Some of my recent lifers

Thousand apologies for not updating my blog as regularly as I wish, as I am occupied with some other interesting project.

Birding is like playing golf, the better you are a golfer, the less number of strokes you get to play, with birding, it is the more birds you have in your list, the less lifer you going to record.

Banded Kingfisher Lacedo pulchella, my nemesis bird, finally got the female after so many attempts, they are often heard but seldom spotted. The male bird still remain elusive.

This image was taken with the Panasonic GF 1 + 1.7X TC + 600mm, equivalent to 2000 mm on 35mm format terms.

Banded Kingfisher Lacedo pulchella

Grey-headed Babbler Stachyris poliocephala, supposed to be common, but seldom seen due to its skulking behavior. 

Grey-headed Babbler Stachyris poliocephala

Chestnut-naped Forktail Enicurus ruficapillus, another bird that is very very skittish, often seen feeding on wet surfaces but will fly off once it heard the approaching car, even if the car was hundreds of meter away.

Chestnut-naped Forktail Enicurus ruficapillus

Great Argus Argusianus argus easy to hear in the jungle with its loud calls, but to see one is another matter altogether. One early morning, we were lucky to spot three of them about 300 meters away on the road side, we stopped our car and managed to get a few record shots with my camera's ISO set to the bearly acceptable maximum, i.e. 1600 with lens aperture fully opened.

Happy birding.

Photodocument of Wild Birds of Borneo.

Standard References for my blog.

Pelagic birding on 6th Agust 2011

Went on a pelagic birding trip on an anchovies boat on 6th August 2011 around Davel Bay, Kunak.

The weather was gloomy before we left port.

May be it was too early in the season, there wasn't much activity, we only managed to see a few Lesser Frigarebirds, a few Greater Crested Tern, some egrets on a far away shore, too far to positively identify, and a few Darters sunning and preening themselves on thin stilts on the shallow shore.

 Two Darters perched on stilts, with numerous Egrets in the background.

 Adult male Lesser Frigatebird.

 Adult female Lesser Frigatebird.

 Greater Crested Terns, which are supposed to be migrants, but have been recorded throughout the year.

This one flew quite near.

Happy birding.

Photodocument of Wild Birds of Borneo.

Standard References for my blog.

Whitehead's Spiderhunter - Bornean Endemic

Whitehead's Spiderhunter Arachnothera juliae, my lifer. I have been trying to get a decent photo of it for quite a while to complete my Bornean Whitehead's collection.

Fieldguides list this as locally common endemic in montane forests, as it feeds at canopy, it is not easy to observe, to get a good shot is easier said than done. We were lucky on that day at Rafflesia's Reserve, as this bird flew in from  a bathe somewhere, preening away and let us have a few minutes to shoot.

Here is my third Whitehead.

Happy birding.

Photodocument of Wild Birds of Borneo.

Standard References for my blog.