. . :: . .Southern Wings: Kg Langsat

Tuesday, October 26, 2010

Kg Langsat :: 26th Oct 2010

I visited Kg Langsat for the fifth times yesterday in two weeks, I told myself I have enough of the OP Hornbills, I would shoot anything except hornbills! I wanted migratory waders, nothing more.

But the hornbills seemed friendly and able to recognize my car, hard to believe, for 2 hours I couldn’t see any other species except the 3 hornbills! They followed me hopping from tree to tree and I was wondering if I had a puncture or flaming fire from my exhaust that needed immediate attention.

Barred Eagle Owl (Bubo sumatranus)

Burung Hantu Jalur * 马来鵰鸮 * マレーワシミミズク

I finally gave in and stopped my car to snap at them near to a grocery store, and in just after 6-7shots, I was shocked to see this gorgeous Barred-eagle Owl perched low quietly on a nearby tree gazing at me!

The Owl was close to the trunk of another tree and hard to spot against strong back light, and I must have drove past it more than 5 times without spotting it. Time to get my eyes checked I guess!

" What took you so long to find me!!"

The Owl is probably a juvenile of few months old. I have seen adult BEOs before and their sizes were twice as large. But fearing that it would fly away i decided not to remove my TC, so all the shots here almost full frame @ about 20' distant, except the first pic of the headshot abv taken when i first spotted it.

The folks here are friendly, despite i was shooting in the middle of the only main road, they would slow down the cars while driving towards me, waiting for me patiently with smiles while executing MLU mode.

But if you spot an Owl in my hometown don't shoot in the middle of the road though, for you are likely to be ran over a few times before you know it.

So the owls perched at the same spot for an hour, and I was a bit exhausted from the steaming heat of the tarmac, I packed my gear and ready to go to the Jetty for Nescafe and one of the kid, who accompanied me during the shoot said the owls had just flew off, to a lower perch across the road!

So, a few more shots, but it was dark at around 6pm and i had to dialed in at iso6400 for 1/125s f8 shots, and now i realized my fav shots (below) were all taken from the 2nd perch..

And thanks to the 3 hornbills!

One of my favorite fruits when I was a kid was Jackfruit. So when I asked a farmer if he could sell me 5kg, he giggled and told me politely “These fruits are not for sale” I was surprised while drooling over it, then he giggled again and added “I don’t sell them, and how many do you want, I will go get the ladder and pluck a few for you!”