Birding & Bird Photography Tours In Sabah, Borneo. Click below.

Showing posts with label Birding and Digiscoping Workshop. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Birding and Digiscoping Workshop. Show all posts

Wednesday, December 21, 2011

Birding & Digiscoping Workshop 2012







I will be conducting field trips at Kinabatangan River from January until early April 2012 depending with booking with Minimum of 6 persons and Maximum is 12 persons per trip. The main reason why I chose Kinabatangan River because of the combination between birds and mammals plus great scenery along the river especially at Menanggul tributary.

This workshop is OPEN throughout the year except in December.


Bird guide :

Azahari Reyes @ Jason aka horukuru's profile :

Working as a bird guide based in Kota Kinabalu, Sabah since 2006 with clients mostly from UK and Japan. An invited spoke person for Nikon EDG products under Nikon Malaysia and been involved in various bird surveys with Sabah Forestry Department and photography workshops mainly by Nikon Malaysia and Sabah Park.

Pictures has been published in Sepilok Bird Book, Nikon Vision Japan website and promotional materials by Sabah Tourism Board mostly related with bird watching activities. In the process of publishing photographic bird book and coming up with photo exhibitions in Kota Kinabalu and Sandakan.

Been to Philippines, Indonesia and England as an exhibitor for the bird festivals promoting birding market for Sabah under Sabah Tourism Board at the same time, took the opportunity to know more about birds on those places.

Member of Borneo 400 Club and specialized in Digiscoping ~ Capturing pictures through scope with DSLR and compact camera.

Preferred Nikon equipments for birding and photography and Apple for pictures editing.

References :


Below is the program for 3 Days 2 Nights : EX - SUKAU



DAY 1 :

1200.            : Arrival of participants at Sukau Greenview Bed & Breakfast for registration and lunch.

1400 - 1530  : Basic Birdwatching covering in identification, sounds, behavior and usage of equipments; Binocular and Fieldscope subjects.

1530 - 1800. : Cruising along Menanggul River for Black Hornbill, Scarlet-rumped Trogon, Blue-eared Kingfisher and many more. Mammals such as Proboscis Monkey, Orang Utan and Long-tailed Macaque provides opportunity for pictures too.

1830 - 1930  : Dinner

1930 - 2100. : Check list of birds and mammals. End of Day 1. (Lunch and Dinner)



DAY 2

0630 - 0900  : Morning cruise for more birds and wildlife. Back to the lodge for breakfast.

1000 - 1200  : Digiscoping and Bird Photograph, Bird Recording and birding / photography ethics on the field.

1230             : Lunch.

1530 - 1800 : Cruising along Menanggul River for Bornean Ground Cuckoo, Lesser Fish Eagle, Black-naped Monarch and many more. Mammals such as Bornean Pygmy Elephant, Silver Leaf Monkey and Monitor Lizard provides opportunity for pictures too.
1830 - 1930  : Dinner

1930 - 2030  : Night cruise for nocturnal animals such as Leopard Cat, Malay Civets and Buffy Fish Owl.

2045 - 2145  : Check list of birds and mammals. End of Day 2. (Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner)



DAY 3

0630 - 0900  : Morning cruise for birds and wildlife. Back to the lodge for breakfast.

0930 - 1030  : Check list of birds and mammals.

1130 - 1230  : Check out and end of workshop. (Breakfast)


Things to bring :

1. Binocular with minimum configuration of 7x42, 8x32, 8x36, 8x42, 10x32 or 10x42 to maximized viewing of birds and wildlife. Compact binocular such as 8x25 and 10x25 can be used but you will get less Field of View and brightness while birding in the rainforest. Binocular for rental during the river cruise is provided for RM 10 per cruise.

2. DSLR and compact camera with zoom or telephoto lens; 70-200mm, 70-300mm, 300mm and above. Compact camera will be use for demo on Digiscoping. If none of the above, just binocular is fine.

3. Flash and torch lights for night cruise. Subject to weather condition.

4. Poncho or raincoat with hat or cap, sun lotion and sunglass for protection while cruising on the boat. Do not forget to bring insect repellent for mosquitos etc.

5. Proper walking shoes and sandal with long shirts and pants.

6. Laptop etc



What is included :

1. 6 private river cruises at Menanggul river with bird guide and maximum of 8 persons for each boat.

2. All meals at Sukau Greenview Bed & Breakfast with free flow of coffee and tea.

3. Fan room based on Twin Sharing for 2 persons at Sukau Greenview Bed & Breakfast



What is not included :

1. Travel insurance

2. Items of personal nature

3. Alcohol and soft drinks

4. Transportation from place of origin to Sukau Greenview Bed & Breakfast and back



For more info about Sukau Greenview Bed & Breakfast click here


Hope to see you there !

Monday, July 19, 2010

Nikon Fieldscope EDG85 & FSA-L2 Adapter

19th July 2010



Busy with my new born baby, I took the opportunity to test my new scope, the Nikon Fieldscope EDG85, Digital Photo Adapter FSA-L2 for my Nikon D300s and the EDG 20-60x zoom eyepiece.

Shooting range with DX format is from 750mm - 2625mm (500mm - 1750mm in FX format) on f5.9-f22 at the same time I could use my zoom eyepiece for normal viewing. Changing between zoom eyepiece with the FSA-L2 adapter took me less than 5 seconds because it uses bayonet type mount rather than thread in the Nikon Fieldscope ED82 and shooting is done in manual focus. This is very important considering the unpredictable behavior of birds. Changing eyepiece and adapter on the field is much faster and convenient.

The Field Of View (FOV) of the new EDG 20-60x zoom eyepiece is considered the widest in the market available for its range in magnification compared with the older MC II 25-75x zoom eyepiece. Viewing birds, other wildlife, moon and stars as well for security purposes is a pleasure with the eyepiece offering edge-to-edge sharpness hence the concept of EDG by Nikon.

I have been digiscoping with compact cameras for few years with Nikon Fieldscope ED82 plus the FSA-L1 adapter on Nikon D300s. But with the introduction of Nikon Fieldscope EDG and the elusive FSA-L2 adapter, my picture quality has improved a lot and Nikon has taken Digiscoping into higher level for birdwatchers. It means that, I could shoot in faster frame per second with my Nikon D300s and also recording videos of birds and wildlife in HD format.

For more info regarding Nikon EDG products, check their website at http://nikon.com/products/sportoptics/edg/top/index.htm

Intensive tests done by Italian team :





Nikon Fieldscope EDG85 with FSA-L2 Digital Photo Adapter connected on Nikon D300s and external microphone via C-shaped bracket (top photo) attached on the tripod mount.


Digiscoped photos on 500mm processed with Nikon Capture NX2.



Wandering Whistling Duck in flight



Great Egret



Stork-billed Kingfisher considered the biggest Kingfisher in Borneo



White-breasted Wood-Swallow, one of my favorite bird



Yellow-vented Bulbul



Scaly-breasted Munia



Black-headed Munia juvenile



Black-headed Munia



Dusky Munia, common Bornean endemic found at the paddy field



Eurasian Tree Sparrow





Asian Glossy Starling


Happy birding and my birding tours will start by next month with Japanese group at Kinabalu National Park.