When I don’t bring my birding camera…

When:  March 2018                     Weather : Hot 28C

Camera:  Samsung note 5!

So I almost always bring my trusty Nikon P900  birding camera with me whenever I’m on the road on the off-chance I might get to shoot something but on a short trip to Jakarta a couple of weeks ago for a day-long conference in which I arrived midnight on a friday and departed early on a Sunday morning(to escape the traffic!) I decided to travel light and not bring any camera gear except for my phone……well, we all know that the crowded city of Jakarta is not great for birding except for the mangrove swamp at Muara Angke…..

So after the meeting, I arrived at Jakarta Soekarno Hatta airport and settled into the Singapore Airlines lounge for some breakfast when I gazed out the window…..

A solitary tree outside the SQ lounge

As I sipped my coffee, I saw a shadow zip into the tree and then another and another…..taking a closer look and then seating myself right at the window I spent a delightful half hour just observing the excellent bird activity there in cool air-conditioned comfort.  I lamented not having my P900 with me but still had fun trying to shoot through glass with a wide angled Samsung phone camera so please excuse the poor images….

The fast moving birds were prob munias….either Javan or Scaly breasted

another pair of munias

and then this pretty little thing hopped about for a few seconds affording me only a momentary glimpse of his red rump…. flowerpecker?

a rather larger bird then flew into the fringe of the tree

probably a sooty headed bulbul

What an unexpected bonus to be able to just observe these birds in a most unexpected location!  Learnt my lesson….always wear your camera!