Charlie and Fred spent around 15 days in Sabah for wildlife sound recording. The journey started from Kota Kinabalu International Airport then to Mt. Kinabalu for a few days exploring the national park. Visited Sayap and Poring Substation then another few rainy nights at Gunung Alab Substation, Tambunan. While at Tambunan, it rained most afternoon, so activity were done only in the morning and one evening for the nocturnal species. Missed the Whitehead's Broadbill and Spiderhunter but great recordings for other montane birds especially the Whitehead's Trogon
At Kinabatangan River and Danum Valley, one of the best place in the country for lowland wildlife, we got the Bornean Pygmy Elephant and Pitta species. They are currently at Bakalan, Sarawak with Yeo before flying back to Australia.
Key species heard:
Whitehead's Trogon
Bornean Spiderhunter
White-necked Babbler
Bornean Barbet
Mountain Serpent Eagle
Bornean Gibbon
Images taken with Swarovski Optik and Nikon. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
Led by the well know bird guide from Japan, Ken Tanaka, luck seems to be on the side of this particular group while birding at Mt. Kinabalu. We saw the commonly heard Crimson-headed and Red-breasted Partridge on the Power Station Road and a pair of Whitehead's Trogon. Their favourite bird of the trip was the Black & Yellow Broadbill at Sugud, Penampang!
Last stop at Tanjung Aru, the Blue-naped Parrot still around with Asian Palm Swift and also the uncommon Grey Imperial Pigeon feeding together with the Green Imperial Pigeon at one of the fruiting tree.
Images taken with Swarovski STX95 and ATX65 with Nikon D3s + 300mm 2.8 VR II and Xiaomi MiNote. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
This Mountain Blackeye came quite close on the ground at Timpohon Gate
As an ambassador for Swarovski Optik which is based in Austria, the experience of using their latest telescope in my work provides me the ultimate pleasure in observing nature and wildlife. Coupled with the TLS APO and DCB II Digiscoping adapters, one of the best combo I have used in between observing and taking pictures/videos so far.
Swarovski kindly provides me the 95mm objective lens and straight eyepiece modules including the Telescope Rail TR II to balanced the scope when mounting it to my Manfrotto 502 video head and Wimberley Gimbal head.
What I like so much about the system, is the ability to swapped different sizes of the objective lens and eyepiece modular. From top to bottom; 65mm, 85mm and the largest 95mm with either angled or straight eyepiece modules.
Choose your preferred size of objective lens
From my point of view as a birdwatcher cum Digiscoper, this really helps in getting the most of your birding trips. With 65mm, it is good for traveling birdwatchers because of the compact size and less weight than the big brothers. I tested it for a month in different lighting conditions, 65mm is more than enough to ID birds especially on 60x as shown below;
Pheasant-tailed Jacana, vagrant for Sabah and my lifer too! Digiscoped at 60x with Nikon V1 = 4860mm and it was more than 100m away. Shimmer heat was obvious, but nonetheless, the image came out nicely for documentation purposes.
But when your subject is closer in good lights like this rare endemic Whitehead's Spiderhunter, you won't be able to tell whether it was taken with telescope or telephoto lens. Digiscoped with Swarovski STX 65 + TLS APO + Nikon V1 ~ At 25x = 2025mm
One of the target birds for visiting birdwatchers to Borneo. Tree tops specialized and feeds mainly on Mistletoe. My best image so far and I love the creamy bokeh too!
Purple Heron, one of the resident birds in Sabah but a bit shy for the photos. I took this with Swarovski STX 65 + TLS APO + Nikon D3s hand held
Many asked if the joint connection between the eyepiece and objective lens is secure enough? Once you connect both modules, you need to press the black button (pic below) on the eyepiece module in order to split the telescope. With the 95mm, after birding, I split the scope and pack it inside my Think Tank Airport Essentials backpack. It is the smallest and my ideal birding backpack because it does fit the 95mm scope with 30-70x eyepiece, TLS APO, DCB II, Nikon V1 with FT1 and 10-30mm including the Swarovision 8x32 binocular and other bits. So far, I don't see any problem between the joint since using it nearly a year now.
Flexibility in using one hand to focus and zoom
Another method employed by Swarovski Optik is the ability to used one hand to focus your subject and zoomed on the eyepiece simultaneously. It takes a bit of learning to get used with it. But once you know the differences between the helical focusing and eyepiece ring, it is easy and fast to get your subject in focus without having to adjust the desired magnification on the eyecup like the other brands and your eyes remained on the eyepiece at all the time.
Swarovski STX 95 + 30-70x zoom eyepiece
Focusing is smooth with the scope and the natural view plus excellent contrast, the sharpness on its field of view (FOV) as seen and tested by my friends, is one of the main strength offered by Swarovski Optik. Getting to 70x with maintained FOV is another bonus for critical identification and the sharpness remained from centre to the edge field of view.
How about Digiscoping?
Below are some of my best images/videos taken with Swarovski STX 95 + TLS APO + Nikon V1 and Nikon D300s
I have to admit, the combination of STX 95 with TLS APO Digiscoping Adapter is the best setup I have used so far. Sample images and videos as seen above speaks for its capability in delivering the best quality of Digiscoping in its class.
Using the TLS APO for my Nikon
cameras, T2 ring is necessary. Same goes to Canon, Olympus, Fujifilm, Pentax and Sony. It
has a 30mm built in lens maximized for mirrorless system in the market. My
Nikon V1 has 2.7x cropped factor. So at 30x (eyepiece) X Nikon V1 X TLS
APO (30mm) = 2430mm a very good range for Digiscoping in my place!
Sliding
in and out the TLS APO to the eyepiece is a breeze and fast too. When
photo opportunity is around, I take pictures with it in less than 10
seconds.
One of the favorite birds among bird photographers and Digiscopers, the Black & Yellow Broadbill. Only resized without editing.
So why did I choose the 95mm? Because I wanted the best of both in visual and Digiscoping.
Freelance photographer cum bird guide specialised in Birds, Sports and Digiscoping for a living. Ambassador for Swarovski Optik, Austria. Borneo 500 Club and currently at 559 species of birds in Borneo
Wildlife in Extreme Heat
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Weather's been hot the say the least, 32°C is now the norm, with many days
exceeding 35°C or even higher temperatures. While there are very few
interesti...
