Also a special thanks to all the members that had put in their efforts as well as those who had continued to support MNS that has helped MNS to reach this success.

MNS winning the Perak Tourism Award 2011

Prof Maketab, MNS President and Lee, MNS Perak President receive the award from the Perak MB

The venue was at Taiping Sentral, a mall located at the foot of Scott’s Hill where raptors pass over on their autumn passage to regions in the south. Three marquees were set up at the parking bays outside the mall for registration of visitors, display of posters, sales tables and children’s activities. The location for watching migrating raptors was in the grounds of nearby Taiping Villa (adjacent to Scott’s Hill), a gated property. Interested visitors were given vehicle passes to drive into Taiping Villa for raptor-watching.

Banners and buntings were put up a week before the event along roads leading to the venue and also in Taiping Sentral Mall area. A newspaper distributor was paid to insert 600 flyers in the STAR and Sin Chew Jit Poh newspapers. Announcements of the event were sent to the print media, various bird groups and put up in the Branch blog and mailing list.

The programmes for 29 Oct (Saturday) and 30 Oct (Sunday) was as follows:

9.30am – 5.00pm: Taiping Sentral Mall car park – registration of visitors, door gifts, posters on raptors and migration, activities for children, sales of MNS items, lucky draw, promotion of birdwatching equipment
9.30am – 1.00pm: Raptor watching at Taiping Villa ground
8.00pm – 9.00pm (Saturday only): Slide presentation on “Raptors of Malaysia” at Taiping Zoo seminar room
8.00am – 9.30am (Sunday only): Public birdwatching in Taiping Lake Gardens

The response from the public and MNS members was very encouraging. Most of the people of Taiping were unaware of the annual spectacle of migration over the town and many were thrilled to see flocks of Black Bazas passing over Scott’s Hill. Below is a summary of the statistics for the event:

No. of registered visitors:
132 (20 members) (Sat); 89 (12 members) (Sun)

New members who signed up to join MNS:
10
No. of raptors counted at Scott’s Hill:
1881 (Sat) and 461 (Sun)

No. of participants who attended the talk on raptors:
34 (21 members)

No of participants who joined the birdwatching walk:
30 (mostly locals)

No. of vehicle passes for Taiping Villa raptor watch site:
18 (Sat) and 29 (Sun)

Yang Dipertua of Majlis Perbandaran Taiping visited Taiping Villa raptor watch site on Sat 29 Oct STAR and NST reported the event:

STAR: http://thestar.com.my:80/news/story.asp?file=%2F2011%2F11%2F14%2Fmetroperak%2F9891785&sec=metroperak
NST: http://www.nst.com.my:80/streets/northern/aerial-treat-from-migratory-raptors-1.3707

The Taiping Raptor Festival 2011 owes its successful debut to the following sponsors and supporters:

• Schmidt Marketing, KL for financial support and donation of a pair of Minox binoculars for the lucky draw
• Ngan Yin Groundnut Factory, Ipoh for financial support
• United Educational Supplier and Ideal Enterprise, Taiping for donating hampers for the lucky draw
• Taiping Sentral Mall for providing the venue, marquees and permission for access into Taiping Villa
• Majlis Perbandaran Taiping for exempting fees for putting up buntings, loaning display boards and for free use of campsite for students and seminar room for the talk
• Dr Neoh Chin Boon and Mr Ooi Beng Yean for donating desk calendars and books for the lucky draw
• Volunteers from MNS Perak and MNS Selangor Bird Group

The marquee at Taiping Sentral, Taiping Raptor Festival

Talk on "Birds of Malaysia" well attended by the locals

Various posters about raptors are available for the public to view

The real deal - watching raptors on Scott's Hill

The festival has many diversed activities, including "Games"

Childrens that were brought to the event by their parents equally enjoyed the games provided

Some participants having fun with Black Baza suit

MNS Perak President Lee Ping Kong giving out prizes to the lucky draw winner

Some participants are joining the birdwatching event at Taiping Lake Gardens

Reported by:

Lim Kim Chye
Chairman
Organising Committee for Taiping Raptor Festival 2011

The Asian Waterfowl Census is an annual waterbird census carried out every January throughout Asia by volunteers at their local sites. In Malaysia, this citizen science project is co-ordinated by MNS, with participation by birders from the various MNS Bird Groups. Analysis of data collected during AWC help Wetlands International, the organizer, in long term conservation planning of waterbirds and their wetland habitats. The data is also a useful tool for decision-makers when planning development projects.

The following sites will be surveyed on a date to be fixed by the respective count leaders (name and contact in brackets):

• Ulu Dedap ricefields, Kg. Gajah
  (Ooi Beng Yean 017-508 2206 bengyean@gmail.com)
• Sg. Buaya ricefields, Kg. Gajah
  (Dr Chan Kai Soon 012 5315670 chankaisoon@hotmail.com)
• Kinta Nature Park, Batu Gajah
  (Dr Chan Kai Soon (012 5315670 chankaisoon@hotmail.com)
• Kamunting ex-mining lands, Taiping
  (Lim Kim Chye 016-5538431 spizaetus08@gmail.com)
• Kuala Gula, Matang Forest Reserve
  (PERHILITAN & Lim Kim Chye 016-5538431 spizaetus08@gmail.com)
• Malim Nawar ex-mining lands
  (Tan Ah Lai 012 5181929 cotana@streamyx.com)
• Taiping Lake Gardens
  (Ng Kok Keong 012 5147188 kkng_07@yahoo.com)

Those interested to pick up the finer points of waterbird identification and to help with the counting, please contact the above persons to confirm participation. Note that the trips are for waterbird surveys and not for pleasure birding.

Overnight trip in Cameron Highlands

MNS Perak is organizing a rare treat of 2 day 1 night field trip in Cameron Highlands for all members. Program includes visitation to organic vegetable farm, bee farm, butterfly garden, tea plantation and trekking a mossy forest trail.

Date: 12-13th Nov, 2011
Accommodation: BPH Tanah Rata, individual bed for each person
Age group: Only suitable for kids above 10 yrs old
Cost: RM70 member, RM80 non-member (child/adult)
Transfer: Car-pooling charges are to be paid directly to drivers.

Cost covers accommodation, entrance fee, guide fees, selected meals and activities. As beds are limited, bookings are on first pay first served basis. A pre-trip briefing will be held at 8pm on 7th Nov Monday at No.5, Jalan Gopeng, Ipoh (see map). For bookings, kindly contact Lee Ping Kong at lpk682@yahoo.com or call 016 5655682.

Perak MNS members are always ready to support MNS events especially when it is at our doorstep. On the evening of 24 July 2011, a group of us turned up at Kg Dew in a show of support for the first ever Firefly Festival in Malaysia and indeed the whole of South East Asia.

MNS and the local group KECAP (Kelip-kelip Cahaya Alam Perak), with funding from the RAMSAR Regional Centre East Asia Wetland Fund and support from Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment, initiated this festival “to promote sustainable use of the Sungai Sepetang natural resources and promote firefly watching activity in Kampung Dew as an important ecotourism product for the local community and as a conservation tool”. The festival theme “Fireflies, mangroves and local community” sums up the mission of the whole project in a nutshell.

There was the usual colouring contest to enable children to participate. Handicraft such as baskets made from used paper and flowers made from sea shells and, amazingly even fish scales, were on sale. Taiping Zoo and MNS put up an exhibition. MNS Secretariat displayed posters about fireflies and their ecology. Perak MNS Bird Group put up photos on birds found in mangrove habitats, highlighting that mangroves are important for the endangered Milky Stork and are important wintering grounds for migratory birds. Some members, on their own initiative, talked to visitors about MNS and tried to recruit them.

The programme for the day ended with a trip down Sungai Sepetang to see the synchronous fireflies flash their “song”.

Budding naturalists taking a great interest in the MNS exhibit

Kim Chye and Chin Tong gracing MNS Perak Bird Group’s contribution to the festival with their presence

Edward Yong trying to recruit new members

Colouring contest

Splitting nipah fruit. That’s where “attap chi” comes from

Even the traffic police take time off to learn about fireflies

Baskets and vases made from used newspapers

Flowers made of fish scales

VIPs at the festival launch

Sahabat Hutan Bakau, an NGO from Kuala Gula

Some Perak MNS members who turned to support the festival

Do you know how many threatened bird species there are in Peninsular Malaysia? No need to check your references, one school kid could tell me the answer on the spot – 123 species! The occasion was the quiz session at the end of my talk “Birds of Malaysia” presented on 13 July to some 500 primary students. The event was part of the national Nature Camp organized in Lenggong, Perak by the Ministry of Education.

A picture of attentiveness

In keeping with the age of the group, the presentation covered general topics, brightened up with colourful and interesting bird pictures. Starting with some hard facts on Malaysian birds, I then introduced some well-known bird families such as kingfishers, woodpeckers and raptors and briefly mentioned their food and habitat preferences. Then followed what I think is the most interesting topic, the relationship between humans and birds, where I spoke about human use of birds and vice versa, how birds in turn take advantage of humans. The final part of the talk was on threats to birds and what Malaysia is doing to protect our birds.

A sea of young faces

Budding birder

The event was at night and despite having had a long day, the students were attentive and interested, perhaps due to my pre-talk tip about the quiz but maybe because of the subject matter too. Three kids answered my questions correctly and walked away with the Garden Bird cards. However, those that did not get their chance at the questions were not disappointed. They snapped up all the bird cards that I brought along for sale. I like to think that the talk did kindle some of the young minds there to appreciate our birds more!

10 July 2011 morning, the haze of the past few days has disappeared. On this sunny morning twelve members gathered at the car park of Burmese Pool in Taiping for a birdwatching trip. This motley crew ranged in ages from 5 years to over 60 and from non-birdwatchers to hard-core birders. Some would think that we are all mismatched in interest and how wrong they are – we all have one common interest, we love nature. Let the photos tell you the story of how a group of nature lovers spent their day together.

Mr. Chong, first timer at birdwatching

For a nature lover there is always something to see when you are out in a forest or in an orchard. Mr Chong junior is having fun making the mimosa closed its leaves.

What is Mr. Yong showing his son?

Oh! A praying mantis

It is always easier to see signs of wildlife than seeing the wildlife itself as most animals shy away from humans besides being nocturnal like the wild boar which left this set of prints when it came down to the stream to drink at night or in the early morning

Wildlife, a giant millipede

Of course, we got birds too, like these two Crimson-winged Woodpeckers. The total number of birds recorded was a respectable 40. After the non-birdwatchers left, the hard-cores stayed behind and continued further up the path. We were duely rewarded with a beautiful juvenile Rufous-bellied Eagle

Please PN Jun_Aug 11 to download pdf file.

On May 15th, 2011, a Birding SIG event was hosted by Chan Kai Soon at the Ipoh YMCA boardroom at 3 pm. Only 16 people turned up, mostly composed of veteran birders of the branch. However, there were two new faces and both requested to be added to the bird group following the event. Chan started off with a demonstration of how to use the Bird i-witness website. This consists of an introduction to the welcome screen of the website which displayed important and recent records.

Bird-I-Witness demo

A quick tour of the features and various active links was demonstrated. Chan also used his recent sighting records to demonstrate how to submit data. It was a very easy process indeed. He also illustrated how to extract data from the records submitted and showed how useful it could be for birders to plan their birding trips based on customizable data output.

Migratory birds in Kapar, Selangor

The second part of the event was the showing of about 40 clips of bird videos recorded by Chan. Notable videos included massive flocks of waders at Kapar Power Station and migration of Oriental Honey Buzzard as well as Black Bazas. Some of the colourful resident species and candid bird videos were also shown. At the end of the talk, three DVDs each containing most of the video clips shown were given away as lucky draw prizes. Wong Koon Yoke, Josephine Tan and Cheaw Hon Ming were the lucky winners. All attendees were given the BIW brochure with its url so that more people can register and submit records online.

Migratory Black Baza

To mark our participation in the celebration of World Migratory Bird Day on May 14 & 15, Chan used BIW to generate a list of all migratory species that were seen in Perak between 1 – 15 May 2011.

Surprisingly, despite the late spring period, 17 species were observed, including rarities such as Black Bittern and Indian pond Heron (see list below).