Copyright © 2017 by Ali Bernie Buga-ay, all rights reserved. Blue-winged Pitta: this photograph may not be used without permission.
We have come into the forest of Kaengkratchan National Park for the prospect of the Pittas in which every bird photographer in Thailand and from foreign lands are crazy into. Well, you need to see the bird first before you can understand the madness. We have seen different kinds of Pittas in the forest but we barely took photographs and when we did, they were bad. The best way to capture this beauty is to lure it out in the open in which light is not coming from above, therefore it must be in the afternoon at about 3:00 0′ clock and on. Luring it out with meal worms and with a repeat calls can be stressful to the bird. I have seen how it is done, the birds most of the time don’t come because they are so annoyed with these stakeouts. We have seen Pittas on the road and places where we did not expect them to show up, but to take a great shot is another story. In our case we were so blessed to have Long Sin (Long means Uncle in Thai) show us his hides as introduced by Baan Song Nok (House of Two Birds). He showed us his hides within the forest, we were impressed since they are more natural and the birds were not fed or called into. This is a lovely one with birdlings. We were lucky to have them before they were devoured by an animal as Long Sin protested to us on the phone.
Kaeng Krachan National Park, Thailand
June 24, 2017
Nikon D500 + Nikkor 200-500mm f/5.6E ED VR
Fotopro TS-85C | Fotopro WH-30 | Carry Speed FS-Slim | Nitecore UNK1s
