Meliau Basin, Sabah September 4-6, 2025 Callyn Yorke
Meliau Basin is a remote wilderness preserve in the lowlands of south-central Sabah. The setting along with the flora and fauna composition is similar to the Danum Valley. Since the Meliau Basin was one of the few remaining stands of lowland rainforest in Sabah and fairly accessible, I thought it might be worth a visit.
A travel agency in Kota Kinabalu assisted me with a five-night reservation package that included lodging, meals, guide service, a night drive, and transportation to and from Tawau ($320 US/ night).
A two-hour ($44 US) taxi ride from Lahad Datu ended at the Meliau Basin office in Tawau. From there, arrangements had been made for a 4WD shuttle to the Meliau Basin visitor center. Before leaving Tawau, I found a main street cafe and ordered a portion of rice and chicken (nasi ayam) that tasted like refrigerated leftovers. Ordinarily, I avoid eating at places without customers but it was the only food option near the MB office, the point of departure.
The roads leading to the Meliau Basin (MB) included paved stretches with koi pond-sized potholes and unpaved segments under construction. From the MB entry gate (Elev. 230 m), it was an additional twenty kilometers on a variably rough gravel road to the visitor center. That section traversed tall rainforest and roadside second-growth and would be the principal route for the wildlife night-drive.
A receptionist on her way home for the day, hastily introduced the lodge layout and routine, then assigned me to a deluxe room in an adjacent building. Access was at the top of a series of wooden staircases and walkways leading to a lengthy corridor of vacant rooms. Evidently, I would be the only guest at the facility, which appeared to have been carefully designed as a full-on, five-star eco-resort.
Compared with the basic lodging I had at the Danum Valley Study Center, this was a major upgrade. My spacious, rustic room included a balcony overlooking the forest and was just steps away from birding trails. These were among the most comfortable, perfectly located accommodations I would have in Sabah. Given that nearly all of the other ecolodges in Sabah were fully booked, it was somewhat of a mystery that there were no other guests. Judging by the scores of room vacancies, slick, mold covered walkways with missing planks, it appeared that this multi-million dollar resort and its skeleton crew were slowly being recycled back into the forest ecosystem.
A high-ceiling dining hall at the top level of the visitor center offered a small selection of veggies, meat and salad, neatly placed on a side counter. There was no sign of the kitchen staff. I sat alone at a banquet table with a dozen empty chairs on either side. An observation deck adjoined the dining area and, after sampling the food, I spent the remainder of the evening observing birds from the deck. Just before retiring to my room for the evening, I began to experience intermittently severe intestinal cramps.
Despite the cushy accommodations and optimism for a productive multi-day visit, my condition worsened overnight. By daybreak, I was exhausted from lack of sleep and had no appetite. When the resort staff discovered I had skipped two meals, one of the workers offered to drive me to the doctor in Tawau. I politely declined the kind offer, preferring to fast for a day, rehydrate frequently and starve out the unfriendly microbes that had colonized my gut, possibly originating from the nasi ayam lunch in Tawau.
The 24-hr. fasting remedy brought partial relief and was extended for another day. The following two days, together with Azree, the ranger-guide assigned to accompany me, were spent mostly in the immediate vicinity of the lodge.
A flatbed truck night drive on September 6, produced a few mammals , e.g., Palm Civet, Mouse Deer, Barking Deer, Thomas’s (Red) Flying Squirrel and two new birds for my trip report – Brown Hawk-Owl and Large Frogmouth.
Around the lodge there were numerous birds and mammals (e.g. Sambar Deer, Palm Civet, Plantain Squirrel, Long-tailed Macaque and North Borneo Gibbon), yielding some noteworthy observations and photo opportunities. I ended the brief MB visit with a comparatively short bird list, yet one that included a handful of new species for the Sabah trip report. I’m fairly certain that if I had been in normal health and stayed for the full five nights as originally planned, my Meliau field notes and digital image collection would have been significantly enhanced.
Annotated Bird List for Meliau Basin September 4-6, 2025 (41 Species )
Weather: 23 to 28 C; Partly cloudy with intermittent, scattered showers, heavy at times in the afternoon and evening; winds light, WSW; humidity 80-90%.
Time: 0630 – 1930 hrs; 2000-2145 hrs. (Sept. 6)
Areas Covered: Mainly the trails and roadways around the lodge; freshwater lake and marsh; second-growth, clearings and ruderal patches; canopy bridge walkway; 25 km (round trip) night drive around lodge and MB entrance road (Sept. 6).
KEY
Abundance: Numbers following each species entry are the highest count for a single survey, when multiple surveys were made.
Age, sex and molt (when known): ad = adult; imm = immature; m = male; f = female; bsc plmg = basic (non-breeding plumage; alt plmg = alternate (breeding) plumage; trans = transitional plumage, i.e. alternate into basic plumage.
Ecology and Behavior: Aerial insect hawking (ah); taking fruit, berries or parts of flowers (fr); gleaning insects from foliage (ig); probing into surface (pr); estimated height (m) above ground (agl); gregarious (greg); mixed-species flock (msf).
Systematics and Nomenclature used herein, is an amalgam of Avibase, International Ornithological Congress (IOC) and current (2025) online resources, i.e. Birds of the World, Cornell University, USA. Species acronyms (banding codes) derived from the first letters of the single or hyphenated common name, e.g. LAGP = Large Green Pigeon; LIGP = Little Green Pigeon; MAWO = Maroon Woodpecker; RTTA = Rufous-tailed Tailorbird, etc.
Borneo endemics and near-endemics are listed in Bold Face lettering.
BIRDS NOTED
- Bornean Crested Fireback Lophura rufa 8 (m,f) highly greg. and habituated to human presence; walking slowly on ground in second-growth at the forest edge; on driveways and walkways, occasionally taking shelter under raised buildings during rains (photo).
- Oriental Darter Anhinga melanogaster 2 greg. a pair in lakeside trees.
- Crested Serpent Eagle Spilornis cheela 1 on its nest in a tall tree above the canopy walk.
- Rufous-bellied Eagle Lophotriorchis kienerii 1 soaring above the forest canopy.
- Lesser Fish-Eagle Haliaeetus humilis 1 (noted gray, not brown remiges) stationary perch in tree bordering the lake (photo – see above).
- Large Green Pigeon Treron capellei 20 greg. msf with LIGP in fruiting tree next to dormitory.
- Little Green Pigeon Treron olax 10 greg, msf with LAGP in fruiting tree next to dormitory.
- Greater Coucal Centropus sinensis 1 vocal, early AM, forest edge/clearing with second-growth.
- Malaysian Hawk-Cuckoo Heirococcyx fugax 1 vocal, mid-level at forest edge.
- Brown Hawk-Owl Ninox scutulata 1 subcanopy of roadside forest edge – illuminated with a spotlight (photo -see above).
- Large Frogmouth Batrachostomus auritus 1 mid-level of roadside forest edge – illuminated with a spotlight (photo – see above).
- Plume-toed Swiftlet Collocalia affinis 6 greg. highly variable heights (1 – 20m agl) in flight around clearings.
- Silver-rumped Spinetail Rhapidura leucopygialis 5 loosely greg. flying 5-15m agl over clearings and forest edge.
- Rhinocerous Hornbill Buceros rhinoceros 2 in flight; one bird taking small fruits from a tree next to the dormitory (photo – see above).
- Helmeted Hornbill Rhinoplax vigil 1 seen well in flight over the dining hall observation deck and forest edge about twenty minutes before dusk; 1 bird briefly visiting an adjacent fruiting tree next to the dormitory where pigeons and other hornbills had been feeding.
- Black Hornbill Anthracoceros malayanus 2 in sheltering from the rain in the sub canopy of a fruiting tree at forest edge next to lodge (photo – see above).
- Black-eared Barbet Psilopogon duvaucelli 2 vocal (unseen) in secondary forest.
- Maroon Woodpecker Blythipicus rubiginosus 1 mid-level in secondary forest.
- Buff-rumped Woodpecker Meiglyptes tritis 1 mid-level in secondary forest with nearby MAWO.
- Black and Red Broadbill Cymbirhynchus macrorhynchos 2 perched in a tree at the edge of the lake.
- Black-crowned Pitta Erythropitta ussheri 1 vocal, responding to Azaree’s playback recording at edge of forest.
- Common Iora Aegthina tiphia 2 (m,f) in msf with BTSU in lakeside tree.
- Malaysian Pied Fantail Rhipidura javanica 2 sallying low to grass and second-growth; ih, igl ; msf with RTTA and BSTB.
- Asian Red-eyed Bulbul Pycnonotus brunneus 2 in forest second growth; lakeside tree.
- Spectacled Bulbul Pycnonotus erythropthalmus 1 in msf with other bulbuls, AREB, YBBU, GCBU, in a roadside fruiting tree.
- Cream-eyed Bulbul Pycnonotus pseudosimplex 1 with REBU in roadside fruiting tree.
- Yellow-vented Bulbul Pycnonotus goiavier 2 with AREB edge of second growth.
- Gray-cheeked Bulbul Alophoixus bres 1 in a roadside fruiting tree.
- Buff-vented Bulbul Iole crypta 1 ? ID by Azaree (unseen by CY) with GCBU, forest edge and second growth.
- Pacific Swallow Hirundo tahitica 4 greg. flying 2- 10m agl over clearings.
- Yellow-bellied Prinia Prinia flaviventris 1 roadside second-growth with tall grass.
- Rufous-tailed Tailorbird Orthotomus sericeus 2 vocal in second-growth.
- Bold-striped Tit-Babbler Mixornis bornensis 2 vocal in second-growth.
- White-chested Babbler Trichastoma rostratum macropterum 1 lower level of secondary forest.
- Sabah Magpie Robin Copsychus saularis adamsi 4 vocal in roadside second-growth lakeside.
- White-crowned Shama Copsychus stricklandii 2 vocal (unseen) secondary forest and edge.
- Lesser Green Leafbird Chloropsis cyanopogon 3 (m,f) greg. canopy of forest edge.
- Yellow-rumped Flowerpecker Prionochilus xanthopygius 1 (m) roadside forest edge.
- Brown-throated Sunbird Anthreptes malacensis 1 (m) lakeside tree with COIO.
- Thick-billed Spiderhunter Aracnothera crassirostris 1 in msf with YVBU and SMRO in lakeside tree.
- Dusky Munia Lonchura fuscans 3 (m,f) greg. flying low over grassy clearing.
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