Birding Wildlife Travel Asia
Hokkaido, Japan, Birding & Scenic Driving Road Trip in Autumn Two Seasons in Hokkaido In the summer of 2010, Hokkaido greeted us with the fragrance of lavender and the laughter of a tour group moving in unison. We followed the bright banners of our guide through Sapporo’s streets, along Otaru’s glass-lined canals, and across the... Continue Reading →
Birding and photographing birds in Fraser’s Hill, WestMalaysia | 50 good birds to photograph Birding in Fraser's Hill | 50 good birds to photograph Fraser’s Hill marked as the genesis of my birding journey to explore the birds of Southeast Asia. Many birders in Singapore and Malaysia would agree that Fraser’s Hill is the “ Early Birding Playground” close to home where books on birds were... Continue Reading →
How many species of bee-eaters are in Singapore? I began photographing bee-eaters with my film camera 30 years ago. My journey of discovery and learning started in Singapore, then in peninsular Malaysia, and Thailand. Bee-eaters are beautiful birds. They have long, curved, narrow bills, slender bodies, and long pointed wings. There are 24 species around... Continue Reading →
Photographing the Milky Way the Pillar of Fire by Night I have photographed nature for over 30 years as a nature photographer but had never ventured or looked into the deep dark sky at night for astrophotography (except for aurora in Iceland) till recently with a couple of Astro nuts who showed me the way. Boy, I... Continue Reading →
Exploring Barbets: Species in Singapore, Malaysia, and Thailand Barbets, Order: Piciformes, Family: Capitonidae I was fascinated by the beautiful red crown of the coppersmith barbets when I first saw the bird picking on berries, at eye level 20 years ago, while crossing the overhead bridge at Bukit Timah Road in Singapore. Thanks to Tou Jing... Continue Reading →
Bird Watching in Raja Ampat: Wilson's and Red Bird of Paradise Expedition Bird Watching in Raja Ampat: Wilson's and Red Bird of Paradise Expedition Waisai, Raja Ampat, West Papua, Indonesia Alfred Russel Wallace Journey in 1860 In June and July 1860, Alfred Russel Wallace sailed north from the island of Ceram in Maluku to the... Continue Reading →
Birds of Paradise: Discovering Arfak Parotia in West Papua Female feeding. Female. Pegunungan Arfak, West Papua, Indonesia I first encountered the Arfak Parotia or Western Parotia in the highland of Arfak mountain in West Papua. There are two types of hides in Arfak for the Western Parotia , mating hide and feeding hide. The mating hide is where they mate, and... Continue Reading →
Observing Sunda Scops Owl at Singapore Botanic Gardens and Telok Blangah Rise Sunday scops owl at the Singapore Botanic Gardens in 2015. Canon 5D3, 100-400mm. Nine years ago, Sunda Scops Owl was spotted at the Botanic Gardens. The awakening of the Sunda scopes owl was an eye-opener for me to observe the owl waking up... Continue Reading →
Biridng West Papua | Birds of Paradise Trip in 2023 The most labor-intensive bird of paradise that I have ever photographed is the Wallace's Standardwing bird of paradise on the island of Halmahera. It involved setting up a base camp in the forest and waking up at 4 a.m. to trek across the forest and... Continue Reading →
Birding Tangkoko. North Sulawesi, Indonesia
Bird Watching in Hat Yai, southern Thailand The southern city of Hat Yai is renowned for shopping, food, entertainment, and more. We spent a morning at Tone Nga Chang Wildlife Sanctuary, west of Hat Yai, to explore the local birding experience in Tuk Tuk with fellow resident bird watchers after our trip to Hala Bala... Continue Reading →
Birding southern Thailand, Hala Bala Wildlife Sanctuary
Birding southern Thailand, Bang Lang National Park | Hala Bala Wildlife Sanctuary After breakfast, a 4-hour van ride from Hala Bala Wildlife Reserve took us to Bang Lang National Park in southern Thailand through a hilly and winding country road to reach Kampong Chulanporn 9. When we got to the destination, it was time for... Continue Reading →
Taking pictures of a nocturnal bird at night, Large-tailed Nightjar with a small torchlight. Taking pictures of a nocturnal bird at night, Large-tailed Nightjar with a small torchlight. One early evening in my friend’s garden, I noticed a call of the Long-tailed Nightjar nearby. I discovered that a bird was perching on the tip of... Continue Reading →
Birding Trip Kaeng Krachan National Park, Thailand
How many species of Sunbirds in Singapore How many species of Sunbirds in Singapore? The Crimson Sunbird, Olive-backed Sunbird, and Brown-Throated Sunbird were the first three sunbirds I photographed in Singapore some twenty years ago with slide film. I recently took the stunning Copper-throated Sunbird in Sungei Buloh and the Van Hasselt's Sunbird at Bukit... Continue Reading →
My 16-day birding and nature expedition to Sabah coast to coast. A panoply of rare birds and exotic plants.
My 16-day birding and nature expedition to Sabah coast to coast. A panoply of rare birds and exotic plants.
Changeable Hawk Eagle and White-bellied Sea Eagle in Pasir Ris Park Singapore On the morning of 2 July, about 8:30 am, I was at Carpark B in Pasir Ris Park. When I got off the car, my daughter saw a large bird at a distance on a tree by the Tampines River and alerted me. It was a Changeable... Continue Reading →
My First 15 Day Borneo Birding Trip To Sarawak | Photo Travel Asia Mano and I teamed up to do a 15 day bird density survey in Sarawak in 2006. After the trip, I had two articles published. One was on “Sarawak’s Elusive Rainforest Birds” in Australia by Wingspan Magazine in June 2008. The other... Continue Reading →
Masked Finfoot | Early sighting in 1992|Malaysia Masked Finfoot | Early sighting in 1992 | Malaysia In the early 90's, not much was known about the Masked Finfoot (heliopais personata), an aquatic bird, except for its distribution in eastern Indian subcontinent, Indochina and Malaysia. There were a few reports of its early sighting in Taman Negara,... Continue Reading →
Bar-bellied Pitta. Regional endemic bird in southern Vietnam.
7 Endemic Birds of Vietnam in Dalat I was fascinated by the number of endemic birds in Vietnam in the main land as compared with the neighbouring southeast Asian countries like Laos, Cambodia and Thailand. Normally islands like Philippines or Borneo bring about habitat isolation with more endemism due to geographical isolation by the sea.... Continue Reading →
The awakening of the Sunda Scops Owl at the Singapore Botanical Gardens|UNESCO World Heritage Site Observing the Sunda Scops Owl at the Singapore Botanic Gardens (UNESCO World Heritage Site) was a learning experience for me since it had a very ‘narrow shooting opportunity’ before the daylight fades. It is also a test of the capability of... Continue Reading →
Photographing Fungi in Rainforest of Southeast Asia | PhotoTravelAsia We have encountered fungi in our lives either through our favorite cream of mushroom soup or the molds that grow on a piece of stale bread. Fungus is a simple fast-growing type of organisms such as mushroom and mold. While some fungi are edible, others can... Continue Reading →
Ujung Kulon National Park, West Java, Indonesia The Nature Watch magazine published a 5-page article in September 1994 on Ujung Kulon. It was during the Covid-19's Circuit Breaker, while cleaning up, I happened to stumble upon my old field notes on our trip to Ujung Kulon National Park in 1993. It triggered me to share... Continue Reading →
Endemic Kingfishers of Sulawesi | Birding Tangkoko, North Sulawesi, Indonesia There are 34 kingfishers in Indonesia. The island of Sulawesi has 12 of them, of which six are endemic to Sulawesi. The six endemic kingfishers of Sulawesi are: North Sulawesi, Indonesia Lilac Kingfisher Green-backed Kingfisher Great-billed Kingfisher Sulawesi Dwarf Kingfisher Scaly Kingfisher Black-headed Kingfisher Endemic... Continue Reading →
Birding Halmahera | Bird of Paradise Birding Halmahera | Bird of Paradise I was in the Aketajawe Lolobata National Park. It was 4 am, pitched dark, and drizzling. I was getting ready for an hour of trekking in the forest, crossing knee-deep streams in tanning brown water, and climbing up unmarked slopes in complete darkness... Continue Reading →
Rudy Kingfisher at Berlayar Creek Broadwalk Singapore
Bird Hides - Kaeng krachan National Park Thailand Kaeng Krachan National Park in Thailand is the largest national park and an excellent place for birding. In 2008, a conservation project convinced the poachers to convert the water holes for hunting birds for food into bird hides outside the park. Poachers were skeptical why anyone would... Continue Reading →
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