CHESTNUT-BREASTED MALKOHA of FRIM(Zanclostomus curvirostris/Burung Cenuk Birah)

Chestnut-breasted Malkoha

I went to the FRIM(Forest Research Institute of Malaysia) today to test my newly calibrated Canon 400mm f5.6 lens to see if there is any improvement in the image quality.

After one hour of walking and searching for the birds, i gave up. I heard a lot of bird sounds but none can be seen even with my binocular, weird because it is a beautiful forest with a lot of tall trees up to 100 feet high, plenty of ground to walk underneath without thick shrubs, almost looks like a pine forest because they were planted by the institute with a lot of space in between. Is it because there are too many joggers running around or that awful loud sound from the carnival ground a few hundred meters away, i just dont know.

So i drove away from one section of the forest to the next until i stopped at a corner with a very wide road shoulder so i can park my car safely. Then i saw a Drongo with a racket tail perching on a dead branch. Now, a Drongo is very challenging bird to photograph and get the exposure right due to its dark blue feathers, the camera metering always struggles even with a flash especially in the evening with an overcast sky. After a while more Drongos came to the spot but i had problems trying to lock focus due to the bad light even with a 5Dmklll. I did manage to take the shot below good enough for this post.

Lesser racket-tailed Drongo

Then suddenly i saw something big flew in the background and landed on a tree a few meters away. I let go a few shots with a flash and hope for the best as the bird was moving from one branch to another. At 1/250th of a second shutter sync speed limited by the camera any movement by the bird will result in a blurred image, so i just shoot and hope for the best.

I was very lucky today because it turned out to be a Chestnut-breasted Malkoha, a species i had not photographed before. Locally it is known as Burung Cenuk Birah. It is a resident in the Peninsular of Malaysia, Sabah and Sarawak, and also can be found to the north up to Thailand and Myanmar. This species prefers the forest edges, plantations and wooded areas. There are other types of Malkoha found in Malaysia like the Red-billed Malkoha, Chestnut-bellied Malkoha and Green -billed Malkoha.

I think i will be going to FRIM more often from now on to unlock its secret, who knows maybe there are a lot more beautiful birds to be discovered in FRIM forest, maybe the other three Malkohas that i mentioned above and the Red-headed Trogon, how i wish. 

Anyway, in summary my newly calibrated lens does have some improvement in the image quality it produces but not a whole lot. In order to get a tack sharp image there is only one route to follow which is go the high end prime telephoto lens like the 500mm f4 IS or 600mm f4 IS which cost a bomb!

Till the next time, happy birding.