Banded Kingfisher (Lacedo pulchella), female

Panti 3rd Sept 2010

The trip to Panti today caught me by big surprise! A femake BKF landed just 5 feet in front of me out of nowhere. The back light was strong and I couldn't see its ID probably, so I moved forward to take a closer look and almost fainted in disbelief!

BKFs are much sought after by birding photographers for its rarity and beauties, this particular Kingfisher often perch high, 30-50', its calls are often heard along the bunker trail and Temple trail of Panti but they are seldom seen.

I have only seen the female once before, and numerous record shots of the male that perched slightly lower than the Petronas Tower!

Pekaka Rimba * 横斑翠鸟*カザリショウビン*Sả vằn

Pic was taken with D3s 500mmVR F4 TC1.4 ISO2000 F9 1/40s No Flash and MLU.

Streaked-breasted Woodpecker (Picus viridanus), Tj Piai

If you go Tj Piai, there is a long and straight cyclist concrete pavement on your right before the main building, The wooden observation tower is located about 200m on your left. There are some facilities for campers and children (obstacle course) built on the left sides of the pavement (before the tower).

The SB Wookpeckers are tame (for my case here though) and perch quietly at low level so you are likely to miss them if you are an unobservant birder like me. :)

The SBWs were seen at a swampy area near and opp the Tower. They must be the greatest portait models among all the woodpeckers I have shot. Hopping around slowly and each time it would perch motionlessly for mins, a perfect situation for a low speed MLU shot.

Two very important things to bear in mind if you visit Tj Piai!

1) Bring along insect spray or at least apply some to your exposed skin because the mosquitoes come in big numbers!

2) DO NOT carry quick bites or carry bag with tit-bits/food inside. These monkeys are everywhere and they do look tame and cute. But should one of them charge to snatch your food, all the rest would act the same. In one of the incidence we had last year, about 30 monkeys were charging at us in the lobby from all direction because of London Rolls in our pockets!!

In 2nd incidence I was alone, I left my original Nikon lens pouch near my Tenba bag on the ground, within mins it was snatched away and lucky for me that a quick chase with the tripod forced them to throw back the cover back to me!! :)

Yeap, I still can recognize the pathetic look of these two kids, they were the ones who snatched my Nikon lens pouch! Arrr....

Chestnut-bellied Malkoha (Phaenicophaeus sumatranus), Tj Piai

The Chestnut-bellied Malkohas are quite frequently seen in Panti Bird Sanctuary along the main bunker trail. But they tend to perch high, and often not in the open. I have photographed quite a few times but wasn't very happy with the imgs captured.

In my 4th trip to Tj Piai on the 25th Sept 2009, we spotted 2 CBMs of unusual behavior near the jetty. They were shuttling non-stop to-and -flo across our path and just inches away from our setup and bodies.

And on two incidents its wings were touching my back and tripod rexpectively, as witnessed by my friends, Boon, GCWong, and Ong.

Many times we were trying to avoid being crashed by them in the limited space of the jetty narrow walkway!

One of the them was with food in mouth, the other was just calling non-stop. Luckily for all of us, after all the commotion, they got tired and perched for few mins at eye-level just 15' from our setup

*Imgs abv were shot with D300 500mm VR F4 TC1.4

Buffy Fish Owl (Ketupa ketupu), Tanjung Piai

One of my most unforgettable birding trips was capturing the imgs of this BFO in Tanjung Piai, on the 25th of Aug 2009. It was my first visit then!

The owl perched right behind me silently while I was setting up my gear in one of the trail, and my nephew, Cliff Khew, who spotted it first and said "You better take a quick look at this, something really huge, and close!". That sent a shiver down my spine, for I was thinking it must be some kind of man-eating animal inching towards us, like the Giant Python or a ferocious crocodile.

As i turned my head slowly looking down, expecting the worst.... Cliff pointed up with a big smile....."Look!"

My setup then was D300 with 500mm TC1.4 , Cliff was with D90 and 300mm F4. The BFO was cooperative, making all sorts of eyes and head movement as if dying for our portrait shots.

So both Cliff and I were frantically filling up our mem cards and we tried all kinds of settings one could possibly imagine, from diff WB to diff flash setting...low iso to high iso, MLU to machine gun firing.....we even exchanged our lenses!!

It only flew away when i tried to close in for a side profile shot 45mins later...

Subsequent visit to Tj Piai later we did not see this BFO again, and were told by the management that it was always seen at the pond before the ticketing office early in the morning 5-7am, and after 9pm at night.

Other species seen/img captured; Chestnut-bellied Malkoha, Streak-breasted and Sunda Woodpecker, Purple-throated Sunbirds, Collared and Blk-caped Kingfisher, Jungle Fowls, White-eyeds, Oriental Magpie Robin, White-throated Fantails, Braminy Kites, White-bellied Sea Eagles, Blue-throated Bee-eater, cuckoo (??), Ashy Tailorbirds etc and common migratory shore birds like sandpipers and plovers etc. Will upload more soon. :)

Tanjung Piai is located in the southernmost point of Johor, Malaysia, so it is also known internationally as the southernmost point of Mainland Asia.

For more info abt Tj Piai please visit their website at:

http://tourism.gov.my/en/destinations/item.asp?item=tanjungpiai

Fluffy-backed Tit Babbler (Macronous ptilosus)

FBTBs are generally very easy to shoot in Panti around this time of the year. Habitually hang around underneath thick undergrowth of fern near swampy area or adjacent to streams. My fav spot is at the Swamp before the Elephant Trail of Panti.

Although they are easy target, but getting a full body shot can be frustrating at times, as they prefer to hide partly in the bush while responding to your calls. Fortunately they do like to perch clean for a brief moment just once in a while so you have to be quick to act within seconds.

This image was captured today with full side profile at a distant of 10' with D3s 500mm VR F4 ISO 3200 f11 1/80s.

Black-and-red Broadbill (Cymbirhynchus macrochynchus)

I don't remember sighting a single BRBB in Panti in 2009. But in June and July this year, they appeared suddenly out of nowhere and started to build nests frantically around the Green Tower.

Generally they are quite shy and they always seemed constantly on the look out for imminent danger. Hence, if you rush to set up your gear in front of them upon sighting would most likely to scare them away with no show for 1-2hours..

These brightly-coloured birds can be friendly and perch low (around 6-8' ) and close (10 to 15') as long as they are given sufficient time to be comfortable with you. I usually hang around near them for 20-30min without direct eye contact before snapping at them.

Many have asked me the trick of having 2 of them perched together, I guess the only explanation is I was shooting alone, camou cloth over my head and the surrounding was really quiet that day. They do always perch close together as far as my observations are concerned.

The high iso capability of D3s enabled me to shoot these BIF shots early in the morning at iso6400 1/800s to 1/1000s. Imgs were superimposed as you could easily tell in the different building material it carried. :)

Oriental Dwarf Kingfishers

When I started birding photography last year, sighting of ODKF were rare despite my frequent trips to Panti. But then again i wasn't experienced enough to look for them :) !

Year 2010 the situation turns around, and much to the photographers' delights, between April to August alone, nestings were spotted at various locations.

Sharing some of my fav shots here...