100 Percent Digiscoping: Not Bad...Not Bad At All

After a long absence of birding at Kinabalu National Park, we were supposed to go for our outing there yesterday (Sat, 05/11/2011). Alphonsus, Jason, me and my wife Zaiton decided to car pool and supposed to meet at my place around 7.00 AM.

It was a beautiful and pleasant morning until I received a telephone call from Jason. He was involved in an accident just a couple of kilometers away from my house. I rushed to see him and glad he was okay. I was even more grateful to see his wife and daughter were unhurt. I didn't expect he was with his family!

There was some minor scratches on the side of his car but I couldn't believe to see a bad cut at the base of his right thumb! According to him, that was due to turning the steering wheel vigorously. The skin was torn apart! He received 6 stitches for that...

We canceled our plan because of that..but credit to Jason, we were in Kota Belud today birding! Lucky for him, he got a lifer today. Not a norm, when you already sighted hundreds of bird species...Well, for Borneo alone, he's seen 455 including the latest find!

Congratulation to him, the commitment and determination he's shown..is admirable and inspiring!

When it comes to waders, I really couldn't tell which one's which. They all looked the same to me...before! Thanks to Jason's recommendation, my view is much better with Prostaff 7 8X42. No guarantee I can become well-versed, but I can surely improve.

There were quite a number of birds I saw today and happy to share that I got two lifers. Having said that, I could not have recorded them better if I not because of the scope. Anyway, these are some of the shot I got from the plain of Kota Belud:-



#1, Olive-Backed Sunbird...love the colors!


#2 Common Kingfisher...With a mouthful! I was 3 seconds slow!


#3 Common Kingfisher...One shot is never enough


#4 Curlew Sandpiper...It was an honor to have sighted it with an expert...


#5 Little Ringed Plover...Is it???


#6 Oriental Pranticole...Always on a look out for a predator.


#7 Temminck's Stint (lifer) & Long-Toed Stint...Notice the difference?


#8 Temminck's Stint (lifer) & Long-Toed Stint...Side view...Notice the difference yet?


#9 Common Kingfisher...Just a crazy attempt shooting it without tripod...what do you think??


#10 Peregrine Falcon...The common migrant race. The resident race are the scarce ones and appear much darker.

Overall, I am quite pleased with all the photos I took with a digiscope. All I can say is it's not bad at all!