From paddyfields to concrete jungle.....

What shall I write....I have not penned my thoughts since January!!

Most exciting time I had was finding the roosting site for harriers in the paddyfields not too far from my home.

Whenever opportunities arise, I would take my 4-wheels to watch the harriers coming in from all directions and congregating in one plot to roost for the night.

There would be plently of squabbles amongst the harriers, probably trying to fight for the most "comfortable" or "prime" roosting spot...there was no such thing as "early bird bookings".Would stay to watch until 8pm, when darkness crept in and all harriers' activities died down. Time to head for home - luckily, mosquitoes were not plenty there. Photography was tough as most actions happened at dusk in low light. Actions peaked at around 5 mins before all activity died...when hundreds of them would circle low over the roosting spot. Some experienced birders have attempted to count them and reported numbers over 250! I got dizzy with them circling and wouldnt be able to count :-(

apologizing for the little dark dots - this was shot with a 24-70mm
(in late February where numbers have dropped significantly)

By late February, the numbers had dropped pretty significantly, but it was still a delight to be able to spot the Pied harrier amongst the more common Eastern Marsh harrier.

I hope I can find their roosting spot again next year when these harriers make their winter visits again.

That's my life up to early March....

In March, I accepted a job offer, packed my bag and headed for KL city....(well, more than just bags...it was a whole lorry-load of my stuff brought home from Singapore!) Thanks to my family (more particulary, my eldest and youngest sisters, who between themselves, got most of my furniture and other stuff down from the lorry, onward to the lift lobby and then up to my rented apartment, without the use of trolleys or moving-equipments! How did we manage it? It was a miracle! I am not kidding about the miracle - my stuff were large and heavy - and include a piano, a full-sized long office table, book shelf, cabinets and the heaviest of all, boxes loaded with books. I hope I am not due to shift again any time soon....or else they would kill me........ :-)

I missed my paddyfields. There were always some surprises for me in each of my trip.

But I am now nearer to Fraser's Hill, and so, I could do day-trips to Fraser's on Saturdays.

Long-tailed sibia

Hope to find other good birding spots within KL that I can spend my Saturdays.

I made a business trip to Labuan in May - my first trip.

Financial centre - Labuan

I didnt spot many birds (of course it being a business trip, I wouldnt be able to go out searching for birds). Anyway, some that I have seen around the hotel grounds and during bus excursions - swallows, woodswallows, some egrets in the mud shores and an unidentified 'pied' 'kingfisher-sized' bird that flew too fast for me to id - maybe a pied triller. Most exciting time was watching the display of lights from the setting sun at the UN beach.

Fingers crossed for more keeper shots of birds. And two more fingers crossed that I wont take another 5 months before penning in here again :-) .........

Barn Owl in Ulu Dedap

Spotted an owl today perched on a low branch of a tree dotting the Ulu Dedap paddyfields while driving home along the Teluk Intan-Sitiawan road at about 10.30am. Upon reaching home, mind was still deciding whether to head out again with my camera stuff and try my luck - lighting would be harsh, the owl may have flown, I've loads of chores to do..... After a moment of "persuasion" from a special friend, and not wanting to regret it if i didnt do anything .....I did head out again. reaching the spot at about noon..........Did the owl wait for me???? YES!!!! and it was a barn owl - juv, i think.....first time ever my camera "captured" an owl.

Startled by my presence, it flew to a nearby pole before flying further away to get to a shade....
Knowing that I wont get any good keepers on this cluttered tree and bright sunlight, I left the bird to continue its good-day sleep.

Why did I want to head out today and not wait till tomorrow? Last Sunday, while driving on the same stretch of road, I saw 5 carcasses of birds - road-kills, all within less than one kilometre distance from each other. Two on the right side, two on the left side and one in the middle of the road. Only one of them was whole and not flatten by tyres, and it was a barn owl. From the feathers of the others, I believed the rest were all barn owls too - could be one or two birds torn into many different pieces, I dont know - but it is sad that these magnificent birds ended up dead on the road. Used my cellphone to take photos of them, but I dont know how to download the images from a cellphone to computer (alamak!!). The image below was taken on 13 Dec 2010 - also within the same vicinity of paddyfields...Bet it was a barn owl too...

Sad ending.

This stretch of road is popular for night-traveling lorries transporting goods from south to north and vice versa - toll-free. Have seen lots of road-kills on this road - apart from birds, snakes/reptiles and other small mammals....I saw a huge cow/buffalo dead by the roadside just last Christmas too......:-(

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!