Garden birdwatch II

Oh no, I feel this is developing into a new expensive hobby - shooting birds with my camera! I was out in the garden yesterday and again this evening, spotting birds with Nikon + 70-300 in hand.

 

While in the house, I had heard a loud bird calling non-stop just outside so I grabbed the camera and went looking for it. It was a small and dark-colored bird, looked like a parrot of some sort. Alas, it flew off beyond the reach of my lens.

 

So I walked around the house and waited patiently till I spotted a pair of black-winged flycatcher-shrikes (Hemipus hirundinaceus) that flew down to a small tree near me. They made no movement and no sound as I walked about photographing them from below. One was perched close to the tip of a small branch and the other a bit higher up but then flew down to join its friend.

 

 

It was getting dark and luckily for me, they had chosen this tree to roost for the night.

 

Because of the fading light, I had to up the sensitivity to ISO1600 to get some decent pics. The photos were then cropped to center on the subject.

 

Having shot a few photos of birds, I now feel the Nikon 70-300VR to be severely limited in range. I sure hope I don’t develop another expensive hobby and end up buying a whole bunch of lenses and converters!! Already I feel like the D700 or its replacement should be my next camera. Oh no oh no oh no! Maybe a few more bird shots and I’ll get bored and move on. lol

 

Meanwhile, here are more photos. As usual, click each for larger size:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Garden birdwatch I

Recently, I’ve started taking photos of birds I see around the house. Here are some birds photographed in my backyard and garden in recent days (click on the photos for the larger version). Because the birds are often far away or high up in trees, each photo was cropped to center on the subject and sharpened where necessary.

 

A pair of oriental magpie robins (Copsychus saularis; Malay name: burung murai). The one on the right has a grub or grasshopper in its beak which it fed to the bird on the left. 1/500s f/5.6 ISO 400 450mm equiv.

 

I guess they are a nesting pair? Which is the male and which is the female? Or is this a parent and a juvenile? 1/500s f/5.6 ISO 400 450mm equiv.

 

Asian glossy starlings (Aplonis panayensis) are one of the most common birds to visit my garden and trees. When my Engkala (Litsea garciae) trees are fruiting, a big flock of them will often be seen feeding on the fruits even before they ripen. They also like to feed on ripe papayas still on the tree.

 

A lone sunbird chirping away and preening in between songs.

 

Yellow-vented bulbul (Pycnonotus goiavier) feeding on the fruits of a small tree-shrub.

 

Yellow vented bulbuls often fly into my orchid shade house and visit each mount or pot looking for grub. Sometimes a bird will even fight with its own image in my tinted windows thinking there’s another bird in there! This was taken with my Olympus e510 but I absentmindedly left the ISO setting at 1600 resulting in a noisy picture.

 

Common mynas (Acridotheres tristis).