A young White-bellied Sea-Eagle in flight is an awesome sight.

… and breathtakingly beautiful.

The Black-shouldered Kite has soft snow-white feathers.

So what are birds of prey?

Birds of prey are birds that hunt and eat other animals. These other animals are known as prey. Birds of prey catch, kill and carry prey with their claws, which are called talons.

This juvenile White-bellied Sea-Eagle is carrying prey.

Daytime birds of prey are active during the day and sleep at night. Nocturnal birds of prey, such as owls, are active during the night. They rest during the day.

The Nankeen Kestrel is a daytime bird of prey because it hunts during the day.

- Confucius

Have you ever seen something so beautiful it takes your breath away?

 Last week I went to one of my favourite bird watching places. I turned on my camera, adjusted its settings and waited. And waited. And waited.

 Suddenly, I noticed a small shadow in front of me. It was moving!

 I looked up. My mouth fell open. An immature White-bellied Sea-Eagle was flying over me. It was so low in the sky I could see every exquisite marking on its underside.

 I took a few photos. Then I lowered my camera so I could soak in the sight.

 Photos are great. I love taking them and I love looking at them. But it’s the experience that matters. That’s what I want to keep and treasure forever.

 Standing by that road, I realised that seeing the beauty in our World can sometimes be as simple as looking up.

Birds of prey

Australian daytime birds of prey

Map from Google showing the places I travel. A is where I start and end

It had been about two weeks since I returned from a trip to Pekanbaru in the island of Sumatra. It is the capital of Riau Province, Indonesia. The trip was a result of my initial planned trip to Penyalai, Teluk Dalam in the island of Mendol to photograph a pair of White-bellied Sea Eagle which I came to know on my first visit to Penyalai a few months back.

Speed leaving Penyalai

From Singapore, I boarded a ferry at Harbour Front Ferry terminal to Tanjung Balai, Pulau Karimun. I then immediately continued onwards to Tanjung Batu, Pulau Kundur and spent a night there. The next morning I boarded a fast boat called ‘Speed’ by the locals for a short half hour journey to Penyalai.

Penyalai is a small town, similar in size to the towns seen in cowboy movies. There is only one accommodation and a very humble one for that matter. Since it is a monopoly, the price for a night is not cheap, Rp 60000 for a room with fan and Rp 100000 for a room with air-conditioning and you only have electricity when it gets dark. I paid Rp 60000 in Tanjung Batu, far more better room condition plus air-conditioning and 24 hours electricity. That said, it is just a note here, I am not complaining. I like the place and what makes me like the place is the eagles that sometimes fly low and very near.

Market in Penyalai near the pier

A reminder of my childhood

Strong current in the strait

The pair of eagles appeared at the area around the pier at about the same time as before, in my previous visit, at about an hour after noon. Since this was my second encounter with the birds, I was getting better but still not perfect. I felt much more composed. Maybe next time I should offer them some goodies.

White-bellied Sea Eagle

Its partner

Old habits die hard but bad old habits need to change. People need to wise up. I was surprised to see two young ladies on the bridge merrily walking and talking to each other, each carrying a box. They then edged closer to the railing, flip the box over and emptied it over the sea. 50 years ago this is not a problem, they are all organic, and the weather and time will take care of it. Now there is plastic and sadly in a hundred years it is still plastic. People attitudes are the same wherever they are. There are the good, the bad and the ugly. I do see people with good habits in Penyalai. They burned their rubbish. No truck collecting rubbish here in the island.

The plastic trash is an eyesore

The next morning I boarded a Speed for a six-hour long trip up the river to Kerinci, stopping at Teluk Meranti¹ for lunch. I did not felt like spending the night in Kerinci, maybe next time, so I continued on to Pekanbaru. The termed for the van that plied the route between these two towns was ‘Siputih’ and the journey took more than an hour. I spent two nights in Pekanbaru and did some shopping and walking around.

Somewhere in Pekanbaru

I obliged to the request of these young entrepreneurs

Morning rush hour in Pekanbaru

I did my shopping at Ramayana

Man fishing at Siak River

The Grand Mosque of Pekanbaru

Motorcycle park

Avian for sale

headgear for sale

On the third day at about 10.00am, I left for Dumai on the east coast of the island of Sumatra. Another six hours of road journey plus stoppage for lunch. I told the driver to drop me at the ticket office for the ferry to Malacca. After I had bought the ticket I checked in at a hotel just next to it. I was too tired to walk around looking for cheaper alternative furthermore it was nearer to the ferry terminal.

Dumai town. The ferry ticket office is just behind this van

Dumai International & Domestic Ferry Terminal

Next morning I decide to walk to the ferry terminal which was about two or three kilometres away. I left Dumai for Malacca at about 11.00am and from Malacca I boarded a bus to Johor and home.

Melaka Sentral Terminal

Shops inside Melaka Sentral

On my way home

Note:

1. At a certain time of the year there will be huge waves rolling-in up the river called Bono. I sure would like to see this phenomenon but I do not know if they have enough accommodation for the influx of seasonal tourists there in Teluk Meranti. Click here to have a look at the phenomenon.

We made arrangements at our hotel on Sunday for the tour. Soon after breakfast on Monday, the tour van pulled up and the family hopped in. On our way out-of-town, the driver stopped at a bakery to get some bread (part of lunch), and then we made the short drive to the Prek Toek Sap ranger’s station located on National Road #4. (We had passed it when we arrived from Phnom Penh.) Once there, we were given an orientation to the day’s activities: a river boat ride through the park to a secluded beach on the Gulf of Thailand; time at the beach for swimming, exploration, etc; a short hike through the forest; lunch at a fishing village within the park; boat ride back to our starting place. Because we had at least one park ranger along on the trip, I assumed that the tour was something that the park employees were able to do to supplement their income.

The route of our park tour. We started at the northern (upper) end of the red line at the ranger station on National Road #4. The beach is at the southern end where the loop intersects the peninsula on the west side. We ate lunch after a trek across the peninsula to the east side.

The first portion of the trip was an enjoyable boat ride, but it was fairly uneventful…

Ordinary Spouse appears to be having a good time

As we cruised along, the guides shared some information about the park. It is one of seven national parks in Cambodia and was established by the former king, Norodom Sihanouk (namesake of Sihanoukville) in 1993. Cambodians who lived in the park when it was established have been allowed to remain and continue their lifestyle – primarily fishing. The guides pointed out their work as we went. Poles planted in the river bed marked spots where fishing nets had been lowered or where oyster beds could be found…

The houses of the fishing community dotted the river banks (mixed with the rustic cabins of the park rangers)…

Here are some of the houses of the fishing families

A cottage of one of the park rangers

This is one of my favorite pictures of our entire trip: beautiful sky, green forest, fishing village, and our rustic tourist boat

And the guides shared some stories about native plant and animal life…

This riverside plant (that the ranger called “Jack”) is good for thatching roofs

Despite these highlights, however, I was becoming a little disappointed with the trip. We hadn’t really seen much in terms of wildlife, and the river was becoming a bit too routine. It didn’t help that I was sitting in the sun. But that changed as we approached the gulf. First, we started seeing small crabs swimming nearby. They’d be at the surface, and then dive when they spotted the boat. Next, the water got choppy as we left the river for more open sea and the wind exerted a greater influence (not that we ever got too far from land). And finally, we landed on the beach.

In my last post, I described my idea of a great time at the beach: lots of walking and few people. Well, that’s exactly what I got…

Beach, beach, and more beach!

After about an hour at the beach (I would’ve loved a lot more!), everyone on the tour was gathered together for our hike through the forest. It wasn’t a long walk – only about 1.5 km – although I was a little concerned about how the girls would do. However, they really did fine, especially once we were into the forest and out of the sun. The only real challenge was encouraging Youngest Daughter after she tripped on a tree root. We didn’t see any large animals, but the air was full of the sound of cicadas.

Here is our family. I’m in the back (taking the picture). In front of me: my mother-in-law, Ordinary Spouse with Youngest Daughter, Oldest and Middle Daughters with my father-in-law.

A stream through the forest

Ordinary Spouse and Youngest Daughter trekking through the forest, accompanied by cicadas

This is one of my favorite pictures, looking back at the forest as we emerge on the other side.

We approach the water again on the other side of the peninsula

We emerged from the forest into a fishing village, with the guide providing an education on some local food options: cashews, lemon grass, hot pepper plants, and a species of ant that could be used to make sour soup. And once we got to the far side of the village, it was time for lunch. It wasn’t completely clear who was providing the lunch: park employees? villagers? some combination of both? I’m guessing that all of these lines were blurred. We ate at this simple place at the end of the dock…

Lunch shack

Poor Youngest Daughter – she picked up a splinter in the hand rail. I guess everyone was tired as we waited…

Waiting for lunch. Note how Youngest Daughter is holding her finger to protect it.

However, lunch revived us. The cold drinks were very welcome, and the barracuda was tasty. (Later, I would wonder why I didn’t order seafood at Happy Herb Pizza, considering how good the barracuda was here.)

Barracuda, cabbage salad, and bread. We also had cold Cokes and fresh fruit. My father-in-law used these ingredients to make a sandwich. Brilliant!

After lunch, we hopped into our tour boat again to begin the trip back to the ranger station where we started.

Our waiting tour boats

There were a few highlights from our return trip. One was a stop at a ranger lookout tower. We walked a narrow wooden walkway through mangrove forest to get to the tower. It was a nice view, but for some reason, heights started to bother me more once I became a father. In this case, there weren’t a whole lot of places to hold on…

The walkway

The tower

The view down

The view outward

Another high point of the return trip (especially for Middle Daughter) was seeing two majestic eagles and two colorful kingfishers. Our tour guides identified them for us. (I wasn’t able to get good pictures of any of them, so these are from Wikipedia.)

From left to right (follow links for image credits):

• Gray-headed fish eagle – This bird looked a bit like a Bald Eagle to us. It was the smaller of the two eagles.
• White-bellied sea eagle – Even from a distance, we could tell that this bird was immense. Supposedly, the wingspan can reach seven feet. All I know is that it was huge.
• White-throated kingfisher and black-capped kingfisher – These birds were both gorgeous, but then I’m biased toward blue birds. The white-throated kingfisher is highlighted with bright teal, and the black-capped kingfisher was a rich royal blue (although it’s hard to see in the picture).

I took about a million pictures of the clouds. I’ll only bore you with three. (Pictures, that is. It may be all the same cloud.)

Between watching the clouds and the birds, the return trip went quickly. I snapped a picture of the sign advertising our trip as we loaded the van for the trip back to Kampong Som.

(Don’t blink. You might miss it!)

Once we got back to the hotel, we spent the remainder of the afternoon swimming in the pool and had supper at Happy Herb again. But the day had worn me out. I was back to the room and ready for bed by 8 p.m.

Up next: Return to Phnom Penh

Perched from their vantage points on sparsely leaved trees and cliffs, White Bellied Sea Eagles / Lang Siput soar, swirl and circle the islands in an endless search for food and freebies.

Island & shores, Langkawi, 26/11/10, 11am.

Not all countries celebrate Thanksgiving but in the depths of economic uncertainty many of my FB / blogger friends posted reasons why they give thanks even today. Most of them are far away from issues of economics and materialism.

An image I posted on Flickr recently also produced some comments along the lines of “I wish lived in a house where I could photograph birds like that”. This was the image:

White-bellied sea-eagle. Haliaeetus albicilla.

So there are quite a few “Reasons to be cheerful” as the late Ian Dury sang back in 1979. Amongst mine is what I might loosely describe as ‘garden birding’. Like many birdwatchers / birders I define ‘garden’ very liberally. Essentially if I am on the footprint of the house when I see the bird, it counts. So the eagle above is a fully paid up member of my garden list. Now to make matters even more confusing I don’t actually keep a written list. It is all stored in my head. Much of it however is documented by photographs, no matter how poor.

When I returned to HK  in 2004 after a 4 year or so break I chose my rented house based on the fact I had seen a White-bellied sea-eagle from the sun terrace when I was viewing it. The agent insisted on showing be another 15 flats and houses. She failed to grasp where my priorities lay! I took house number one! When we bought our current home in 2009 similar criteria applied. We wanted, above all, a proper sea view in addition to a small garden and some security. It took 18 months of searching. When we saw it we knew it was what we wanted.

The photo above is not a result of sitting patiently waiting for the bird to appear. I was working in my study from which I have the most wonderfully distracting view. Not one but two sea eagles appeared fairly close to the house. I grabbed my camera, ran outside onto the roof terrace and hoped the birds would come my way. I could only see one at this point and although I fired off a few frames they were not really close enough.

Rather grumpily I went back to the desk and downloaded the images. Not very good. At which point one eagle came back. I had to extract the card from the reader, put it back into the camera and off I went again. With a similar result. By this stage I was feeling that the eagles had worked out my exact timing and synchronized their departure with my arrival on the roof. Incredibly the same thing happened again. I am back at the desk and the eagle is waving at me through the window, thumbing his nose at me so to speak.

But this time I had loaded the camera with a different card so I didn’t lose the time extracting and reloading. And the eagle was close enough to fill maybe half a frame. Ha ha! Round three to me. The images are not pin sharp. I was handholding for a start. The position of the eagle is not how I would have wanted it to be. But come on, this is truly a grab shot. No planning, checking exposure settings as I run up the stairs, making sure I am (or rather the camera is) in servo mode and on high speed (9 frames per second) and of course trying not to fall over as I do so.

And yes, I am lucky to live in a house where I have opportunities like this. On Saturday I was drinking coffee on the front sun terrace and a raptor shot past me at incredible speed following the path of our cul-de-sac. It veered off to the left over the gardens and dipped out of sight behind the tree line. Crested goshawk. I have seen sparrowhawks do this in  England but this is the first time I have seen the gos’ so close to our house. Occasionally they sit in nearby trees or fly high overhead, shimmering their wings in their distinctive fashion. From start to finish the encounter lasted a matter of seconds. Yet it gave me a buzz for 24 hours. Such beauty, power, speed and lethal force all in one package.

At the other end of the scale is the dainty and perhaps a touch gaudy, Scarlet minivet.

Scarlet minivet. Pericrocotus flammeus.

Now this is not an uncommon bird but to have it perched on a fir-tree straight opposite the sun terrace is unusual. I could almost endoscope this one. This by the way is the male of the species. The distaff, of which I have only more distant photographs, is yellow, grey and black. Still pretty fashionable, decked out in this season’s most favoured hues but nonetheless hardly scarlet. Sexual dimorphism playing tricks on us again. Just to be clear, this is a happy stroke of good fortune. The bird sat for a few seconds and then flew. It has not returned since at such close distance. It is not, despite rumours to the contrary, a stuffed museum specimen. I am arguably closer to that category than the minivet.

Older readers may recall that Mrs. Minivet almost starred in a 1942 film starring Greer Garson. Quite appropriately the movie starred Walter Pidgeon. However there was an unfortunate typo in the title and the script writer was told it was called Mrs. Miniver. A whole new story had to be drafted and Greer Garson missed the chance to be a real scarlet woman called Mrs. Minivet.

This was then superseded in ornithological cock-ups by the 1944 film, Tawny Pipit, which starred rather worryingly not a single Tawny pipit but several Meadow pipits. Well it was war-time and I suppose Tawnys were rationed. So difficult to get the coupons.

You see, birds are central to my life. I am by no means an expert. I am what I term an enthusiast. A chap once told me you can’t be a birdwatcher and a bird photographer. You have to choose. He was right. I am now half useless at both. Or half good if you are charitable and your glass of red is semi-full. Either is frankly unacceptable to me but I simply can’t decide. Ten years of dithering. It will all end in tears. I am happy to watch and/or photograph from my house or out in the field. The house is probably more comfortable. A liberal supply of coffee, mars bars, an iPad to read, different lenses just a floor away and hey, if nothing comes by I can switch on the rugby. Now you can’t (yet) do that at Mai Po. So whether you are a naturalist or a street photographer I do plead that you should give the birds a go and if you are really, really lucky, Greer Garson and Walter Pidgeon may fly by pretending to be minivets.

But I believe, what doesn’t kill us, makes us stronger. Past tragedies that weigh us down, once shed, will make us feel lighter over current and future woes. I dare say this because I’ve been through many hells. Friends who I confide in know the roads that I’ve walked are nothing short of being extraordinary (not trying to be smug about my encounters because I wouldn’t wish what I’ve been through on my worst enemies).

I realise that when you’ve gone through so many tribulations, you no longer fear them. I have a certain nonchalance about life now. Neither great joys nor sorrows affect me for very long. And that’s when wings of self-realisation grow.

I accept who I am, I’m okay if others don’t understand me, and I’m aware of the problems with me. I am comfortable in my own skin but that doesn’t mean I’m complacent about being insatiable in continuing to grow as a person.

Oh gosh, all these self exorcism after a conversation with someone whom I asked to be shared a secret with. When a secret is shared enough of times, it no longer stays as something that locks us in. Of course, it’s never an end state as new secrets develop along the course of life.

But I think, so long as we are no longer afraid because we draw strength from what we’ve survived through, then what we don’t want others to see will manifest as the wind beneath someone else’s wings, and we all scale the heights of this lifetime together.

This is my first photography involving animals with my DSLR and with my new EF-S 55-250mm lens. With my school days tour to zoo running in the background, i geared up to take snaps of our friends(:-))

First to caught is Nilgiri Langur(and even my first snap with my new lens)

and here comes man’s closest relative in animal… Chimpanzee…

Moving to national bird of India..Peacock

Here is a Peafowl in its close up

and now its turn for peacock…

Continuing to walk, landed up in the birds cages. By this time the day is already turning to overcast and sun has started playing hide and seek… With light diminishing and thick tree cover, most of the birds are hardly visible and we have to search where it is…

With the light’s play here are some of the snaps

Sulphur crested cockatoo

Hornbill

By the time i reached the cage of this white bellied sea eagle, there is no clouds (:)) and sun started to shed more light…

with a couple of snaps of the eagle… started towards tiger…

and some of the snaps taken on the way

Blackbuck..

Bison….

and here comes the Royal Bengal Tiger…

Way farther..

started walking towards its enclosure…

Now with snaps of tiger already in my memory card started walking towards Asiatic Lion….

Greatest Disappointment 

Lion was there in a netted area and not in open area

started coming down and the smell of otter chased me out its cage (Whack…) so no snap of it..

Then comes sambhar (Where is rasam????)

Now walked approximately another half a kilometer with no animals or cages to meet bears

first to come is sloth bear.. by the time i reached there two cubs are fighting and two are in search of its food…

Then comes Himalayan bear.. one in tree and another roaming around…

With temperature started soaring back… continued to end up in taking a snap of sleeping hyena…

Now its time for leopard and white tigers…

White tigers… 3 were out of their cage… and one small disappointment is new born cubs are still inside cages…

Then comes jaguar enclosure which welcomed with a empty cage…. no Jaguar

Then our very own ferocious panther welcomed with a signage “Migavum Abaayagaramana vilangu”(Very Dangerous animal)…

Searched for it in the cage and found it in the open space sleeping…

Then moved to the aviary and took some snaps before moving on to hippo’s….

Hippo with just born was out for its lunch (its already half past 12 in the noon)

With the large mouth guy already in my camera moved to the other side to take a look at elephant… but it was toooooo far so no snap….

Two more to go and the climate has changed from bright sunny to cloudy and it started drizzling…

Increased my speed of my walking to take snap of Zebras and Giraffe and moved on to the aquarium….

By the time i reached the chimp, completing a circle it started raining and i took out my umbrella and searched for a shelter such that i can keep my camera into my backpack….

With heavy rain(!) which lasts for five minutes(???) , it was ample time to keep my camera back to my bag and when the sun started smiling, started walking back to exit..

Almost 15 km walk in approximate 2 hours and loads of snaps, walking past the children play area with my rewind to past tape showing the good old school days,  stepped out of the zoo premises…

Juvenile White-Bellied Sea Eagle

My initial feeling of this lens was that it was a little heavy. But, after a few outings, the weightiness is now less of a concern. Either my hands have become stronger or that I am now more accustomed to it that it is out of my mind. In fact, during outings my mind is more on the job and to get it right. When there is no bird in sight I just put it aside.

Autofocus is quite fast if the subject is near the focus point during the initial framing and from then onwards locking on is a breeze. Otherwise the focusing mechanism will go hunting high and low. This is not good for shooting birds in flight. Almost impossible to get a lock on focus. I know that I can easily get a good and sharp pictures of birds by just visiting the aviary but somehow I just don’t like the idea. I prefer to shoot wild and free birds. It is more challenging and I get to learn more about them. I am now more interested in birds, so when I know a place where the not so common birds often seen, I shall keep note of it and will go for an outing to that place when I have the time and will to do it. If a place that I will be visiting, there are chances of eagles sighting, I shall bring along my Sigma telezoom lens.

Precision

My outings with the Sigma telezoom lens are still few, but I am now more than comfortable with it. Lugging it around for short distances with the camera attached, I just grip the tripod collar with my left hand. When I want to shoot, I lift it to eye level simultaneously lifting my right hand to grip the camera. As a precaution, the camera strap is wound around my wrist. With the weight of lens and camera resting on my left hand palm and four fingers gripping the tripod collar, the thumb is free to rotate the focusing ring. If during the initial framing the focus is totally out, I shall pull the focusing ring down (to infinity focus point) and then up clockwise. When the view is almost in focus, the shutter is then pressed halfway to let autofocus kicks in. The focusing method for BIF that I am experimenting now is continuous focus coupled with continuous frame exposure. Occasionally, I do have a hard time getting the bird almost into focus manually before letting the autofocus takes over and lock on. When this happened, I quickly swing the camera to focus elsewhere which is approximately about the same distance as the bird and then get back to the bird.

Heron at Lido Beach, Johor, Malaysia

All said, I have yet to get a good and sharp picture. I am still learning. After going through all of the pictures, I found that most of it were below 1/2000th shutter speed unless it had higher ISO. In fact many were below 1/1000th. I try not to use high ISO because I do not want the picture to be too noisy as I am not doing any serious post processing at the moment, just a little bit here and there. Now that my stock is growing and whether I like it or not, it has to be soon. One of the reasons I am not getting good and sharp pictures of the bird is probably that I was too excited as the case with the eagle seen here. I was on my way back to Tanjung Batu from an island in Riau, Indonesia. As I was waiting for the ferry at the pier, I saw two White-bellied Sea Eagles flying and at times very near just above my head that it filled the whole frame in the viewfinder. On checking the exif, some were at 150mm and few others at F11.

Egret at Lido Beach

One thing I want to mention about the Sigma 150-500mm telezoom lens is that the hood is not tightly fit. Just recently on my way from Penyalai to Tanjung Batu in Kepulauan Riau, Indonesia, I noticed a group of birds flying behind and following the ferry. I grabbed the camera, attached the Sigma telezoom lens and started shooting. Through the lens I saw the birds were looking down and occasionally dived down to the water. There was probably food for them found at the still water that sloped down just after the turbulence caused by the propeller. After indulging myself shooting the birds, I lowered the camera. I felt something hit my right foot. I looked and saw the hood bounced, landed at the edge of the deck and rolled into the sea. There goes my sigma lens hood. Is it just my Sigma lens hood that is not tight-fitting or all of the others too? On closer inspection of the mount system on the lens, there is a small mount near the edge of the groove slot probably for locking. I guess it needs more force turning the hood when attaching it. Anyway the hood itself is quite fragile. It is made of plastic, large and thin. If it is expensive, I shall go for metal from the independent accessories maker.

]]> http://wrscomsg.wordpress.com/2011/03/12/be-raptured-by-new-birds-of-prey-show-at-jurong-bird-park/ Sat, 12 Mar 2011 08:28:21 +0000 wrscomsg http://wrscomsg.wordpress.com/2011/03/12/be-raptured-by-new-birds-of-prey-show-at-jurong-bird-park/ Jurong Bird Park, the world’s largest bird paradise, will launch a brand new hawk show featuring up to 25 birds of prey on 12 March. Aptly named ‘Kings of the Skies,’ the revamped show will feature a larger cast of birds, including Cinereous vultures, griffin vultures, white bellied sea eagles, lugger falcons and Eurasian eagle owls.

Once a sport only practised by nobles, guests will have a chance to learn more about falconry through this show which conveys the spirit and art of falconry practised by various countries in the past. The highly interactive and engaging show will feature other animals such as a horse and dog alongside the birds for the first time. Key highlights of the show include the Mongolian Falconer on horseback with Batelur eagle, 2 Medieval Falconers demonstrating a hunting collaboration between a dog and a Harris hawk, and the show’s finale, where 6 species of vultures like Cinereous vultures, Repel’s Griffin vultures, white-backed vultures, turkey vultures, a white-headed vulture and a Himalayan Griffin vulture take to the stage.

Details
Date: Daily – Beginning 12 March 2011 (Saturday)
Time: 10am & 4pm
Venue: Fuji Hawk Walk
Admission fee: Adult – S$18.00, Child (3 – 12 years old) – $12.00

A bald eagle showcasing its flight ability as part of the segment on medieval falconry in the Show

A Cinerous vulture skulks in as part of the Show’s finale with six other species of vultures

A medieval falconer with a Harris hawk, which will demonstrate hunting by flying to a lure

A Mongolian falconer rides out on horseback with a Batelur eagle

Waiting for the rain to stop, I set up my camera gear in preparation for taking pictures of the Little Grebes that I had previously photographed. Scanning my surrounding, I heard a bird calling and pointed my camera to get a clearer picture.

It was a Tiger Shrike, calling out in the rain. I took some pictures, and the turned on my camera’s video. My apologies for the wind blowing sound in the video. I need to sort this technical issue out.
 

 
Soon, the rain subsided. And after a little while, the Little Grebes appeared at their usual spot. Bobbing in and out of water catching their prey.

First, there is one.

The pair together

Another view

 
While concentrating with these, I noticed far in the distance, a raptor was circling the pond and then proceeded to perch. It was a juvenile White-bellied Sea Eagle.

Front view

Back view

Last picture

Evening time came much too soon and I had leave. While I was packing up, the Sea Eagle proceeded to circle round the pond searching for it’s own meal. Mine was still a hike back away.

Photographed through the wire mesh of a cage at Lok Kawi Wildlife Park.

~Lightbox~

Information on wikipedia about the white-bellied sea eagle.

This is quite the surprise! No, I’m not referring to Brunei LNG’s achievements of which I’m extremely proud of but rather a publication of my aerial photographs  of the BLNG Lumut plant on the cover and Page 1 of its quarterly newsletter. May I also add, one that evidently puts photographic quality a priority (so long the source has the necessary image quality). Congratulations Haji Salleh Bostaman and Team BLNG for a job well done! This now joins my archive of published images and my second cover issue after BiG magazine’s July 2009 cover feature.

Managing Director/CEO of Brunei LNG, H Salleh Bostaman BH Zainal Abidin attributed the achievement to the staff hard work and dedication in ensuring continuous operational excellence particularly in the areas of safety, plant availability, plant reliability and cost management. The MD/CEO however stressed that Brunei LNG would need to be constantly improving to sustain itself as the most reliable and first choice supplier to customers and stakeholders. — BLNGema Newsletter Q3 2010

If you can’t get enough of aerial photography, check out An Eye Over Temburong

Brunei LNG Newsletter Quarter 3 2010 | BLNG is ranked Top Quartile Performing Organisation for the 4th time in the recent annual global benchmarking exercise with 8 other LNG plants, representing 70 percent of global LNG capacity. (click on image to view larger picture)

“The white bellied sea eagle is a frequent visitor to our loading jetty. We must play our part in ensuring that this sea eagle remains a familiar sight, now and for future generations.” Its appearance is as much a symbol as it is an indication of environmental sustainability and while I’ve not had a chance nor access to photograph one at BLNG, I had a Nat Geo moment with one in Langkawi.

Pictured here is a sea eagle with its catch in its claws, a popular 'sea eagles feeding' activity in Langkawi.

Stellar Sea Eagle: Image by purplerabbits via Flickr

Eagles are amazing creatures, and the following video depicts a species of Sea Eagle that makes its home in harsh conditions. The Stellar’s Sea Eagle really is an amazing creature with striking features. Its huge body is so intimidating and beautiful in its design. I recall watching a demonstration from a bird keeper at a medieval festival some years back that warned of their wicked claws and enormous beak. I’d never been up close with an eagle before and it came as a shock seeing them within a few meters of where my husband and I were sitting. Sure, I had seen them flying around off in the distance over fields before, but it was a different matter being that close.

White-bellied Sea Eagle: Image via Wikipedia

Now that I am living close to the ocean, there are a lot of sea eagles around. The species that you will see around here have enormous coppery wings and tend to hunt at specific times of the day: 10 am to noon, and 3 pm to 5 pm. You will see dozens riding the thermals if you walk along the Esplanade in Point Vernon all the way up to Scarness during those times – an amazing sight. But sometimes you will hear their call off in the distance, a sound that is almost as beautiful as that sleek body. According to Wikipedia, the White-bellied Sea Eagle (pictured above) common to our region are slightly smaller than the Stellar Sea Eagle indigenous to

It was a chance encounter. I was at SM mall Davao and the birds were there, too, on display. Got a brochure and the next day, I was in a taxi to Malagos, home of the Center.

The Eagles Have Landed, at the SM Mall, for a week

A P5  entrance fee is collected by the staff of the Malagos Watershed park. I thought for a while that that fee was the entrance fee to the Eagle Center, only to find out that the Eagle Center collects a separate entrance fee of P50 per head.

souvenir shops inside the watershed park, before the Philippine Eagle Center

The center is located at the foothills of Mt. Apo, the highest mountain in the country. I was toured by a volunteer named JM, a BS Education graduate who volunteers his services as guide to the park visitors. There are no fees to get someone to guide you thru the facility, but it helps to call ahead to reserve a guide.

Going up to the Center office

It turns out that the Philippine Eagle Center is actually a zoo, with the Philippine eagles as the main attraction. There are deers, monkeys, as well as other birds, in a rainforest setting.

At the Eagle Center

grey headed fishing eaglewhite-bellied sea eagle

Dakila, perched high above

The name a donor gave to the eagle above

the eagles live longer in captivity, safe from bird hunters, but they can not SOAR !

How is the facility funded?

The guide showed us  the “wall of fame” where plaques mentioning the names of donors, and the corresponding eagle they have “named” are listed. Kuya Kim Atienza was, apparently, the latest of those who paid P125,000 to name an eagle. The first to do so, and is the biggest supporter of the facility, is Shell Philippines. We were also walking thru concrete slabs with donors’ names inscribed on them, pretty much like the famous Hollywood Walk of Fame, albeit a crude one. Surely it didn’t matter to the kind-hearted donors, knowing they donated to help protect the forests and save the eagles. As for me, I I donated P500, and resolved to raise funds  to name an eagle, at P125,000 for 5 years. Well I guess the eagle will just have to be re-Christened after 5 years. There is also an Adopt-an-Eagle program for P100,000 per year, and an Adopt-a-Nest program for P100,000 a year. Donations can also be made from P500 to the “President’s Partners” corporate donation of P75,000.

a decorative, non-edible pineapple at the Center

bird of paradise, in this paradise of birds

How to get there:

Malagos is actually part of Calinan District in Davao City. It is 29 kilometers from the city center, one hour away by taxi. All told, including the waiting while I was touring the facility, the taxi fare registered P585.

Calinan District

you can even stop to shop in a mall in Calinan

Alternatively, visitors can go to the Bankerohan terminal in Davao City and take a van to Calinan District. From the transport terminal of Calinan district, tricycles or “habal habal” are available to get visitors to the Eagle Center about 5 kilometers away.

Side Trips

On your way to Calinan, or maybe on your way back, you can stop for a good meal in any of the restaurants on both sides of the road in Los Amigos, Tigbok District, halfway thru the trip to and from The Eagle Center. The locals drive all the way to these restaurants for the specialty of this place :  “hito “

restaurant row at Tugbok District

You can also stop in one of two or so orchid farms that have added to making Davao famous.

Next time you are in Davao, do visit the Eagle Center. The kids especially will love it, and learn about saving the forest and the birds early on.

You may contact the Philippine Eagle Center by phone (+6382) 2712337. Or visit their website at http://www.philippineeagle.org

no, not eagles

neither is this an eagle . . . .

The Yellow Water Cruise on the South Alligator River started with a White-bellied Sea-Eagle (Haliacetus leucogaster), Kakadu Nationalpark, Northern territory, Australia, September 2009

I do know, that I’ve not yet seen an aeroplane that can do THIS…

I am going to enjoy next weekend too.

Team Buccaneer, from Left to Right:

Jasmine, Matt, Gabby, Katherine, Tim, Mike, Richard, Lachlan, Me, Chris.

Arrggghh. Grrrrr. 

One perfect puffy cloud. Sensible pirates always wear a hat and sunscreen.

White Bellied Sea Eagle in a River Red Gum tree

Richard and Me at Echo Point Cafe, Roseville Marina.

I forgot to mention that we arrived at high tide…