Pictures from weekends away from home at Lambir

Happiest having made the trek from Innoue trail, happier still with the prospect of checking out several waterfalls along the way.


One of the small waterfall which required a short detour from the Pantu Trail, any chance to cool off is an well appreciated break from the trek.


Lambir's ubiquotous palm.


"The attack of the giant praying mantis!" It's surprising how diverse the insect life is at a national park like Lambir ... turn on your porch lights at nite, and they'll all come crawling from all corners of the forests.


A butterfly sucking up some very much needed mineral supplements from rather unsavoury sources (to us humans anyways).


The serene and scenic 1st waterfall along the Latak main trail. And there's a long stretch of slippery sandstone slide going downhill. Caution : slippery when wet.


A beautiful woody mushroom, this thing can grow right in front of your eyes.


An unidentified bloom along the Latak main trail.


Is it a fly, is it a spider, is it bird poop? It's a fly eating bird poop spider!


This mushroom just grew out of a thick tree trunk ... what can be more amazing about life in the damp forest.


Termite mounds.


A shady creek along the Latak main trail, several waterfalls breaks the water's journey downhill.


Latak Waterfall, 30 ft drop into a serene deep green pool, off-limit to swimmers.

Nazeri Abghani/MNS Miri/May2010

Rainforest Drama at Your Doorsteps : The Snake and The Gecko

This happened in July 2008 when my daughter and me were invited by our neighbours to visit Lambir Hills National Park. We live in Miri but don’t visit the park enough.

On this occasion we were resting at the Latak Waterfall, the one with the picnic grounds. While we were standing there we heard ‘plop’ and saw the tree snake that had fallen from the trees struggling with its prey, a gecko. The pictures tell the whole story.

In the end the snake was so disturbed by the attention he (or she?) received that he/she left its prey and swam across the water.

One of the bystanders was so kind to throw the snake’s picnic lunch to the other side of the stream.

You may ask why we only now come with this story and pictures: the reason is that I found out recently that one of the photographers at the event, a 14-year old Dutch boy, received a recommendation from the 2009 BBC Wildlife Photographer of the Year contest (see Link) for a picture of the same event!

As a member of the MNS I thought it might be good to share my pictures with you. The pictures were taken with a Nikon D50 with the standard 18-55 mm lens.

Liv Jorunn van der Toorn/MNS Miri/May 2010













If you have any interesting items you've captured in Lambir Hills National Park and would like to share it with others, please email mnsmiri@yahoo.com, we'll help you publish it here on these pages.

Bornean Bristleheads in Lambir Hills National Park

2009 IUCN Red List Near Threatened Bornean Bristlehead Pityriasis gymnocephala at Lambir Hills National Park, latest sighting by Sara and Peter 0930hrs 02nd April 2010. This unusual species is likely to be declining moderately rapidly throughout much of its range as a result of forest loss and degradation. It is currently considered Near Threatened, and should be carefully monitored (Birdlife International 2009).

News from Sara after her trek at one of the trails in Lambir Hills National Park:

"This morning (2nd ) Peter and I hiked to Oil Well in Lambir Hills. At the Oil Well junction (on the Lepoh-Ridan Trail), at approximately 9:30am, we saw a group of 3 (possibly more) Bornean Bristleheads feeding in the trees right above us. At one point, one of them was only about 6 - 8m above me (see pic). They were flitting from tree to tree, branches to branches but didn't make a lot of noise.

There were also presence of other birds as well as squirrels including the Olive-backed Woodpecker running up a tree trunk. The trees here must be fruiting. We couldn't id the other birds and squirrels as I didn't bring bino and also we were busy looking out for the bristleheads.

Incidentally this was the place where I heard the Borneon Gibbon's song the other day about 2 weeks together with the trail maintenance team also at approx 9:30am, but today we didn't hear any.

All along the Oil Well trail, we heard Black Hornbills, Hill Mynas and wood knocking sound made by woodpeckers, plus many other bird songs which we couldn't ID. We did see some birds in the mid-storey and even on the ground, but too far to id them with our naked eyes.

We plan to go back to the same area tomorrow and try our luck again."

Similajau NP counted Bornean Bristlehead as part of it's birdlists (1986, 1995)), however there have not been any reported sightings there of late.

More on Bornean Bristlehead.

Sara Wong, MNS Miri, Apr 2010

A few highlights from Lambir nitewalk

A curious little dragon, image by Sara Wong.

By six pm 20th March, we've gathered 10 individuals keen on exploring Lambir Hills afterdark. The plan was to enter the trails before sundown, spend some time at Latak waterfall and slowly make our way back to the main gate.

We did just that. The walk over to the falls was pleasantly interupted by stops to gawk at a couple of tarantula's nest right beside the trail. We must've have been walking this route for the umpteenth time, if not for Kamil's help we would've not notice the perfectlt shaped hole on the mudbanks of the trail, nicely lined with cobwebs. Who other would occupy it that the tarantulas? The tow nests added a couple more interest points for our nitewalk.

A short peek at the arboreal tarantula's nest we discovered not long ago was a dissappointment. The Malayan Tiger used to occupy the treeside hole was no longer there. Several prior visits by Peter and Musa also didn't spot the beautiful creature. It must have relocated.

All along the trail towards the waterfall we spotted many geckos, stick insects, large snails, crickets and a couple of frogs. We were ardently looking for signs of snakes. Peter and Musa were fortunate enough to spot a fairly large reptile under some rotting logs in Spider's Alley a few months back. Last year the spot yielded Coral Snake, a juvenile dogtooth cat snake and a juvenile Wagler's pit viper. Not so lucky this nite.

We spent roughly half an hour at Latak waterfall gawking at the nocturnal shrimps in the shallows. They seemed to be ruling the streams in the dark, every submerged leaf we lifted revealed 2-3 hiding little shrimps. A quick shine through the banks and canopy didn't reveal any eyeshine, it would've been an extra bonus. Slow-loris, giant squirrels have been sighted before on previous nitewalk trips.

On the way back, we saw many more stick insects, praying mantis, and large ground hunting spiders. Extra effort schecking the branches overhanging the stream didn't produce anything more exciting than what we've already seen.

Our luck started to change by the time we made our way back to the site of the tarantulas nests. While busily gawking at a huge hairy critter at the mouth of it's resident, Kamil pointed out to a larger slithering quarry not five feet away from the spiders. Right there in front of us, in small peaceful movements was a banded krait. From the elapidae family, banded krait belies it's deadly venomous bite with it's graceful slow movement on the forest floor.

The krait and the tarantula definitely made our nite! The reptile is probably our 6th species so far, stumbled upon during a nitewalk just like this. We hope to see more!


Banded Krait


Terestrial tarantula.

A groundhunting spider.

Another groundhunting spider.

A many legged centipeded, note his missing limps.

A weird looking beetle we haven't encountered before.

A leaffrog, one of our regulars.

A stick insect.

Another regular hanging out.

If you haven't experienced Lambir at nite perhaps you should join us on a short trek through Lambir under the moonlight one of these nites. It's an altogether different feeling from trekking it during the day. The sights and sounds of the forest comes out more lively sometimes without the sunlight.

Nazeri Abghani, Mar 2010

Dipterocarp Mast Fruiting in Lambir Hills

Trees . . . they are everywhere in Lambir Hills National Park (Lambir Park), not only are they in great number buts also in species count.

Let’s see . . . everybody knows there is a 52-hectare research plot somewhere within the Park. Well, in that small plot some scientists decided to make a census count and they found a staggering 1,173 tree species in 286 genera and 81 tree families! Talk about diversity, Lambir definitely tops the list as the richest forest in Malaysia!

Two major types of forest are found in Lambir Park, the mixed dipterocarp forest and the kerangas forest. Kerangas forest is mainly found near the north-eastern part of the Park around Bukit Lambir peaks, while the majority of forest in other parts of Lambir is covered by mixed dipterocarp forest.

For the past few months starting October 2009, something wonderful has been taking place in the mixed dipterocarp forest of Lambir Park: the dipterocarp trees have been producing and releasing enormous amounts of winged fruits onto the forest floor. This special event is called dipterocarp mast-fruiting.


A carpet of dipterocarp flowers on the trails.

During this period many species of dipterocarps come into flower almost simultaneously, followed by mast-fruiting for a period of several months. Unlike other tree families, dipterocarp mast-fruiting only occurs at irregular intervals of anything between 2 – 10 years, a phenomenon that is very unique to dipterocarp forests of South-East Asia.


The different types of winged fruits found on the forest floor of Lambir.


The only spot not covered by the winged fruits is the pool.

A few hypotheses have been proposed to explain this distinctive feature of dipterocarp forests, but the most widely accepted must be the predator-satiation theory which suggests that through synchronization of fruiting at around the same time by many dipterocarp species at irregular intervals of several years, it not only prevents the build-up of seed predator population, the heavy fruiting is also a means of defense to prevent seed predators from wiping out the whole crop of seeds, thus ensuring survival of some of the seeds to germinate and grow into seedlings.

A small group of MNS Miri Branch hikers who regularly visited the Park during weekends over the past four months saw first hand the chronological sequence of mass flowering and mast fruiting of several dipterocarp species along the trails they regularly walked.


Peter admiring the young seedlings taing their rightful places on the forest floor.

February month appears to be the height of the dipterocarp mast-fruiting, as the trails are literally covered with thousands of fallen dipterocarp winged fruits, and at some places it is so dense that walking on them makes quite treacherous as it is really slippery underfoot especially on a descend. It is also observed that many of the other plant species were busily producing bountiful fruits and seeds along side with dipterocarp trees. The forest has certainly never been seen so busy with all these reproductive activities!

Come and visit Lambir Hills National Park now and see for yourselves this special miracle before it is all over. You may not easily see it again in the next few years!

Write-up and photographs by Sara Wong.

References:
Hazebroek, H. P., and Abang Morshidi, A. K. 2006. National Parks of Sarawak. Sabah: Natural History Publications (Borneo).

Sakai, S. 2002. General Flowering in Lowland Mixed Dipterocarp Forests of South-east Asia. Biological Journal of the Linnean Society 75(2): 233-247.

Nitewalk at Lambir Hills National Park 17th October

Ever since MNS Miri members went on their first nitewalk way back in 1998 with Dr Rhett Harrison (not sure whether he was already a doctor then or not), we have kept this aspect of our outing alive come rain or shine, full moon or not.

Many have gone with us trudging thru the damp forest, sometimes in drizzles characteristic of the namesake rainforest. Children as young as six and members well over sixty; parents, teachers, inquisitive youngsters have enjoyed the wonder of seeing the creepy crawlies on the main trail of Lambir, sights they don't normally see during the day on the same path.

It can't be compared to Singapore Zoo Nite Safari of course but the charm of Lambir Hill Nitewalk lies with the little critters that makes Lambir Hills their's home.

Our big animal sightings so far have only been restricted to monkeys, tarsiers, and giant squirels. We are still praying hard for an encounter with the resident clouded leopard or sunbear. Our most exciting and favorite must have been the snakes and tarantulas. A few close encounters with the crawling kind have made some members addict to the nitewalk.

It's not just the off-chance sighting that draws people to a nitewalk. The serenity of the rainforest after sunset, the ruckus or lack of it mixed with the damp darkness creates a feeling of mysterious calm about such places. It helps that you are well familiar with the place by day, seeing it at night just further adds to the affinity to the trails.

This nite we didn't see many of the usual big players on the trails other than some oversize snails, frogs, ants, numerous stick insects, and a beautiful gecko. Our resident tarantula seemed to have gone AWOL.

Our nite's tally:














Nazeri Abghani/MNS Miri/Oct 2009

Birdwatching near Bukit Song, Lambir Hills NP

The section of Lambir Hills National Park we went birdwatching 3rd October was perhaps the least visited part of the NP other then by villagers living in Pantu Buri, farmers opening new land or those travelling to the newly opened oil palm plantations further north of the NP. Though the roads are typical 4WD Sarawakian dirt road, it's just barely manageable even for a 4WD. We definitely do not recommend going in there with a family sedan.

Steve, Musa, Liz and Nazeri made up the team of four that could wake early enough to make it to the 0530 hrs meeting call at Mosjaya. All the other sane birders were undoubtedly in bed dreaming of their most favorite birds. We on the other hand fantasized about Wreathed Hornbill, Wrinkled Hornbill and other rarities in these parts all the way to Bukit Song.

The early morning departure was actually perfect, by the time Steve maneuvered the DMAX and Nazeri opened up the gates we were only a few minutes shy of 0630hrs. For Sarawak, this is as bright as 0700 hrs in KL with even less people but fresher jungle air.

Birds were fortunately already busy catching the proverbial early worms, while some were contented with just singing their hearts out for the whole forest to hear. The forest edge we were at was perfect for the sort of birdwatching we intended for the morning. Sandwiched between two prime rainforests, hidden away from traffic, we were perfectly positioned to watch the birdies.

A shama was the first to announce it's presence, followed by the Black-headed Bulbul. Later to be followed by the Plaintive Cuckoo, Black and Yellow Broadbill, Barbet sp. and Hornbill sp. Faintly audible was the soft tap-tap-tap of of the woodpecker. Hopes were quite high that we woul record the presence of either Wreathed or Wrinkled on this auspicious day. Any day where you can go out twitch this early at such a prime spot should be declared an auspicious day.

A large hornbill finally did fly past, landed right at the top of a tall tree in front of us. Bino poised, Steve and et al prayed for Wreathed Hornbill, clammy hands on the focussing ring, Leica Televid APO 77 swung to position just as fast .... to confirm the bird : Asian Black Hornbill! A few long seconds of close scrunity later, it was still ABH. It was full agreement and without a doubt NOT a Wreathed Hornbill that day. We waited ...

There were plenty of other birds to watch and tick. We noticed two flowering species of trees all around our perch, small little birdies were flitting in and out, some went for the fruit and some went for the nectar. Yellow-eared Spiderhunter; Hairy-backed Bulbul, Lesser Leafbird, Cream-vented Bulbul, and Yellow-vented Bulbul were all there taking turns foraging and feeding. Once in while the birds would stop to preen.

A group of Hill Myna made a fly past several times right above our heads.

Many flowerpeckers and sunbirds were sighted fleeting amongs the forest edges. Purple-naped Sunbird did not make an appearance today as it did 15th August at the same patch.

Throughout the morning many more birds made their own private appearances on top of those already mentioned above:
Thick-billed Pigeon
Dusky Munia
Red-bearded Bee-eater
Lesser Coucal

Red-eyed Bulbul

Red-throated Barbet

Orange-bellied Flowerpecker

Black and Yellow Broadbill (heard)

Argus Pheasant (heard)Van Hasselt's Sunbird

Yellow-rumped Flowerpecker

Dark-necked Tailorbird

Crested Serpent Eagle

Crested Goshawk

Silver-rumped Swift

Chestnut-rumped Babbler

Blue-crowned Hanging Parrot

Blue-throated Bee-eater

Plain Sunbird

White-breasted Woodswallow

Tricolored Munia


Van Hasselt's Sunbird. Photosource Lip Kee Yap, Singapore.

With the conversions and opening up of forested lands and secondary forests near Lambir, the actual protected area has become more accessible of late. All around Lambir, oil palm plantations are cropping up, while others are at the forest clearing stage. New farms are being opened up and planted. This new access points gave more people greater opportunities to walk right up to the park bounday, enter it if they the wanted to. What we hope is that those who do take the trouble to go there, actually went there with benign intentions, to enjoy nature like us, birdwatching.

We are in the midst of keeping track of birds we see in Lambir in the hope of contributing to the Lambir NP Birdlist. Partly to monitor what's in and around the national park currently as well as note those that are no longer present.

Lambir Hills National Park is one of Birdlife's International Important Bird Area (IBA) within the northern division alongside with Niah National Park, Loagan Bunut National Park, Mulu National Park and Similajau National Park.

Write-up by Nazeri Abghani/MNS Miri/Oct 09