secret of garama river

19th september 2007

it has been more than a year since i came to this river searching for the elusive proboscis monkeys. the feeling was great as good weather accompanied me and other couple from england, malcom and helen who were keen birders and has been staying in south africa for few years. lots of lifers for both of them with the help of fantastic boatman who helped to spot barbet and kingfishers ...

birds that seen:

little green heron
common sandpiper
white-breasted waterhen
black-nest swift
asian palm-swift
grey-rumped treeswift
barn swallow
pacific swallow
gold-whiskered barbet
blue-eared kingfisher
ashy tailorbird
pink-necked green pigeon
brown-capped woodpecker
olive-winged bulbul
magpie robin
brahminy kite
blue-crowned hanging-parrot
hill myna
asian glossy starling
large-tailed nightjar



mammal and reptile list:

proboscis monkey
long-tailed macaque
silver-leaf langur
water buffallo
crocodile

nice view of the river hoping to see birds and other animals


looking at the proboscis monkey

off they go !

calm river with crocs

reflection of the tree on the water


smiling faces of helen, jamly and malcom :)

everett's thrush of mt. kinabalu

10th september 2007

went birding with lars from sweden who has been here 3 times and decided to search for the elusive everett's thrush at one of the trail around kinabalu national park. unfortunately didn't see any, means a reason to come again hahaha :p

bird list:

whitehead's trogon a pair
white-throated fantail
grey-throated warbler
sunda bush warbler
mt. leaf warbler
mt. tailorbird
bornean treepie
ashy drongo
mt. blackeye
bornean whistling-thrush
flavescent bulbul
bornean whistler
red-breasted partridge
crimson-headed partridge (heard)
whitehead's broadbill (heard)
bornean stubtail
little pied flycatcher
chestnut-crested yuhina
blue and white flycatcher
mugimaki flycatcher (lifer for lars)
bare-headed laughingthrush
sunda laughingthrush
chestnut-capped laughingthrush
golden-naped barbet (heard)

looking at the mt. kinabalu in the evening hoping for good weather tomorrow

road leading up to the trail


morning view of the valley from the trail


lars patiently waiting for the thrush

walked on this trail 6 times since 6.00 am until 4.oo pm

recce trip to Crocker Range National Park

date 27-28th august 2007

horukuru
john prudente
cede prudente
john kong
albert and wendy hutton

this time combining with well known photographers, writer and naturalist to the national park for overnight trip mainly birding and photography as well updating info about this newly accessible place.

john posing in front of his house with 2 mountain biking on top of albert's mitsubishi

hehehe myself :p


looking through the binoculars identifying figs and albert's 4x4 was overheat !


other view from opposite road


john kong admiring the view of kota kinabalu city from the top mean while cede was shooting at the mountain imperial-pigeon seen perched on the bare tree below eye level.


preparing equipments for birding


uphill again !


checking for leeches and all was infected hahaha :p

end of the trail while albert looking up at the sky maybe scanning for the mars


cede and alim were looking at the flocks of pygmy white-eye (endemic)


yehaha time to go back to the rest house


sumptuous dinner with alim and wendy and big smile from cede


28th august 2007 morning birding day. the other john and albert gone for downhill biking after the birders left


john kong and albert couldn't resist fighting the mud with their bicycles after the walked yesterday


john passing down his knowledge about camera to wendy who just bought new Nikon D40x for her upcoming trip to peru

which one better Nikon Fieldscope ED82 with 30x eyepiece or Nikon AF-S 600mm with D2Xs ...

the star for this trip; white-fronted falconet spotted by john. the smallest raptor in the world and confined only at north borneo. well it is small right by looking at my picture :p the bird is on the top of left branch


last shot for the falconet before left for late breakfast


smile for the camera hehehe :p

photos taken using john prudente Fujifilm S2PRO with combinations of 600mm, 70-200mm and 18-70mm lenses as well contributions from cede and john kong during the outing

hehehe best bird photographers of malaysia

August 2007

was in sukau village for few days and met with few bird photographers who came from tawau and penang and equipped with big guns Nikon 600mm lenses ! had to wiped my nose few times as blood coming out from it hahaha :p


then it rained heavily and had to turned back to the lodge.


the morning begun with a good hope of seeing bornean ground-cuckoo ...


photographers setting up their gears on the boat.


with a big smile from Tswong (standing with his better beamer).


off they go ! wished with them that day but have to leave back to sandakan with another couple from italy.


discussing something with john prudente while marco and kristen enjoying the morning mist.

photo credits from jollence