21-6-05 In the morning, after digiscoping the commoner birds such as the Short-tailed Green Magpie, the Hair-crested Drongo and the Bornean Treepie around our lodge, we went into the Liwagu Trail. We did not see much birds inside the trail. In particular we did not find the Whitehead's Trogon which we were looking for. Consolation was seeing the Mountain Leaf Warbler and a recently fledge Mountain Wren-Babbler. We were partly knocked out by the trekking and mostly stayed in the lodge in the afternoon. In the evening, we walked to the Liwagu Restaurant trying to digiscope the commoner birds such as the drongo, sunbird, Little Pied Flycatcher and the laughingthrushes. While taking shelter from the rain, we met Mr CK Leong at the restaurant. He provided some tips on birding in the park and also told us about the Darter at Likas Lagoon and Blue-naped Parrot at Tanjung Aru. Thanks Leong for the tips. We were able to find the Golden-nape Barbet and the parrot. 

22-6-05 We hired a taxi to go to Mersilau (2000 m asl). This was a beautiful and quite place. Notable birds were the Golden-nape Barbet and a Black-breast Triller. The latter is an interesting species whose classification status is apparently not entirely settled. Two of us were luck enough to take photo/videos of it. An unusually friendly Snowy-browed Flycatcher was found in the dark verandah of the resort. Late morning, we joined the Nipenthes garden walk. This was an in situ exhibition in which the world's largest species of pitcher plants was very common. After lunch, we went to the Tropical Garden at Poring. There was not much bird activity in the hot humid afternoon but we were amazed to find a Crested Fireback trying to enter an enclosure where two more pairs of these birds were kept. This bird was apparently released to the wild some time back but it like apparently it liked the cage life more than in the wild! 

23-6-05 We wanted to trek to Laban Rata (2.5 km of the summit trail) on this day. The Whitehead's Trogon is rumoured to be often seen somewhere there. We also hope to see some real montane species such as the Kinabalu Friendly Warbler and Mountain Black-eye. A few of use did see the black-eye but our attempted was thwarted by rain and heavy mist. Eventually, we trek only up to the Pondok Lowii (2.0 km). Before the climb, we saw the Sunda Laughingthrush (Grey-and-brown Laughingthrush) and the Mueller Bush Warbler. The latter also seems to be an common species. In the afternoon, one of use went to the Hill Lodge area and there nhe saw  the Mountain Black-eye and Mountain Blackbird. 

24-6-05 This day we were birding mostly around and behind the Balsam Restaurant. I spent most of the afternoon trying to videoscope the Golden-naped Barbet but was not able to find the bird. However, an Eyebrowed Jungle Flycatcher provided me with some consolation. A White-crowned Forktail was also shot. 

25-6-05 This was our last day at the park and we still have not digiscoped the Golden-naped Barbet which was supposed to be an easy target! So we made extra effort to wait at a fruiting tree behind the Balsam Restaurant. Indeed, we were rewarded by one bird which came down low to feed and all of us were able to get some pictures. After lunch at the Balsam Restaurant, we were able to meet Ahlim Biun at last but that was just before we left the park. He is working in the Kinabalu Conservation Centre and he had been birding for the past 30 years. He is credited with some publications on the birds of the park. He gave us a bird list of the park. 

After we check into our hotel at Kota Kinabalu, we went straight to the Likas Lagoon but were disappointed to find that the Darter was not there. There were people fishing with nets inside the lake and few birds were around. 

26-6-05 Early morning, we took a taxi to Tanjung Aru beach. There were able to find the Blue-naped Parrot that we were going there for. In addition, we also saw the Dusky Munia, Crested Myna, Javan Sparrow and sundirds among other more common birds. In the afternoon, we took an AirAsia flight back to KL.