crocker range NP panasonic GH4: expedition Malaysia 2014 part 2 # hawkmoth
Channel: Dieuw's wildlife
Date: 16/09/2014

When we drove to Crocker range NP from Kinabalu NP we were expecting a lot of primary forest.
Primary forest were we could walk through searching for all kind of life.
arriving at ‘Manis Manis ‘rooftop of Borneo there was only secondary forest.
But we kept hope for frogs and moths at night.
In our expedition gear was also a macuray vapor light and a white sheet. Jasper build a stand to keep the lamp high so that we could attract insects. After the first night with the light on it was clear that Crocker Range was a hawk moth paradise. But this was everything. There were no frogs in the dry frog pond and almost no birds because the dense secondary forest. The Mammals were more abundant and we saw two moonrats and a western tarsier, that unfortunately all jumped away before I could film them.

The first moring when the light was still on the birds of Crocker range figured out how to get an easy quick breakfast. Before we knew the ashy drongo’s, woodswallows and waterhens eat all the hawkmoths and we couldn’t make a picture. I filmed the thieves through the window.
The next morning we set the alarm an hour earlier to beat the birds! This is when we made the shots.
During our filming and photography sessions the birds where waiting on the lines until we walked away.

It was a funny side to see birds struggle with moths that try to fly away. Especially the white-breasted waterhen was great. This is a shy bird that runs away even when there was nothing to be afraid of.
But even the hawkmoths where too scary for him.

After three days at Crocker range we were all ready to go to a new place with new corners to explore and animals to stalk. If you want to stay at Crocker range I must say that 2 full days is more than enough. 

THE NEXT STOP IS MULU NP! In the middle of primary forest (we hope).