Birds of Mount Kinabalu, Borneo

Mount Kinabalu, in the Malaysian state of Sabah on the island of Borneo, is the highest mountain in southeast Asia and a world heritage site. Towering over the surrounding lowland rainforest at 4095m high, the mountain and its forested slopes are home to a unique community of tropical rainforest birds, many of which are endemic to the mountains of Borneo. Kinabalu Park Headquarters sits at mid-elevation on the slopes of the mountain and is a world-renowned birdwatching site home to many special birds including the iconic “Whitehead’s Trio” (Broadbill, Spiderhunter, Trogon). Over the past decade, Dr. Thomas Martin of the University of Montana has led a research project studying the birds of the park headquarters. This project has greatly advanced our knowledge of tropical avian ecology and, more broadly, life history evolution. Dr. Martin and his graduate students have produced many publications from this project in high impact journals such as Science, Nature Climate Change, Ecology Letters, Functional Ecolog