The St Andrew's Blue-Throated Bee-Eaters

[NikoMAT]

Dear Mickey,
This is truly a National Geographic material!!
I was very touched by the kindness/respect shown to the birds by you and the Team. I read thru' the 4 pages intensely and was very pleased as the stories unfold.Thanks for the beautiful photos & the interesting write-up. I am humbled by what you have done; great-photography, good understanding of nature, pro-active decisions & wonderful documention. Many lessons could be learnt from this. I will definitely want to share this interesting event with my children and friends. May God Bless you for all your good-deeds!

 

[shierwin]

Dear Mickey
I've been following the story. It's wonderful to know that there are people who care. The photographs especially of the parents in the early posts are sharp and vivid. No doubt a lot of effort was put in on the field and at the computer. I note that you use 500mm in the flickr posts for these pics. Nice if you can share with us what lens you use to get such sharp and beautiful pics.
Hope that the babies grow up and able to fly free again.

 

[limmick]

Kudos to Micky, Jason, Yih Yeong, Jonathan, Johnny, Dominator, your partners and the construction workers for all your efforts to save the chicks!

Your informed decisions and careful actions demonstrated your genuine compassion to other living beings. It serves as a guide and inspiration to the rest of us too. Thanks for this precious lesson.

Sadhu, sadhu, sadhu!

Heartfelt thanks for your support, Kinox - from the team. Its really wonderful to know that there are nature lovers like you who sign up to CS just to read this BTBE story! Truly makes all our efforts worthwhile somehow to know it matters and there are many like-minded nature lovers in Singapore...

You guys are awesome!
Beyond Nature Photography.... :thumbsup:

Thanks Mentawai - from the team...

Micky, proud daddy to those handsome chicks, your little darlings are really cute! :heart::heart::heart:

Thanks Pearl ! ya, my darlings are all really cute and handsome with vivid beautiful coloured feathers !

Dear Mickey,
This is truly a National Geographic material!!
I was very touched by the kindness/respect shown to the birds by you and the Team. I read thru' the 4 pages intensely and was very pleased as the stories unfold.Thanks for the beautiful photos & the interesting write-up. I am humbled by what you have done; great-photography, good understanding of nature, pro-active decisions & wonderful documention. Many lessons could be learnt from this. I will definitely want to share this interesting event with my children and friends. May God Bless you for all your good-deeds!

Thanks for your strong support NikoMAT - from the team... didn't expect such strong reactions and support as well as being a "lesson" for others... we merely started off photographing / documenting the nestings and had to act and make decisions along the way as the events unfolded... thanks for the support and endorsing our course of action...

Dear Mickey
I've been following the story. It's wonderful to know that there are people who care. The photographs especially of the parents in the early posts are sharp and vivid. No doubt a lot of effort was put in on the field and at the computer. I note that you use 500mm in the flickr posts for these pics. Nice if you can share with us what lens you use to get such sharp and beautiful pics.
Hope that the babies grow up and able to fly free again.

Thanks Shierwin - from the team...
For my pics - I use a Nikkon D700 with Nikkor 300mm f/4 + TC-17E II which is a sharp enough combo for me... yet to get the "real" birding lenses like the 300 f/2.8 and 500mm or 600mm f/4!
The other key members in the "team" are mixed on the "white" as well as "dark" side. I believe their "usual" setup are:
- Jason: Canon 1D Mk III, 300mm f/2.8 + 2xTC
- Jonathan: Canon 50D, 600mm f/4 + TC + tube (at times I think!)
- YY: Nikon D300, 500mm f/4

 

[Elgaris]

Great coverage and very heartwarming story

 

[limmick]

Great coverage and very heartwarming story

Thanks Elgaris - from the "team"...

 

[limmick]

:think:Well from that initial 2 days, the next few days also saw tremendous growth as well as change for the 4 little ones...
Over 13, 14 to 15 June, they were still averaging around 0.5 cm per day growth to reach 12 cm (for the other 3) and 14 cm (for the largest "big brother'... as well as a daily growth of new feathers... so from 8.5-11.5 cm, they've growth around 3 cm each in 5 days... or about 30% !

By this time I've also started to use my Nikkor 105mm f/2.8 lens to take the pics as opposed to the 'el cheapo' 50mm f/1,8 lens which I had used for the first few days - to get better details as I could get real close to them ! :vhappy:

14 June: Largest chick - the "big brother"

14 June: Back together with the rest...

Simply amazing growth - both in size as well as feathers... which are very visible changes even day by day.
Probably because they have such huge, voracious appetites - being fed every 1-2 hrs from 7am - 8pm... and eating about 1-3 worms EACH for each feed...

Their main food - the "super" worms which are larger than the 'standard' mealworms...

 

[limmick]

The feathers growing out - see inset pic (in following pic) which shows the close up of the quills(?) which are like little transparent sheaths where the small feathers push out from... very interesting... :think:
But their under bellies and rump area still mostly "bald" and pinkish still, without any feather cover as yet...

They are usually quite lively and call out loudly - especially when they are hungry and want to be fed... but after a good meal, they become drowsy and go to sleep... note their sleeping position of lying prone with heads stretched out and down flat with wings slightly parted at the sides... with eyes closed...

"Big brother" again - 15 June 2009 (looking quite unkempt - before getting his daily "bath" ! Note the bits of food stuck on his bill - yikes ! as well as ungroomed feathers - they've not yet learned or been taught how to groom themselves yet !)

Back with other 2 - with "little baby" in front... 15 June 2009 (again, before their wash/baths so very dirty bills ! :down: )

 

[chngpe01]

Well done and Kudos to all in the team. A fine and true example of nature photographers caring and making sure that the welfare of the subjects comes before everything else.

Well done again and my respect.:thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup:

 

[limmick]

Well done and Kudos to all in the team. A fine and true example of nature photographers caring and making sure that the welfare of the subjects comes before everything else.

Well done again and my respect.:thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup:

Thanks Chngpe01... from the 'team'...

 

[knpan]

This is great, more than nature photography.

cheers

 

[shierwin]

Hi Mickey

Any updates and pics of the babies. Should be fully fledged and left you!

 

[Simply80Chup]

Cool stuffs. Hope more to follow your footsteps. Local hero :thumbsup:

 

[mindfulness]

Their main food - the "super" worms which are larger than the 'standard' mealworms...

did u kill the worms before giving them to the chicks? advisable to do so .. u may use boiling water to kill the worms first before giving them ... as there may be a possibility the worm is still alive in the chick's guts and kill it