| Page Views: 1,385 Last Visit to Bukit Fraser: June, 2006 | Tales from a Fledgling Birder by bpacker - last update: Jan 5, 2007 |
Birding in Fraser's Hill | I was the only one who photographed this beauty |
It's been a couple of months since I started bird watching and in an attempt to boost the numbers of my pathetic bird list, I made some plans to go to Fraser's Hill. With a couple of scientists, naturalists and an ornithologist, no less! Ah, and if you haven't heard of Fraser's Hill yet , it's the Malaysian site for the international bird race contest - that contest where you pair up with like-minded sods and try to spot as many birds as possible. Some sods have been known to churn out an imaginary list of birds.. but that's another story. As I was saying, I didn't quite know what I was up to when I signed up for a trip with a bunch of bird enthusiasts. A couple of embarrasing episodes like this ensued for the next few days... |
| Listening to some exotic bird |
1) Listening to Bird Calls
You're in a forest. There are thousands of chirps but someone will always say, " There!!! Do you hear the sound of the pink-capped, purple-vented majestic bushy-tail trogon???" Everyone will cup their listen intently and nod their heads including me (even when I have no idea what the hell the bird looks like) since I don't want them to think that I have a brain the size of a hummingbird.
2) Locating the bird with the Bino
Same situation but this is worse because suddenly someone gets a visual of some majestic bird and everyone can see the darn creature except for ME. And I scan the environment futively with my bins while the rest gasp in delight. It's doubly worse for me, while the rest of them have no problem locating the bird with their bins, I have to do it via a small camera viewfinder and steady my hands for a shot. Usually when I locate the darn creature, it flashes only its ass to my lens.
3)Identifying the Bird
Feathers can fly when bird-watchers start identifying the bird. ! It usually starts out with spotting a mystery bird. Next as everybody throws in their guesses, some will pull out their field guides and start arguing over the identity (Godammit, I say that is a bloody green-billed malkoha! No you blind cretin, the malkoha has a chesnut vent! Go get a pair of Zeiss!) . And this is where I sometimes come in handy. Since I'm the one with quick fingers and a camera, I provide a visual and the mystery is resolved later in the night. Well, at least I have a niche skill somewhere, hopefully it would make up for all the embarrasing episodes I have as a fledgling.
Well despite these little hiccups that I had, the trip was enjoyable and I took far more photographs than I ever did in my few months of bird-watching in Singapore. But of course, this is due in part to the sharp eyes of my friends and the sharp ears of the ornithologist. Also,it helped that my scientist friends have an eidectic memory so rare birds were identified rather quickly. Their enthusiasm and dodged persistance when it came to hunting for the elusive birds really inspired me. It's an understatement to say that I learnt a great deal about birds:) |
This page is dedicated to the best pals a fledgling can hang out with. You guys are great, your enthusiasm is infectious and I've learnt much much more in 3 days than my initial 3 months of birdwatching. Let's do this again:) |
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| Pros: | "Lots of exotic bird species, scientists and botanists over here" | | Cons: | "Lack of decent makan ( eating) places and it rains more than seattle over here!" | | In A Nutshell: | "THE place to do bird-watching in Malaysia!" |
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 Comments for bpacker about Bukit Fraser | | | | |
wengchun Tue Aug 28, 2007 05:41 UTC
looks like you enjoy your fraser's hill birding. the hill station is one of the best places in Malaysia if one is looking for lower montane birds. I'm still looking for the cutia here.... | bpacker Fri Jan 5, 2007 12:07 UTC
I dream of the day I can go to India for birding.....! One day for sure. | aadil Wed Jan 3, 2007 08:30 UTC
Great to see your birdies!!! And hope you can come to India to see some of ours too!!! | jenaikes Fri Sep 22, 2006 03:18 UTC
glad i finally dropped by....loved your commentaries as usual...laughter for the day : ) The bird photos r great! how did you get the videos/sounds? |
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