Welcome back Mr. Asian Brown

Asian Brown Flycatcher - Sambar Asia is back in my backyard

Asian Brown Flycatcher (Muscicapa dauurica)

Clear sky here in Malaysia for the past few days after wind pattern change to north-west, and push the haze and smoke from south  Kalimantan (open burning area and source of haze) in Indonesia to Sumatra.

Wind pattern map and haze API (air pollution index) - good in most part of Malaysia

Verditer

meaning:-
>A pigment made by grinding a basic copper carbonate; bice: azurite yields blue verditer, malachite yields green verditer.
>Bluish-green pigment
>Either of two basic carbonates of copper, used as a blue or green pigment

  Verditer Flycatcher - female (above) and compare it with all male (below)

Birds and Giant Fern

Giant/King Fern (Angiopteris evecta) at Fraser's Hill, Pahang, Malaysia

more about Giant Fern HERE

Grey-chinned Minivet (Pericrocotus solaris) - male

Grey-chinned Minivet (Pericrocotus solaris) -male

Blue Monday

Mr. Zorro

Verditer Flycatcher

humble down to earth bird - Verditer Flycatcher (Eumyias thalassina)

Location: Jelai Resort, Fraser's Hill, Pahang.

FH - Bluebird on King Fern

Verditer Flycatcher (Eumyias thalassina) at Giant/King Fern (Angiopteris evecta)

Location: Fraser's Hill, Pahang

Snowy-browed_Flycatcher in Action

This my second lifer for Gunung Ulu Kali trip

Look for food from a far...

Perched nearer... and action sequence from top left clockwise

Location: Gunung Ulu Kali, Genting Highland, Pahang.

So little and so near

This small bird (size 12cm) is very tame and go near to minimum focusing distance of my telephoto lens.
Male and female foraging at Jelai Resort parking lot.

Little Pied Flycatcher (Ficedula westermanni).  Male perch on the edge of flower pot

Location: Jelai Resort, Fraser's Hill, Pahang

Major attraction at Bukit Tinggi - Blue & White Flycatcher

This first-winter juvenile male Blue and White Flycatcher  (Cyanoptila cyanomelana), currently is a star attraction at Bukit Tinggi. Bird photographers from as far as Singapore, Penang, and even Taiwan came on a weekend here. I'm from Pahang, sure not to miss this beauty.

When I first arrived at 7.30am, this is what I got.
Later, when the lighting gets better, I got much improved shot. This bird is not afraid of photographer and will perch regularly to feed on insects and worms at the Botanical Garden.

The usual resident made their usual appearance and I will post it later.
Location: Japanese Garden, Bukit Tinggi, Pahang.
--

Have a look for more bird pictures at the Bird Photography Weekly @ Birdfreak.

Au revoir Les Bleus - Ciao Azzurri

The Blue Birds here are infected with the virus of FIFA World Cup 2010 from South Africa. ;) ;)
Both France and Italy were eliminated from the tournament.

Fraser's Hill birds - Large Niltava (leaping from a branch above) and Verditer Flycatcher (sad looking below).

Lesser Racquet-tailed Drongo at Bamboo tree.
Location: Jelai Resort and Hermant Trail, Fraser's Hill, Pahang.

Click the Logo above for more SkyWatch pictures from all over the world.

Verditer Flycatcher with and without Flash

Flash is an essential accessory in bird photography, especially in a dark canopy tropical forest like Malaysia. A better beamer or flash extender is frequently used to enhance the reach of the flash with a telephoto lens. How much flash output (+ or -) to use is an art you have to learn. Different bird plumage reacts differently. The default setting of my flash is at -1 and I manually adjust it according to the distance of the bird and background lighting.
The most common evidence of the flash of a bird is a red-eye or silver-eye effect. The further the bird from the camera the more noticeable the effect. We can minimize this with a flash bracket that shifts the flash from the centre of the lens.

The Verditer Flycatcher above perched at an electric cable about 20 feet from me. With the flash at minus 1 setting, the neck and breast colour are almost burned out.
Canon 50D fires in fast continuous shooting at 6 fps, the flash can't keep up, so I have flash and unflash pictures. With that, we can compare which one is the true plumage of the bird.
In this case, the un-flash is the true colour of this male Verditer Flycatcher.

Verditer Flycatcher (Eumyias thalassina)

Location: Jelai Resort, Fraser's Hill, Pahang.

Large Niltava at Hemmant trail

I found a pair of this species on the Hemmant trail  Fraser's Hill. This time without the aid of MP3 song. Surprisingly a male was very confiding and obliged to be photographed. The female flew off with only one decent picture.

Large Niltava (Niltava grandis decipiens ) ; Local name: Sambar Kubung Padi

female (above)

male (below)

Have a look for more bird pictures at the Bird Photography Weekly @ Birdfreak.

EDIT (update: 18/3/2011) - compare to Blue and White Flycatcher here:-

Black and White Birds

OK, it's not actually B&W but with shade of grey.

This Javan Cuckoo-Shrike (Coracina javensis) is my Lifer.

I had seen and photographed the male species of Little Pied Flycatcher, but this female is my Lifer.

Little Pied Flycatcher (Ficedula westermanni)

Rufous-browed Flycatcher

Bird photography this morning at Fraser's Hill, with Penang and Shah Alam Gang [Choo Tse Chien, Nelson Khor, Ng Kiah Hwa (Hawkeyes) and Lim Kam Su (Makus)].
Thank you guys for showing me this LIFER.

Rufous-browed Flycatcher (Ficedula solitaria)

Location: Telekom Lop, Fraser's Hill, Malaysia.

Here a photographers waiting for the bird to perch. Pic by Tse Chien.

from left: Tabib, Makus, Nelson, Chien and Kiah.

SkyWatch Friday at Bukit Tinggi

Click the Logo below for more SkyWatch pictures from all over the world.

I photographed this from quite a distance, so can't confirm the true ID of this Flycatcher.
It could be a Dark-sided Flycatcher or Brown-streaked Flycatcher.

I have no problem identifying this Black-thighed Falconet (Microhierax fringillarius).
This smallest bird of prey posed on dead tree high-up at Japanese Garden, waiting for it's meal.

another Flycatcher

Verditer Flycatcher

This is not my lifer, but a better shoots compare to my lousy butt shot in march last year.

Verditer Flycatcher (Eumyias thalassina)

"wheat-sower" from Japan - Mugimaki Flycatcher - That's my World!

Click the above LOGO for more participation from all over the world.

My Lifer - Sunday shooting at Bukit Tinggi, Pahang. I joined the bird photographers from Penang and Singapore. Meet all the familiar online names (TSChein, Alagan, Adrian Lim, et all). They are all veteran and experience bird photographers with big lenses aka bazookas (meaning 500, 600 & 800mm).
It was really fun shooting this little beauty. We stand waiting in the middle of the road, with those big lenses and tripod for the bird to perch at the lower clean branches, just outside the road's steel barrier. All the cameras already set and prefocus . While waiting we have a chat and look at the bird reference book. Suddenly somebody whispering "there, there Mugimaki!!". Rap-tap-tap-tap, the sound of cameras with 10fps rattling in unison with flash blazing. Surprisingly the bird just stands still posing for us, for a few seconds, so that everybody has enough full framed portrait to bring home, (and to show off at the birds forum). ;-)


Few of bird photographers - pictures with Nokia N70.
Left: Sree and Chien (and Alagan big 800mm). Right: Adrian (in green shirt), Low (Dominator) and Reno. Can you see Adrian's Porche sport rim there! ;)

Mugimaki Flycatcher (Ficedula mugimaki)

All my images are just for my record, croped (not full frame) and not sharp enough, not worth posting at birds forum. ;-)