Today is competition day so everyone gathered in the parking lot at dawn for a 12 hour marathon of birding. Each team had a marshall in attendance and so every identification was verified. I decided to take a pass as I would have only been marginally useful at bird spotting, Several of the teams were groups of guides representing some of the big name jungle lodges around Sabah so they were highly motivated to bring back the prize.
In my ongoing attempt at improving my digiscoping capability,I focused ( no pun intended) on trying to come up with an image worthy of submission in that category. Sadly after approximately 8 hours and more that 12 km of walking about the trails, I was unable to find that golden picture. I was able to get a few images for my records though and the mid day lectures were phenomenal. http://www.borneobirdfestival.com/programme-outline/ Of particular note Mr.Cede Prudente and Mr. Wong Tsu Shi's presentations were exceptional. These two individuals were owners of a couple of the 600 mm 2.8 lenses I mentioned in a previous post. I had the pleasant opportunity to meet John and Anna Arifin, two wonderful folks from Singapore. John is a professional Photographer and an educator http://www.johnarifin.com/ND%20john_arifin.htm. John was at the Festival as a judge for the photography, as we chatted while waiting for a Ruddy Kingfisher to reappear I was taken by the outgoing and altruistic nature of this lovely couple.
