Birds Of Different Feathers – Part 1

Image · Posted by Sam Han on April 17, 2015 · 4 Comments 

The most recent photography craze I got into was birding. It is a very challenging genre in photography. As Evp David, a macro kaki, puts it: “Birding is another skill set in photography Semi Han, endurance and patience are Key…”

Both which I lack! But for me, it was the company that counted in outings like these.

The first taste of birding was in Pasir Ris Park on 15th March 2015. The owl postings in FB had caught the attention of experienced bird watchers in Singapore and I had to join in the fun. Then the sunbirds came along so I went again. The third and latest, last Saturday, was some Pin-tailed Whydah doing the mating dance!

I do not own lenses long enough for proper birding shoots but that did not matter. I made some new friends along the way and they kindly shared some tips which was applicable not just for birding but in photography in general. You know how one topic leads to another… So yes, I learnt a lot and thoroughly enjoyed myself.

I have shot birds in Jurong Bird Park and Sungei Buloh before but these latest trips were for the purpose of shooting particular birds (the Spotted Wood Owls, Sunbirds and Pin-tailed Whydah. The Laced Woodpeckers were bonus!) in natural environment.

Let’s begin my birding journey shall we? 😀

The Laced Woodpeckers were a bonus because we had come for the owl. My owl shots were too tiny with them so high in the trees. I went back to Pasir Ris Park again the next day with Leonard to shoot the owl and so they will be in my next post.

“Hey. what’s that?” I pointed!

Name: Laced Woodpecker (Picus vittatus)
Classification: Animalia > Chordata > Aves > Piciformes > Picidae > Picus > vittatus

Habitat: Secondary forest, Low-density urban, Parkland.
“The laced woodpecker is a species of bird in the Picidae family. It is found in Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam and perhaps Bangladesh.” – Wikipedia

“Sexually dimorphic, the Laced Woodpecker has a light olive-green neck and throat, darker olive-green on the upper wing feathers, with barred wing primaries and outer tail feathers, grey ears and cheeks and a black submoustachial stripe. The male Laced Woodpecker has a red crown and nape while the female has a black crown and nape. Like most other woodpeckers, the Laced Woodpecker generally feeds by clinging onto tree trunks and branches to drill for insects but Laced Woodpeckers have also been known to feed by foraging on the ground as well.” – NUSAVIFAUNA

The male Laced Woodpecker has a red crown

This is a female Laced Woodpecker; the gender defined by the more dull feather colours in comparison to its male counterpart.

The female has a black crown and nape.

I had trouble focusing so I literally shot 1000s of photos.

Laced Woodpecker (Picus vittatus).

This baby woodpecker was waiting to be fed.

Birding at Pasir Ris Park.
I was seated here taking photos and when I got up, the same injured knee from my incident in Yogyakarta reacted again.
The boys came to help me get up and we went for late lunch.

We wanted to go Hong Kong Family Restaurant in Elias Mall for cze char but they had moved without any notice! The other places for cze char was further along 623 Elias Road inside a food court and a kopitiam. We opted for the air-conditioned food court. There are many other stalls so we had an array of foods.

Dishes from an *Economy Rice Stall.

Bok Choy from the Economy Rice Stall.

Spicy Shrimp or Haebee Hiam.
This dish is made from pounded dried shrimps with chilli paste and spices.
It is then cooked over medium low fire for quite a bit of time. A lot of hard work goes into making this dish and thus commands a hefty price compared to the other dishes.

Cabbage – this is the usual style of cooking in an economy rice stall across the island.
We called this dish Ko Lei Chye or even Chap Chye, at times if there were woodear fungus and lily buds.

Omelet.

**Popiah as starters to our main meal.

Popiah is fresh Spring Roll or Egg Roll.

Sambal Sotong.

Salted Egg Yolk Chicken.

Fish Head Curry.

Washiyama, Alaric and Jimmy .

My friends and I started at 9am and ended our excursion at 5pm thereabout. I only managed to upload all my raw files after many hours and completed my editing at 4+am the following day! I was just too excited to sleep without seeing the end result of my photos. They were disappointing of course, so when Leonard said he would be going to shoot the owls in the morning, I said I would tag along.

Seafood Kitchen Pte Ltd
Address: Blk 623, Elias Road.
#01-01, Elias Mall.
Singapore 510623.

*Economy Rice – see definition here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economy_rice

**Popiah – see definition here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Popiah

***Cze Char (Zi Char) is dialectal transliteration from the Chinese word 煮炒. See my post on it here: Cze Char 煮炒

See posts of my bird photography outing here:
Birds Of Paradise @ Jurong Bird Park 裕廊飞禽公园

Wow Wow West!

Filed under Chicken, Cuisine, Curry, Cze Char, Fish, Food Court, Food Court, Hawker Centre & Kopitiam Stall, Food Reviews, Lunch, Photography Outing, Poutltry, Seafood, Snacks & Miscellaneous Foods, The Bonding Tool Blog, Uncategorized · Tagged with Birds Photography, laced woodpeckers, pasir ris park, Photography Outing, Seafood Kitchen Elias Mall