The smallest in size of Asian elephant subspecies, the pygmy elephants of Borneo are baby-faced with oversized ears, plump bellies and tails so long they sometimes drag on the ground as they walk. They are also more gentle-natured than their Asian elephant counterparts.
Some may consider this a a Endemic mammals species …
update 202405
– a “cute” single elephant found on today, amazing feeling while we plan for what option to see one but one just appear infront of us.
– 非常幸运的客人，客人还在讲如何办法可以看看这一只小可爱。尽然我们去看鸟时就遇上。还游泳过河。
202405, Kinabatangan River, Sabah, Malaysia
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update 202402
– wonderful visit even, quite a bit rain but meet up 2 group of Borneo Big in 2 days make everyone smile …
– 虽然很多雨，可是2天内见2群婆羅洲侏儒象。应该没什么投诉吧。
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update 202309
– lucky and very lucky moment meet single elephant after heavy rain and got wet. it feed alone and slowly on the river bank – 非常非常幸运遇上单只象在河边吃东西。慢慢的吃
update 202307
– another good moment to see this “big creature” just arrive and got the new, it is nearby straight to nearby for some good birding than follow by main target for all.
Due to the Covid-19 lock down for Malaysia from 18-31 March 2020. I finally have time to clear my HDD …. lets do some mammals collection
1. Smooth-coated otter, 江獭
not that rare, found Malim Nawar, Kinabatangan River , Putrajaya, etc
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update 202301
– a very unlucky month but for wildlife and bird still reasonable good. Saw this cute fellow and stand long for me turn my camera for some picture before running into the river.
– 不是很辛运的一个月。可是鸟/动物运还是很好。见到这么可爱家伙，还站了一会让我拍照。
202301, Klang, Selangor, Malaysia
update 202211
– a raining morning, nothing else beside this family entertain me well
1. Sunda Leopard Cat, 巽它豹猫, Prionailurus javanensis
Found this cute and little cat on 2 night drive at recent Borneo Birding tour, lets share this video before I check out the pictures of the other drive
update 202409
– 3 nights at Tabin, sights more than 15 of this cute little cat. saw 2 of them sit calm looking at us just so excited
– 3天塔宾野生动物保护区，见到不少于15次。还有2次是一对坐那不理搭我们。好兴奋啊
202409, Tabin, Lahad Datu, Sabah
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– wonderful day1 of Mammals searching, this one stay there like inside a cage for long and let us have good view and picture
I had recently got very good view of Red-breasted Partridge (or Bornean Partridge) from center of Borneo island , which @Sarawak . It make me feel I should share this , so we can see the different .
Red-breasted Partridge, Arborophila hyperythra (Sarawak , center of Borneo)
At center of Borneo (Sarawak) all the birds seen with white or light grey supercilium, brighter throat, chin …. which never seen at Kinabalu National Park, Crocker Range.
a 3d2n bird special bird photography tour just target for 2 new bird family recent split – Pygmy Cupwing & Crested Shrikejay. As John & Linda working on collecting bird for each family of the world .
*** all bird list with pictures taken
Day1 – drive ~1.5 hour from KL to Fraser Hill . Foggy and very quick we just wait ~2 minute and got the bird and <10 minutes we are ready to leave …
Day3- we repeat the Shrikejay searching in the morning for better picture quality . and immediate we arrive our site. less than 10 min, we got the bird for ~a hour and with better lighting .
after the Shrikejay left , we spend little bit time in the forest and we got
we had a pair a trogon before lunch time, and we decide leave earlier and if we arrive KL on time we will visit nearby site for Pitta. Whos dont love PITTA 😀
after 4 hour drive, we arrive KL site .Without much wait we got both Hooded Pitta & Blue-winged Pitta
I am trying the setup for weeks, and I want to try some not quite fast moving bird with the “High resolution” mode which blend 8 RAW to single which make 80 MP image(raw)
I am Canon user for long, and recently I have my Panasonic setup slowly build up. I like my L lens and my G9 ….
one day, someone told me . I actually can use all my L lens on my M4/3 G9 . Due to busy work schedule, I dont have time to look into it until last week. I finally have time purchase one online and test it last 2 days … I did very quick test more testing would like to do
1. AF accuracy
2. AF performance
3. can both Len and Body Image Stabilizer work together as Panasonic Len ?
if all above work well, than I would prefer to use my G9 on my Canon EF500mm F4 IS2 ….
1. pre-burst mode for G9
2. Dual IS – IBIS and Len IS
3. internal 4k , 30fps 10bit log (and future I can get GH5 for more)
4. 180fps slow motion
etc
so TEST1 – AF performance
I try both 500mm (outdoor), 1635F4IS (indoor)
BOTH give me very fast AF .. and very accurate (no fine tune done on my adapter). the new eye AF work fine with human , but not really work on big bird (buffy Fish Owl) and small bird .
TEST1 (click the picture for actual size view)
– Adjust contrast, Saturation, noise reduction
update 2020 May
Panasonic G9+Canon 500mm F4IS2
ISO500, F3.5, 1/250
Siberian blue robin, 藍歌鴝,Luscinia cyane, 蓝歌鸲,コルリ, Murai Biru Siberia
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A. Panasonic G9+Canon 500mm F4IS2
ISO640, F4, 1/125
B. Panasonic G9+Canon 500mm F4IS2
ISO640, F5, 1/160
Is a long journey from Malaysia – Sulawesi – Jayapura (~26 hours without a bed, too much coffee and waiting) …for the day1 when we arrive, we give Magnificent Riflebird a try but failed to have any photo .. but the bird was well seen above our “hide”
Day2 – Nimbokrang
We start our drive, walk ~430am, 15 min drive and ~20min walk … the first Bird-of-paradise is waiting for us .. before we walk into our “hide”. The bird keeps calling, trying to attract female … but seem it is not attractive enough. only one female comes close and fast. The male trying to “show off” with some action but the female flew off just immediate it trying to show his “dance”
I am mostly recording video, so this picture I share is a Jpeg extract from Canon Digital Photo Professional software …
– one of the most easier, walk not that far and the birds just there without any waiting
– first Bird-of-Paradise of the trip and amazing beautiful
非常漂亮的天堂鳥。
update 202105
– let’s share some old pictures and video
– this was 2019 Oct, our West Papua Bird Photography trip first Birds-of-Paradise and one of the most easier.
– special of this bird is the tails
2. King Bird-of-paradise, 王极乐鸟, 王天堂鳥, Cicinnurus regius, ヒヨクドリ, Cendrawasih Raja
BoP #2 which is my target #1 for this tour, was just about 20min walking after Twelve-wired Bird-of-Paradise, but this is so much smaller, higher & active makes only a very limited angle to get the full view. I am lucky to have this just ~5min wait.
King Bird-of-paradise, 王极乐鸟
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3. Lesser Bird-of-paradise, 小极乐鸟, 小天堂鳥, Paradisaea minor, コフウチョウ, Cendrawasih Kecil
– The only BoP we didn’t see much and dancing .. just hear most of the time … the location we wait seem not the really correct location for “dancing” … but it did flying across and let us record
– another not so obvious Bird-of-Paradise got from Irian Jaya.
– this is so far away, and somehow it still belongs to BoP .. we got it record ..
– 鳥不是特別出色，還要在遠遠的。
– 攝於伊里安查亚
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After 5 days of “enjoy”, reasonable food, easy walk (flat), air-cond room, not far from airport and bird spots .. we finally move to 2nd destination Arfak Mountain..
After got the information before, we get ready with some extra food … sleeping beg, insect repellent, etc .. just before we going into a “no Phone” (only a particular spot can get a phone signal which is a bit distance from our “homestay”. After ~2 hours of offroad travel, we arrive at our homestay a little bit late and with rain .. so we call this a day and enjoy our cold stay
Here, we need to split into a few groups to decide on different BoP hide due to limited “hole” for photography …
Day1 at Arfak Mountain
5. Western Parotia, 阿法六线风鸟, 阿法六線風鳥, Parotia sefilata, カンザシフウチョウ, Parotia Arfak
– lucky to have this amazing, lovely bird for bird #1 .. we walk a very steep hike ~45-60 degree uphill for ~500m … we saw the bird-eating, calling for the whole morning but just not dancing … at ~9 am, we almost give up … the female came to the dancing group, followed by the male than the moment begin …
update 202105
– a big overall blackbird, with a colorful throat depends on the angle and also have a Blue eye
– the male famous with ballerina dance displaying to attract female
– 非常特别的天堂鸟。大，黑，喉会变黄绿。为吸引母鸟会跳草裙舞
201910, Mount Arfak, West Papua, Indonesia
update 2020 Jul
Western Parotia, 阿法六線風鳥, 阿法六线风鸟, Parotia sefilata
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so amazing to see it dancing ..
update 2020 Jan 16
a close look at the Juv
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6. Red Bird-of-paradise, 红极乐鸟, 紅極樂鳥, Paradisaea rubra, ジュウニセンフウチョウ, Cendrawasih Mati-kawat
actually, this is the last BoP of the tour but I really like it so much when I process the pictures …. can’t wait to share this great moment with you all. Endemic, common but somehow I really like this
update 202102
update 202011
update 2020 May
Red Bird-of-paradise, 紅極樂鳥, Paradisaea rubra,ジュウニセンフウチョウ, Cendrawasih Mati-kawat
update 2020 Jan 23
one of my favor photo .. when this Red BoP decide make noise face to face to me
– another BoP that really amazes us, it keeps cleaning the “dancing” ground and displaying (dancing) to attract a female. make a lot of photo opportunity
– one of the easiest and beautiful Bird-of-Paradise
– every morning, it will come to “dance” ground clearing and calling the female – this is a moment after an hour clearing, no female is approaching so it is resting and preening nearby
– 一隻蠻普通+漂亮的風鳥，天堂鳥。
– 每天它都會到這清理，呼叫。希望母鳥的到來。
update 202105
– one of the most seen, photograph BoP, but still like this bird very much. the body contains so much color and the chest “green” can changing depend on lighting and angle to “purple”
Frogmouth is one of my favorite bird family .. and I like to see them at night .. this frogmouth is huge !!! average 53cm !!!! We do not really look for it but on the way to our BoP saw it on the wire, road site so I decided to walk down shoot it with handheld .. yes handheld 😀 to reduce time waste …
– One of the most beautiful Monarch seen so far …this male just lovely with a blue eye-ring.
– male Blue-white and female is orange-rufous
– 非常特別與漂亮的王鶲
update 202102
– when I first saw the female, I was like wow this Monarch is just gorgeous. then we spent quite some time getting the male into the frame too.– as other Monarch, active and noisy bird– 當我們見到母鳥時真的不能相信這麼漂亮的王鶲– 讓後我們都決定用一點時間把公鳥拍下。
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– heard this bird calling many places but just too shy to show
– obvious bill shape
– 很多點都能聽到它叫。就是很難見到。
8. Vogelkop Bowerbird, 褐色园丁鸟, 褐色園丁鳥, Amblyornis inornata, チャイロニワシドリ, Namdur Polos
– one of the amazing birds, how this bird behaves… we spend our rest time to monitor this bird for 2 evenings.. it just amazing collect and put the same color “rubbish” to decorate the house.
– while we hiking for other birding sites, I actually notice some colorful rubbish been hide in some hole …think the bird knows how to keep the “rubbish” in another location if it is not required.
– 蠻大，沒什麼顏色的鳥。
– 非常特別的鳥，會把不一樣的”垃圾“。顏色分類。真的很厲害。
update 202105
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9. Common Paradise-Kingfisher, 普通仙翡翠, 普通仙翡翠, Tanysiptera galatea, ラケットカワセミ, Cekakak-pita biasa
– Blue-white, red bill & long-tailed
– this bird is common especially at Raja Ampat, but it just too active and shy ..
– 印尼拉賈安帕群島蠻普通的鳥，可是很害羞。不容易拍照片。
Common Paradise-Kingfisher, 普通仙翡翠, 普通仙翡翠, Tanysiptera galatea
update 202102
- this bird very active and beautiful for both male and female
- captured our stay at our hotel at Raja Ampat
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12. Lesser Frigatebird, 白斑军舰鸟, 白班軍艦鳥, Fregata ariel, コグンカンドリ, Cikalang Kecil
– one of the least common in this region with the Greater
– male is easier to distinct but females sometimes confuse.
– LF which refers has obviously the extended spurs which absent from Greater Frigatebird. some angles may confuse with Christmas Island Frigatebird.
update 202101
- captured this at our hotel near the beach while our stay at Raja Ampat, Indonesia
- the spurs extend from the center white breast
- blackhead, the white breast should be an adult female?
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13. Golden Monarch, 金王鹟, 黑黃王鶲, Carterornis chrysomela, キイロカササギビタキ, Kehicap Emas
