Sometimes people say what you are looking for is right in front of your face. Last time i went away from the house to far places to look for certain species to add to my list, but little did i know that a lot of the species i am looking for would come visit my house compound at a certain time during fruiting season. Since Perlis weather is generally very warm, birds are active early in the morning up to 11.00am, and 4.00pm to sunset, while 12.00pm to 3.00pm they tend to stay in the tree canopies to hide from the intense heat. Furthermore insects are less active in the morning which make them easy meals for the birds. While in the late afternoon the birds intensify their hunting for food for insects and fruits to give to their young to last through the night until the next morning.
So, this time i changed my routine by waking up early around 6.15am, after Subuh pray, early Nasi Lemak breakfast, i would go for a walk in the compound area and back garden with my Canon 5DMK3 and Canon EF400f5.6 lens. As the birds are familiar with village folks, minimal camo is enough. Flash is only required if i need to shoot them in the shade around the afternoon.
The first bird i came across was a Yellow-bellied Fantail coming close near the fish pond.
Then a White-throated Fantail showed up. They looked similar in size and behavior, except for the yellow color in the belly. I have to apologize that i cannot show the image for this bird as the CF card that i used was corrupted.
Then a few Common Tailor birds showed up foraging through the vegetation covered pond looking for insects. These birds are very small and did not stay still even for a second and it was difficult to photograph.
There were also a few Common Ioras going through the neighbor's Durian tree canopy looking for insects.
The most exciting part of it all was the visit by three Striated Barbets taking refuge from the hot sun in the neighbor's garden.
A Black-naped Oriole also showed up in the other neighbor's compound which was within my EF400f5.6 lens range, barely.
There were also a few Zebra Doves resting on the electric cable and the road leading to the neighbors houses.
A few White-throated Kingfishers were also regular visitors looking for small fish in the ponds around the house.
But the most unexpected visitor of all is a Lesser Coucal locally known as Burung But-But due to the sound it makes " boot-boot-boot-boot". This bird is a very elusive species to photograph, most of the time from a very far distant. However, God had propably decided to give me a bonus for waking up early, as i saw it strolling near the pond looking for food. I had to hide behind my 4 x 4 so as not to spook it with my long lens. After a few shots it noticed my presence and started to fly onto a coconut tree, then to a next coconut tree until it disappeared. It did not fly for a long distant, more like hoping like a rooster from one tree to the next.
There are also other birds which happen to be regular features around the house like the Common Mynas, Tree Sparrows, Spiderhunters and Crows but i did not photograph them.
Thanks for viewing, my next post is coming soon. Happy birding.
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