Wildlife of S. E. Asia and S. America. A Photo Journal by Francis Burlingham.: 2025

Introduction

Over the last few years I have been lucky enough to live in Thailand, China, Malaysia, Vietnam, Colombia and now Brunei. In my spare time I have had the opportunity to travel fairly widely, camera in hand, in search of wildlife. In these posts I aim to share some of these experiences and show you some of the extraordinary wildlife that can be found in these regions. All of the photographs you see within the posts and pages here are my own unless otherwise stated. Copyright © Francis Burlingham 2015

Friday, 25 April 2025

Brunei Garden Wildlife

Brunei still has lots of tree cover and even amongst the built up residential areas there are still stands of trees and fallow land that enables a range of wildlife to survive. My house is at the top of a small hill and there are stands of trees on the steepest slopes that have not been built on. These back on to orchards and semi cultivated areas. I have purposefully planted my garden with attracting wildlife in mind and as a result many animals pass through. All of the photographs below were taken in my garden.

Ahaetulla prasina (Oriental Whip Snake) Brunei Borneo

I have planted a range of climbing shrups and vines along my fences and large stand of heliconia under an avocado tree where a beautiful bright green whip snake has made its home.

Ahaetulla prasina (Oriental Whip Snake) Brunei Borneo

The whip snake likes to hang out in the heliconias hunting for lizards. It is a very long skinny snake.

Ahaetulla prasina (Oriental Whip Snake) Brunei Borneo

I have a good population of garden fence lizards that patrol the plants I have planted to attract insects.

Calotes versicolor (Garden Fence Lizard) Brunei Borneo

There are also plenty of skinks living in the leaf litter and geckos around the fence and buildings. Building a pond has also attracted a range of wildlife and I have three frog species that are regulars; toads, tree frogs and ox frogs.

Duttaphrynus melanostictus (Asian Toad) Brunei Borneo

Polypedates leucomystax (Four Lined Tree Frog) Brunei Borneo

Kaloula pulchra (Ox Frog) Brunei Borneo

Four mammal species regularly visit the garden. Both species of monkey like to strip the leaves and flowers from my Hibiscus bushes.

Macaca fascicularis (Long tailed Macaque) Brunei Borneo

Trachypithecus cristatus (Silver Langur) Brunei Borneo

The tree shrews and squirrels that visit at first glance look similar but are unrelated.

Tupaia minor (Lessor Tree shrew) Brunei Borneo

Callosciurus notatus (Plantain Squirrel) brunei Borneo

A large number of different birds visit the garden. These are some of the most common visitors.

Amaurornis phoenicurus (White-breasted waterhen) Brunei Borneo

Padda oryzivora (Java Sparrow) Brunei Borneo

Centropus sinensis (Greater coucal) Brunei Borneo

Aethopyga siparaja (Crimson Sunbird) Brunei Borneo

I have so far seen three species of snake in the garden. There have been a couple of spitting cobras, the whip snake and a striped bronzeback. Only the cobra gives a potentially fatal bite.

Naja sumatrana (Equitorial spitting cobra) Brunei Borneo


Ahaetulla prasina (Oriental Whip Snake) Brunei Borneo

Trogonoptera brookiana male (Brookes Rajahs Birdwing) Brunei Borneo

Tuesday, 1 April 2025

A Short Road Trip Through the Crocker Mountains of Sabah

I recently drove from Brunei to Sabah to explore the Crocker Mountains driving via Tenom and Tabunan, exploring a couple of waterfalls along the way. Mensisilad waterfall at the Melalap sub station near Tenom was pretty but there was no wildlife of note to photograph. The Mahua waterfall near Tabunan was however, more spectacular and proved much more rewarding.

Graphium stratiotes (Kinabalu Swordtail) Mahua Waterfall Sabah

Highlights at this waterfall included a white nosed keelback snake, a pygmy squirrel and a couple of rare endemic butterfly species. This swordtail butterfly is only found in the Croker range and around mount Kinabalu.

Graphium stratiotes (Kinabalu Swordtail) Mahua Waterfall Sabah

The snake was small and fast moving as it hunted amongst the rocks of the river. I only managed to get one pretty average shot of it.

Amphiesma flavifrons (White-nosed Keelback) Mahua Waterfall Sabah

Trying to photograph the fast moving water snake.

A more common reptile found here was this green crested lizard.

Bronchocela cristatella (Green Crested Lizard) Mahua Waterfall Sabah

I was extremely lucky to see the very rare endemic Kinabalu Birdwing butterfly. It was a female trying to find a place to lay eggs and moved rapidly amongst the trees without settling for long. This butterfly became the state butterfly of Sabah in 2023 as part of an awareness raising campaign to help save this large charismatic species.

Troides andromache (Kinabalu Birdwing) Mahua Waterfall Sabah

There were numerous other beautiful butterflies to photograph at the entrance to the waterfall site.

Graphium antiphates (Fivebar Swordtail) Mahua Waterfall Sabah

Graphium evemon (Lesser Jay) Mahua Waterfall Sabah

Papilio helenus (Red Helen) Mahua Waterfall Sabah

Cyrestis nivea (Straight Line Map) Mahua Waterfall Sabah

Cyrestis maenalis seminigra (Dark Mapwing) Mahua Waterfall Sabah

Bathed by spray and mist at the Mahua Waterfall

Unfortunately I was not quick enough to get a good shot of the pygmy squirrel but you can see its ear tufts and just how fluffy it is in these pictures.

Exilisciurus whiteheadi

(Whitehead's Pygmy Squirrel)

The mountain scenery in this part of Borneo is beautiful. I stayed at Borneo Kiim Resort where at an altitude of over 1000m the nights were quite chilly. The views from here were stunning.

View of Gunung Kinabalu past the end of the Croker Range at Tambunan

Early morning view across the cloud shrouded valley to the Crocker Range.

After a couple of nights it was time to head to Kota Kinabalu via Mount Alab. Along the way I stopped to look for Raflesia and was lucky enough to find a 3 day old bloom that was just starting to fade.

Rafflesia pricei Gunung Alab Sabah

R. pricei is a slightly smaller species than R. kethei which grows near Poring but is nonetheless an impressive flower.

Rafflesia pricei Gunung Alab Sabah

My final stop before KK was Gunung Alab at just over 2000m above sea level. Here there were a couple of species of orange hued Rhododendron in flower.

Rhododendron fallacinum Gunung Alab Sabah

Rhododendron crassifolium Gunung Alab Sabah

There were also a couple of interesting orchids on the mountain.

Epiphytic orchid species

Terestrial orchid possibly a Spathyglotis species

After this brief stop it was time to head to KK and then back to Brunei with positive memories of exploring the Croker range.

Mensisilad waterfall, a pretty bathing spot at the Melalap sub station near Tenom, Sabah

Tuesday, 25 February 2025

Brunei Garden and Beach; Tree Shrews and Pitcher plants.

One of the joys of having a garden in Brunei is the number of animals that visit from the surrounding forest. This weekend I finally managed to photograph a tree shrew that has recently become a regular visitor.

Tupaia minor (Lessor Tree shrew) Brunei Borneo

This Hawk Eagle also occasionally visits the trees around the garden.

Nisaetus cirrhatus limnaetus (Changeable Hawk Eagle) Brunei Borneo

Rajah Brookes Birdwings are also occasional visitors to the garden.

Trogonoptera brookiana male (Brookes Rajahs Birdwing) Brunei Borneo

The beach in Brunei is never far away and I regularly enjoy walks by the sea. Behind Berakas beach there are a number of streams that run into the sea. One of these forms an unusual canyon as it has eroded the soft sediment, leaving unusual formations in its walls. The soft sandy soil is low in nutrients and as such provides a perfect habitat for pitcher plants.