It was on a fine Sunday morning on 16th December 2018 that we joined a half-day bird watching event organised by the Malaysian Nature Society ('MNS') Selangor Branch Bird Group at Kepong Botanical Gardens ('KBG'). This was our first time visiting KBG, which is located right next door to FRIM.
As we entered KBG, we saw a pair of common flameback at the car park area, a sign of more good things to come. Not sure of where the exact meeting point for the event was, we walked towards the pond next to the car park and came across a few people with their cameras, binoculars and scopes next to them. We certainly came to the right place. We were excited as we were still very new to this sort of activity.
The group on that day comprised not just MNS members but also members of the public. The event started with brief introductions of the key members, our 'sifus' for the morning; followed with explanation of some do and dont's, and etiquette in bird watching. We were grateful that MNS had additional pairs of binoculars that we could borrow, thus we had a better birding experience.
Our bird watching activity began even before our group could leave the car park area and walk into the park proper. A square-tailed drongo-cuckoo and a flock of Asian glossy starling were spotted and held everyone's attention. Looking at birds through a scope is just ... WOW!! Birds are generally easily disturbed and so to be able to view them as though they are right in front of us is simply fascinating. We could see with better clarity just how beautiful our feathered friends are. The children who came along in the group were clearly happy to be able to see the birds through the scopes. Even curious passersby were invited to take a look. Many walked away being amazed that we had such beautiful birds in Malaysia.
It is nothing short of amazing how the sifus manage to spot birds faraway or those camouflaged in the canopy of the trees. Three black-thighed falconet, one of the smallest birds of prey, perched very high on some of the tallest trees in the park were certainly interesting. We were told that this little falconet can even hunt down and consume a bird that is similar size to it. We were even shown a photo of such a falconet devouring a bulbul!
Plaintain squirrels are the usual suspects in parks and gardens. So, we were pleasantly surprised to see black giant squirrels here. We saw three individuals that morning. One particular black giant squirrel appeared curious to see us and happily posed for us with various antics.
Another interesting find was a clouded monitor lizard that seemed 'stuck' very high up in the gap of a tree trunk. Well, it had actually climbed its way up the tree and was enjoying the warm rays of the sun.
At a quiet part of the park, a black-capped kingfisher was spotted on a low branch of a tree. It was our first time seeing this particular species. We initially did not know why but the experienced birders were most excited to see this brightly coloured bird with its black crown, whitish throat, purple-blue wings and coral red bill. We now know that this tree kingfisher is quite skittish and not commonly seen, so good photographs are hard to come by.
We learned to be more observant, to look up and down, to scan the trees for any movement and to listen for any sound. By late morning, among the other birds observed were the greater racket-tailed drongo, blue-tailed bee-eater, brown shrike, black-bellied malkoha, hill myna, pink-necked green pigeon, black-naped oriole, brahminy kite, olive-backed sunbird, white-breasted waterhen, oriental magpie-robin, spotted dove, yellow-vented bulbul, pacific swallow, Javan myna and little heron.
We had heard the crested-serpent eagle calling all morning and finally saw it gliding in the air just as we were leaving the park.
What a lovely and large park KBG is! No wonder there were so many people exercising and enjoying nature and the fresh air that morning. We truly enjoyed bird watching at KBG, a good place for lowland birding, and felt inspired by the group of knowledgeable and enthusiastic people. Thank you, MNS! It was a wonderful morning indeed.
Written by: Liew Yoke Mooi
Date: 25 December 2018