We were drawn to our condo by its a long balcony overlooking a green area. Although I was not attracted by the barbed wire surrounding the property. We were told that it was to keep out the monkeys. We suspected that all the monkeys had two legs or as an Indonesian friend said, "The monkeys wear shoes." Our cynicism was proved wrong when this fellow showed up, stayed around for two or three days, and then moved on.
The monkey was our most recent short term visitors. For nearly a month we heard a rooster crowing and then it stopped. He surely ended up as some one's dinner. Another day we heard loud squawking. Three birds were attacking a monitor lizard. He scurried through the brush and hasn't been seen since. Then there was the day I noticed a vague presence near my feet as I was working on the computer. A pigeon had come in to greet me. Since then we have kept the hall door, which allows ventilation, shut.
The most reliable visitors are the birds - they fly overhead, sit in the trees, visit our balcony, and chirp endlessly. To improve our bird watching skills we went to the practice session held in conjunction with the national "My garden bird watch" count. We learned that our count last year was totally invalid and surely discarded. Among our errors - counting from the same location more than once, counting birds that flew overhead, and counting the number of sighted (to eliminate the possibility of double counting we should have reported the maximum number seen at one time).
We took advantage of local expertise to ask for advice for bird watching friends who might come to Malaysia. They recommended visiting the Malaysian Nature Society website and its bird group website. The information on events and trips can serve as a start on planning where to go. At the practice session we saw local birds as well a pair of ibis that had escaped from the neighboring Bird Park (exotic escapees were not to be counted).
On Sunday morning we set aside the required 30 minutes and counted 5 birds representing 4 species. We heard far more (must have been seen to be counted) and later in the afternoon we saw two new species (could not count since our time had passed).
Here is a link to see and hear our local birds. The call of the Asian Koel is the bird sound that reminds us that we are in Malaysia.
The monkey was our most recent short term visitors. For nearly a month we heard a rooster crowing and then it stopped. He surely ended up as some one's dinner. Another day we heard loud squawking. Three birds were attacking a monitor lizard. He scurried through the brush and hasn't been seen since. Then there was the day I noticed a vague presence near my feet as I was working on the computer. A pigeon had come in to greet me. Since then we have kept the hall door, which allows ventilation, shut.
The most reliable visitors are the birds - they fly overhead, sit in the trees, visit our balcony, and chirp endlessly. To improve our bird watching skills we went to the practice session held in conjunction with the national "My garden bird watch" count. We learned that our count last year was totally invalid and surely discarded. Among our errors - counting from the same location more than once, counting birds that flew overhead, and counting the number of sighted (to eliminate the possibility of double counting we should have reported the maximum number seen at one time).
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| Sending off groups to learn how to count the bird |
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| Seated on our balcony trying to identify a bird |
Here is a link to see and hear our local birds. The call of the Asian Koel is the bird sound that reminds us that we are in Malaysia.
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