Merry Christmas !!

Sharing my thoughts for this Christmas season with drawings.....

My first attempt using SketchBook Express

My second attempt with geometry theme...also using SketchBook Express.

Time to get serious :) . Final attempt using Photoshop CS4

Christmas decor for home this year was simple and concentrated over a corner of my apartment.

Love to enjoy a cup of hot chocolate whilst watching the lights

At the dining table

Thank you Lord, for Christmas.

October has gone.....

ok....so I did need more than 5 months before I can catch my thoughts here...... :-)

In some sense, many things had happened, and in another sense, I would say, nothing much had happened....Well, you will be the judge......:P

First, I did a birding trip in July 2011, driving all the way south to Panti Forest in Johor to catch the nesting of the Oriental Dwarf Kingfisher.

It was an exciting time for me, hitting out at 2am - driving on my own in the night, taking a few breaks and snoozes now and then in rest area stops, in order to make it to the forest in the morning of Friday, where another photographer, Paul Wu, has agreed to bring me into the forest. He was truly a great bird guide, knowing all the nooks and corners of Panti. But on hindsight, I would not do again such long drive in the wee hours of morning that was followed by a full day of shooting!.......too much strain on my old body! haha.

Me eating while waiting for action to start....
(thanks to Paul for the sneak view!)

Another embarrassing moment 'captured'. Haha!,
Target appeared but I was distracted away from post by a flighty flowerpecker.

Both parents were ever busy bringing food for their young

I went to the forest again the next day on my own, keeping to the main trail for safety and was very happy to meet some old acquaintances from NPSS...

Wow, the chick would be jubilant with this diet!

A week later after the trip, I came down with a headache that lasted throughout all these months and finally gave me a break in October/November. Dont think it has anything to do with the trip or my groan about my old body, but whatever it was, it was no fun at all. With my computer and camera out of bounds, it was my most boring time!!!...so, the reason for my earlier statement and spirit that "nothing much had happened". The doctor said chocolate and cheese would trigger an attack - in some sense it was true as I did feel worse after a chocolate drink or bite, but recently, when I gave in to my chocolate-cravings, i felt OK!.....yippee!!.......it would have been a dreadful world without chocolates... :-)

I joined my company on a team outing to Club Med in Cherating in July 2011...Because of my headaches, I rested most of the time....nevertheless, I did some shots of the morning sunrise and the swirling waves around the beach. Without any filters, I could not stopped down enough to create any impact, so if I want to venture into these kind of photography, i need $$$$$..... :(

With my latest habit of going to bed early (which habit didnt last long after i recovered from my headache), it wasnt too tough to drag myself off the bed to catch the morning sunrise

I got sea-sick dizzy after filling up my 16GB card with waves splashing in and out

In October 2011, I used my Singapore Air Frequent Flyer points to get me an air ticket to Hong Kong so that I can visit my church temple in Hong Kong. I am extremely grateful for this blessing - it was a wonderful time for me to forget all my cares of the world and work and health, and just to put my thoughts on the Lord and his words. I was also very grateful to meet and interact with other members of my church that came from Thailand, Mongolia and other countries. A humbling experience. Wishing to clear all thoughts, I didnt even bring a camera...good and bad decision...doesnt need to worry about my stuff but no images to share! :)

What lies ahead of me? I dont know but I have received news that harriers have flown south passed Chumphon Thailand in early October....now I am waiting for them to reach my paddyfields playground, and hopefully I will get to see all of them swirling in the dusk again....time to head home and to my lens and camera again........

To close off, thanking Paul Wu again for this shot of me....!

My ever-trusting leech socks!

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