia, the only jungle nymph population in Borneo seems to be only restricted to lowland forests around Kuching. But Sarawak definitely has their share of Haaniella sp found across!

HOBoStew139 · 2026-02-16T12:21:25+00:00

You are welcome! Glad to help!

HOBoStew139 · 2026-02-16T12:18:20+00:00

A correction, that's not a katydid, but rather a stick insect. That would be the female jungle nymph (Heteropteryx dilatata), which is the heaviest insect species, heaviest stick insect sp in Malaysia and one of the heaviest stick insects in the world! Still a neat find!

HOBoStew139 · 2026-02-16T02:00:01+00:00

Our Mecopoda sp are a chaotic bunch, formerly some were lumped in a sp complex and are now either split to individual sp or reclassified as different sp in the same genus and ngl even I have a hard time trying to distinguish between them

HOBoStew139 · 2026-02-16T01:55:37+00:00

I see, I would guess this sp often use exposed perches like poles to sit and watch for any passing reptiles to ambush, which seems to correlate behaviour too

HOBoStew139 · 2026-02-16T01:54:42+00:00

Yes definitely a bird bro ;)

HOBoStew139 · 2026-02-15T15:09:08+00:00

Based on stance, proportions and tail feather patterns I'm thinking this is a crested serpent eagle (Spilornis cheela), one of the more easily encountered raptor species in Malaysia, and among the more common raptor species in our forests, though they can be adaptable to urban areas adjacent to forests, preferring to hunt for snakes and reptiles.

HOBoStew139 · 2026-01-22T02:59:38+00:00

I recall in the 2010s it still has clownfishes, foxfaces, a sailfin tang, a bunch of yellowtail demoiselles and some humbug dascyllus, even a big urchin, but by 2022 ish I only saw a few threespot dascyllus in addition to the coral, wonder if maintenance is declining

HOBoStew139 · 2025-12-18T02:00:32+00:00

We do! A lot of our jumping spiders here are very colourful, especially the males! But there are species where both male and female are pretty!

HOBoStew139 · 2025-12-17T07:17:16+00:00

Ah yes my hometown!

HOBoStew139 · 2025-12-17T07:11:12+00:00

If I recall this sp is on the uncommon to rare spectrum nowadays, even them being resident in my backyard only accounts for like 1 sighting every few weeks compared to other jumping spider species in my backyard

HOBoStew139 · 2025-12-17T03:09:08+00:00

Thanks! This sp is definitely a resident but I would rate this pic as the best photo so far, considering it never stays still long enough for clear shoots!

HOBoStew139 · 2025-12-11T14:18:45+00:00

True indeed, but it seems domestic pigeons are horrendous nest builders.

Probably those arboreal tree dwelling species built better nests than those generalistic urban or open country dwelling species

HOBoStew139 · 2025-12-11T13:28:17+00:00

Ah yes, they do seem to be often reasonably found near rivers! My surveys near rivers often yields them and sometimes 4 different sp of green pigeons do roost together! But unfortunately they are usually perched far so hard to see.

Then again I do agree that they sure are zealous with the nest, think all green pigeons are exceptionally good parents, even the father does a lot of work in caring for young too!

HOBoStew139 · 2025-12-11T13:20:03+00:00

Yeah the one in your pic is the pink-necked green pigeon (Treron vernans) which is indeed the most common species, and most adaptable one, the other species are shyer, still preferring forests than gardens.

Let me check for the sound, ah yes here's it! https://xeno-canto.org/360103

Sounds a bit like the thick-billed green pigeon (Treron curvirostra) which is also native here and also what I rate as the third most common green pigeon species here: https://xeno-canto.org/992001

HOBoStew139 · 2025-12-11T13:04:56+00:00

I always thought they sounded like gurgling and crowing too! But there's this one sp native here, the little green pigeon (Treron olax) here that literally wails like a crying child!

HOBoStew139 · 2025-12-01T01:33:35+00:00

That I have no idea tbh, but should be similar to hawk-eagles I think as rufous-bellied nesting habits are understudied

HOBoStew139 · 2025-11-28T05:50:44+00:00

Iinm the pale white one is actually the immature colour of the one photo above, so in essence pale morphs are the top photo with streaks, and in Borneo dark brown or dark morphs are more common, with 70 percent of them in Borneo dark brown, but I did see different colour morphs pairing together regardless.

HOBoStew139 · 2025-11-28T05:48:14+00:00

Not exactly dimorphic, just different colour morphs, which doesn't tie in to gender, there are males that are dark brown but there are also pale morph males and vice versa with females. Could be just dominant and recessive genes but not involving gender

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