Blue-throated Bee-eater, with Nikon D5100!

May 2011

I went back to the durian plantation recently in hoping to see the CHE juvenile but regrettably the access was still blocked! :(  According to the construction worker i spoke to it will take another month before vehicles are allowed to get thru, so i guess the juvenile CHE is going to miss me to death!

So i made a quick diversion to a nearby deserted lot for the bee-eater as I have seen and photographed them busy making nesting holes on the ground.  The 4 pairs seemed to live in harmony as their nesting holes are not too far apart,  I was rather puzzled by one particular pair though, they were still busy digging not one, but 4 holes, all within the same area. (see video at the bottom)

Generally Blue-throated Bee-eaters are actively moving while on perch and love to perch on tiny branches in the open space, so anything under 1/60s is risky. But luckily their perch are predictive, hence you will have all day to perfect your low iso shots with MLU once you found their feeding ground.

I took delivery of my new camera Nikon D5100 last week, and most of the shots here were taken with it + TC1.4 and 500mm F4 lens.  The focal length on the cropped sensor gave me a fright once again  as I am so used to the fullframe's focal length camera by now. 


But the extra reach is certainly handy when it comes to nesting and shy species.  The three photos abv (D5100 with 300mm + TC2) were shot quite some dist. away on 50% cropped!  

Blue-throated Bee-eater (Merops viridis)

Beberek Leher Biru * 蓝喉峰虎 * ルリノドハチクイ * Trảu đầu nâu

Guêpier à gorge bleue * vcelárik modrohrdlý * Малайская щурка * นกจาบคาคอสีฟ้า

Abejaruco de Garganta Azul * Hinduspint

There is no bird in this pic, just thought it would look nice on 

my blog as it was taken on location!

4th May 2011

Although the cropped sensor gives me a shocking extra 50% reach,  but I got even more greedy today by setting up hide 15' from their favorite perch, as you can see the perch was on higher ground so any nearer would be undesirable due to higher inclination angle that produces chin-up-looking shots l.

 4 pegs and string come with the hide, and it is important to clamp

it down tightly as breezing wind will send tremor to your lens hence

killing your mlu shots.

Sitting in the hide under humid temperature is not something i really enjoy, half the time I was worried that a pit Viper or King Cobra would sneak in happily underneath to say hello, especially in Panti forest. 

But the hide I got from Jason of Trifid-Optics.com is awesome, it has more windows than my terrace house for sure and honestly, just as spacious inside. There are more than 10 zipped openings on the four sides so as long as you are not taller and fatter than me you should feel comfortable to move around your setup and shoot at any angle and direction you want.

So lets take a tour inside....

I sweat easily, but with a satisfying shot like this somehow helps to 

slow down my perspiration and palpitation.....

DON'T set up something like this in the desert of Libya now 

even if you saw a big-foot hopping around!

And with the hide, you get shots like these easily, bird imgs in full frame without spooking them! Half the time I was giggling as the bird would stare at the lens with s strange look. 

 "Huh? Say What? You are Paul WHO?"

Sample video  D5100 on 30fps... 

6th May 2011


Got bored today after work, and suddenly think of the BTBEs again! So i made a quick trip to the site hoping to see 4 of them on the same perch.......

Three BTBEs came around 7pm, at ISO 8000 F6.3 speed was only 1/60s on D3s, low for this species as they are constantly moving eyeing for prey, and the wind was quite strong, so i guess i just have to come back again! Besides i need at least F16 to cover the DOF for the three as I am shooting from low angle! :(

And below is an uncropped img taken with D5100 + TC1.4 500mmF4, shot from hide again ~17' away, there was another bird barely 10 inches away! But due to the narrow field of view and close distant it was out of the frame.

Tight crop, plenty of detail from the awesome new 16mp sensor! :)))

7th May 2011


By the time i reached the site, 7 BTBEs were already roosting on a tree for the day! A quick setup of my hide and got only two on a perch! Is that too much to ask for 4 on a perch? :(


So more is coming!

Changeable Hawk Eagle - Final Episode!

I was busy with some family matters in the last few weeks and a friend called me up and asked "So how was the shoot of the Royal Wedding in London"! Nah, he was being sarcastic and before i could explain he screamed on top of his voice "I want the pics of the CHE's chick NOW!" LOL!

OK, I didn't get the fledging shots because access to the plantation was closed due to laying of the tarmac for two weeks! The chick finally fledged on the 15th, which means 67days since it was born. It had stayed around the plantation for three days before it flew off to somewhere else, according to the owner, who was able to access his plantation via a dirt road only passable with hardcore 4WD vehicle. I should have bought a Land Rover for birding! :(

And these were shot earlier when i decided to get some close up shots with my Panasonic LX5 PnS camera. 

 "WOW! Southerwings is here!!!"

 " OMG! Comon in, I wanted to hear all about you!!

 "Have a seat here and let me get you some icy lizard juice"

 "Now where did mom hide the blender and delicious lizard again?"

 "But but I am Black, I looked like a white that is all..."

'Paul , you don't believe in me, do you?"

OK, back to London for the Royal Wedding and will post more soon....

Changeable Hawk Eagle nesting Part llI !

Three weeks of acquaintance with the CHE has made the adult dark morph more approachable  and friendly towards my presence. Now I am able to walk around the nesting site and shoot right below the perch without scaring it off. The CHE probably think I am the new owner of this durian plantation!


The dark morph's daily routine was the same on all my observations so far, perch on the nest or near the nest silently for hours between 3-7pm, by 6-7pm, it would call for the white morph to return.  I was touched to see on a few occasion that  when the harsh sunlight is hitting the chick in the afternoon, the adult would shelter the chicks for as long as the sunlight is out. 

Feeding so far is only by the dark morph. One interesting note is the carrion is always being carried to a nearby tree, tear into pieces before bringing back to feed both the chick and itself. Perhaps the adult do not want the blood to stain the nesting, or it needs a solid branch to tear the body apart hence without risking the structural rigidity of the nest.  

A short video recorded on the 30th of March

The pale morph on the other hand is still behaving cautious, and every time it shows up in late afternoon , I have to retreat to the hut/shelter or else it won't perch on the nest.  I begin to wonder now which morph is the male and which is the female On the physical size, the dark morph is slightly larger than the pale morph.

And the chick looked more like the serious Nikon-black now than the previously chubby Canon-white! So a welcoming sight of course! :)

Pic abv (taken with PnS on 90mm zoom) show my close range with the adult dark morph, ~25' away. 


And below are the pic taken in my last trip, the adult, surprisingly, was 10' below the nesting for almost two hours. 

There are more species occur in this 10-acre durian plantation than i had previously thought. And finally i managed to get the shot of the Banded Bay Cuckoo (lifer)! There are 4 of them here but unfortunately opportunity for a close and low perch shot was not given. Extremely responsive to play calls in the late afternoon or early morning. 


And last week, an experienced birder joined me for the shoot, said he heard the calls of Plaintiff Cuckoo! Now I hate him for telling me that because it looks like I will be busy visiting here after the fledging of the CHE's chick


And I ought to come often because two pairs of the White-collared Kingfishers have started nesting, at least 2 Spotted Wood Owl were seen in the last three weeks, ok I need better shot of the Black-naped Oriole......... 

Banded Bay Cuckoo

Asian Brown Flycatcher, 

 Collared Kingfisher

 Common Iora

 Pied Thriller

 Sunda Woodpecker

Zebra Dove

White-breasted Waterhen

female Pink-necked Green Pigeon

And I need help for this species, taken last week in the durian plantation.  I am still unable to ID from my sources. It was seen twice near the stream, perch like a flycatcher. and so far I have never heard its calls. 


Any suggestion will be appreciated!

The owner keeps an 'army' of 8 dogs here help keep the monkeys and uninvited guests away. This puppy was named "Southern Wings" by me, because he is the only dog that would stay by my side for hours..