Doi Inthanon - Inthanon Bird Centre

Inthanon Bird Centre is the place that you should not miss out if you are birding in Doi Inthanon. Many birders or photographers hang out here, they came here for delicious Thai food or lodging. Besides food and lodging, this is an important place where information on the recent bird sighting is exchanged among the visitors. There is also a bird sighting log book at the main desk, many visitors recorded the sighting information into the log book. It provided vital information of recent bird activities in Doi Inthanon.

At the backyard of the Bird Centre, some species of birds frequently come there looking for residual food or worm on the soft soil. During my stayed there, I was lucky to photograph 2 species of migrant birds and 2 resident birds.

Dark-sided Thrush:

Blue-whistling Thrush (Migrant species)

Hill Blue Flycatcher

Female White-rumped Shama

A group photo with the owner (Mr & Mrs Daeng) before I left Doi Inthanon:

Thanks for reading, your comments are welcome.

A video Footage of Blue-banded Kingfisher

Feb 12 2011. Finally I am done composing a video footage of the Blue-banded Kingfisher. Enjoy the video. The video was composed using the Apple iMovie video editing software. The footages were captured using the Canon Eos 1 D mkIV, EF 800mm lens with the new Canon 1.4 mkIII tele-converter. Your comments are welcome.

For HD quality, kindly click and select the 720 p resolution:

2nd Round of Blue-banded Kingfisher

Feb 5 2011. Today is the 3rd day of Chinese New Year holiday. This morning I decided to try my luck looking for the Blue-banded Kingfisher at Ulu Paip. Nelson came to join me, without his lens (sent to Canon for servicing). He brought with him the 7D body and just in case if we found the target, he wanted to use my lens for some record shots. 

We sat down at a rock in the middle of the stream. We drank coffee and constantly scanning upstream and downstream for the target. I decided not to move around as the movement would distract and alert the target should it decided to perch at some rocks nearby. 

At 8.45 am, while I was looking upstream, Nelson alerted me to a small rock few meters downstream. OMG, it was really the Male Blue-banded Kingfisher. Perching there quietly, the fella was looking at the stream for its morning breakfast. I repositioned my lens and looked through my viewfinder. I was greedy, hmm... the target was not big enough since I had many photos of it the other day, I want some "full frame" shots. I slowly raised my body and moved the camera, the fella was kind enough to let me went nearer. I fired about 50 frames with mirror lock-up. After that I dis-mounted my 1 D mkIV and mounted Nelson's 7D. He made a couple of shots using my gears.

Here's the selection of shots from this morning's outing:

Canon Eos 1 D mkIV Ef 800mm IS + 1.4 TC
ISO 1600 1/5 f8

Canon Eos 1 D mkIV Ef 800mm IS + 1.4 TC
ISO 1600 1/13 f8

Canon Eos 1 D mkIV Ef 800mm IS + 1.4 TC
ISO 1600 1/15 f8

Thanks for viewing.

Blue-banded Kingfisher

Feb 1 2011. On last Sunday morning,  I decided to bird at Ulu Paip lowland forest. It was about 4 months that I last visited this place. At about 9.30 am, while we (my brother and me) were shooting landscape at the middle of the stream. I saw a blue color bird flew passed me. It was flying toward downstream. I quickly turned my head and tracked the target. Bingo I saw the bird stopped and perched on a rock few meter away. After a careful checking with my binocular, it is a Male Blue Banded Kingfisher. Apparently the Blue-banded Kingfisher stopped by to hunt for "breakfast". I slowly carried my equipment and approach the target. Here are some selected shots:

Canon EOS 1 D mkIV EF 800mm IS + 1.4 TC
ISO 3200 1/50 F8

Canon EOS 1 D mkIV EF 800mm IS + 1.4 TC
ISO 1/1600 1/30  F8

Canon EOS 1 D mkIV EF 800mm IS + 1.4 TC
ISO 3200 1/40 F8

Canon EOS 1 D mkIV EF 800mm IS + 1.4 TC
ISO 5000 1/50 F8

Thanks for viewing.