Saturday, November 28, 2009

Eidul Adha with Hornbills

Update 21/06/10
It was late afternoon on Friday 18th, the eve of my birthday when there was this loud 'cackle' coming from the coconut trees in front of the house. Told Ayong to get the camera out for I wanted to 'catch' pictures of the birds. It was too far off for the digital compact camera but I insisted. This is her best shot [cropped and enlarged 2x].

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Went to bed in the wee hour .. it was already close to 4.00 am. Was cooking the peanut sauce for eid's breakfast with the children. At about 6.30 am ..there was this loud 'cackle'. I recognized the sound. It was the hornbills. I have seen them around the house a few times but it was never this close. I got out of bed and peered through the glass of my bedroom window.

There it was ... perched on the tip of the gabled roof of the porch. It's faded black and white feathers and the white bill againts the gray morning sky made it looked like a wooden carving. I tiptoed to my daughter's room to get the camera and tiptoed back to the window. As I tried to get it into the lens .. it flew away cackling merrily.

Again I was left with a googled picture.


However, the image of a hornbill perched on the tip of the gable on early EidulAdha morning left a very strong and pleasant impression.

The bird stuck around until evening.

I am hoping it will return to perch on the gable again tomorrow morning.

3 comments:

Che Jam said...

Hi Cikgu,

Did it come back, the bird ?

When I saw the pic of the bird, I thought I salah masuk blog. Ingatkan your birding friend's blog.

I am glad your children were with you during Raya Haji. My mum and dad are also happier this year. I am happy for them even tho it means I'd be left to be on my own. Normally the anak-cucu would not take a long trip back to kampung for Raya Haji. But not this year.

Have a nice day. I have read you latest post. My comment : dah namanya lelaki, bini baik macam mana pun dia nak cari yang lain jugak. Nasib la kalau jumpa yang baik.

koolmokcikZ said...

Hi dear,
Thanks for dropping in.
No, the bird didn't return to perch but still around the house. I do hope one day I'll be able to capture it in that position. It will be awesome to parade the pic to my birding friend ..hehehe
This year Eid Adha is during long school holiday ... so anak cucu took the opportunity to visit the old folks. Now, I am wondering what made you stayed back, alone some more ...
Hmm ... what one never have, one never miss

Che Jam said...

Dear Cikgu,

I could not affort to leave office for more than three days. I covered my sis up for she was taking a long holidays with her kids for balik kampung. And we take turn actually. In fact I am just back from kampung, last Sunday the 6th. And am going balik kampung again tomorrow for 2 official matters in Kedah, and take the opportunity to spend some time with my parents too in between.

What I never have, I never miss. I am not sure what you mean he he.. I try not to think too much about what I don't have. If I do, I would be blaming God for not giving them to me. What I don't have I won't complain, that's more like it.