by If I say I find a woodpecker near KK, most of you would think that I am joking. I did find one! You won’t understand how excited I was. Every wildlife photography trip is a treasure hunt. Sometimes you get nothing, sometimes you can get a lot. And the harder you work, the more luck you get.
After walking 4 hours under the hot sun, I was so tired that I rested under a death tree. Thirst and hunger were trying to knock me out. Then I heard “Tatatat, Tatatat…” on top of my head. I looked up and saw only dry branches and blue sky. Later, again, I heard the pecking sound. I thought there was a big gecko caught a beetle, so it knocked its mouth against the tree branch to smash the big bug.
I stood up and walked away. After a few steps, I heard the pecking clearly again. My instinct made me turned my head to look back. This time I saw something like a house sparrow busy pecking a tree hole. From its pecking movement, sharp beak and the way it anchors its body to the tree by using the tail, it was a woodpecker. I can’t be wrong. I quickly took out my camera. The thrill was so intense that my hands were shaking.
This was one of my luckiest day. Not only I saw a Brown-Capped Woodpecker (Picoides moluccensis), it was just 20 feet away from me. Other wild birds would have fleed if they saw me 100 feet away. I’m sure it saw me under the tree.
Not only I got the photos, I also captured it in the video. You can Click Here to see the video clip, the first Sabah woodpecker video available on the Internet. Turn up the volume and you will hear the pecking sound clearly. It is like a music to me.
Photos taken in Kota Kinabalu Wetland Centre, Sabah, Malaysia
