Spectacled Flowerpecker at the Belalong Canopy Walkway

In May 2017, several dozen small parasitic  Loranthus mistletoe bushes fruited simultaneously in the canopy next to the First Tower of the Belalong Canopy Walkway. The fruit lasted about a week and attracted several species of flowerpeckers including a young Spectacled Flowerpecker.

All photos in this article by Chien C.Lee.

This is the First Tower  of the Belalong Canopy Walkway in the Ulu Temburong National Park, Brunei Darussalam, Borneo. There are two more towers along the walkway. both higher than the First Tower ! Photo taken with a drone.

The Spectacled Flowerpecker  is  the most rare of Borneo’s 13 species of flowerpeckers. It was first discovered in 2009  by an American bird guide Richard E. Webster feeding on mistletoes growing above the canopy walkway of the Borneo Rainforest Lodge at Danum Valley in Sabah.

The Spectacled Flowerpecker is so rare that there are no specimens in museums and so it has no scientific name.  The Belalong Canopy Walkway is the only site in Borneo where this flowerpecker has been seen regularly, no doubt due to the abundance of mistletoes  that grow next to the canopy walkway .

This Spectacled Flowerpecker has just ejected  a string of mistletoe seeds joined by a sticky thread. The sticky string will get tangled round a twig as it falls  and the sticky seeds will then be able to parasitise the  unfortunate host tree by inserting a root through the bark to tap into the flow of nutrients and water provided by the host.

 

Black and Yellow Broadbill.  Another common bird of the Belalong Canopy Walkway. This  individual male is highly territorial and  arrives immediately if you whistle  an imitation of the distinctive call.

An early morning view over the Temburong River Valley from the Belalong Canopy Walkway, in the Ulu Temburong National Park, Brunei Darussalam, Borneo.