Site icon MAMMALS OF BORNEO

Greater Nectar Bat, Pulau Samama, East Kalimantan

uluulublog

Pulau Samama is a tiny mangrove islet with a small coconut grove and beach opposite the Berau River mouth at Tanjung Redeb in East Kalimantan.  P. Samama is one of about c.20 Derawan Islands. The largest island P. Maratua is a popular with dive tourists. Growing about 300m offshore Samama, is a  small grove of  Sonneratia trees. These Sonneratia trees provide one of the most important night roosts for frigate birds around the coast of Borneo with several hundred birds roosting on some nights. We arrived at dusk  just as a big storm hit the island  and had to tie our boat to the Sonneratia trees  and wait out the storm until dawn. The frigate birds  flew off to roost elsewhere.

Pulau Samama, East Kalimantan  is an old volcanic atoll with a silted up lagoon filled with mangrove forest.
The only dry land on Samama was this small beach where someone had planted a small grove of coconuts.

Frigate bird roost of Sonneratia trees in the background. Our guide Erwin in the foreground.

This grove of Sonneratia trees was photographed at high tide.  Fish feed on the leaves at high tide creating an obvious browse line at low tide. This “island” is one of the most important frigate bird roosts around the coast of Borneo.
The Sonneratia trees are nearly all the same age and look to be past their best.

Despite the abundant nectar available from coconut and Sonneratia flowers we only found this single Greater Nectar Bat Eonycteris major roosting on Samama.

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