Tiny Birds of Busuanga Island

[Tonji Ramos]

The tiny birds are usually more difficult to capture well. But they are very interesting to capture and the detail I see in the photos is more than what I see from my binoculars. On Busuanga one of my target birds was the Oriental Dwarf Kingfisher. It had eluded us on two previous visits to Palawan. Once in Sabang and another time in the mangrove area of Busuanga. We were lucky to have good views this time on different days. But it likes the dark and is still a shy bird. The Olive Back and the Palawan Flowerpecker were not shy at all allowing very good looks at a decent range.

I have to say that lugging my giant tripod around is no joke. I lost 5 pounds this last trip! But having a stable base was great and helped me a lot when taking photos in the difficult lighting conditions.

This bird, the Olive-backed Sunbird aurora is my favorite picture. Its pretty common but my attempts during previous visits were all disappointing. Luckly I had some photos I am happy with now, this one is the new wallpaper of my laptop.

Olive back Sunbird aurora (4 1/2" inches)

Canon 50D, Canon 500mm +1.4x tc, ISO 200, 1/80, f5.6

There were a bunch of these tiny Palawan Flowerpeckers feeding in this one tree. The whole day. We surrounded this tree with 4 tripods and were clicking away happily, we had time to fix our settings and experiment. I tried to keep the focus of the face and hopefully the thin DOF of my lens plus TC would have the desired effect.

Palawan Flowerpecker (3 1/2" inches)

Canon 50D, Canon 500mm +1.4x tc, ISO 250, 1/50, f5.6

The Oriental Dwarf- Kingfisher was on everyones hit list. Its small around half the size of the White-Collared, does not like anyone near it, and likes to stay in the dark areas. An interesting challenge. I made do with what light I had and relied on my super heavy tripod to be keep my camera steady thru the very slow shutter speed. I tried to keep my ISO as low as possible to keep noise to a decent level.

Oriental Dwarf-Kingfisher (5 1/2" inches)

Canon 50D, Canon 500mm +1.4x tc, ISO 320, 1/10, f5.6

[Edu Lorenzo Jr]

Congratulations on finally catching the Dwarf! Your perseverance has paid off!

I love the eye contact with the PFP!

OBS... hmph! hahah!

[Tonji Ramos]

Edu, you are really unlucky with your quest to photograph an Olive-backed Sunbird. Its a bird I see often, so I am sure it won't be long before you see it.

The bird I always look for is the Asian Fairy Bluebird. I have photographed it once, badly in Sabang. I have seen it two other times but always fail to get a picture. But I am hopeful it will not take too long.

[Romy Ocon]

Wow, more superb captures of Palawan specialties..... looks like you've mastered your new 500, Tonji!

[Adri Constantino]

I miss Palawan!

Great shots Tonji especially the olive-backed sunbird and the Palawan Flowerpecker.

More!

[Ely Teehankee]

You have bonded well with your 500mm. The three pictures that you took brought out the beauty of these birds. Well done Tonji. Mabuhay.

[Toto Gamboa]

Great Palawan bird shots tonji! kakainggit!