Jeluntong Tower some birds and monkey madness

[Barret]

These shots were taken on my second trip to the tower.

The birds are really far here like 100 meters away maybe more, who am I to judge. I know my bird photos stink! But hardly anyone gets good stuff on the tower; a consolation would be the monkeys!

All bird photos have been cropped A LOT! Monkey photos were slightly cropped

BTW all the photos are on FILM

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05 - the woodpecker tree!

[Barret]

Start of monkey madness.
These guys are always on a tree about 30 meters away from the tower (maybe more). The strangest thing they do is hump the trees, a friend told me that they are trying to shake off fruits, but then again most of them are on dried lifeless trees, so I don’t know what to say. These guys are nuts!

But seriously, it’s fascinating to capture their eating habits from a distant.

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[Barret]

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11 - Monkey fights do happen now and then, this little guy was chased around by a whole horde of other monkeys.



12 - Sun bird nearer to SICC



All photos taken using FILM - Fuji NPS/NPH
Most photos taken using Mamiya 654 and a 500mm f5.6, except the sunbird which was taken using a 150mm f3.5.

I love the monkeys there!

[laokayu]

I see you are getting psyched up for the Monday shoot !

[Barret]

of course!

but its a real drag, using film then scanning them, really pretty annoying.

might consider going digital eventually, but the price is still to expensive compared to film. Digital backs are really out of budget, some $24k??? for a 11 mega pixle version

oh yeah if you guys come along tommorrow, you can see the crazy mamiya! i adapted my lens to the cannon SLR camera, its really quiet cool.

[Terence]

Looks like the woodpecker won't be back for awhile at Jelutong tower, a new resident has set up home in its hole.

[Barret]

Now those are good colours!

I need to go digital!!!
Or is my scanner busted. maybe i should go back to my B&Ws

[erwinx]

Originally Posted by Barret These shots were taken on my second trip to the tower. The birds are really far here like 100 meters away maybe more, who am I to judge. I know my bird photos stink! But hardly anyone gets good stuff on the tower; a consolation would be the monkeys!

Another big advantage of digital is the EXIF information which gives distance to subject. If you had EXIF info, you would realise that the birds are usually about 10-20 m away from the tower.

[Barret]

really depends, today we were there and the sunbirds were at the 50 and 100 meter marks,

the wood peker tree is 20 meters away i reckon

[erwinx]

Originally Posted by Barret really depends, today we were there and the sunbirds were at the 50 and 100 meter marks, the wood peker tree is 20 meters away i reckon

If you are interested in Sunbirds, you might want to consider BG or MOG instead; they're much closer there. Woodpecker tree at 20m sounds right.

[jbma]

Originally Posted by Terence Looks like the woodpecker won't be back for awhile at Jelutong tower, a new resident has set up home in its hole.

He he. You are right Terence. I did see them a couple of weeks ago though.

[Garion]

Originally Posted by Terence Looks like the woodpecker won't be back for awhile at Jelutong tower, a new resident has set up home in its hole.

These buggers can sure climb. Probably looking for the woodpecker's eggs or something. Hope he didn't get them.

[Annery]

Erm........
Hopw to check with you guys........ are there maps available for trekking at MacRitchie, Bukit Timah... etc?

[jbma]

You won't get lost. There are footpaths all over and maps to show where you are.

[Annery]

The thing is......
I am trying to plan for me and my friends and we are hoping to plan a route.....
I search at the National Parks Board website and they do not hv such thing also.....

[Barret]

Originally Posted by erwinx If you are interested in Sunbirds, you might want to consider BG or MOG instead; they're much closer there. Woodpecker tree at 20m sounds right.

Nah i am done with the tower for now, and birds for that matter, i had alot more sunbirds when i was still using my Canon, a tad diffcult to take sunbirds with a 150mm (90 equlivent) on medium format...

[sehsuan]

Originally Posted by Annery The thing is...... I am trying to plan for me and my friends and we are hoping to plan a route..... I search at the National Parks Board website and they do not hv such thing also.....

route to where? if you're looking for a way to get into jelutong tower... just walk in via sime road.

by the way, nice documentary style photos - i love them!

[Annery]

Thanks for the direction.......
I think street directory should hv include such facilities in their map......
I hv to keep asking ppl on how to go to certain places as it is not shown on the map...
If it is on the map den i can locate it myself.......
But my friends and I are also planning a trekking route from MacRitchie to Bukit timah.... but i dun think we can plan it now as no such map are available..... can only plan on the spot as we trek....

[sehsuan]

if you have any friends who are known to run in macritchie often... you could ask them about how to access the tower, or how to trek to BT. just off-hand, some of us actually delight in running from macritchie, to sicc, then cutting through a long long clearing in the forest, to bukit timah, crossing BKE...

minus the camera gear, of course!

[Barret]

I think its easiest if you can park at bukit SICC and just walk in after the visitor carpark... of course the island location is a good way too, but you dont get the convenience of easy parking.

Another point to consider, you would probally be walking in with say about 15 kg worth of equipment. so parking is critical, unless you can rent a golf buggy!

Just for the record, monday's shoot at the tower was fantastic, we had flocks of bee eaters, the wood pecker showed up(on a different tree) and tons of other birds all over the place. strangely enough, the pacific sallows and the monkeys were no where to be found..