An eye for beautiful birds

An eye for beautiful birds

WHEN one wakes up in the morning, it is always a pleasure to hear the singing of birds such as the bulbul.
There are lots of birds in Malaysia which are stunningly beautiful and many people had taken to bird watching as an enjoyable pastime.
It is easy to start bird watching. One needs only sharp eyes, a great dose of patience and binoculars.
A good place for bird watching is Pangkor Island in Perak. Toge-ther with some other Malaysian Nature Society (MNS) members from Penang, Perak and Selangor, this writer recently travelled to the island to watch pied hornbills.
The trip was organised by Con-nie Khoo who is fondly known as the ‘Hornbill Lady’. We stayed in the Sunset View Chalets managed by Noordin Bakar who is a great cook and singer.
On arriving at the chalet, we changed into our green pants, shirts and hats. We started trek-king into the forest nearby. Con-nie, who had organised many bird watching trips for MNS members, took a great photograph of two white-bellied sea eagles copulating.

AERIAL ACROBATICS:Pied hornbills snapping up breadcrumbs thrown in the air above them during feeding time.Great patience is necessary to watch birds.
The rainforest track was narrow and the light was fading as we stalked a flashy bird, its piercing calls coming from high on the tree tops, which had eluded us for an hour.
Suddenly there was a movement and in a flashing sweep of yellow and black tail plumes, a crested goshawk alighted on a high branch, allowing a view through binoculars.
“Sshh!” whispered Connie, and we admired its brownish, speckled head and chestnut-coloured body.
Although it drizzled, we were not discouraged and trekked in raincoats. We were rewarded with sights of bulbuls, blue-throa-ted bee eaters, kingfishers and sparrow hawks.
We returned to the chalets and at 6.15pm, Noordin whistled and called for his beloved hornbills.
Loud squawking was heard and some pied hornbills dived in mid air for breadcrumbs.
At 6.45pm, there was a raptor watch.
Raptors, or birds of prey, are among the most spectacular birds in the world. They are highly mo-bile and graceful predators.
In Malaysia, the raptors seen in-clude buzzards, black baza, gos-hawks and sparrowhawks.
It was a joy watching the raptors dancing and frolicking in the sky. Suddenly, Connie gasped and silenced us. She had caught sight of a spotted wood owl in a tree across our chalet. What a delight!
Digiscopes or spotting scopes were focused by the birders and many tourists peeped into the scopes to view the enchanting owl.
The next day after trekking, I swam in the warm sea and saw hornbills on the trees.
Besides bird watching, there are some sights to see in Pangkor. I went on a motorcycle to Teluk Da-lam with another member of the group. There were people drying squids and anchovies in the fishing village.
On the east coast of Pangkor, one can visit Sungei Pinang Kechil. This town has an Indian temple. The Chinese temple and the mini Great Wall of China are worth a look in Sungei Pinang Besar.
There is an old Dutch fort at Teluk Gedung which was built in 1670.