New to bird photography

[Jun Osano]

Hi Guys, Jun Osano here. I'm a Civil Engineer by profession but photography is my hobby. I've been wanting to shoot birds for a long long time. I have shot birds before using film cameras but im no expert. My playground is in the province of Surigao del Sur in a place called Bislig, my hometown.

Sir Romy, have you been to our place? They say it is one of the best place for birding. Ive seen guys from England who go there every year. I also saw Timothy Fisher there. They say he also knows a lot about birds.

Right now, Im based in Manila and hope someday i could meet up with you guys.

[Romy Ocon]

Welcome aboard, Jun!

I'm also called that nickname by my family, I'm likewise a civil engineer and since you're about to become a birdnut, the list of similarities will grow longer, hehe. ;D

Nope, haven't had the pleasure of birding in Surigao, but would welcome an opportunity especially if we have a local boy to guide us.

Romy

[Eric Patdu]

Welcome Jun!

Yup, Bislig is a place frequented by bird watchers especially PICOP. So you've met Tim Fisher eh. He not only knows a lot about birds but he is also an author of two books on Philippine birds.

Looking forward to seeing your posts here.

[tina mallari]

Welcome to the group Jun !!!

Hope you get to join us in one of our bird photography trips - that's the best way to get to know the people in this group

[Bobby Kintanar]

Welcome Jun. We've heard a lot aobut Bislig, and we will surely go there some day. Hope to see you in person when you get the chance to drop by Cebu. :-)

[Jun Osano]

Thank you all for a very warm welcome. I hope to see all of you soon and join one of your bird photography trips.

[Ding Carpio]

Hey, Jun! I went to PICOP way back in (I think) 1988 or 1989 when my company then sent me there as a consultant. Wasn't a birdnut then but have always loved forests and that's something PICOP (and Bislig) has a lot of.

My wife's family lives in Mindanao and, hopefully, I can get to re-visit Bislig one day.

Welcome!

[Jun Osano]

Hi Ding, it was called PICOP way back 1988. Now it's called PRI (Picop Resources, Inc.). New owners i think but still the concession has lots of birds. Some of it i just see in books. I also have some scanned pictures (poor quality) of birds which i cannot find in the book "A guide to the Birds of the Philippines". Not sure if its unrecorded or i just dont know how to look for it in the book hehehe

Thanks for the welcome!

[Eric Patdu]

kamachikid said:

I also have some scanned pictures (poor quality) of birds which i cannot find in the book "A guide to the Birds of the Philippines". Not sure if its unrecorded or i just dont know how to look for it in the book hehehe

Hello Jun, we would love to see those photos and help you ID them. Who knows, something unexpected might come up from them. ;D

[Lydia Robledo]

Welcome Jun! You've got a nice place there where people once (maybe up to now??) feasted on hornbills for their simple meal. My labidabs has a cousin there - last name is UBA. He said he grew up in the forest of Bislig. He worked with PICOP before but is now based here, too. Since taong gubat ka rin, any butterfly captures? lyd

[Lydia Robledo]

Oh. you might know Zardo Goring, the famous bird guide of Bislig. Benedict de Leander, a WBCP member, based in Denmark, I think, gave me Zardo's number. He texted once that there were 20 Rufous hornbills perched on a tree. That was more than a year ago. Benedict showed me a video of the beautiful long tailed flycatcher (?) and some butterflies. lyd

[Farmer Nestor]

Eyyyy Jun join na! join na! PICOP was our client the DCS installed on that plant was my former company.

[Jun Osano]

Sir Eric, I will send you the images soon.

Maam Lydia, I know someone by the name of Nestor Uba. Regarding butterflies, I never had captures of them but i can still vividly remember when i was kid, i would go with my dad during his inspections in the forest. During these rides i could see thousands (I'm sure it's in the thousands) of butterflies in the side of the limestone road. This would go on for hundreds of meters. I would ask my dad why they are on the road when they are supposed to be on flowers. He'd say that the butterflies are praying hehehe The dominant color would be yellow and the rest black white red, etc. I dont personally know Mr. Goring but i always see him at the Paper Country Inn. It's where the birdwatchers would stay.

Pitsew, it's nice to hear that there are members here who have heard about PICOP/Bislig or formerly connected with it.

I think i did the right choice in joining this group. I really hope to meet you guys and share stories with you.

[Eric Patdu]

Hello Jun,

No need to call me Sir. I don't deserve that title that is reserved for the Masters. ;-p Hehehe....

You can post the images in the Bird Identification board so others can also see it.

Looking forward to seeing your bird photos.

[Nilo Arribas Jr.]

Welcome to board Jun.

Our subjects are birds but it is also very important to check the state of their habitat.

We are losing important forest cover at a catastrophic rate and PICOP is on top of that. I still want to visit that place in the near futu5re and take photos of Celestial Monarch and other specialty.

If you have chance (and this should be true for all of us), please take photos of the forest and the rate of destruction. This can help entities, NGOs or government take positive action.

Thanks.

Nilo

kamachikid said:

Hi Guys, Jun Osano here. I'm a Civil Engineer by profession but photography is my hobby. I've been wanting to shoot birds for a long long time. I have shot birds before using film cameras but im no expert. My playground is in the province of Surigao del Sur in a place called Bislig, my hometown.

Sir Romy, have you been to our place? They say it is one of the best place for birding. Ive seen guys from England who go there every year. I also saw Timothy Fisher there. They say he also knows a lot about birds.

Right now, Im based in Manila and hope someday i could meet up with you guys.

[Jun Osano]

Ok Eric. Those birds were shot with a film camera, scanned and cropped to death. Mostly Flowerpeckers, kingfishers and Sunbirds at my backyard.

Longbow, glad to meet you sir. Ive seen almost 3 decades of logging in Bislig and i could say that compared to other provinces....the forest cover there is still good. AFAIK, there are no NGO's there that is for the Environment and the Local Government lacks will power. Maybe someday we could all, including the masters, go visit there and have a bird/butterfly photography trip.

[starfish1329]

Hi there. I'm too far from home here in Chicago. I'm new to birding, photography and on the forum. I don’t know how to upload my pictures yet (sorry). I don’t have professional gadgets like yours but will appreciate any advice to what to buy. At the moment I’m using my Panasonic DMC TZ3 and my Zhumell 10 x 42 Field 6.5 deg/114m/1000m for birding. I have some decent pictures of birds with my camera but not as nice and clear like most of your collections. Its winter now so I’m just enjoying visiting birds in my backyard like cardinals, chickadees, juncos, woodpeckers, nuthatch, sparrows, finches, hawks and other birds. It's my dream to spend a vacation there in our country to go birding and bring decent gadgets that you can recommend for beginners like me.

Thanks.

Ruby

[Romy Ocon]

Hi Ruby,

If you can give us an idea of how much you intend to budget, as well as your birding style (mobile, hide/blind/feeder, etc.), we can suggest the birding gear to buy. You're lucky to be in the US if buying bird photo gear, you have more choices there, at better prices.

When you wish to post an image, this has to be hosted in another site, as we don't have an uploading feature in our forums. You can post the link to the photo, then we can guide you on how to embed it here.

Romy

starfish1329 said:

Hi there. I'm too far from home here in Chicago. I'm new to birding, photography and on the forum. I don’t know how to upload my pictures yet (sorry). I don’t have professional gadgets like yours but will appreciate any advice to what to buy. At the moment I’m using my Panasonic DMC TZ3 and my Zhumell 10 x 42 Field 6.5 deg/114m/1000m for birding. I have some decent pictures of birds with my camera but not as nice and clear like most of your collections. Its winter now so I’m just enjoying visiting birds in my backyard like cardinals, chickadees, juncos, woodpeckers, nuthatch, sparrows, finches, hawks and other birds. It's my dream to spend a vacation there in our country to go birding and bring decent gadgets that you can recommend for beginners like me.

Thanks.

Ruby

[starfish1329]

HI, Romy

I’m very interested with this group so forgive me if I have lot of questions. The pictures are all incredibly amazing so I’m wondering how long everyone has been doing bird photography. Is it a hobby or profession? I’m not in a hurry to buy the equipment but will soon start to save the budget. I think it would be easier for me if I have a target amount. I’m not a technical person so I need basic knowledge and information in connections of buying the equipment. I would say that this group is more reliable than searching and reading rates online. Please if you can post lists of basic, decent, and desirable and must have equipment for those who enjoy photography. Is versatility possible? Birds are my favorite subjects of course but sometimes I also like landscapes, flowers and others. I need equipment that can take photo of birds flying 15 feet over our house. There is a small forest preserve and a pond near our backyard also where migratory birds like herons, cormorants, and egrets’ visits during spring and summer. Red tail hawk is very common and parts of my everyday sightings. Besides the ideal technicality, I would like something that would be easy to carry in travelling and in visiting parks, forests and bird sanctuaries.

Many thanks
Ruby

[Bob Kaufman]

Ruby, as Romy said, a lot depends on how much your budget is going to be. If your main subject will be birds then a long lens is a must. For starters (many of us here are Canon users, so I'll use that brand as an example) a Canon 40D kit (which includes an 18-55 lens for landscape shots) and a 100-400 lens would be perfect. That combo would cost you around $3,000.00. Check out bhphoto.com or onecall.com to get an idea of the current prices.

Welcome to the forum!!!