Long-tailed Broadbill

March 19 2011. Last week, I went for a 4 days (12 to 15 March) birding trip to Kaeng Krachan National Park in Thailand. One of my main target was to photograph the Long-tailed Broadbill. I have tried many times searching for it at Fraser's Hill but were without success. About 2 weeks before my trip, I received news that the Long-tailed Broadbills at Kaeng Krachan had started the breeding and nesting activities. I was very excited upon hearing the news. With the nesting activities, it made sighting the birds more easy.

It was a week-end when I arrived at Kaeng Krachan. Knowing that the park will be packed with visitors, I opted to photograph the Pheasant, Partridge and other common birds at some small pond outside the park. We will look for the Long-tailed Broadbill inside the park on Monday and Tuesday when traffic is lesser along the mountain road.

We started the day early on Monday (14th March) morning. The morning called was on 5 am and breakfast was served at 5.30 am. By 6.30 am we were already at the park main gate.

The ride to the km27 near the summit was about an hour. There were plenty of scenic views during the ride uphill. 

The blur photo caused by the bumpy ride behind the Hilux.

Upon reaching the km27, I was delighted to hear a series of voice of pseew, pseew, pseew, I realized that the target was nearby, my adrenaline rush when I was setting my gears. I decided to carry only minimum gears and opted to shoot  with my Eos 1 D mk4 with the EF 800 lens only.  I left behind the flash system. I realized that we have to do some miles of hiking today thus weight is a critical factor. 

We found an uncompleted nest at a tree beside the mountain road. The adult birds were busy carrying nesting materials back to the nest. The birds would perched at some twigs nearby before heading into the nest. 

Isn't it cute ? A cartoon look bird.

Happy faces, after the close encounter with the Long-tailed Broadbill :

We found another nest further uphill from the first location. This one was already completed and the adult bird was incubating inside the nest. I stop briefly near the nest and quickly proceeded to the next location.

Later at another location, we all have to squeeze under some bamboo trees for getting perfect picture composition of the subject.

The black color feather at the head section reminded me the classic hair style of "Elvis".  Elvis is alive at Kaeng Krachan !

By noon, I had accomplished my objective and so do my partners. We all left km27 with a happy face. 

Birds of Bukit Tinggi

Last month I took some time off to visit Bukit Tinggi. The last time I visited this place was on May 2009. I saw in some local bird forum that the Orange-headed Trush (OHT) was sighted here by some photographers. I have been long wanted to photographed the OHT but on the past few occasions I was not able to find time to visit Bukit Tinggi due to work commitment. For this new sighting, I would't want to miss the opportunities again. 

I arrived at the peak of Bukit Tinggi at about 7.30 am. I immediately set up my gears. Without wasting time (because it was a half dat trip only) I headed to the first shooting location, the plant nursery at the Japanese Garden. Many birds came to the nursery hunting for the  moths and other inserts in morning. 

A Dark-sided Flycatcher perched nearby the nursery:

Later I spotted a bird with light blue feather perched at a tree nearby, it was a Verditer Flycatcher: 

After the Verditer Flycatcher left, a bird with the "punk hair-style" came and perched at the stem of a plant. It was an Ochraceous Bulbul. The fella was looking for the moths as its breakfast.

The Ochraceous Bulbul only stayed on the perched briefly but long enough to let me took a few snap shots. After the Bulbul left, I was attracted by an orange color bird perched on a single horizontal twig. It was a Orange-breasted Trogon. 

A Yellow wagtail stood at the side roof of the nursery. 

It was a busy morning at the nursery. Unfortunately there was still no sighting of the Orange-headed Thrush (OHT). As I was walking toward the car park. I saw my fellow bird photog, Adrian. He hang around this place very often, he was so kind to tell me the precise location of the OHT.

My lifer of the day, the OHT:

The winter migrant bird from the far north, Mugimaki Flycatcher :

Thanks for reading, your comments are welcome.

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: