AGOSTO 2022-1
Describing the nest of Crysothlypis salmoni In 2019, I was in Malaysian Borneo studying birds in oil palm plantations. When the project ended, I took a bus to visit a renowned field station at the base of Mt Kinabalu, Borneo’s tallest mountain, where Tom Martin’s research lab studies the geographic variation in the life history traits of birds. You can see Mt. Kinabalu from afar. After months of working in Borneo’s decimated lowlands, among endless rows of oil palm and dirt roads, the rock faces of Mt Kinabalu shone beautifully above lush, steep forest. I reached my hostel and immediately ascended the road towards the field station. During the hike, it struck me how many of the birds were banded. Montane endemics like Harpactes whiteheadi and Megalaima pulcherrima all wore color bands, as if the entire mountain’s bird community had resolved to partake in field research. Clearly, a dedicated and methodical team of researchers had been working here for years. When I made it to the field ...
