A snipe lurking around in the paddyfields in the wee hours of the morning.
It was supposed to be a 10 day birdwatching and bird photography extravaganza ... NOT! The twice a year sojourn back home almost always has children, family and other folks involved, so putting birdwatching as THE agenda is sort of wishful thinking and almost bordering "dream on, you kidding me right" , it would never work.
Day 1 Friday - day of arrival, busy catching up with siblings, nieces and nephews and cleaning up the house and procuring supplies for the coming days.
Day 2 Saturday - managed one morning of sustained 2 hours of birdwatching while getting breakfast for everyone at home. The rest of the day gone to a trip to the airport to pick the other half who flew separately.
Day 3 Sunday - family picnic at the paddyfields, fishing and a bit of birdwatching.
Day 4 Monday - family trip to Kuala Besut
Day 5 Tuesday - family trip to Kuala Besut and Bukit Keluang
Day 6 Wednesday - Hari Raya Korban, forget about birdwatching
Day 7 Thursday - family trip to Bukit Keluang, the kids wanted to go to the beach and do some fishing. Came back in the afternoon to rush the preparations for a kenduri at home.
Day 8 Friday - another family trip to Bukit Keluang for the kids.
Day 9 Saturday - a sustained 3 hour bird photography from the car around the paddyfields, very productive.
Day 10 Sunday - a sustained 2 hr bird photography from the card around the paddyfileds on the way to fetch breakfast and get a couple of items from the Pasir Puteh market. The rest of the afternoon taken up by another trip to the airport to send my other half to the airport.
Day 11 Monday - left for the airport very early in the morning to catch a 0900 hrs flight to KL onwards to Miri.
A birding holiday is generally never a truly birdwatching holiday when family and young ones are involved, as evident above even a break intended for birdwatching (gear hauled for the purpose is proof) can be filled up with tonnes of other non-bird related activities.
When a vacation is with family, birdwatching may be relegated to when there isn't anything else on the cards. Fortunate for me the kids are ok with being outdoors for prolonged periods, at least for now. An opportunist birder can perhaps get many hours birding as well as getting a few other non-bird related items done while at the same time having fun with the family.
Mostly Cattle Egret flying by searching for breakfast.
White-bellied Munia. All these years in Sarawak we are pretty much resigned to Chestnut Munia, even Dusky Munia doesn't excite us as much anymore as it used to.
Common Kingfisher.
A juvvy Scaly-breasted Munia, these are apparently common in Kuala Baram too.
A Pond Heron.
A White-throated Kingfisher, numerous around here posing on all kinds of perches, one need not carry a perch from home for the shoot.
Cattle Egret are also numerous, newly harvested and tilled paddy provides ample opportunity for food.
With large expanse of paddy all around the neigbourhood, there are plenty of birding to do still. One good thing is that the locality is in our own home town, so every homecoming can couple as a birding holiday when time permits. It's only 5mins from home.
Any holiday is a good holiday!
Nazeri Abghani/Nov 2010
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