Merry Christmas

" For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the Government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace." Isaiah 9:6

"For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved." John 3:16-17

Byram - Penang

Byram is still my favorite place to shoot bird images..... At the moment, it was so filled with birds' activities that there was no rest period. When I am at the end pond, I would be wondering what would be happening at pond #1...and so forth...Kiasu....haha!..Maybe it is the season, maybe it is not always like this! Except on the first trip in August which I took a wrong turn, away from the marshland - my recent three trips in Nov & Dec have been great.

My first trip to Byram in Aug 2010 was a birdless trip because I took the turn away from the marshland...I was following the GPS direction which was set for the mangroves. Only noticed the marshland upon my exit and on further checks with friends, finally made a few fruitful trips here. Nevertheless, I was blessed with the sighting of a group of oriental small-clawed otters on my first trip.



There were a lot of macaques too - as it was a hot day, many of the macaques were taking turns jumping from the top of the oil palm trees into the river below. I couldnt get a shot of the action - too fast for my lens that was rested on a beanbag. I wouldnt dare to step out of my car either - I was surrounded by more than 30 macaques,.

What could this guy be thinking about, staring at me like that?

The macaque below was sighted biting the bark off the tree. You can see lots of signs of the bite marks....Not sure why it was doing it. After the elder one left, the younger one tried to do the same.....

Sharing a few other images in my recent trips for my recording.

White browed crake
Caught this image of the white browed crake on my 2nd trip - had to revert to the fieldguide for its identity.

White-browed crake hidden deep in the reeds

Was thrilled to catch the above sight already as it was a lifer for me. On my 3rd trip, I was again enticed with a brief sight of the crake before it went hiding.....so you can imagine my excitement when on my 4th visit there, I saw this crake out in the open....it walked up and down the log for many minutes, so i had opportunity to make numerous shots.

White-browed crake doing its "catwalk"

My 4th trip was on 6th Dec 2010. It was a glorious morning - the morning sun gave out such a beautiful warm glow that was so lovely to behold. Only sadness to me was the glow only lasted for very few minutes and there were too many subjects to shoot....

A monitor lizard in the morning glow

Common Sandpiper

Catching the last of glow on the little grebe

Subjects are pretty friendly in Byram - particularly the woodsandpipers.

Wood Sandpiper

A Common Sandpiper staring back at my setup

Black-winged Stilt near the landfill

Plenty of blue-tailed bee-eaters as well

More images from my Nov & Dec trips can be viewed in my photo gallery... Click these links for Nov & Dec images.

Greater Spotted Eagle @ Permatang Nibong, Penang, Malaysia

Was really fortunate to have the opportunity to travel to Penang for a church training last week and able to tie the start and end part of my trip with birding. For this entry, I just want to concentrate on a lifer that I saw - a greater spotted eagle.

I left home at 4.30am on 3rd Dec 2010 and headed to Byram, Penang - a 3 hours drive. Although I had a great shooting in Byram, I was disappointed because I didnt spot the red-necked phalarope. My next stop was the paddyfields of Permatang Nibong where it was reported recently of a sighting of a black headed ibis. Armed with the gps coordinates, I could find the place easily but not the bird. Another disappointment.

Not knowing where to go next, I drove to a larger paddyfield on the right side of the Permatang Nibong road. After an hour or so, feeling really tired, I just stopped my car along the bund and started to feel sorry for myself (haha). Anyway, I did pick up my binoculars and scanned the horizon, and my heart missed a bit as my eyes came to rest on a dark 'spot' in the paddyfields some way ahead. "Eagle!" I shouted. All of a sudden, all my tiredness were forgotten as the feeling of excitement filled me.

A snapshot of what I saw with a 500mm lens x 1.4TC - this image was not cropped

My eyes were trained on the eagle...and lucky for me, it decided to add some action for me to shoot. :-)

I couldnt see what had excited the eagle or whether it was hunting, but it leaped into the air twice.
As it rested, it began to sense that it was being watched....
And so, it decided it was time to leave for the sky.

The take-off with a splash.
Up, up and away.....to the safety of the sky

Was fortunate to have the eagle flew nearer to me before it went soaring up high in the sky.

Would have done better if I got my exposure on the bird correctly! Had to do a bit of recovery in the post processing - although I could recover more shadows since I shoot in RAW, the digital noise appearing on the shadow areas would be rather unsightly. I knew in my head then that I had to compensate the exposure, since the background had changed from the green paddyfields to the bright sky but the eagle flew so fast that I couldn't pry my fingers off the shutter release! Sigh!!! Anyway, I was already very happy for the opportunity to sight and shoot this eagle for the first time. Now, I could wrap the day with a big smile. Later, upon checking my bird field guide, I found out that this eagle was a juvenile Greater Spotted Eagle, a globally threatened specie.

Images in larger sizes can be viewed in here

Birder turning to macro photography for a day .....

Nature Photographic Society (Singapore) NPSS organised a trip to Endau Rompin State Park (ERSP) in Johor in late Oct 2010. That would be about 600km plus one-way drive for me from Perak. Not to be put off by the distance, I decided to join my Singapore photographers friends on this trip.

Had to break my journey into two days, spending a night in Mentakab, since I cant do a straight 8 hours drive. Before leaving the next day for ERSP, I stopped to recce a place called Bukit Rengit in Lanchang, Pahang.

Raffles Malkoha @ Bukit Rengit, Lanchang, Pahang

The place was promising for birds - I've spotted scarlet rumped trogon, black and red broadbills, raffles malkoha, and other ufos that I have not identified. Moving on, I finally reached ERSP at about 4pm, and enjoyed a loud and joyful welcome song by the some of the members, singing "You'll be coming 'round the mountain when you come" !!

Just for record, I survived on "fish paste beancurd" throughout the two-days drive, courtesy of my mom! Thanks Mom! She knew that when I bird, I forget about decent food.....

It was wonderful to meet up with old friends again and they were never short of little cranks to stir up some laughs. Weatherwise, it rained the first day and zero bird. We woke up very early the 2nd day, arriving at a pond not too far away outside the park, hoping to shoot sunrise. Luck was not with us, as it was a rather cloudy day.

Waiting in vain for a golden sunrise.....

A cloudy morning....where is the sun????

Birdwise, didnt get any chance to shoot any but was rewarded with some sightings of a few interesting birds such as the black magpie, banded kingfisher and the asian paradise flycatcher. Desperate for some shots, we drove out of the park in two cars to a paddyfield (about 30km away) ~ only to be told that we were trespassing on private land....apologising to the owner and telling him that I will inform my friends (the first car had gone way ahead - my car was the one got caught...haha) to leave, I finally caught up with the first car. By now, we have already made a big circle driving along the bunds of the paddyfields. Rey spotted an eagle, the rest of us, mostly the common birds....

Taking a break from birds, I was encouraged to check out the waterfalls. Because the path was steep, I left my camera set behind, expecting only to see some rapids or minor falls. Well, I was wrong - the waterfall is quite impressive with a big drop over rocks into a green pool below. It was quite tiring making my way up to the car to get my camera set (big panting here + lots of sweat!). Drowning in some energy biscuits, SC and I made our way down again to the waterfall with our camera sets.



Because I was shooting with a 24-70 on a DX camera, I couldnt portrayed the full wide angle view of the waterfall well....so, I have chosen instead to concentrate on certain areas of the water.

Noon came and still zero sound of birds....finally gave up on my long lens, and put on my 300mm lens plus extension tubes to do macro photography!! Oh boy, macro photography was not only bad for the eyes due to excessive squinting to manually focus on the subject, it was also very bad for the back due to the low angles. Anyway, presenting here some of insects shots I've taken...flash was not used.

A dead grasshopper killed by fungus

Horse-flies mating

A spider and its interesting web

Paper wasps

Sharon, probably trying to convert me to macro, graciously lent me her 105mm macro lens to try out. It definitely could produce much better & sharper images than trying to shoot with extension tubes that had very very shallow depth of field. 'Poisons'....'poisons' were being administered here i think.........haha. Maybe one day, I will get a macro lens.

Shot this caterpillar with Sharon's 105mm Nikon macro lens.....

Caterpillar on a leave

The bird group had decided to give up on Endau Rompin and left early on the 3rd day to another forest in Johor, Panti forest. Later, I found out that they have had a great bird haul that day in Panti, with very cooperative birds posing for them. Well, the third day was Sabbath day, and so I rested and watched birds from the verandah of my bungalow unit instead....it was a peaceful day - drinking my super thick hot Milo. I sang some hymns, while enjoying bird watching. Some birds did come near my bungalow, especially the spiderhunter which frequented the flowerplant beside my bungalow.

At noon, I left Endau Rompin and made my way to Mentakab where I would spend another night. This time I chose a proper hotel, cost me a bit more but at least I can have a good night sleep. My earlier stay in Mentakab was at a traveller's inn and I got woke up by loud chatting of girls at 3am and I couldnt sleep back again!!

I reached Bukit Rengit a bit late this time, at about 8.30am..... Sad to say, my birdless luck from Endau Rompin continued to plague me. It was so bad & "dry" that when I spotted a dragonfly after hours of zero bird, I went and add on my extension tubes to my long lens so that I can do close-up photography again. Well, I was hoping against hope that maybe I have found a rare dragonfly...... :-) . I used to say, no birds, lizards will do.....now I can add one more phrase, no birds, insects also can-lah!

I have now searched the internet for the identity of this red dragonfly - and the result - it was one of the MOST COMMON dragonfly in our region! oh boy...............

Grasshawk dragonfly

Like in life, there are ups and downs, the same goes to my bird photography journey....
Que Sera Sera, whatever will be, will be...... or if I may quote Elder Wirthlin's mom in his talk here - Come what may, and love it.

:-)

Good day!

New SmugMug Photo Gallery

Finally, decided to host my photos in an on-line photo gallery. Lots of work to do now to select and export my photos to the gallery but it would be nice to see them on-line.

For those interested in a SmugMug subscription, you can save $5 using this discount coupon jfC4NkaQXjSL6.

Well, this is the link to my gallery, and it is not even 10% done, so this will keep me busy for a long time. I kept changing my mind on the themes to display, a fickle-minded gal like me..... :-)

www.leepp.smugmug.com

This is the banner that I have created in Photoshop using an image of an olive-backed sunbird that I shot recently in Taiping, Perak while on duty with MNS - Taiping Raptor Count. You can read my experience here. I have also been traveling a bit recently to search for new birds & locations to shoot. Will find some time too to share my experience on that. Till then, take care!

arghhh....i missed August writing!

Time flew too fast......31st August 2010 marked the 1st anniversary of my unemployment....It was interesting to note that on 1st Sept 2010, I had a call from a headhunter, asking for an interview with me on a prospective job. You will have to wait for the Sept blog to see how it goes.....the interview is tomorrow (and it was over now, and I havent even posted this blog...haha- the interview was a friendly chat....fingers crossed on where all these leads will take me to.....).

What have I done in August?

Two assignments this month.

One from my nephew, Alvin...where I helped to combine 3 separate photos of him and his friends into a photo collage. I am glad he was pleased with the result.


2nd assignment was from my sister, Poh Yoke. I was assigned to put together into a slideshow, a series of videos and photos captured during her church's ministry to the Indonesians in Malaysia. This assignment took me almost a week, as it was quite tedious viewing frames after frames of video to choose clips that are usable and not shaky...and to synchronize the music with the transitions of the slides/video clips...Anyway, again, I was very happy that Poh Yoke was very pleased with the final product.



3rd assignment from Poh Yoke again, this time in September, was a easier job as all the media were still images.....


I didnt forget to bird though.......went to the ulu dedap paddyfields twice, once with friends from Penang and Sitiawan, and a followup trip on my own. Also finally get to visit Kek Lok Tong in Ipoh for the blue rock-thrush. Will post photos later!

July 2010 ~ I've made a trip to Fraser's Hill

Ok....I know I need to blog my US trip before I totally lost my memory on them, but the thought of blogging two months' experience sure felt like a mammoth task! So, shelving it aside, I am blogging my recent trip to Fraser's Hill first.

Have been deferring my plans to visit Fraser's Hill, Pahang, Malaysia for a few weeks already, until one fine morning (26 July 2010), I woke up at 6.00am and said to myself - "I am going to Fraser's Hill today".

Took me two hours to do my packing....my Mom said I was packing up my whole home there....Well, my camera stuff already consisted of 3 bags - one for tripod, one for accessories, and one more for the lens and camera. Food and water in a water cooler, books to read at night, knitting materials if I'm bored of reading....computer to serve as hard disk for downloading of images and as alternative reading materials....what else have i forgotten? Oh yes, I brought along my fishing chair as well.....it sure served me well during the whole trip.

First stop at Fraser's - to get me an accommodation. Puncak Inn offered me RM80 per night without breakfast....Went checking another cheapo accommodation (Jelai resort) which could be RM10 cheaper - known for its overdue maintenance but a nice place to shoot birds (haha) - the area was locked up and deserted...Anyway, since it was a weekday, I have no worry of getting accommodation, so I went to search for birds instead and only returned in the evening to Puncak Inn.....

Orange-bellied leafbird

A flock of leafbirds - male, female and juveniles were busy drinking from these red bottle-brush flowers. Streaked spiderhunters were plenty too. I liked this shot the most because of the clean background, and the eye contact given. This is a female.

Flying Lemur (Colugo)

I was resting in the car near the gate of the entrance to Fraser's Hill, when suddenly I noticed something flying towards me....It flew right above my car...luckily, my sunroof was opened, and I could see that it was a flying lemur (colugo)...all widespread, its legs and arms, to glide from one tree to another.....it was so golden colored against the setting light, and was really an amazing sight to behold...I quickly get out of my car, and scanning the area, found the colugo holding on to the trunk of a nearby tree....I quickly set up my tripod and camera...and all these while, the colugo observed me curiously as I put up my equipment....however, the moment my camera clicked away, it quickly leaped higher up and hid itself in the thick foliage above....it sure can leaped very fast! I was so happy and felt blessed to be able to enjoy this sighting. Praises is given to God for the blessing!

Back in hotel, I was again counting my blessings - there was free wireless internet service in the room. So, there goes my plan for reading books or knitting my shawl (which my Mom has predicted it would take me years to complete at the rate I am doing it).

Squirrel

Havent searched for its name yet....i liked its bushy tail...It was really difficult to shoot birds in a forest environment - the birds were either too high up in the trees, so they were too fast for me...or I was real slow! Lighting and cluttered background were problems too.....

Monkey (again I have not established the name yet - thought it was silver-leaf monkey, but images in internet lacked the white in the breast...probably a dusky-leaf monkey although the eye-ring is less obvious here)

As usual, all my subjects are pretty friendly until they see and hear my camera clicked away! Saw a group of these monkeys resting on a tree...they were wary when my car stopped, and they ran away when I started shooting....luckily, curiosity got better of this guy as it gave me the eye-contact I wanted before scooting away...I took a nice long nap here! Wonderful weather with cool mountain fresh air....sure made me sleepy.........

Large Niltava (female)

My first shot of this female Niltava was in April 2009 with the NPSS...this bird was not camera shy at all, but always loved to perch on wire posts!! I wanted it on a natural perch!! Hoping for a reshoot to improve my shoot, I looked for this bird again in Hemmant's trail. This time, it again chose the wires as a perch! Sigh!!! But at least, it was really super camera friendly - I was at my minimum focusing range and the bird didnt mind me at all.....It flew away to hide in the thick of leaves in a nearby tree when a truck passed by, but would very quickly come back and perch on this wire again for my continued shots!

Overall, a great trip, to get away from the mundane of everyday activities....cool fresh air to rejuvenate my mind, peace and quiet time in the mountains....I love it! Wished I could find cheaper accommodation so that I could stay on for a while longer.....already stinging on the meals to make $$ runs longer....haha!! Spoke to the guard at the Gap about jobs in Fraser's Hill...he said the wages here are pathetic, ~ RM200+ per month and at most, RM500 (probably with overtime, I am guessing). He said the wages in Cameron and Pangkor would be better at about RM1,000......(yea, but the birds there are lesser, you see!!) Well, penning off on my adventure. Hope to make another one soon!.

It is now June 2010...time flies again

What has happened in the past two months?

Well, I made a trip to Mexico on 6th April to 13th April - Yucatan peninsular; and had a great time....The main objective was to witness an extraordinary event - the setting of the sun over a pyramid in Mexico called Chichenitza on the 6th April. It was an old Mayan structure. The setting of the sun over the pyramid creates 5 to 6 triangles of light & shadow on the west side of the pyramid...and during Equinox (21st Mar), 7 triangles could be seen. Only on 6th April (and 6th Sep), can the complete 9 triangles be seen. 9 triangles is the most complete of the phenomenon, with eight visible on the staircase and the ninth illuminating the head of Kukulkan.

Why is 6th April so special in the Mayan calendar that a structure is built in such a way as to commemorate it? It is my friend's belief (and I concur) that it was to commemorate the day the believers of Christ in the old America was delivered from death. The unbelievers had threatened to kill all those who had believed that the Savior would be born and signs would be given, if the signs foretold by prophets of old did not come to pass.......The signs did come and the believers were spared from death.....It has been revealed to our dispensation that 6th April was the date of our Savior's birth....

Now, do you think it was just a coincidence that this phenomena in Chichenitza happens on 6th April?

Chitchenitza at 5.40pm - no visible triangles

Chitchenitza at 6.15pm - 3 visible triangles

Chichenitza at 6.50pm - 9 triangles (including the light on Kukulcan)
Kukulcan - Maya serpent god

Now in all my trips, I do get a chance to do some birding, thanks to my friend who supported me in this interest. Some of the pictures for remembrance.

Turqoise-browed mormot
It was an exciting time sighting this bird - wow! a real colorful racquet-tail!!

Brown Pelican
- they are so friendly to cameras
Magnificent Frigatebirds
It was fascinating watching them fish...

Even more fascinating to watch them steal fish one from another in mid-air piracy!
Flamingoes
Lots of other birds images - I need to find out how to create a website that I can display my pictures like in a gallery for people's viewing.....

Met a couple of people in Mexico, mostly friends of Norman....they are so beautiful. I love the shots of these two little girls...

We visited this family....Norman became the Santa ~ all kids crowded to him for Easter eggs and extra candies. This family loves him.
I bought a hammock from them, but could not bring it back to Malaysia due to weight limit...maybe next trip. The Mexican hammock is very nice, very comfortable and I love to sleep in them. In two of our nights there, we slept in hammocks, choosing these over the beds in the rented chalets. The family also let me tried making and baking some tortillas (i think that was what it was called....a corn bread....). Took me more than two tries before I can make a real round looking one...ha ha. I ate my own creation, and it was delicious..:-)

Me getting out of the cooking house, cleaning my hands! Happy & satisfied with my culinary skills....ha ha

One thing I do realised that eversince I took up bird photography, I dont have many pictures of people or scenery of places I go.....maybe my equipment is just too heavy and cumbersome for ad-hoc shooting....or I was afraid to lose them to theft........as such, I did miss out on many memorable shots of everyday sightings.....Maybe I need to get myself one of those little idiot-proof camera, or maybe, i should just hold out a handphone....(if i have one! I am thinking of which hp I should get.....well, that is another story.). Adventures in the US will be my next story, when I get time and mood to write.....