Beautiful Day in Labuan

I woke up quite early today, considering it's a public holiday...and the socializing with my colleagues last night. We deserved it. Hectic banking days this New year, with the 9% dividend and bonuses given out to the ASB investors. There wasn't much rest for us, physically and mentally.

Peeked outside from my livingroom(cum bedroom!) and smiled, coz it's a beautiful day! Quickly, powered up my laptop and went online. Discovered a couple of fine posts from Gary and revisit ChieRong's (a.k.a Insight Borneo) flickr to check out his impressive recent shots!

As you might have guessed, I got excited! went to the kitchen and look outside my window...just to see if the Pied Triller perched somewhere out there! Ah Seng(a.k.a Gokibury) called and telling me about the beautiful birds he saw in Mt. Kinabalu (He's up there now!)...Suprizingly, he didn't bring his D70s in this trip!

Took breakfast and went straight to the Labuan botanical garden. Sighted only a handful of bird species. Didn't manage to get some good shots of them. Frustration came creeping in, then finally a sunbird came to the rescue!:

Brown-throated Sunbird (Anthreptes malacensis)

Waited almost half an hour at the spot to see if it's coming back. Obviously not! So I made my move to the car park.

I was just about to turn the ignition when I saw this shiloutted image from the corner of my eyes. Took a good look and couldn't believe my eyes...It's a Blue-throated bee-eater! Here in Labuan! Grabbed my EOS 40D and;

Blue-throated Bee-eater (Merops viridis)

First few shots just to document my discovery. Walked slowly(almost crouching really!) towards it to capture a better shot but...

Called my wife about my discovery soon after, when she said "we better buy a better lens!". Music to my ear! Green light guys!!!

Waited for a few more minutes before I drove off to the War Memorial...Again, another discovery;

Paddyfield Pipit (Anthus rufulus)

I have my doubts about the ID of the birds, but I leave it to the expert to ID them correctly. I'm just so excited to discover them and capture them on camera.

I wished I could produce better quality images, but to know where the birds are is good enough. At least it's a start...a start that I could fall in love with Labuan. To kill time and improve my skills before the real hunt begin...

It's a beautiful day in Labuan.