Black-backed Swamphen

Distinctive brownish flycatcher found in Borneo’s central and southeastern highland forests. Brown above and gray below, with a warm coffee-brown face and eye-catching white eyebrows and throat patch. Also note warm rufous tones in the wings and tail. Forages close to or on the ground, often with mixed-species flocks. Can be quite tame and allow close approach. Gives a bubby rattling trill when alarmed.

Cryptic heron of freshwater marshes in tropical lowlands. Usually in areas with tall grasses or rushes, rarely in open situations. When alarmed, often freezes motionless with neck upstretched. The neck is finely barred horizontally, but the body plumage is vertically streaked (not horizontally barred and banded, as on immature tiger-herons). Compare with immature night-herons, which have streaked, not finely barred necks.

Astoundingly odd ground-dwelling inhabitant of dense lowland and foothill forests; typically quite shy and reclusive, but utterly unmistakable. Warm brown with a burst of bright color on the face: black, white, yellow, orange, and rusty red. Of these, the white and black are most obvious if the bird is under heavy cover or in the shade (as it often is). Long, slender, wader-like legs, neck, and bill are unlike any other forest ground-dweller in range. Displaying birds inflate purple balloons on the neck and sing a haunting whistle that gradually rises and falls in pitch.