The first time.....

No, this isn't about THAT first time..

It's about the first time I had a field-trip with my new Canon camera.  I just think it might be nice to post something different.  A sort of a beginning for the observations I talked about..

Anyway the "first time" was an outing to KL's bird park with Mike and "Shin" (a friend who took over my Fujifilm digital camera).  I was supposed to be teaching Shin how to use that camera, so the best thing is to put him in the "deep end" so to say, so we decided (or rather Mike did) to go to the bird park.  It was also a good excuse for me to try out my camera. This was on the 24th of December 2009.

It was a nice day, but kinda exhaustingly humid in that little windless though green valley snuggled somewhere in the Lake Garden vicinity.  I supposed those netting high above not only keeps the birds in, but also most of the wind out.  So if any of you plan to visit there, please bring at least a bottle of water and a face towel at least.

The welcome signboard needs a bit more welcome I guess. But for the kind of money locals pay for entering (rm15 per adult) and foreign tourists have to fork out rm42 per adult, there should be sufficient funds to spruce up the welcome.  I am puzzled though that most of the personnel there (ticket sellers, security staff, attending personnel inside the park) don't seem Malaysian - well they don't seem to speak with the usual Malaysian tongue and accent.

I really wonder if its true, that it is the WORLD's largest?

In case any of you didn't already know, left is Mike, right is "Shin".

I felt the parakeet was more curious about us than we were about it.

This peacock sure knew how to strut its stuff.  It was holding up a group of visitors along the walkway who (like me) clicked and snapped away happily at its gorgeous display.  I think Mike got a nice shot of its posterior too..

This one preferred to just survey its domain from a vantage point.

I think this is called the Secretary bird.  Now you know why secretaries are just pretty pretty..

I was just trying out some shutter speed settings.  If I had used auto settings, then I would be deemed as very amateruish..

An almost close-up of a Flamingo

And a whole flock of them preening on the grass verge.

Couldn'st resist this proverbial steps to nowhere

It's looking a little forlorn inside the aviary netting.

Another experiment in shutter speed settings.

Don't you think it looks kinda angry?

Taken after their feeding time.  They must be feeling rather bored.

Your usual ginger family flower I think.

This little one was all alone by itself.

I was wondering too.. what are these monkeys doing inside a bird park..

At the Hornbill Restaurant where we had lunch, a "young" coconut costs rm12 !!!

..and an iced lemon tea costs...  don't even ask !!

This little boy was frightened by a black bird that came to perch at the chair to pick at their food.

That's the black culprit which frightened the boy.

This bird also was used to the humans and came to perch at the railing.

Shin even had time to post to his own blog while we were having lunch, courtesy of the free wi-fi.

Generally speaking, my first time field-trip with the Canon was rather interesting, if not tiring.  My own conclusion however, is that if you just want to go for the sight-seeing, you are better off spending your hard-earned cash elsewhere...