Distinguishable Differences

Last Friday night, I followed the birders to Frasers Hill & watched the masters at work. Sleeping at 1am & rising at 6am, I was so amazed at their dedication to be the first worms to bait the early birds. Here, I failed miserably to take pictures, resigned to the pavement & coffee station & watched. Dont get me wrong, I wasnt unhappy not being able to take pictures, I was just plotting how I can be a successful WANNABE!

Firstly, I have to learn the names of the birds so that I can rattle off as well as Chien when I see birds coming, or knows what on earth hes talking about when he sees them coming first!!!! Theyre everywhere!

Secondly, I have to wear camouflage. (Done. Ive gotten my spaghetti straps & hipster pants as Jason had suggested. Even got a sleeveless hooded camo jacket to go with it.) A support team has to be inconspicuous & stealth….just like the masters.

Thirdly, I must get over the shock & horror of Phil being able to eat anything under the sun or the fact that he would suggest eating them or catapulting them off trees or shooting a bow at anything with hoofs. Mention a hornbill & hell tell you they are not tasty! And to hear Chien add, Did you suck out the horn off its head too?!?!? Ohmigosh, a conservationists nightmare……Phil can be described aptly by two words, ABSOLUTELY ABO. (Short for aborigines/aboriginal). Hes great to be around though, he kept me awake with all these edible suggestions when I was on the verge of collapsing into slumber on my monopod.

Lastly, one must have the ability to laugh at oneself when you do everything for the first time. Heres an example of the differences:

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The Pro (Chien)

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The Abo (Phil)

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Wannabe! (pummkin)

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Cannot Be…

The birds are everywhere, sometimes you hear them but you dont see them. When you see them, you cant find them in your viewfinder. When you finally see through your viewfinder, the bird is so small, you squint & pray that your focus will lock on. Then they flee…….this is so frustrating……

You remember names but dont remember the sequence. Get corrected by Chien many times. You retreat to the coffee station & tell yourself to take a tea break. Then you hear a shriek, somewhat like bird with a sore throat. All you can manage to shout out is Tok tok tok! Thats a tok tok tok! When the surroundings cold, your brain freezes momentarily out of excitement, you say whatever that comes to mind. Woodpecker is non-existent in my vocabulary then. Just tok tok tok. A result of seeing too many PM threads of this name. An Indo Chinese Cuckoo Shrike becomes an Indian Chinese Cuckoo Bird to me. Soon, I was just pointing up in the sky shouting, Big Bird! Big Bird!

Here are some of my attempts but of course, no where near the pros. I stress that Ill stay as a Wannabe & stick to shooting micro underwater stuff, something which Im good at.

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Tok Tok Tok…..dont know what kind. Ask Chien.

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Forgetful Bird…….think its called Amnesia.

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Some kind of thrush…….no, its not a disease.

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Racket Tailed Drongo…….this one I know coz it makes a lot of noise outside my apartment every morning.

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Phil being powered up by Tenaga!

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The Real McCoys

Phil will be joining Philip this weekend & Philip is coming again in December, hopefully Chien can make it. Im going to set up the coffee station proper, be like a Yau Chin Tai-Tai (a rich man’s wife), sit down & wait for the birds to come before I lift my finger to shoot.

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