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MikeBirder - Malaysian Birds

Hi

Welcome to my Malaysian Birding Blog. I migrated to blogspot.com as my blog at multiply.com closed shop in 2012. I wish to showcase all Malaysian birds that I have photographed whether here or overseas. My countdown of lifers started in 2005. Coming to Oct 2022 my countdown of lifers photograph has reached
559/688 species of birds of Malaysia in photos.

My shooting gear was a EF400mm f4 DO lens and Canon 7D body which to me is the ideal setup for mobility and bird chasing at that time. Eventhen the weight over my shoulder is more that 5.5 kg. As of June 2016 I have also acquired a Fuji XF 100-400mm OIS lens to complement my travelling cum birding trip overseas. My Fuji X-T2 went kaput recently and I upgraded to the X-T5 in 2023 ; the weight over my shoulder is much lighter now by 30%. In December 2018 I acquired the Nikon Coolpix P1000 as supplementary camera for distance shooting of 3000mm.
Fuji have finally made available their new XF 200-600mm lens which I yet to decide to spend another RM10,000. As for Fuji body I will stop with X-T5 36megapixel ..........

I am a weekend birder. Do feel free to drop me a line at mikebirding@gmail.com and I see whether you can tag along in my outings. My usual day trip is just an hour ride away to Hulu Langat, Lancang, Kemensah, Krau, Awana, Hulu Kali, Gombak Ole Road, Fraser's Hill , Bukit Tinggi and KSNP & Coastal Sg Janggut Jeram side of the coast . Overnite trip to Merapoh & Cameron, Air Hitam and further north to Kuala Sidim is a seldom affair but for lifer we travel. Panti in Johor is another good birding site that I yet to go. Then there are the Borneo birds of Sabah and Sarawak of Malaysia which I seriously much go to chalk up more lifers. This I did in 2018 to Sepilok Sandakan and Kinabalu Park. Next Danum and LahatDatu.......

WARNING Birding is an addiction once you started its hard to stop. The wifey and children are now birding widow and orphan.

ALL PHOTOS IN THIS BLOG ARE COPYRIGHT OF MIKEBIRDER. KINDLY SEEK PERMISSION FROM THE OWNER IF YOU want to use them for commercial purposes.

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Tuesday 31 July 2018

Avian Nesting 14/100 - Whiskered Treeswift


News of any bird  nesting will draw the bird fraternity to the port without fail. After the Blue Banded Kf  attraction in May- June; the Whiskered Treeswift  nesting in Hulu Langat again draw the crowd  in the month of July- August 2018. Usually I would not post any early stage of nesting sighting but the case here is the safety and welfare of the nest is not jeopardised. This is most probably  a second attempt for the pair. Usually nest making  starts in the month of  April - May. A tiny lump of mossy cup like nest  about 1.5 inche in diameter just enought to snug an egg.

 It was my first time shooting the specie in nesting.  Though in the  late stage of the nesting there were plenty of action as the parent now  kept away and only come in to feed the nestling and then flying off  to the nearby tree 80-90 ft away.  It always will keep an eye of its baby from predator like Kingfisher as we birders below waited for the parent to come in. I notice only one of the parent is doing the feeding which I assumed  the mother without the chestnut ear-covert.




Jamil and I were the last to leave the post at about noon that Sunday; when we were gifted with  this action shoot of the nestling stretching its wing. Marvellous!!!!  I estimate another 7-10  days before it take flight.  Later Dennis  and Alan T  arrived in their car to shoot the bird as I was walking back to exit.


There were many nesting record of the same bird  in  Kemensah, Bukit Tinggi and many other locale near KL. Usually it is a easy sighting as  the treeswift  make it nest quite open at about 20-40 ft above the ground.


Wednesday 18 July 2018

Avian Photo Gear - Testing the Kipon EF-FX Lens converter


Kipon have come out with their EF-FX AF version adaptor for Canon EF lens to Fuji mount  recently. May 2018 the Kipon AF adapter is in  stock at YL Camera. Price was slightly RM1000 which is much cheaper by 30-40% that the  price of Metabones. So just pop over from my office to check it out. My testing gear was my EF400mm F4 DO USM IS Mark1 lens on my current body Fuji XT-2 of 2 years old. My main objective is to  test whether my telephoto lens pairing up with a  EF 1.4 X mark3  teleconverter is useable.  This setup was to get better reach of 600mm x 1.5 = 900mm on my  1.5 cropped sensor Fuji  body.

Distance of shot is about 50-60 ft in the shop.  Firstly on the Auto Focusing in low light and low contrast condition focusing was a  frustrating hunting affair and as such it is definately not good for my bird photography purpose.  Even when it manage to focus the photo  the shots were rather soft and blurry as shown in the photos below. Looks like it a no go for me to  purchase the item.



Next I tried out the Kipon  adapter without the 1.4x teleconverter, the focusing is still an issue but much better but then I was shooting at a shorter distance of 30-40 ft. Basing on the 3 shoots below I must say the case is a miss and hit situation. Possibility that my telelens is not properly suited to Fuji Af algorithm as the focus confirmation indicated otherwise...........




At a nearer target of 30 ft and on contrasting subject I got much improved shots as shown below in term of focussing and sharpness. Please note that my finding here  relates to bird photography and  the performance of Kipon adapter would be different for other EF L lenses.  So for the moment  I have to wait for a better birding solution...................




Thursday 12 July 2018

Avian sighting July 2018 - Rufous collared Kingfisher is back


I was early to the port  first weekend of July to look for norturnal birds but alas none of my target birds responded to my calling.  Seremban Yap and then Lam from KL join me at the port. Later Liew and his kwailoh guest arrive in the late morning. The highlight of the day was the RCKf which stayed for a 10-15 minutes session for all to shoot to their heart content. Is it diffirent from the Chestnut Collared Kf of Borneo?  Hope to see it in my trip in October 2018. Any one interested to join me to Sandakan -Sepilok ............




Earlier bird life along the road in the wee morning 8.30 am was so so in misty condition.  First bird was a far sighting of  Black Magpie, a tattered Drongo cuckoo with its curvy beak (picture below) was next. Further up from Deerland spotted a hornbill. Walah it was my first sighting  of a Black Hornbill variant with white supercillum that morning (see my earlier posting).




Then a yellow bellied flowerpecker was curious enuf to show itself (picture above) . Other bird sighting include several common bulbuls. By 9am I was back to the port hoping lighting was better by then. At the port the usual birds appearance were frequent enough to keep us entertained. A Banded was calling but no appearance.







A pair of mating OM Robin in shining coat appears on several occasion everytime the resident  shama calls............

Below the Black-capped is the more difficult bird to snap in sharpness as we shoot in low speed in the low light condition and skittish behaviour of the same.


Monday 9 July 2018

Avian Sighting July 2018 - Grey-cheeked Bulbul


A Grey-cheeked drop by the famed port  A88 . This is a fairly common bulbul  can be seen in Lancang Pahang. This is my second time photographing this bird but my first time here. It is a lowland forest bird. Other place you can see it is  in Hulu Langat and Merapoh side.



Sunday 8 July 2018

Avian sighting July 2018 - Black Hornbill (Female Variant)



This is a variant  female with its dark beak and pinkish eyering. It has a  long white streaked supercillum right up to its nape. How it came about is nobody's guess but I suspect  it may have arise cross breed with other hornbill like the pied............

This is my first time sighting of this nice looking variant. The variant also occur to the male bird. It do mix and  mate with the usual variant.

Caught it in the early morning in misty condition about 100m away on a dead tree top after Deerland. Later  another male of the common kind drop by. See video as the former flew off..................