ornithography: may 27, 2013

Zebra Dove(Geopelia striata)

ISO800 f/8.0 1/200 flash

Found this perched on the same kalachuchi branch as before, a very gentle bird. They forage in groups and is always careful. Had to use flash because It was cloudy and not too much light to expose.


Dragonfly

Shot outside my house this Saturday morning.

ornithography: may 9, 2013

Straited Grassbird (Megalurus palustris)

Spotted by my wife, did not have time to make a proper exposure..I had just a few seconds before he took off.

Lifer update:

1.   Golden bellied Flyeater 

2.   Long tailed shrike       

3.   Olive backed sunbird     

4.   White Collared Kingfisher

5.   Pacific Swallow         

6.   Black naped Oriole       

7.   Yellow vented bulbul     

8.   Philippine Pygmy Woodpecker

9.   Pied Thriller           

10.  Elegant Tit             

11.  Brown Shrike             

12.  Large billed Crow       

13.  Eurasian Sparrows       

14.  Blue throated bee-eater 

15.  Pied Fan tail

16.  White-breasted Woodswallow

17.  Zebra Dove

18.  Straited Grassbird 

18 Species 2 Endemics

White-breasted Woodswallow (Artamus leucorynchus)

These guys are hanging out near the pool area of the school.

ISO 800 300mm f/22 1/200 built-in flash

F/22 killed chromatic abberation.

White Collared Kingfisher (Todiramphus chloris)

Faith Academy Sentinels!

ISO 800 300mm f/9.0 1/250

ornithography: may 8, 2013

White Collared Kingfisher (Todiramphus chloris)

There were lots of clouds yesterday, I guess marking the start of the rainy season. Gloomy and humid weather at the high thirties. There wasn't much light for good exposures. But I was able to take a couple of pictures of kingfishers who i think are permanent residents of valley golf already.

ISO 800 300mm f/5.6 1/160sec

In flight

ISO 800 300mm f/5.6 1/160sec

This is the closest I have gotten to them and  from this sortie I learned a couple things:

1. Approach them very slowly. No sudden movements.
2. Stop and Go. Move then stop (when you stop for a while they will forget where you are)
3. They have good hearing, they can hear the reflex of the camera shutter even from a couple meters away.
4. They have very good vision, of course..they are hunters.

Spot the two kingfishers

Zebra Dove (Geopelia striata)

ISO 800 300mm f/5.6 1/200 with flash

We Found this on hubert's house in kapitolyo pasig, had to use camera flash because it was already too dark. This adds to my photographed lifer list.

1.   Golden bellied Flyeater 

2.   Long tailed shrike       

3.   Olive backed sunbird     

4.   White Collared Kingfisher

5.   Pacific Swallow         

6.   Black naped Oriole       

7.   Yellow vented bulbul     

8.   Philippine Pygmy Woodpecker

9.   Pied Thriller           

10.  Elegant Tit             

11.  Brown Shrike             

12.  Large billed Crow       

13.  Eurasian Sparrows       

14.  Blue throated bee-eater 

15.  Pied Fan tail

16.  White-breasted Woodswallow

17.  Zebra Dove

17 Species 2 Endemics

ornithography: may 07, 2013

White-breasted Woodswallow (Artamus leucorynchus)

Very agile flyer and glider. I love watching them ride the wind. They almost go stationary mid-air! It is so hard to photograph them while perched but if you do, you have to be quick. They always hang-out in flocks  of more than two. They catch insects mid-air.

Flying at the same speed with the wind, they look like they are floating

Awesome flyer and glider

Photographed Lifer list:

1.   Golden bellied Flyeater
2.   Long tailed shrike      
3.   Olive backed sunbird    
4.   White Collared Kingfisher
5.   Pacific Swallow        
6.   Black naped Oriole      
7.   Yellow vented bulbul    
8.   Philippine Pygmy Woodpecker
9.   Pied Thriller          
10.  Elegant Tit            
11.  Brown Shrike            
12.  Large billed Crow      
13.  Eurasian Sparrows      
14.  Blue throated bee-eater
15.  Pied Fan tail
16.  White-breasted Woodswallow

16 Species, Two endemics

ornithography: may 06, 2013

Rock Dove (Columba livia domestica)

ISO800 180mm f/8.0 1/100sec

  

ISO 800 300mm f/5.6 1/200sec

These birds are very loyal to us humans. Most of them have become dependent to us, like the ones in these pictures, they are homing pigeons. You can bring them anywhere and expect them to navigate back home. They were used as messengers in early times. I don't think many of us have gone this close to them. My hope is that these pictures will give you the feeling. They are very gentle yet smart!

Manual exposures using available light from the sunset is so beautiful!..If you are serious with photography, 

always shoot manual mode!

Pacific Swallow (Hirundo tahitica)

Hanging right outside of our guitar room today, you hardly ever see these guys on a perch so whenever I get the opportunity I will always take it. 

ISO 1600 1/640 f/8.0 300mm 450d tamron 70-300mm LD

You will always see them in pairs. They love coastal areas but have learned to live in forested area.

Spotted today: Striated Grassbird (Megalurus palustris) - though very common, my wife spotted it for me. Hope to get a picture of it. 

avian photography may 2, 2013

Golden-bellied Flyeater (Gerygone sulphurea)

ISO 1600 300mm f/6.3 1/800sec canon 450d tamron 70-300mm LD

This guy flew back and forth gathering materials for their nest nearby. You can see him holding on to one of it. Flyeaters are so hard to photograph because of their active nature.

these critters wouldn't stop moving

Collared Kingfisher (Todiramphus chloris)

ISO 1600 300mm f/8.0 1/2000 sec canon 450d tamron 70-300mm LD

Kingfishers hanging out in the pines at Faith Academy. I was trying to get the two together in one shot but I was too slow and the other one flew off. 

Eurasian Tree sparrow (Passer montanus)

ISO 400  300mm f/8.0 1/160  sec

If you do not know this bird, you are either colossally dumb, blind or just apathetic. They have adapted to live near humans, city birds they call them, and can be found just about anywhere in the world. Taken by my lovely wife who loves birding too. I am teaching her to expose manually and  maybe later on she'll allow me to buy a 1D and a 100-400mm L IS lens with 1.4x and 2x teleconverters so we can both take pictures. Hehe.

and a DOG!

Flea? Flee? ..Whatever! Both spelling is related to him. You flee if he gets out of the gate and I am sure he has 'em in her body (explains hes "gentleness"). This Bethesda dog "love" me and I "love" her too..hope he accepts the Lord someday. I heard he also hates Toby Huyssen!

avian photography may 1, 2013

I didn't want to bring my camera today but I decided to pick it up the last minute before leaving. I was expecting to not have any time to shoot today. But around sunset at Bethesda,  right before pressing the doorbell to go to rehearsals, I saw this beautiful brown shrike right on the wire. Quickly pulled my camera out and just shot away.

This is by far the most beautiful avian picture I have ever made, the time was perfect, golden hour they call it. This bird can hear the reflex of the shutter of my camera.

He reacts every time I take a photo. But he stayed just enough to get around 10 sharp images.

Brown Shrike

You can see his bandit mask

They are known to be very aggressive. They can be seen attacking other birds. They prey upon smaller birds, lizards and insects and are known to impale their prey. They love hanging out on wires and thorny bushes.

shooting info: ISO 800 300mm  f/8.0 1/800 manual  in available light EOS 450D Tamron 70-300mm LD

Saturn Opposition 2013

saturn

Taken using the celestron 4se, EOS 450D. Seeing condition were not that good, shot through an open area in the back of my house. I only had a 30min window for imaging and I am glad this is better than what I took last year February.

For some reason, celestron tracked pretty good.