As expected, the pair of Sunbirds appeared a few minutes after I watered the plants. These photos are that of the male Sunbird. Metallic plumage on the top of the neck and wing are shining blue, bit very black around the eyes and side of the head.
Taking off position.
A series of photos while the male sunbird is bathing on the wet fern leaves.
Rolling...
Wetting the wings...
This bird is often kept as pet for singing. This particular one is part of a pair that came feeding at my neighbour's garden. Not extremely shy though. I took this photo through a fence, from a low position, hence able to capture its legs too.
This is a female Brown-throated Sunbird (Anthreptes malacensis). It has olive colour feathers., and feed on nectar. I think about two pairs of the birds were in my garden this afternoon at about 5.20 pm, turn up for bath after I had sprayed water to the orchids. They appears so happy and flew down. One manage a quick bath by rolling down along along a fern leave! I snaped away and got a few good photos. Later another did the same. Wow, they must had a very hot day.
Spreading one wing to rub some water on.
Close up of the bird's rolling motion on the wet fern leave. It opened its wing a little to rub, and notice that it's kind of retracted the legs while bathing along the fern leave.
This is the male Sunbird companion. Had difficulty focusing it due to the vines in front. The male has brown throat and metalic blue shoulder patch. I refered to Morten Strange's A Photographic Guide to the Birds of Southeast Asia (my Valentine present from my dearest) to identify this birdie. Below are series of photos of the bird bathing.
Capture a shot of this flock in V formation with the early morning moon still visible on the background. Aperture f/4, Shutter speed 1/800, Exposure +5.0ev, Focal Length (35mm) 82mm, ISO 800.
The one on the middle has got something that look like a plastic bag. Poor bird. Aperture f/5.6, Shutter speed 1/800, Exposure +5.0, Focal Length (35mm) 300mm, ISO 800.
On February 9, 2009, the moon was really full and bright as it was closed to the earth. The night was cloudless. The national space agency here publicize that a lunar eclipse will occur between 8.39 pm-0.38 am. It did not happened. I was in and out and taking full moon photos until nearly 12pm! Aperture F/8. Shutter speed 1/125s, ISO 100
Aperture F/20, Shutter Speed 1/100s, ISO 100
Every morning, about 7 -7.20 am, birds fly across my housing estate in V shape formation. Close up photo revealed they are Little Egret (Egretta garzetta), (after I spent sometime researching on the web). Some are not flying is V formation as above photo. Quite amazing to watch, been watching them flying past for years. The morning sun light is still a bit dull and my 200mm zoom still cannot capture the details of the bird.
Some birds have lumps on their feet... can not figure out what happened to them. Difficult for the poor birds to fly. Maybe mud or bitten off by crocodiles... Seen one trying to catch up by itself, maybe it work up late? or just weak.
I took this shot through a chain-link fence, focusing on the birds. See the V formation. Quite a number of schools... I should make a count.
From my observation point at Taman Perling, the birds came from South East, flying North West. South East, the roosting place should be the Sungei Buloh Wetlands in Singapore, which is about 6.5 km or 4.2 miles away. The target looks like Gunung Pulai, a majestic mountain on the North-West direction. The birds may be using the mountain as a guide to go down south following the river from Gunung Pulai, to a great wetlands Ramsar Site in the estuary of Sungai Pulai.
I shot this last night at about 12am. Moon was just in front of nearly right on top. It was a cloudless night and the illumination from the moon was very good.
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