common redshank at lok kawi

27th august 2008

arrived a bit late at lok kawi because there was a traffic jammed around kota kinabalu city due to the rehearsal for the coming independence day for malaysia :) when i arrived, karim was busy taking pictures of the waders and it was quite warm today with blue sky.

planned to take pictures of the red-necked stint with orange flag sighted by karim few days ago and from the info he received sent by
australasian waders studies group, the bird was tagged around january 1990 in victoria, australia and might be first for borneo :)

but no stint with flag today and some of the birds were seen at lok kawi beach:

• pacific golden plover
• little egret
• little tern
• grey-tailed tattler
• ruddy turnstone
• lesser sand plover
• greater sand plover
• red-necked stint
• common sandpiper
• collared kingfisher
• little ringed plover

Common Redshank

digiscoped with nikon fieldscope ED82, srb-griturn Mk II adapter and fujifilm f31d

happy birding !

wood sandpiper in tuaran

23rd august 2008

weather was good this morning but windy and took few hours birding at paddy field near with my parents in law house hoping to get good pictures of wood sandpiper and long-toed stint, at the same time keeping an eye for temminck's stint that i saw last year at the same place :p

only few got into my hard disk :)

wood sandpiper

spotted dove

purple heron

other birds seen today

• dusky munia
• crested myna
• white-breasted wood swallow
• pacific swallow
• scaly-breasted munia
  

digiscoped with nikon fieldscope ED82, srb-griturn Mk II adapter and fujifilm f31d

happy birding !

my favorite bird of borneo

19th august 2008

resident at mt. kinabalu and one of the best subject for digiscoping hehehe :p

indigo flycatcher

bamboo orchid Arundina graminifolia

digiscoped with nikon fieldscope ED82, srb-griturn Mk II adapter and fujifilm f31d

happy birding and digiscoping !

digiscoping with sony ericsson K660i

11th - 13th august 2008

im impressed with my new sony ericsson cellphone that has 2 mega pixels camera and very user friendly lens with my 30x eyepiece hahaha :p and some of the pictures taken recently at semporna and tabin wildlife reserve with vent group led by susan myers and david bishop

all image was taken hand held (except the night heron with fujifilm f31d and srb-griturn Mk II adapter) and digiscoped with nikon fieldscope ED82

rufous night heron

red-bearded bee-eater

a pair of black hornbill

oriental dwarf kingfisher

vent group from usa


rufous piculet feeding at wild ginger

the cellphone also offered built in gps (with optional accessory) and also web blogging which is useful for traveling.

at lahad datu airport while waiting for my flight back to kota kinabalu, met with ingo (member of avian watch asia) who was at danum valley for several days n he managed to get lots of pictures of birds especially the black and crimson pitta huhuhu :o

nice birding :)

commonest waders at tuaran paddy field

2nd august 2008

after sending my wife to her parents' house, drove back to the same spot where i saw a wader wading at one of the paddy field nearby. by looking through my scope, it is confirmed the wood sandpiper has arrived and some of them still wearing their horny breeding plumage :p

paddy field

wood sandpiper

from the distance (wish i have zoom eyepiece !), 3 little ringed plover mixing together with spotted and peaceful dove, scaly-breasted and black-headed munia at one of the drier plot.

white-breasted waterhen

moving on to another plot, saw 2 long-toed stint (my favorite wader hahaha) together with common moorhen, intermediate egret and white-breasted waterhen. 2 cinnamon bittern suddenly flew from the bush and landed not far away from me.

long-toed stint

good birding and other birds seen today :

• purple heron
• black-winged kite
• yellow-vented bulbul
• yellow-bellied prinia and
  
• pink-necked green pigeon

digiscoped with nikon fieldscope ED82, srb-griturn Mk II adapter and fujifilm f31d

first batch of waders at lok kawi

30 sand plovers comprises of lesser and greater recorded at lok kawi beach today making them the 1st batch to arrived here similar like last year in late july. some of the bird still in breeding plumage with few juvenile mingling together with the rest. good sign for the survival of this species hehehe :p

but no wandering tattler ...

karim enjoying the breeze

perfect weather for snorkeling at one of the island

usual spot where the sand plover can be seen during the migration season

common sandpiper in breeding plumage and can be seen throughout the year here in sabah

digiscoped with nikon fieldscope ED82, srb-griturn Mk II adapter and fujifilm f31d

happy birding !

paul and family

woke up early this morning and met paul and jean together with their kids from holland and has been on holiday nearly 5 weeks now for a day birding at kinabalu national park which started at power station then after breakfast, explored silau-silau trail that produced good birds for them hehehe :)

a bit cloudy then gradually blue sky accompanied us for the whole day and at power station, some of the endemic found was the bornean whistling thrush, chestnut-crested yuhina, mountain blackeye and the noisy bornean treepie.

photography possessed some difficulty especially birds that perched against the grey sky and got 2 record shot of the black and crimson oriole with the hair-crested drongo after lunch. some of fast enough birds for digiscoping such as ochraceous bulbul, bare-headed laughingthrush, mountain wren-babbler and the never-stay-put grey-throated babbler !

black and crimson oriole after swallowing green caterpillar

hair-crested drongo

other birds seen today :

• bornean treepie
• bornean whistling thrush
• bornean whistler
• checker-throated woodpecker
• moutain leaf warbler
• mountain tailorbird
• whitehead's trogon
• moutain imperial pigeon
• white-browed shrike-babbler
• white-throated fantail
• indigo flycatcher with juvenile
• ashy drongo
• grey-chinned minivet
• chestnut-hooded laughingthrush
• glossy swiftlet
• black-capped white-eye
• black-sided flowerpecker

digiscoped with nikon fieldscope ED82, srb-griturn Mk II adapter and fujifilm f31d

in search of the wandering tattler

17th july 2008

my friend karim sighted a pair of probably wandering tattler few days ago and we went to tanjung aru on the next day during low tide around 3.00 in the afternoon to try our luck.

when i arrived, there were few peoples looking for bivalves, shells and other stuffs and only few waders such as common sandpiper, pacific reef egret and unidentified tern (quite far even with the scope).

and no wandering tattler and these bird is not recorded in borneo except for the common visitor; grey-tailed tattler. but who knows it might arrives on the shore this coming migration season :p

hehehe just wondering ...

late in the afternoon


great egret in breeding plumage

digiscoped with nikon fieldscope ED82, srb-griturn Mk II adapter and fujifilm f31d and sony ericsson k660i

my parents' in law house

while staying at my wife's house, i've noticed some of the asian glossy starling roosting at one of the beetle nut tree near the window and this is the shot :)





this starling is widespread throughout borneo and mostly moved in big flocks up to 50 birds and juvenile has streaked body and feeds on papaya :)

this week i'll be searching again for the hose's broadbill and giant pitta at poring hot spring with friends and hope be able to get record shot of this elusive birds

digiscoped with nikon fieldscope ED82, srb-griturn Mk II adapter and fujifilm f31d

happy birding and digiscoping :p

my parents' house

24th june 2008

woke up early this morning and start shooting from the 1st floor of my parent's house after sending my beloved sister and brother to the school :p

white-breasted waterhen

blue-throated bee-eater tend to spend their summer here

juvenile eurasian tree sparrow taken 2 days ago

spotted dove despite common in borneo, it is a lovely bird

digiscoped with nikon fieldscope ED82, srb-griturn Mk II adapter and fujifilm f31d

happy birding :)

likas lagoon part 3

17th june 2008

good weather today as usual and not windy like yesterday but unfortunately, arrived a bit late and only yellow-bellied prinia was close for getting decent shot. other birds such as intermediate egret and purple heron quite far until around 11.00 am

but heat haze was the main problem too ...

out of 300 frames today only 18 managed to get into my hard disk hahaha :p but it was fun digiscoping with my best friend, karim and before we left in the afternoon, yellow-bellied prinia was a treat for him where he missed it yesterday hehehe.

shot for today, combination of good and bad :p

collared kingfisher

common moorhen

little heron

purple heron around 100 metres

hey it's you again ! (yellow-bellied prinia)


exposure value stop above 2/3 - advice from chris gomersall and it really works wahaha !

great egret same like above

purple heron


magpie robin - sings exactly 5.30 am daily behind my parents' house !

digiscoped with nikon fieldscope ED82, srb-griturn Mk II adapter and fujifilm f31d

happy digiscoping :)