Birders Of Sabah Borneo Island

Birding With Bjorn Olesen & Fanny

2012-05-09T12:00:00.001+08:00

3rd - 6th May 2012

Spent another few days at Kinabalu National Park to get some of the endemic birds in Borneo for Bjorn Olesen, an award winning wildlife photographer from Singapore with collection over 40k++ images taken throughout the world.

Weather was great in the morning but at lunch time, heavy rain lasted for few hours with thick mist at the mountain. Only managed to get few good shots of birds together with Nephentes Rajah and luckily there were 2 blooming Rafflesia Keithi at Poring Substation, about 45 minutes drive from the Headquarters.

Digiscoped with Nikon Fieldscope EDG85 via FSA-L2 DSLR Photo Adapter on Nikon D300s and 80-400mm VR lens

Shooting the Pale-faced Bulbul at Mesilau Substation

Regional endemic of this beauty, Black-capped White Eye

Nephentes Rajah, the biggest Monkey Cup in the world only found at Borneo

Chestnut-hooded Laughingthrush, one of the 3 Laughingthrush at Mt. Kinabalu

Pale-faced Bulbul, endemic to Borneo

Mini gallery at Vivianne Garden

The entrance to see the biggest flower in the world !

Healthy looking flower and on the left top petal is the Blue Carrion Fly the main pollinator. This flower could last only for few days ...

Soon will bloom. It takes up to 9 month from bud to become flower.

Little Pied Flycatcher

View of the Crocker Range from my room at Lily's Lodge

Golden-naped Barbet, another endemic to this island

Happy birding !

Birding With Dave Irving

2012-05-05T15:39:00.001+08:00

27th April - 1st May 2012

Spent few days with Dave Irving who hailed from England but currently based in Taiwan, taking pictures of birds and wildlife at Sepilok then few nights at Sukau Greenview Bed & Breakfast.

Key species seen during the 5 days trip was :

Storm's Stork ~ Performing mating ritual on air
White-crowned Hornbill ~ A pair seen crossing the Menanggul river
Rhinoceros Hornbill ~ Seen at Sepilok Bed & Breakfast feeding on the fruiting tree
Bornean Ground Cuckoo ~ Seen running very fast up and down the riverbank. Heard 2 days in a row
Bornean Bristlehead ~ Only single bird seen in flight from Bristlehead Tower
Bornean Pygmy Elephant ~ More than 100++ at the river !
Orang Utan ~ On final morning at Menanggul river !

Digiscoped with Nikon Fieldscope EDG85 via Nikon FSA-L2 DSLR Photo Adapter on Nikon D300s and 80-400mm VR

Dave Irving shooting at the Baya Weaver

Female Baya Weaver

Javan Myna only found on the East Coast of Sabah

Blue-eared Barbet at one of the fruiting tree at RDC

Cream-vented Bulbul

Bornean Brown Barbet

Olive-winged Bulbul

Flying Lizard

Female Brown-throated Sunbird

John Bakar

Mark at Kinabatangan River

Bornean Pygmy Elephant

Sunset at Kinabatangan River

The elusive Bornean Ground Cuckoo

Blue-eared Kingfisher

The endangered Storm's Stork

Snake sp.

Purple Heron

Oriental Pied Hornbill

Wrinkled Hornbill ~ My favorite !

Commonest raptor at the river, Crested Serpent Eagle

Endemic Proboscis Monkey

Lesser Fish Eagle

Female Malaysian Blue Flycatcher with nesting material

Orang Utan

Wagler's Pit Viper

My favorite shot so far of this resident Pacific Swallow from the jetty at Sukau Greenview Bed & Breakfast

My lifer, Baya Weaver ! Thanks to Alphon aka Beastmaster :)

Happy birding !

Birding With Y Bird Part III

2012-04-08T14:43:00.003+08:00

4th - 7th April

Spent 4 days with Ken Tanaka's group from Japan, similar program like last year, a night at Rainforest Discovery Centre, Sepilok then another few nights at Borneo Nature Lodge, Kinabatangan River. The trip ended at Tanjung Aru Beach for the endangered Blue-naped Parrot ...

The highlight of this trip were :

Bornean Bristlehead - Seen daily
Bornean Black Magpie - In hunting flocks with Bornean Bristlehead
Bat Hawk - At Gomantong Cave
White-crowned Hornbill - A pair at Gomantong Cave
Rhinoceros Hornbill - Last bird seen in the evening at the river !
White-fronted Falconet - A pair at Menanggul river
Great Slaty Woodpecker - Heard and seen at one of the death tree along Menanggul river
White-bellied Woodpecker - In flight at RDC
Orang Utan

Digiscoped with Nikon Fieldscope EDG85 via FSA-L2 DSLR Photo Adapter on Nikon D300s

At Kinabatangan River

Oriental Pied Hornbill feeding at one of the tree opposite Borneo Nature Lodge

Storm's Stork is one of the endangered bird in Borneo and one of the last strong hold for this bird is at Kinabatangan River ...

Healthy looking Orang Utan

Rhinoceros Hornbill

Happy birding folks !

Dancing In The Air ...

2012-02-28T23:16:00.001+08:00

28th February 2012

As I was browsing my collection of pictures to be uploaded into 500px website, I decided to re-edit one of my favorite shot of fighting Intermediate Egret taken with Nikon D300s and 70-200mm 2.8 VR lens at Penampang paddy field few years ago ...

I changed the background colour and put a bit of contrast plus cropped it to 33%. I was thinking of submitting this image to the Handbook Of The World - World Bird Photo Contest together with the other pictures taken with my scope ...

Happy birding !

Nikon Prostaff 7 10x42 Binocular Review

2012-02-23T14:47:00.002+08:00

20th February 2012

When I first tried this model at Rainforest Discovery Centre last year during the Foresty Open Day, I could not believe my eyes how sharp and it has better contrast and well controlled Chromatic Aberration (CA) than the current Monarch series. Then I went to Fraser's Hill with the gang for the International Bird Race on the same year, tested it against the grey sky with Monarch III. It does confirmed my finding.

I have been using 8x binocular for many years and couldn't get better view with 10x binocular even though I have tried few models and different brands. But with Nikon Prostaff 7 10x42, it was different. There were one time I was at Raganan - Timbuk mudflat with Joe waiting for the White-browed Crake, from the other bank about 80 metres, there were a Sandpiper which looked either Marsh or Common Greenshank. The weather was cloudy that time.

I was thinking of detaching the Nikon FSA-L2 adapter from my Nikon Fieldscope EDG85 and replaced it with my favorite 25LER eyepiece. But the 10x42 I had really helped me in ID'ing the bird (Marsh Sandpiper). I am used with the habit of using my scope after getting the subject on my bino even when the birds was really close.

Other feature I like is the weight. Even though both is heavier than Nikon Monarch III for 8x42 and 10x42, from my daily usage, it was not a problem and sometimes I did not realized it was hanging on my neck ! No more shake on my hand too hahaha :)

I hope if Nikon could incorporate fast focus for all models in the Sport Optics lineup like the legendary HG L, that would be the trademark for Nikon compared with other competitiors. It is a bit slow for my taste the Prostaff 7 series because my favorite 8x32 SE a bit faster.

Overall, I would recommend the Nikon Prostaff 7 10x42 for beginners in birding and for those who do not own a fieldscope because the extra 2x you get from the 10x42 will benefits you in getting those ID right especially for smaller Waders and Raptors. But you will get smaller Field Of View (FOV) than the 8x42. More info about FOV, click this link http://www.nikon.com/products/sportoptics/how_to/guide/binoculars/basic/basic_08.htm

Thanks to Irene Chong from Sandakan Foto for the demo unit. Selling price is around RM 1188 for 8x43 and RM 1288 for 10x42.

Link for Nikon Prostaff 7 at Nikon Vision Japan website.

On going discussion about this binocular at Birdforum :

Happy birding !

Nikon Fieldscope EDG85 VR Review

2012-02-13T22:59:00.003+08:00

29th January - 11th February 2012

Nikon Vision Japan introduced the world's first Fieldscopes featuring Nikon's lens-shift type VR (Vibration Reduction) system for EDG 85 both angled and straight scope on the 6th October 2011. From my brief test at the previous Borneo Bird Festival in October 2011, the VR works when there were slight shake or vibration caused by wind and non-stable platform such as wooden walkway. Other methods tested by tapping on the tripod that hold the VR scope.

Nikon Fieldscope EDG85 VR on Jobu BW Pro Gimbal head and Velbon 830 carbon fibre tripod. Estimated weight around 7.75 kg

Battery compartment under the EDG VR wording

Green LED when VR is ON

I did a test within 2 weeks for Nikon Malaysia and I was shooting mainly with my D300s and other D7000 body coupled with FSA-L2 adapter at my favorite mudflat concentrating on Waterbirds and Kingfishers.

With this EDG VR scope, it was possible to get sharp images while shooting around 1/60s at 500mm F/5.9 using Continuous High (CH) and with Timer modes. Out of 18 shots taken in sequence with CH, I got more than 9 sharp images which is almost impossible with my current EDG scope ! More with cable release on Timer mode.

EXIF : ISO 100, Shutter speed 1/60s, 500mm F/5.9 with FSA-L2 on D300s. Images were cropped 50% and resized only. No sharpening applied

Other usefulness of the VR, while focusing at 500mm up to 1750mm, it helped me in obtaining faster perfect focus while focusing on the helical through the viewfinder without getting back and forth. No shaking on the images and videos even at 1750mm ! This is one of the important aspect by having VR scope when recording videos at high magnification where a slight movement by wind etc could caused shaking and blurring on the recording itself.

The VR scope uses 4 x AA batteries and could last for 17 hours. After 30 minutes of non-active usage, the VR will turn off itself in order to save power consumption. I didn't really feel the weight differences between my EDG85 and EDG85 VR. Plus it looked like the EDG85 VR seems to have better better contrast than my EDG scope ...

Mike Freiberg and Bill Schmoker from Nikon Prostaff USA tested the VR scope on windy day at :

http://blog.aba.org/2012/01/whole-lot-of-shakin-not-going-on.html

Summary : I like this scope very much ! Is it worth upgrading to EDG85 VR scope ? Yes and for those who wants to take Digiscoping and Videoscoping to another level plus for visual use especially when you do lots of sea watching !

Thanks to Tee at Nikon Malaysia for the loan unit.

Digiscoped with Nikon Fieldscope EDG85 VR via FSA-L2 on D300s and D7000

Happy Digiscoping !

Greater Painted Snipe (Rostratula benghalensis)

2012-02-05T11:42:00.000+08:00

October 2011

Secretive and very shy ! But luck was on my side last October, saw a couple were feeding at one of the paddy field plot just next to the main road. The female did paused for few seconds when she saw my car stopped but it didn't bother her especially when I unwind the window and pointed my scope to her. Opportunity !

There were more than 3 pairs seen at Penampang paddy field with around 500m each that set them apart and this particular pair had a successful nesting with 3 juveniles were photographed by Gary Albert the following month.

Digiscoped with Nikon Fieldscope EDG85 via FSA-L2 DSLR Photo Adapter on Nikon D300s

The male above has more role here than the female such as incubating the eggs and taking the immature for feeding (Not in the picture)

The interesting part is, the female seems to be leading the male while feeding. This is obvious especially when both were crossing on the open spaces at the paddy field like shown on the picture above.

Hope I can get better and cleaner pictures of this beauty next time !

Happy birding ...

White-browed Crake (Porzana cinerea)

2012-01-24T18:33:00.000+08:00

23rd January 2012

Crakes and Rails is considered uncommon to rare in my place even the resident Crake such as Slaty-legged Crake and White-browed Crake. Yesterday afternoon went to Ranganan - Timbuk wetland and upon arrival, Joe showed me his shot of the White-browed Crake and it was quite close too !

There were few Great and Little Egret, lone Grey Heron, Black-winged Stilt, Common Moorhen and Common Kingfisher. A flock of Pink-necked Green Pigeon was busy feeding on a fruiting tree, a bit unfortunate for good pictures because it was a bit distance. The strange things is, there were no single Wandering Whistling Duck and on my last visit in December 2011, there were more than 100 of them. Not sure what happened ...

Digiscoped with Nikon Fieldscope EDG85 via FSA-L2 DSLR Photo Adapter on Nikon D300s

500mm ~ cropped 33% edited with Nikon Capture NX2

The baby !

Never had the opportunity to get quite close with this bird !

Last photo before they walked back behind the reeds ...

Happy birding !

Sabah Wildlife Conservation Colloquium 2012

2012-01-13T09:08:00.000+08:00

9th - 10th January 2012

Invited by Sabah Wildlife Department and jointly organized by Malaysian Palm Oil Council (MPOC)to attend the by Sabah Wildlife Conservation Colloquium 2012 was held at Le Meridian Hotel in Kota Kinabalu to discussed 3 Action Plans namely the Orang Utan, Bornean Pygmy Elephant and Bornean Rhinoceros in order to save this species from extinction.

There is a hope ...

More info from the links below :

Some of the pictures taken during the 2 days event with Nikon D300s and 28mm 2.8 lens

Areden, Ryan and Edmundo representing Borneo Rainforest Lodge

Wildlife photograper Cede Prudente and Wendy Hutton, author for many books regarding Sabah

Peter from Sabah Wildlife Department with John Prudente from Borneo Geographic

Lawrance, John Nair, Brandon Miles and Clay busy discussing something ...

Mark representing APE and Mark from Danau Girang Field Centre

Teles with the CEO's Blog

Protected species in Sabah by Wildlife department

Displaying products made from palm oil

Providing latest info in regards with Borneo Sunbear and other conservation project by Borneo Conservation Trust

The Secretariat

Hope to see you all on the next Colloquium !

Common Kestrel (Falco tinnunculus)

2012-01-05T23:17:00.000+08:00

4th January 2012

First posting of the year with Common Kestrel, uncommon winter visitor in my place mostly seen at Tempasuk and Penampang paddy field, this time, fellow birder, Wan Iskandar saw it at Alam Mesra residential area and seen few times on top of the street light scanning for its prey.

According from Quentin Philipps's book, there were 6 Falco species migrating in Borneo and only 1 being a resident the Peregrine Falcon Falco peregrinus ernesti.

Will try to get better pictures soon with the gang depending with the weather condition ...

Digiscoped with Nikon Fieldscope EDG85 via FSA-L2 DSLR Photo Adapter via Nikon D300s

Happy birding !

Digiscoping Images at Nikon Vision Japan Website

2011-12-30T22:05:00.002+08:00

30th December 2011

Some of my pictures has been published by Nikon Vision Japan at Nikon EDG microsite : http://www.nikon.com/products/sportoptics/edg/top/index.htm at Digiscoping Gallery. This is one of my best achievement as a bird guide and photographer. Thanks for the supports from my family, best friends and Tee from Nikon Malaysia with Irene from Sandakan Foto.

Digiscoped with Nikon Fieldscope EDG85 via FSA-L2 DSLR Photo Adapter on Nikon D300s edited with Nikon Capture NX2

I will be testing the new Nikon Fieldscope EDG85 VR soon and hopefully with Nikon V1 mirrorless camera and do not forget to check my upcoming Birding & Digiscoping Workshop for January 2012 at http://horukuru.blogspot.com/2011/12/birding-digiscoping-workshop-2012.html

Happy birding and thanks for everyone who followed and enjoyed my blog for year 2011. See you in 2012 !

Black-headed Gull (Larus ridibundus)

2011-12-23T14:02:00.002+08:00

22nd December 2011

Common winter visitor to Kota Kinabalu city mostly around Tg. Aru water village opposite Sutera Harbour golf course and fish market. The number estimated for this season was 20 and it mixed up together with Whiskered Tern and Great Egret while feeding.

Digiscoped with Nikon Fieldscope EDG85 via FSA-L2 DSLR Photo Adapter on Nikon D300s

With Whiskered Tern

Happy birding and merry Xmas to all my readers !

Birding & Digiscoping Workshop 2012

2011-12-21T22:07:00.015+08:00

I will be conducting field trips at Kinabatangan River from January until early April 2012 depending with booking with Minimum of 6 persons and Maximum is 12 persons per trip. The main reason why I chose Kinabatangan River because of the combination between birds and mammals plus great scenery along the river especially at Menanggul tributary.

This workshop is OPEN throughout the year except in December.

Bird guide :

Azahari Reyes @ Jason aka horukuru's profile :

Working as a bird guide based in Kota Kinabalu, Sabah since 2006 with clients mostly from UK and Japan. An invited spoke person for Nikon EDG products under Nikon Malaysia and been involved in various bird surveys with Sabah Forestry Department and photography workshops mainly by Nikon Malaysia and Sabah Park.

Pictures has been published in Sepilok Bird Book, Nikon Vision Japan website and promotional materials by Sabah Tourism Board mostly related with bird watching activities. In the process of publishing photographic bird book and coming up with photo exhibitions in Kota Kinabalu and Sandakan.

Been to Philippines, Indonesia and England as an exhibitor for the bird festivals promoting birding market for Sabah under Sabah Tourism Board at the same time, took the opportunity to know more about birds on those places.

Member of Borneo 400 Club and specialized in Digiscoping ~ Capturing pictures through scope with DSLR and compact camera.

Preferred Nikon equipments for birding and photography and Apple for pictures editing.

References :

Nikon Vision Japan EDG website : http://www.nikon.com/products/sportoptics/edg/top/index.htm
Borneo 400 Club website : http://borneobirds.com/borneo400

Below is the program for 3 Days 2 Nights : EX - SUKAU

DAY 1 :

1200. : Arrival of participants at Sukau Greenview Bed & Breakfast for registration and lunch.

1400 - 1530 : Basic Birdwatching covering in identification, sounds, behavior and usage of equipments; Binocular and Fieldscope subjects.

1530 - 1800. : Cruising along Menanggul River for Black Hornbill, Scarlet-rumped Trogon, Blue-eared Kingfisher and many more. Mammals such as Proboscis Monkey, Orang Utan and Long-tailed Macaque provides opportunity for pictures too.

1830 - 1930 : Dinner

1930 - 2100. : Check list of birds and mammals. End of Day 1. (Lunch and Dinner)

DAY 2

0630 - 0900 : Morning cruise for more birds and wildlife. Back to the lodge for breakfast.

1000 - 1200 : Digiscoping and Bird Photograph, Bird Recording and birding / photography ethics on the field.

1230 : Lunch.

1530 - 1800 : Cruising along Menanggul River for Bornean Ground Cuckoo, Lesser Fish Eagle, Black-naped Monarch and many more. Mammals such as Bornean Pygmy Elephant, Silver Leaf Monkey and Monitor Lizard provides opportunity for pictures too.
1830 - 1930 : Dinner

1930 - 2030 : Night cruise for nocturnal animals such as Leopard Cat, Malay Civets and Buffy Fish Owl.

2045 - 2145 : Check list of birds and mammals. End of Day 2. (Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner)

DAY 3

0630 - 0900 : Morning cruise for birds and wildlife. Back to the lodge for breakfast.

0930 - 1030 : Check list of birds and mammals.

1130 - 1230 : Check out and end of workshop. (Breakfast)

Things to bring :

1. Binocular with minimum configuration of 7x42, 8x32, 8x36, 8x42, 10x32 or 10x42 to maximized viewing of birds and wildlife. Compact binocular such as 8x25 and 10x25 can be used but you will get less Field of View and brightness while birding in the rainforest. Binocular for rental during the river cruise is provided for RM 10 per cruise.

2. DSLR and compact camera with zoom or telephoto lens; 70-200mm, 70-300mm, 300mm and above. Compact camera will be use for demo on Digiscoping. If none of the above, just binocular is fine.

3. Flash and torch lights for night cruise. Subject to weather condition.

4. Poncho or raincoat with hat or cap, sun lotion and sunglass for protection while cruising on the boat. Do not forget to bring insect repellent for mosquitos etc.

5. Proper walking shoes and sandal with long shirts and pants.

6. Laptop etc

What is included :

1. 6 private river cruises at Menanggul river with bird guide and maximum of 8 persons for each boat.

2. All meals at Sukau Greenview Bed & Breakfast with free flow of coffee and tea.

3. Fan room based on Twin Sharing for 2 persons at Sukau Greenview Bed & Breakfast

What is not included :

1. Travel insurance

2. Items of personal nature

3. Alcohol and soft drinks

4. Transportation from place of origin to Sukau Greenview Bed & Breakfast and back

For more info about Sukau Greenview Bed & Breakfast click here

Hope to see you there !

Wood Sandpiper (Tringa glareola) In Action !

2011-12-13T12:42:00.000+08:00

12th December 2011

A short visit to Ranganan - Timbuk wetland in Tuaran where it hosted the vagrant Pied Avocet 2 weeks ago, I got this shots of fighting Wood Sandpiper. Only few frames were in focus because I was shooting from the car and a bit higher on the ground. Plus their actions was so quick !

Digiscoped with Nikon Fieldscope EDG85 via Nikon FSA-L2 DSLR Photo Adapter on Nikon D300s

That's really hurt !

Happy birding !

Common Starling (Sturnus vulgaris)

2011-12-11T21:45:00.002+08:00

8th December 2011

Saw this in Corby, England last year and a vagrant in my place and seen once at Pulau Tiga by Chris Kehoe. It was seen at Penampang paddy field by CK Leong in the morning before I arrived for the Blue-tailed Bee Eater.

Some of my friends were so lucky to see this few times at the same place with perfect pictures hahaha and I managed only a record shot despite searching for it the last few days in rain and shine !

Digiscoped with Nikon Fieldscope EDG85 via Nikon FSA-L2 DSLR Photo Adapter on Nikon D300s

The flight pattern of this bird resembled like a Cuckoo

A the mountain now be back tomorrow afternoon. Will try again for the Starling ...

Happy birding !

Red-billed Starling (Sturnus sericeus)

2011-12-09T07:56:00.000+08:00

7th December 2011

Another vagrant appeared at Penampang paddy field after Pied Avocet in Tuaran. It was by coincidence were looking for the Blue-tailed Bee Eater seen by Winston the day before, failed to locate the Bee Eater, this pretty looking juvenile as seen hoping on the ground looking for food at the Lady's Finger Ocra orchard.

Common winter visitor to Hong Kong and similar fate like the Pied Avocet. Check my posting below. 1st record for Sabah and probably Borneo :)

Digiscoped with Nikon Fieldscope EDG85 via Nikon FSA-L2 DSLR Photo Adapter on Nikon D300s

Happy birding !

Pied Avocet (Recurvirosta avosetta)

2011-12-05T20:02:00.001+08:00

3rd December 2011

Upon seeing this bird being posted at Facebook, I rushed to the site at Mengkabong village, Tuaran and saw single bird busy feeding together with Wood Sandpiper, Wandering Whistling Duck and Common Moorhen.

The next few days, it became a hit among birders and photographers as far as Sandakan plus few visiting birders from Japan and Canada. A first record for Sabah, it was out of its range as the nearest wintering ground for this bird is at Hong Kong.

Thanks to Jiun Loong Lai for finding this mega bird and with the increasing numbers of birders cum digiscopers/photographers, Sabah is getting more and more interesting sighting of rare birds especially during the migratory season from September - April compared with few years ago where it was only a handful of enthusiasts.

The best lifer for this year !

Digiscoped with Nikon Fieldscope EDG85 via Nikon FSA-L2 DSLR Photo Adapter on Nikon D300s

Happy birding !

Grey-headed Lapwing (vanellus cinereus)

2011-11-23T15:43:00.002+08:00

22nd November 2011

My best friend Roy saw it at Penampang paddy field last Sunday morning causing another excitement among the gang and they rushed to the site within 1 hour but I couldn't make it that day. Met with Ron and Roy yesterday at the same site and saw this pretty looking vagrant for North Borneo hunting for small shells at the paddy field. My last sighting was in Tuaran, 30th November 2007 together with Karim heheh. Refer to this post http://horukuru.blogspot.com/search/label/Grey-headed%20Lapwing

Digiscoped with Nikon Fieldscope EDG85 via Nikon FSA-L2 DSLR Photo Adapter on Nikon D300s

I will do a summary of latest rare and vagrant species that has shown up at Penampang on my next posting. Happy birding !

Red-rumped Swallow (Hirundo daurica)

2011-11-22T21:42:00.002+08:00

18th November 2011

Another lifer and vagrant found at Penampang paddy field while searching for the Northern Shoveler with Jordan recently. There were 2 birds flying around mixing with Pacific and Barn Swallow, Glossy with Nest-Swiftlet sp. The obvious rump colour caught my attention while looking at the Nest-Swiftlet sp. in flight which looked like the Himalayan Swift.

Digiscoped with Nikon Fieldscope EDG85 via Nikon FSA-L2 DSLR Photo Adapter on Nikon D300s

Happy birding !

Sunda Bush Warbler

2011-11-21T12:20:00.000+08:00

19th November 2011

One of the Greater Sunda endemic found at high elevation and at North Borneo, it is mainly found above 1600mm from sea level. One of the best place to see them at Timpohon Gate, the starting point for climbers at Mt. Kinabalu.

Digiscoped with Nikon Fieldscope EDG85 via Nikon FSA-L2 DSLR Photo Adapter on Nikon D300s

500mm ~ cropped for composition edited with Nikon Capture NX2

Happy birding !

Brown Shrike (Lanius cristatus)

2011-11-14T21:13:00.000+08:00

14th November 2011

After a week recovering from car accident two Saturday ago causing deep cut on my right palm, went to Tanjung Aru beach with Joe and Alven this afternoon for the Brown Shrike which was seen by others last weekends.

The feeling was awesome looking at this common winter visitors from North Asia through the viewfinder especially when you were shooting with your best friends side by side hahaha. I will be back again hopefully tomorrow to get more images with videos if possible.

Digiscoped with Nikon Fieldscope EDG85 via Nikon FSA-L2 DSLR Photo Adapte on Nikon D300s

750mm ~ Cropped 33% edited with Nikon Capture NX2

Happy birding and thanks to Alven for pointing out the exact location of this beauty !

Birding With Andrew & Anthousa

2011-11-08T10:48:00.001+08:00

27th October - 2nd November 2011

Had a great time birding and watching wildlife for a week with Andrew and Anthousa, both hailed from Canada, they used this opportunity on their way back to their hometown to enjoy some of the best spots in Asia for holidays after spending 2 and a half years studying in Australia.

A group of Bornean Pygmy Elephant, Storm's Stork seen twice in flight, Bornean Bristlehead at Sepilok and Fruithunter were some of the highlight seen recently and a total of 140 birds recorded on this trip despite the rain occurred in the morning and afternoon.

Digiscoped with Nikon Fieldscope EDG85 via Nikon FSA-L2 DSLR Photo Adapter on Nikon D300s

What a luck !

A pair seen on my final morning along Power Station road

My second sightings of baby Orang Utan in the wild ...

My favorite boatman, Aliu

Andrew & Anthousa getting ready for morning cruise

Misty morning along Kinabatangan river

Menanggul river in the mist ...

One of my favorite bird !

Happy birding !

3rd Borneo Bird Festival 2011

2011-10-24T11:23:00.003+08:00

14th - 16th October 2011

It was a huge success with more than 3000 visitors came during the recent Borneo Bird Festival aka BBF at Rainforest Discovery Centre, one of the best place to see the endemic Bornean Bristlehead, Rufous-collared Kingfisher, Great Slaty Woodpecker and many more !

Had a great time with the gang displaying some of the bird and mammal pictures for visitors at the same time, we received a good response in regards with Digiscoping ~ The uses of spotting scope coupled with compact or DSLR camera via adapter by explaining to them the benefits etc in capturing images and videos while birding.

Thanks to Tee Nikon Malaysia, Irene from Sandakan Foto, Roy and Winston from Celcom Malaysia and Brian Erwin at Think Tank Photo for the sponsors.

Some pictures are courtesy of Jollence Lee from Borneo Geographic © All Rights Reserved

Ben setting up for Nikon booth

My room at Hotel Ramai with the gang !

Obon Recycle booth selling high quality recycled products

Section dedicated to the late Chien, Seng and Isnadil ...

Tee from Nikon Malaysia unboxing the new Nikon Fieldscope EDG85 VR

Sabah Park booth

Setting up materials for display at BBC @ Keting2 booth

Kadaiku from Sri Pelancong Sabah

Renowned photo journalist David, Noredah and Diana from Sabah Tourism Board, one of the main organizer for BBF

Sandy testing the new VR scope !

Sandakan Foto / Nikon Malaysia ready for action !

The latest Nikon V1 / J1 mirrorless camera and I want it !

My best buddy Tee from Nikon Malaysia ...

BBC @ Keting2 booth at Day 1

Think Tank Photo, one of the sponsor for the booth and preferred brand for photography and birding by the gang

Alphon and Gary, Borneo Bird Club president

Think Tank Photo bags on display

The supportive wives !

Ron explaining quality pictures taken with Digiscoping and Lens

From left to right; Dennis, Jollence, Ghaffar and Azami

See you all next year !

Ruff (Philomachus pugnax)

2011-10-09T13:24:00.000+08:00

9th October 2011

Uncommon winter visitor to North Borneo and this is my 2nd time seeing this beauty at the paddy field mixing together with Long-toed Stint, Wood Sandpiper, Javan Pond Heron and Whiskered Tern yesterday.

Plus new lifer when my friends saw the Oriental Plover, a rare migrant to Borneo and 1st record for Sabah in the morning, it was worth the wait in the evening making up my Borneo list to 454 !

Digiscoped with Nikon Fieldscope EDG85 via FSA-L2 DSLR Photo Adapter on Nikon D300s

Good birding and will try to get good pictures of the Oriental Plover before the 3rd Borneo Bird Festival at Sepilok :)

Birding With Chris Kehoe

2011-09-22T10:33:00.001+08:00

19th - 21st September 2011

Spent few days birding with a good friend of mine and his client Brian and Corrine at Kota Belud, Mt. Kinabalu and around Kota Kinabalu city for some migratory waterbirds and endemics at the mountain.

The journey started from Kota Kinabalu to Tempasuk paddy field at Kota Belud district about an hour drive up North. Considered one of the best birding site for visitor birds from North Asia and some of the species seen there such as Long-toed Stint, Watercock, Marsh Sandpiper, Buff-banded Rail and Little Ringed Plover. Then up to Kinabalu National Park for Bornean Treepie, Fruithunter, Jambu Fruit Dove with Chestnut-crested Yuhina and Mountain Tailorbird.

Digiscoped with Nikon Fieldscope EDG85 via Nikon FSA-L2 DSLR Photo Adapter on Nikon D300s

I will be at Borneo Bird Festival from the 14th - 16th October in Rainforest Discovery Centre, Sandakan. Hope to see you there :)