Thursday, June 12, 2008

Bornean Stubtail (Urosphena whiteheadi): Thinking outside of the nest

We had been investing our time and energy going up to the Crocker Range, Tambunan for number of times recently. We have sighted quite a bit of interesting montane birds, and met up with some of the hardcore birders in Sabah, namely Jason, Andrew and Karim.


The drive which initiated by the finding of the Besra last May, is all worthwhile. Personally, my bird collection expanded greatly after our visits there. So does my bird knowledge I guess. Having more experienced birders around really helped me a lot. These guys have everything at their fingertips! Obviously the most reliable source of reference.


I released hundreds of shots at birds such as the Mountain Barbet, Blue Winged Leafbird, Fruithunter,and etc. As expected, only few came out at reasonable quality. I could happily admit that I really don't mind, so long as I get a record shot of them. After all, I did the best that I could with the opportunities that came along. Shooting from under the canopy is all but easy!


Going uphill also opened a new horizon for all of us. "Thinking outside of the nest" attitude is the best discription of the current going ons with everybody. Still at the initial stage, we are determined to attempt our first flight and fly to the higher storey of the canopy. Chai being the agile one and with most feather, seems to be leading the flock!


Ron, with his reserved thoughts finally spoke his mind today. Nothing but enriching our discussion with his skills and knowledge. I was beginning to worry about his long period of silence. Being a realistic person that he is, it is safe to say that what we are planning to do is highly realistic. Birds fly...well, almost all birds...


We had some crazy moments on our recent outings, finding the most unexpected bird in our trip triggers everything I guess. This one is definitely the one for me;




Bornean Stubtail (Urosphena whiteheadi)
The Bornean Stubtail (Urosphena whiteheadi) surprised us all. Hopping and moving constantly, this tiny bird is not an easy customer to take picture of. Feeding on small insects, it is interesting to see how much space they can cover in a matter of seconds!


The weather on the hills was not very forgiving. With dim lighting and thick fogs, I had to turned to shutter speed mode and switched on my flash to get the above image. Like I said it before, I nailed a good shot of the stubtail. A mark to what's going to happen to us soon...very soon!

1 comment:

Jason Bugay Reyes said...

hehehe how about thailand ? :p