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BIRD WATCHING IN MALAYSIA
by Jennifer Rodrigo
What would we do without our birds? No dawn chorus of trills, whistles, chirps and calls to wake to. No colour and brightness of feathered plumage to greet us each day. No “chonk, chonk” of the Nightjar by dusk. No wonderful surprises – a nestful of fledgings in a tree, an exotic “escapee” calling out – rare sightings. Birds are so easy to appreciate yet so easily taken for granted. In life, literature and folklore, they are the harbingers of good and evil, signs of seasons changing, warnings of dire environmental changes.
There are over 800 species of birds recorded in Malaysia and this rich bird life is to a large extent a result of the natural vegetation – equatorial forests that carpet the lowlands and mountain ranges; mangrove swamps and mudflats that line the coasts; deep peat forests beyond sandy beaches, scrubland and green tracts in the suburbs.
There are many spectacular exotic birds, like the extremely shy Great Argus Pheasant lurking about in the under storey, making their presence known from afar with their loud and distinctive musical call. The Rhinoceros Hornbill that glides over the topmost canopy of the rainforest, its magnificent red-yellow casque shining in the sun.
There’s no need to go so far to seek avifauna with colour and character. Quite at home in the towns, the black-naped oriole with its superb bright yellow plumage and black mask lives and nests in urban residential areas. More to come with beautiful photos of birds taken by my birdwatching friends......