Sukau Favorites

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Favorite thing: To put it bluntly, my 1st impression of the proboscis monkey. Oh boy, they look ugly! Their nose is so huge, and the males have such a huge stomack! They are always high up on the tree tops! Very hard to get a good shot of them. To my surprise, my best shot of them is in Bako National Park, Kuching, Sarawak. Unlike Sukau, you can get really close to them at Bako!
The male is usually bigger than the female and its nose is more pointed. The nose of male, can be 4 inches long, hangs down like a small trunk to the end of the monkey's mouth. The males' big nose is a secondary sex characteristic: the bigger the nose is, the sexier the monkey is. (Thank god this is not relevant in our culture, else, no luck for me.) It has also been suggested that the nose aids in radiating excess body heat. These monkeys are also proficient swimmers and expert at leaping from tree to tree, or from a riverside tree into the middle of a river.

Fondest memory: Taking the boat curise late in the evening, seeing proboscis monkeys sleeping on the trees, in groups.

Favorite thing: Stork-billed Kingfishers are huge and are easily spotted along the river. But they are very shy, the minute they see you, off they went into the trees.
The photos I've of this large kingfisher isn't too good. Blame it on the boat....

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Favorite thing: Borneo has a couple of different species of hornbills. Spotting them is not too hard. I think I saw more of them in the morning, early in the morning, than it's late in the evening. They often fly in groups. Across the river and perched on the many fruit trees by the river.

Fondest memory: More than 10 hornbills, presumably, a family unit, feeding and resting on a tree. The tree doesn't have much leaves, mostly with branches only. Looking from afar, the almost-bare tree with around 10 hornbills on it, look simply amazing.

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Favorite thing: Unmistakable, large (84cm), cormorant-like waterbird with very long, slender neck and small narrow head. Head and neck brown with white chin stripe extending down side of neck. Rest of plumage blackish with white plume-like covert feathers, with black edges.
Iris - brown; bill - yellowish brown, black culmen ridge; feet - grey.

Fondest memory: It was early in the morning, on the river cruise, running into the oriental darter, high up on the tree tops, doing its sunbathing....