Only One Bird at Fraser's Hill

I admire people and their great works, and that often inspires me, hence I visited Fraser's Hill, a dwelling place of over 270 species of birds, recently. 

It was seven in the next morning, 15 degree C, drizzly, windy and foggy when I was wandering around. It was quiet, and I was alone.

Birds of Fraser's Hill are over 270 species, I reminded myself. But then only one representative greeted me in the whole morning, the rest might be busy preparing for Christmas. They deserve holiday as we do, I thought.

The photography session proceeded on a flowering plant near the ground, simply because my gears never match those that professional bird watchers used to carry. 

The bird tried its very best feeding on nectar in different positions in order to satisfy my need, not to mention many other interesting plays that were wasted due to my inadequacy. It must have met many similar dummies before, the routine was continued until I had had enough.

History of Fraser's Hill can be traced back to more than one hundred years ago, birds of Fraser's Hill are over 270 species, somehow I was saved from the embarrassment of leaving without shooting a bird. 


Thanks for your sacrifice, my feathered friend- a grey-breasted spiderhunter.

Happy New Year to you.

Watch, and Being Watched

"When I am old, I just want to rest in peace."


"No more bloody alcohol, no more unplugged rap, and no more aerobatic flights in between fingers."


Somehow, things can never come in control, even after the death of a mosquito.

But when a spider is seen jumping away, coming back, and at the same time involving all its eight eyes in analyzing me, and all these repeat for many times, I understand that the dead body serves very good as a bait. 

But then could I be a bait too?  While I am  watching at them, am I monitored by someone else? 


"We may seem lonely, but will never be lonely. Thousands of hidden eyes, 24-hours a day, 7 days a week, are looking at us, secretly." The mosquito would rap if it can.

Mengkuang Dam

Has Nature ever been shocked seeing wrinkles on her face? It is somehow not answerable, but I find her in different faces that look familiar, but never be exact.

Sometimes a tint of orange and pink is used in the makeup, a neutral colour with bright reflection in some moments, she also covers her face with a layer of white veil when the veil is available; she has unlimited ways to keep her beautiful and charming, but has Nature ever been shocked seeing wrinkles on her face?

The use of cosmetic has been known since antiquity, she applied, and she cleansed, and all these repeated with improved formulations, but has Nature ever been shocked seeing wrinkles on her face?

Whenever she was shocked, I know, we should have been shocked, in an amplified magnitude.

Dreamy

Was the night quiet when a lunar eclipse took place? Might it be just one of the ordinary nights to the critters in the jungle.

The traces of evident in the morning talk. 

All the harp strings were broken in the night of the concert. And all critters got completely soaked in the rain; the wetter they were, the hotter the atmosphere, and the longer the night lasted.

A careful search see an exhausted spider sleeping very soundly nearby. A curtain is indeed not required. A pillow is indeed not required.

The bed that makes me feeling dizzy tells me that the spider is still dancing a waltz, in a dream, and is still excited in the dream.

Did the lunar eclipse mean something to the spider? Or could the night be a birthday night to the spider? Anyhow, that must be a splendid concert.

Mosses

Moss is a weed in grass lawns, and grass is a weed in where moss dominates. 

While mosses often grow on substrates, they never dominate by being parasitic. They are nothing great, but their tiny leaves work hard to absorb water and nutrients, which are in turn converted into food in a photosynthetic factory, a factory that I would like to, but can never visit, or take photographs.

Mosses do not bear flowers and fruits. They are simple, yet aesthetic, and mysterious in a close-up. I can get lost in this "mossy forest" if I am an ant, whilst a real ant can never.

What if I write them as mossssssssssssssss? Does this look like a clump of moss?

Mantis, A Legend

For some reasons, a little mantis had never left a same place for three weeks, be it stormy or sunny, day or night.

A woman climbed up a mountain and watched the South China Sea at every sunrise, in anticipation of the return of her husband. But she fell ill and died after years of waiting. 

She turned into a stone that continued watching the sea and waiting for that day. This is the legend of Mount Kinabalu, that of the tiny mantis must be as great. 

But I took advantage to make the mantis my model, before it became a stone.

I had ample time for many trials and errors, and many decent shots. 

The mantis was disturbed by my camera flash, and reacted terribly in such a way that saw it posing like a professional; that was great!

I felt so great too!! (I put three extension tubes, 36mm, 20mm and 12mm, onto my Canon EF 100mm f/2.8 macro lens).

That was cruel, and yet the world is cruel. People take advantage whenever circumstances allow. Be you a mantis, a mountain, a stone or else. I am but as cruel.

The mantis transformed from black to green in the fourth week, before turning into a stone. 

Hide and Seek

The little spider wants to avoid me, "No working on Sunday, or pay me double!"

As I am always visible in size, the spider tries to disappear from my sight whenever I arrive. But I am a homo sapiens who always take control of the situation. It can never escape from the corner of my eye as long as it starts losing patience, and makes some movement, though it is tiny.


It is out there posing for me. Who cares about voluntary or otherwise. Result counts.

It stays in the world of homo sapiens, that's it.

"No overtime claim!"

Thinking Out of the "Shell"

Does a snail think outside or inside the "shell"? It seems like not putting the brakes on its thinking, and action. Its patience is the speed that gets it moving steadily from high to low, from low to high, and at where we cross each other.

It should have plenty of time to spend on thinking during travelling, if it thinks outside the shell. Does it think the mirror image of what I have thought? 

What does it see when thinking inside the hot and stuffy shell? It should not think inside the shell. The echoes of its sound of laughter can make it deaf, when thinking of something really funny, as funny as me.

A Weak Triangle

I found these bees because of porterweed, and I always come back to the porterweed then because of the bees. We have formed a triangle, but bees sip honey and pollinate flowers, the later never get stung.

I need to maneuver very cautiously in the midst of humming sound on the other way, while those flowers continue to live and blossom, even without me.

My vital role is only a paparazzi. I confirm further when I click the next one from a far distance.

What if they tell the press that "they have been chased by a paparazzi, and he run lights, and he chase them and harass them the whole time. And it has certainly gotten worse?"

A Morning with Ladybirds

It was one morning after a rainy night. Every wrinkle of the inconceivable antiquity of nature was well hidden under morning dew, but that never lasted long. The later was evaporated very soon in the warmth of the sun.

I was slow, too slow to capture only a few small drops. I did not explore what the wrinkle would look like, as I was distracted by some obvious ladybirds. And I was lucky, these bugs never got evaporated.

If I continued to be slow, I could be evaporated instead. Could I?

But I was ready to face the sun for many more shots, for those I had the obligation to make sacrifices.

I was still myself, but was suntanned, like what had happened to the ladybirds, in the end.

How silly an old rogue was, in a lovely morning.

Egrets, Cows, and Me

Egrets and cows are known to be very good friends. I tried to join them this morning.

Did my camera look like the black nose of a cow?

I did not think so.

The egrets had never landed on my back, neither I had succeeded in closing the gap between us. Our relationship only improved during a cow mooed, and I followed, from a far distance.

I thought I was a cow by now, but I was wrong. The egrets flew to the top of a nearby coconut tree, and never came back, no matter how accurate I mooed.

I shall mimic an egret next time, and an orange lens as its beak.

A Rare Visitor

I have been offered rentals in scottsdale, where natural wonders of the Grand Canyon, Petrified Forest, Asteroid craters, and the most diverse ecosystems in the world can be found.

I was then preoccupied thinking about a rare visitor that asked for a rental too. I explored further, but was so funny to find myself looking at a fake pair of eyes of this Oleander Hawk moth.

So different from most moths or butterflies, it was so cool while being annoyed continuously. I offered this critter a free stay with conditions: eat no grapes and leaves, spoil no flowers, shit no on fruits, and the list would continue.

It said nothing, but silence is consent, and maintained in a comfortable perching position. It should have sensed my good name in the kingdom of critters, a good old man who has license but never kill.

But I might be a fool again. It had actually fallen into sleep right from the beginning. I talked only to deaf ears, yet felt so high, that I used to do.

Anyway, welcome to my garden.

Shoes, Fly, and Me

Most of the time, I am never normal, I build up illusion. And things got worse recently: I thought of shoes while looking at a hoverfly.

People have been very wary and worry since a long time ago. They wear shoes, as their feet quarrelled with the ground once upon a time. They are cautious until today.

The quarrel could be due to a Athlete's foot. A hoverfly does not have this to spread to the ground. It is then always confident to move around, barefoot.

And since then, people face problems with shoes that a hoverfly will never have. It waste no time to choose which high heels to fly with, which boots to party with, and which sneakers are best for an outdoor activity.

And new problems arise, because of hammer toes, claw toes, mallet toes, or trigger toes. People look for arch support, people look for foot care.

I heard the hoverfly laughing, "Why started the quarrel in the first place?"

This had me never be normal again.

The Nature Talks

Those in the forest talk through their colors and patterns, poses, or behaviours. They never bore me.

The talk can either be "dynamic" or in the opposite way, this very much depends on how my luck turn up to be.

The talks can be easily missed, and the talks can also be nothing, but they are irreplaceable by the refresh button in a computer screen.

They talk. They smile broadly. They greet me a good day every now and then that I love and eager to hear.

I listen, and my ears never get me in trouble.

Rainbow Waterfall, Sungai Lembing, Continued

"No eye has seen, no ear has heard, and no mind has imagined" unless we have made the move.

There is no restriction on how we move, though we have only ourselves to rely on sometimes.

And creativity never set itself a limit. We can always enjoy every of these moments, either because of our efforts, or through others'.

I know a stone never talk, but it tells stories, that I always love listening to.

"Again, you can't connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards."....Steve Jobs.

All these are hidden inside a forest.