Wildlife week celebration at Zoo Melaka

The Department organized a wildlife week celebration at Zoo Melaka on 24-25th October 2009. Various events were organized, from coloring contest, wildlife photography, wildlife talk, wildlife race, exhibition etc. The finale was the introduction of Ady Fashla as our wildlife conservation ambassador. Despite the short preparation time, the two-day event was quite a success. We knew what to do the next time around. Hopefully, next year's celebration will be on a bigger scale with more events and sponsors. The wildlife photography will be opened to all interested amateur photographers with exciting prizes ( digital camera perhaps?), the wildlife race will be at night and focus on nocturnal wildlife, etc. I supposed the location will still be at Zoo Melaka unless there are others who offer their venue. Perhaps Adib is willing to organize the wildlife week celebration at Penang national park. We'll see next year.

The selection of Adi Fashla as our wildlife conservation ambassador is right based on his interests in the outdoor and wildlife. For a start, he managed to spend some time with one of the orangutan...something that he always wanted to do since the first day I met him at ASTRO. I am looking forward to this exciting collaboration. We have various plans planned for him and some lucky individuals. Trips are being planned for Adi to visit Kuala Gandah, Penang National park, hornbill watching, wildlife breeding centers etc. At the same time, Adi will help the Department enhance public awareness when he is on-air at Radio ERA.

Many people contributed to the success of the wildlife week last weekend. My colleagues from JP, Suzi and Zolkefly who did most of the background work, the energetic and hardworking staff from KBD, Zoo Melaka and IBD. The cheerful and fun loving gurls from admin ( Amelina, Syikin, Fadilah), Kazidi, Zeti and others. (sorry if I missed anyone). We'll see how things developed from here. To era.FM, thanks for the support.

Purple swamphens of Paya Indah Wetlands

Do you know that the swamps of Paya Indah Wetlands support a breeding population of the Purple swamphen? It's interesting to observe and photograph these birds during their breeding season. They would flatten the grass and built mounds out of the grasses. The whole area is transformed from a grassland into an open area with many mounds. I am always fascinated with these birds and photographing them would give me great satisfaction.

Sorry for the long absence. I was occupied with the manuscript for the coffee table book which is due before the end of the year. Read the annual report from 1975 to 2008. Amazing what you can find the the reports. I am also compiling historical photographs of the activities from various people. Sharif will provide me with some photographs after he come back from Sungai Ketiar. Dr. Abdullah and Dr. Zainal will pass me their photographs later. Can't wait how the book will turn out. Sugawara and Miss Lim will assist me with the photos and layout of the book. Talking about Sugawara and Miss Lim, they have been my close companion since I met them more than a decade ago. We would travel everywhere in the country taking photographs or just enjoying the outdoor. They came along with me during my trip to South Africa, Australia, US and other destinations but miss the trip to Mongolia. We plan to take the train from Ulanbator to Moscow after I retire from work. Should be fun travelling from Mongolia to Moscow in a train. They travel a lot more than me and I believed they had ben to most places in the word.

We went to Tasek Bera a couple of years back. Did some photography on the lake and the peat swamp at Fort Iskandar. Very interesting place especially the peat swamp vegetation. We met a Semelai boat maker near the village. Very interesting to watch him working on the boat using simple tools. The peat swamp of tasek bera supports diverse flora and fauna. It is also the source of water for some families. The village consists of modern and traditional houses. I supposed the traditional houses are for tourists. Planning to visit Tasik Bera in the near future to photograph the flora and fauna of the peat swamp.

our netball team in the 80s

The Department's netball team in the early 80s. Recognize anyone in the picture?

Bird survey on the Layang-layang atoll

I had the opportunity to conduct a bird survey on Terumbu layang-layang off the coast of Labuan in the early 1990s. As a matter of fact, I went there on two occasions. The first time to survey birds while the second time was to do a documentary on migratory birds with RTM. I enjoyed both trips. It's like heaven for migratory birds, just like being on Galapagos Island. Imagine being surrounded by colonies of brown boobies, noodies, crested terns etc. You can practically sit among the colonies watching the chicks on the ground while the adult birds flying above your head, sometimes bombarding you with fish...what a feeling. Guys, we should plan to visit this place sometimes.
My first trip to Terumbu layang-layang was with Dr.Tajuddin Abdullah (UNIMAS) and Mat Isa Marzuki who is retired now. We were there to study the impact of constructing an airstrip on the bird population and the potential danger to the airplane should the project proceeds. The only way to get to the atoll at that time was either take a Nuri helicopter ( 2 hr+) or Royal Navy Ship ( 18 hr+ depending on the weather and sea condition). We opted for the first choice but had to standby at the TUDM base everyday until the weather permits us to fly. So there we were, waiting at the base every day until 1:00pm before the army personnel would come to us and said " sorry guys, no flight today. Weather doesn't permit flying. Come back tomorrow". So off we went, to our hotel. Labuan was still developing during that time. The best hotel in town belongs to one of the senior politicians in the state. Nothing much to do except window shopping for duty free items. A can of beer costs the same as coke....We were on standby for three days before the weather permitted us to fly to Layang-layang atoll. After safety briefing, we walked to our waiting nuri with our field equipments. The army also sent the week supplies for the personnel on the atoll as the ship that was supposed to carry the supplies had to turn back due to engine problems. At last we took off from the TUDM base in a Nuri, flying above Labuan town before flying above the ocean. We flew above the ocean for more than one hour. You only see the blue ocean everywhere. It's quite frightening to imagine what would happened if the Nuri was to make an emergency landing in the ocean......Alhamdullilah, we reached Layang-layang safely. As we approached the atoll, we saw a small patch of sand surrounded by deep blue ocean. Everyone was excited and looking forward to the new experience. We landed safely and the personnel crowded the Nuri to unload the supplies that we brought along with us, especially the cigarettes. After lunch in the fully air-conditioned mess, we went out to the bird area. You can hear the sound of birds as you approached the area. And suddenly, before your eyes.... thousand of terns, boobies, nodies etc flying just above your head. We set our transect lines amidst the cries of the birds, as if telling us to leave them alone. while setting our transect lines, we came across eggs, chicks and dead chicks. After surveying the transects, we decided to just sit down and enjoyed the scenery with birds flying just above our heads. As usual I took the opportunity to photograph the birds using my faithful Nikon SLR. (I hope I can still find the slides of the birds). We left the atoll after completing our task. Spend a couple of days in Labuan (for duty free shopping) before departing to KL. It was truly an unforgettable experience for me to be surrounded by birds just like what you normally see on the telly. My second trip to Layang-layang was more relax as the air strip was completed and we took a small plane instead of the Nuri. Personally, I enjoyed Nuri compared to the light plane as you can see more with the door opened on the Nuri..I'll write about my second trip next time. In the meantime, all the best to our representatives to the sports meet. Remember, good sportsmanship is more important than winning. Go out and enjoy yourselves and please do not show your faces at the office on Monday if you fail to win anything...hahhaha

More photos from Kapar trip

More photos from Kapar trip as requested by Nosrat. However, they're not as good as my sifu's, Sugawara. Sorry for the arrangements as I am not sure how to resolve the layout problem yet. Nevertheless, enjoy the photos
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Waders photography at Kapar Power station

A group of us went to Kapar power station to do waders photography. The trip was organized by Rahmah of KBD (thanks for the arrangements Rahmah) and the group consisted of myself, Sugawara, Miss Lim, Sam, Nosrat, Suzi, Shidah, Mariani, Dr. Abraham and Lilia, and of course Rahmah. We left KL in the afternoon around 2 pm and would assemble outside the Kapar power station around 4:00 pm. After getting our visitor pass from the security, we were met by Mr. Nagaraju(if I am not mistaken) from the PR section who later took us to the briefing room where the temporary pass valid for a year were prepared and given to us. With the pass, we should be able to visit the ash pond in the power station without much hassle in the future. This was my first waders trip to the ash pond as my previous trips covered other areas in Port Klang, Pulau Ketam, Pulau Angsa etc. We finally arrived at the ash pond around 5:30 pm. Luckily it was sunny and we saw groups of waders resting near the water edge. We quickly set up our equipments and soon were engrossed in waders watching. Abraham and Lilia decided to go near the water edge as his camera lens didn't permit him to take close-up shots of the birds. Sugawara brought his 800mm nikon lens and have no problem. Nevertheless, the temptation of photographing waders up close took him and Miss Lim into the ash pond behind Abraham and Lilia. By the time I realized it, everyone was inside the pond except me. So I set up my 400mm lens and decided to photograph the waders from the pond perimeter. The sight of waders taking off was too awsome for me to describe. I could hear the wings flapping as the flocks flew above me. Waterfowl watching has always been my passion eversince I was in the states during the late 80s. We travelled all the way to Chesapeake Bay in Maryland to survey waterfowl in winter. It was an unforgetable experience for me and the love for waterfowl grew in me. But alas, we don't have waterfowl in the country and waders provide the same opportunity to me. I also enjoyed watching belibis on several occasions in Paya Indah, Sungai Dusun and Kampar. Ta Le Noi in Southern Thailand is another superb location for watching waterbirds. Went there on several occasions in the 90s and the waterbirds population in the lake is much higher compared here. And the lake is also temporary home to commorants. You should try to visit Ta Le Noi if you have the opportunity. Best time to be there is December when migration is at its peak. Perhaps Rahmah can arrange the trip to Ta Le Noi end of this year?

Looking outside the perimeter fence around the ash pond, I saw debris washed up behind the row of mangroves. Truly a sad scenario. Wonder what it takes before all the dumping will finally stop.....Time really flies whenever you enjoy doing something that you like. Before long, it was already 7:30 pm and too dark for photography. So we finally packed up our equipments and left the ash pond. Nosrat and the gang went to Subang Jaya to try out the ayam pepek while Sugawara, Miss Lim and went back to KL. We hope to go to Tasik Bera on our next trip next month. It was a day well spent for me.