Red-naped Trogon

Male Red-naped Trogon (Harpactes kasumba)

August 23 2010. It had been many times I heard the call of Red-naped Trogon at the Jungle trail of Sungai sedim Lowland Forest. All my previous encountered were ended up without any photos of the subject. On last Sunday, I ran into the Red-naped Trogon again. I heard the sweet call at one of the jungle trail but was very frustrated not been able to see it. The subject was well hidden behind the thick tropical vegetations.

I decided to play the call of the Red-naped Trogon, hoping that the tape-play would lure the subject into an open area. After 5 minutes of trying, my friend Wong spotted it perched at an open branch. It was a very brief stop there but long enough to allow me to take a few record shots.

1 D mkIV EF 800 IS + 1.4 TC ISO 1600 1/60 F8

Thanks for reading.

Whiskered Treeswift

Whiskered Treeswift (Male)

August 22 2010, Recently I successfully photographed the Whiskered Treeswift (hemiprocne Comata) at the Sungai Sedim Lowland Forest. Broadleaved evergreen forest is the habitat for Whiskered Treeswift. It likes to perch high up at the exposed branches, sometimes making it difficult to get a good shot of the species. Yesterday, I found this pair of male and female perched at an exposed branch of a tree at Sungai Sedim Lowland Forest. Luckily the exposed branch is low enough to let me have a decent shot of the subject. The photos were captured using the 1 D mk IV and the EF 800 IS with 1.4 TC. 

Female

The adult bird incubating the eggs at the nest

Thanks for reading, your comments are welcome.

Bulbul Galore - Part 2

The fruiting tree (click the image for larger view)

August 15 2010, This morning I headed to Sungai Sedim again hoping to continue the Bulbuls galore. The day before I successfully photographed 7 species of Bulbuls at the proximity of a fruiting tree. My aim this morning was to get more improvement shots of the Bulbuls at the fruiting tree.
At 7.45 am, I arrived at the empty main car park, I was the first visitor of the day. Moment later while I was enjoying my breakfast, I saw more cars came into the car park, this place started to become crowded with bird photographers.
I selected an angle where the sun was behind me in order to have better lighting at the subjects. The first species that got my attention was the Streaked Bulbul. This species is slightly large size then the other species of Bulbuls that hangout at this tree. It has a unusual behavior where it likes to hangout at the top level of the fruiting tree.

Streaked Bulbul

The second species that drew my attention was the Buff-vented Bulbul. I saw it busy picking up food from the tree.

Buff-vented Bulbul

The rest of the species that I managed to get improvement shots were Finsch's, Cream-vented, Grey-bellied and Spectacled. Here are the photos:

Finsch's Bulbul

Cream-vented (easily distinguished by its white eyes)

My highlight of the day was to see this Grey-bellied Bulbul came to the tree. Prior to this, all my photographs of this species were merely record shots. It was either blur or the subjects are partially blocked by the twigs. I am glad that this "fella" was willing to post for me at an open area where I can get un-blocked shot. 

Grey-bellied Bulbul

Here are the rest of the species:

Spectacled Bulbul

Throughout the 2 days, I "harvested" 9 species of Bulbuls from my bird outing. I guess my efforts really give good returns. Thanks for reading, your comments are highly appreciated. 

Bulbul Galore

August 14 2010, It was a Bulbul galore at Sungai Sedim lowland forest this morning. I managed to photographed 7 species of Bulbul from a fruiting tree at the main car park. Out of the 7 species, 4 species are lifers. In addition, I also managed to get 2 others lifers, there were the Raffles Malkoha (both male and female) and the Little Spiderhunter.

Canon 1 D mkIV, EF 800 IS

Finsch's Bulbul

Hairy-backed Bulbul (Lifer)

Cream-vented Bulbul (lifer)

Spectacled Bulbul (lifer)

It looks very similar to Red-eyes Bulbul but it has an orangey eyering.

Red-eyed Bulbul

Grey-bellied Bulbul

Yellow-bellied Bulbul (lifer)

Thanks for viewing.

Two Hornbills and a Forktail at Sungai Sedim

August 7 2010, It was almost 2 weeks ago I last went out for bird outing. I was busy with my business traveling, thus I got no leisure time to pursuit my un-accomplished target, the Chestnut-naped Forktail. Yesterday, I received information from fellow birding partner, Chien, he told me that he saw the Forktail several times at the main car park area at the Sungai Sedim Lowland Forest during his previous visit.

This morning, I decided to try my luck at the Sungai Sedim at the main car park area. On the many outing here before, I was mainly concentrating at the forest trail further in from the main car park. I arrived at the main car park area at about 8.15 am. This place is quite crowded with visitors during weekend after 11 am, so I have about 3 hours to look for my target. While I was middle through setting up my gears, Chien and I saw a pair of Rhinoceros Hornbill flew by and perched at a fruiting tree. The couple were busy feeding on its breakfast.

Rhinoceros Hornbill

Canon 1D mkIV EF 800 IS

ISO1250 F8 1/200 Fill Flash

Male

Female

After half an hour, the Rhinoceros Hornbills flew away and disappear into the deep forest. About few minutes later, the White-crowned Hornbills stopped by at same tree. There were 4 together, one pair of adult bird and 2 juveniles. Oh this species looks ugly, dull and unattractive feathers. The appearance of this species is less attractive than the Rhinoceros but this is one of the rare species of Hornbill at this area. I guess we were quite lucky to see it here. 

White-crowned Hornbill

Canon 1D mkIV EF 800 IS

ISO1250 F8 1/200 Fill Flash

Juvenile

Feeding on the red color fruit. The one at the back-end is the adult bird.

After the White-crowned Hornbill left, I decided to take my morning break and sipping some coffee. Half way through my break near the river side,  I heard a series of metallic whistles of "dir-tee". Without any doubts, I recognized that it was the call of a Chestnut-naped Forktail. I immediately moved to the edge of river bank and placed my gear under a tree. I saw the male Chestnut-naped Forktail hanging around some mossy rocks at the other side of the river. The target was picking up food from the ground. It hopped from one rock to the other. He noticed that they were human being at the other side of the river but still continue staying there. In contrast with the one at Ulu Paip, it would be long gone before you were able to step foots near the river-bank. It was a golden moment that I would not want to miss. Here are the improvement shots from this morning outing,

Chestnut-naped Forktail

Canon 1D mkIV EF 800 IS + TC

ISO1600 to 2500 F8 1/80 or below 

It was a very satisfied outing, 2 lifers and 1 improvement shots from this morning outing.

Thanks for viewing, your comments are welcome.