Sunday, February 21, 2010

She saved the day...

Of late it is becoming a trend.
An undesirable trend.
A worrying trend.
It worried me that we have wasted the day.
It worried me that we would go home empty handed.
That's the worst part.

Of late, the morning part of the day would be spend walking, walking and walking most of the time.
Except for the small birds that always did the high fly over, the park is quiet.
Quite. Hmmm, this word is kind of a standard word nowadays.
Not a good word. Really not good.

On Friday night, hubby told me that he wanted to go inside the Mempening Trail.
Considering the less activities of the birds in the morning part, I decided to follow him.
I don't really like to go deep into the trail.
My feet are not that strong. And I don't really have the stamina to go up and down. If it's a flat trail, I'm all game.
"We walk slowly ok" that's what I told hubby.

And what a walk in the jungle that was.
It was a long walk.
Long and quiet walk.

After lunch I told hubby that I would root myself at my favourite spot, the river.
I told him that I would not be doing any more walking.
I just wanted to sit there and wait for the birds to come to me, I told him in jester.

By 2.30pm, the frustration started seeping in.
One word came to mind.
A dreadful word.
"KILAR"
Not a friendly word.

Then I spotted the Indigo Flycatcher. A pair of them.
I was hoping that they would come down to bathe.
Unfortunately they decided to dash my hope and flew away.
Feeling a bit crush, I suddenly heard the Borneon Stubtail calling.
I rushed over to the nearby underbrush and I saw it. Not it, but them.
I hid behind the big fallen tree and tried to get a shot.
Too small, too fast, too bushy and too dark.
Then all of a sudden, another movement surprised me.
It was the female White-Browed Shortwing.
I was caught by surprise.
She was just in front of me and we looked at each other.
Then suddenly a treeshrew passed in front of her.
I momentarily lost my concentration.
Thinking that she would have fled, I turned again quickly to try and locate her and to my surprise she was still there.
There's the Borneon Stubtail.
There's the White-Browed Shortwing.
"Concentrate on what you want and forget about the others"...I remembered what hubby told me.
The choice is very clear.


White-Browed Shortwing (Brachypteryx montana)...
My first photos after acquiring the Canon 40D from hubby...
Terrible composition...
Difficult shots...








It would have been a dreadful day...
But she saved the day...
At the nick of time...

3 comments:

louisebah said...

wow, she's a beauty ton! so happy for you!!!

but even if you didn't get any pictures, i think if you had spent time outside communing w nature, well that's great! :) listening to the trickle of the river, rustling of leaves, wow, i love that!

but then again, i'm not a birder, hehehe, even an uneventful hike gives me a big high! xxx

Nirmoh said...

Great Pictures! really loved the attitude of your bird. LOL
Hope to see many more such pics.
Cheers!

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