Signal Hill Observatory Tower

I took a walk this afternoon over to the Signal Hill Observatory Tower (platform) where a nice view of KK can be had.  Saw a few things along the way.  One of the cool bits was to find this massive swarm of swifts or swiftlets over a building.  It was about 3:30 in the afternoon, and they were just zipping about.

Swifts or swiftlets whirling around

And then, but keeping my eyes open, and up, I discovered some mossy-nest swiftlets nesting under an overhang.  I will have much more to say about these birds once we get busy in the caves, where they typically roost, but for now...

Mossy-nest swiftlets nesting under a cement building overhang. By looking closely at the upper right side of the nest, you can see a big gob of goo that they use to glue the nest to the wall and keep it together. Of note, that goo is bird spit

Another nest. In total I saw about five nests in two different locations

So wait, what?  Actually pictures of animals?  Yes, I will soon get away from the travel pics and down to business, but there just isn't all that much wildlife in KK.  However...

An olive-winged bulbul spotted on the trail up to the Observatory platform

And...

A beautiful skink of some sort. I had a look around but don't have an ID on it yet

So, will there be actual animal photos posted on this blog you might ask?  Yes, there should be lots once we get out of the travel phase, with hopefully a lot of cave life included.
And, while walking up the hill through the forest I did come across the first mammal of the trip!  I froze as it approached and got a wonderful shot of this feline...

A real jungle cat! The fierce and intense look of the eyes, the long whiskers for accurate prey catching, the fangs just slightly visible, and the fierce "meow" it said as I passed it.

Which of course brings me to what should be the money shot from the walk, the awesome view of the town from the hill.  I leave it to you to judge how awesome the view is.

KK is a nice city with lots of growth going on. And of note, there are 11 cranes visible in the photograph

I like KK and enjoy the town.  I've never taken any of the multitude of tours available from here, but that is why most folks visit.  Nice town, nice people, and apparently good tours to be had.

But for the Gomantong Caves team, tomorrow we fly out of here and get ever closer to the caves we wish to be in.