Asian Paradise Flycatcher

April 2011 Jeli, Kelantan

Getting a decent ‘clean’ shot of this unusual looking bird has always been a challenge for me. Their preference for the thick undergrowth below the forest canopy make the task much tougher.I’ve been trying to photograph this ‘hard to see’ bird for quite sometime without much success. I guess lady luck must be smiling on me when I stumbled upon this lovely couple out in the open not far from where I was standing.

 

 

Their extra long tail certainly add to that ‘exotic’ look ….

 

The female bird showed up briefly, allowing me to get a couple of shots…

 

Further up the track I had another encounter with another bird with a slightly different ‘hair style’ and shorter tail.. Could it be a juvenile or a different morph?

 

The ‘Star’ of the trip has got to be this rarely seen White Morphed Asian Paradise Flycatcher. Unfortunately, this particular bird only allowed me a couple of ‘hurried’ shots before he disappeared into the forest.

 

I couldn’t get the tail into the frame as the bird showed up too close to me and I was already at the edge of a drop off..

 

This distant shot shows the actual length of the tail…..truly remarkable!

Birds of Pulau Burung Part 2

While at Pulau Burung I had the opportunity to observe and photograph the Yellow Bittern hunting for food.This particular bird would walk slowly along the reed’s edge and stopped immediately whenever it’s prey is located. It will remain motionless for sometime and wait for the prey, usually tadpole, small fish and crustaceans to come within striking distance before executing the ‘lightning’ quick strike.

 

 

Eyes fixed on prey, ready to strike…

 

Fire!….. notice how long the neck stretched out in order for it to reach the prey.

 

The unlucky tadpole is now part of the bird’s breakfast!

 

Another commonly seen bird at the pond is the Black-Winged Stilt. Appropriately named ‘stilt’, the extra long legs made them look rather unusual – the Giraffe of the Bird world….

 

The extra long legs surely served them well in their environment…

 

They may look a little awkward to us whenever they need to reach down to ground level…

 

Further up the pond I spotted this Little Egret foraging for food. It has a very interesting method to catch it’s prey. I observed that the bird will occasionally stop at any puddle found and used the foot to stir before picking out it’s prey that showed up.

 

Walk, stop at water puddle and stir with the foot..

 

Pick the prey that showed up in the disturbed puddle…

Birds of Pulau Burung Part 1

17th April 2011, Pulau Burung, Penang

 

Most of my Bird Photography were done in the forested areas of the country, so during my visit to Penang recently, I took the opportunity to visit this famous location for some photographs of ‘Water Birds’ found in the coastal areas of Malaysia. True to it’s name, Pulau Burung which is Bird Island in English, lived up to it’s name wonderfully for me during that brief visit. Here are some of the birds that I managed to photograph.

 

I spotted this male Common Moorhen swimming away and I managed to get a few shots of this handsome bird before he disappeared into the ‘reeds’ at the far end of the pond.

 

It’s amazing to see how fast they can swim…… and they don’t even have webbed foot!

 

A short while later, I noticed a couple perched on a tree stump, enjoying the morning sunshine.

 

Another bird commonly sighted at the pond is the Little Grebe. They can be seen swimming and diving in the pond area near the reed’s edges.

 

Another interesting bird at the pond is the Lesser Whistling Duck, easily among the largest of the birds found at the pond.

Birds of Fraser Hill Part 3

08th April 2011, Fraser Hill

My work usually takes me to the less developed part of the country with very poor internet connection. This situation really restricted my access to the internet. Anyway, here is the final segment of my ‘Birds of Fraser Hill’ series.

Fire Tufted Barbet – with it’s relatively large size, attractive color, a prominent tuft of reddish spines over base of bill and an unusual cicada-like buzzing voice, has got to be one of the ‘Star’ attraction at Fraser Hill.

This a heavily cropped, ‘noisy’ photo of this amazing Bird

 

It’s preference for the top storey of the forest makes photographing them a tough challenge!

 

 

The foggy condition results in poor IQ

 

A very common bird where ever the bottle brush flower blooms – Male Orange-Bellied Leafbird

 

And the less colorful female

 

Another common visitor to the ‘bottle brush tree’ is this Black-Throated Sunbird.