UPDATE Oct 07, 2008: SUNNY MORNING RHAPSODY
UPDATE Oct 06, 2008: HORNBILLS LOOKING FOR FOOD AMONG US
I want to take this opportunity to thank Jude Williams of Bobolee Chronicles for the support although it amuses me to suddenly find myself a “wildlife photographer” when perhaps my peers and clients know me more of an Corporate Events / Commercial guy. Perhaps the cries of the hornbills have been my calling.
© Bobolee Chronicles
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It’s official and in case you haven’t noticed (or registered), we have Hornbill School, Hornbill Apartments, Hornbill Drink at the Panaga Club and Hornbills, our feathery friends that have made oil town SERIA their home! On my way home from badminton around 5pm yesterday, driving past Seria town heading home, I saw in the distance a shadowy pair of hornbills flying towards me—the unmistakable 3-flaps-and-glide pattern. When they finally got out of the shadows into the beaming sunset glow the sight was beautiful. Moments like this I wished I had my camera with me. So I headed home and grabbed my 20D/100-400mm and headed back out to town for another hornbill adventure …
These pair were spotted right (pardon the pun) at the power station right across from Shell refinery. Looking at them through the viewfinder and seeing the left bird pecking at the spot light left me amused. It might have seen a mirror-reflection of itself thinking there’s a third-party involved 🙂
© Jan Shim Photography
What happens next I guess is a stroke of luck. You cannot take your eyes off them and having learnt this lesson, I know better. In spite of that wisdom and experience it’s still fairly difficult to capture them in flight unless you have the right equipment: extremely fast AF and accurate AI SERVO with high fps but I make do with my EOS 20D which is more than capable of getting the shot! Here, one of them took a dive into a tree below and spent the next 5 minutes or so hopping from branch to branch before finally taking off!
© Jan Shim Photography
© Jan Shim Photography
Taking a breather while the birds are lost in the trees, one of the curious uniformed security guards from the power station who had earlier given me the thumbs-up said he’d seen the “Burong Enggang” (hornbill in Malay language) on the DST EASI PREPAID cards. He seemed delighted when I told him that’s one of my pictures … moments before one of the birds took off towards the refinery while the second followed shortly but nearly got hit by an on coming car … quite the excitement catching them in flight though not always the case.
© Jan Shim Photography
© Jan Shim Photography
© Jan Shim Photography
Realizing that it’s too dark for any more hornbill adventure, I drove around a bit and came across this sunset sihouette of a nearby nodding donkey (the one next to the water tower in town). I’ve been scouting the areas for a week now looking for the best and most dramatic vantage point and I guess this works! It would certainly complement my SERIA SUNRISE SILHOUETTES and complete the picture, so to speak!
© Jan Shim Photography
HORNBILLS LOOKING FOR FOOD AMONG US
These pictures were captured earlier this afternoon when our amah spotted one at the gate just as she was getting the laundry in. By the time I grabbed the camera, loaded a CF card and went downstairs, it had flown from the overhead cable to the fence and hopped onto the neighbour’s air-conditioner where it found what appeared to be its main food—berries. I can understand berries the find in the wild but finding them trapped inside A/C wall is incredible. Perhaps this is where an 8.5 fps camera comes in handy with an increased frame rate to capture it dunking the berry into its mouth.
© Jan Shim Photography
Shortly it flew to the neighbour across the road and I instinctively followed. Having 640mm helps but you always find yourself wanting more. Luckily for me, these birds are quite used to human presence that they go about their business until you become a threat.
© Jan Shim Photography
This neighbour, unlike most neighbours, has a rather rudimentary accommodation and I’ve always thought the fire engine red mail box is the one thing that stands out. It’s just loud compared to everything else there so today one bird decided to pry into the opening but to no avail.
© Jan Shim Photography
SUNNY MORNING RHAPSODY
As with most mornings, the piercing cries of the hornbills penetrate the house as they go about their usual business, going from tree to tree, hopping from branch to branch and transiting on TV antenna. This morning in particular, the difference being I went after them this time going from patio to patio and later found myself in the middle of a big empty field caught right in the middle of the echoing cries—two hornbills visited my kampong but got separately shortly thereafter.
© Jan Shim Photography
I captured a series of fly-by shots after I resumed position at the kitchen patio and observed the pair in the distant tree. After I was baked in the scorching sun for a good 15-20 minutes they decided to take off and (viola!) in my direction, well almost!
© Jan Shim Photography
This grand finale is a composite from two images that I managed to capture in focus and in good light! I’m delighted with the results from three days of consecutive shoot.
© Jan Shim Photography
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