MERRY CHRISTMAS BIRDERS

I would like to wish merry Christmas and a happy new year to all birders around the world especially those who have visited this blog. For those who wish for special presents like a big prime or zoom lens or pro DSLR bodies to improve their birding shots i hope your wishes come true.

As Malaysia is experiencing an unpredictable wet season this year which has resulted in a few flash flood in the east coast and also in some areas in the west coast, my birding activities unfortunately has taken a hit therefore less posting in this blog.

Anyway, i am waiting for the month of  March 2014 when the raptors will be flying down from up north to the Cape Richardo area in Port Dickson which is an annual event. I seem to have missed it every year due to my work load, so hopefully i will not miss it next year. I am also wishing that i have enough fund to get my dream prime lens Canon 500mm F4 OS by the time march 2014 comes.

Till then, merry Christmas to all birders and a very happy new year.

Happy birding!!

WHITE-THROATED KINGFISHER (Halycon smyrnensis/Burung Pekaka Dusun)

These shots were taken on the edge of oil palm estate area near Sepang Gold Coast, Selangor using Canon 5DMK3 and Canon 70-300mm L lens.

COLLARED KINGFISHER (Todirampus chloris/Burung Pekaka Bakau)

This Collared Kingfisher aka Todiramphus Chloris or Burung Pekaka Bakau in Malay was shot on the beach in Sepang Gold Coast using EOS 5Dmk3 with Canon 70-300mm IS L lens.

COMMON SANDPIPER (Actitis hypoleucos/Burung Kedidi Biasa)

I went to Sepang Gold Coast(just 45minutes from Kuala Lumpur, twenty minutes from KLIA) on Sunday to fish for whiting. Unfortunately the fishing was not good due to the murky water condition propably from heavy rain the day before. Fortunately for me there were many lifers moving around at the water edge near the mangrove and sand flat. These tiny birds are called Common Sandpipers or Actitis Hypoleucos in Latin or Burung Kedidi Biasa in Malay.

The sandpipers are not native to Malaysia as they are migrant birds from up north but they can be seen throughout the year along the coast, padi fields, canals, riverbanks, ditches and even monsoon drains.

There were also Bee-eaters and Kingfishers sitting on top of the mangrove trees but they were too far for my Canon 400mm f5.6 lens and EOS 60D. So, i trained my lens on the Sandpipers instead which was not easy as they were very active and would fly away as soon as get within 20 meters from them. How i wished i had a 500mm f4 or 600mm f4 lens with me at that time so i can get tighter and detailed shots, but one thing i learned from my previous experience is that you have to make do with what you got when the opportunity present itself. The thing is i left my Sigma 15-500mm zoom lens at home which would give me a better focal length because it is too heavy to carry around in a fishing bag, so i brought the Canon 400mm prime lens instead.

The light available was not great as it was an overcast day, so i had to pump up the ISO a little bit to 500 or some time to 640 to get the shutter speed that i wanted around 1/1000 second. I was not using the flash because i also left it at home, duh. The most challenging task is to shoot the Sandpiper in flight as the EOS 60D AF is slow and struggled to lock on  the fast flying Sandpipers over the water. I brought my EOS 5D MK3 which has a better AF but did not use it because i needed the extra reach with the Canon 400mm lens, so an APSC camera like EOS 60D with the 1.6crop would give me an effective 640mm focal length, unfortunately the image quality is not that great like a full frame body. 

Below are some of the shots i took for record and i will endeavour to come up with better shots the next time i go there again hopefully with a better prime lens like the Canon 500mm f4 lens which i am planning to buy(when the fund is available that is).

crabbing

are you looking at me?

surfing

you are too close dude! Time for me to fly