It’s Earth Day today and we are off to the sea! What better way to celebrate Earth Day than to spend time with Mother Nature herself! The seven of us chartered a boat from Fairy Point to the Black-naped Terns’s nesting site, the Loyang Rock, also known as the Squance Rock, off the coast of Changi.

This special rock has been the tern’s nesting site for many decades. Each year from April-Aug, they will lay their eggs and raise their youngs overlooking the Singapore skyline.

(more…)

A promotional package that contains newsletter and postcards that i’ve designed to promote C.S.Ling Photography.

Newsletter click to read

Postcards

(more…)

Finally managed to i.d all of the birds i’ve photographed in Jiu Zhai Gou. From what i’ve managed to gathered, they are pretty much the rare ones. Searched the world wide web many times over and almost close to zero info. Thanx to the friendy folks at the birding forums, else i would have search til my hair turns white, 9000+ species of birds on Earth! no kidding! Anyway, please read on… i need some of your opinions.

White-throated Dipper (Cinclus cinclus)
The amazing little bird that can run against the rapids! I’ll like some opinions. Which of the two do you prefer? Aesthetic or impact?
In terms of impact, the 2nd one would be it. But i like the way the water flows in the 1st one. Which one leaves a more lasting impression? The running on water? or head on splash of water?
I have some special plans for this picture so hope i can gather some viewer’s opinions before that. Thanks a bunch!!

Elliot’s Laughingthrush ( Garrulax elliotii elliotii)
Lovely name…. makes one wants to laugh Shot this guy at Jiu Zhai Gou, near the ShuZheng Falls. This guy was singing to attract another female’s attention. Little did it know, that female was me! LOL! It’s one of the 69 endemic bird species of China, living only in altitude of 1,200-4,800m above sea level.

White-collared Yuhina (Yuhina diademata)
How can anything get any cuter than this tiny little handsome fella with a mohawk hairstyle that doesn’t need any styling gel to keep up with and fluffly plumage! They usually flies in flocks of about 10-20 and even though they are safe in numbers, they are very very shy and they will do anything to avoid humans. Explains why i only got two good shots of this rare beauty in Jiu Zhai Gou.

White Wagtail (Motacilla alba)
This bird got it’s name from its characteristic long and constantly wagging tail as it forage for insects. Very cute if you see it in person. It’s like a happy puppy that keeps wagging it’s tail. Shot this at Wolong.

I didn’t really went to Jiu Zhai Gou with birding in mind…. mostly landscapes. So these can be considered my “lucky shots” that i just happened to bump into them along my way of shooting landascape. Although i must say, it’s a real pain in the ass, literally… to change from wide-angle to the huge 80-400mm telephoto lens everytime i stumble upon a bird species. And even more so when i finish setting up the big lens, the bird flew away before i can even press the shutter… =_= So yup, i really treasure these shots.

this comparison almost makes my heart stop beating It’s one thing to know the figures and it’s another to actually see it in illustration. Totally Mind blowing! Just so everyone knows, everything after Jupiter are stars. Our Sun is just a very normal star compared to all those super giant stars out there. So the next time you see a twinkle little star, it’s not really little. It’s just very very very far away.
By the way, both Rigel and Betelgeuse (the video spelt it wrongly) are in one of my fave constellation, The Orion. ^_^

Really makes one wonder how vast and endless the Universe is. How in the millions of galaxies and billions of stars that we even existed… How amazing it is to have humans, animals, plants, mountains, oceans… all on this small little planet we called ” Earth”.
It’s just so so so amazing to me…. that I’m just merely a speck of dust floating in space and here i am, typing away on my computer and posting this entry on my blog! How can life get any more wonderous?

Ok, enough of dreaming. Now i can sleep. Nitez to the world and beyond! : )