Bird Park- my parent's house

14th February 2010


Recently I was toying with the idea of starting a bird feeding tray or bird house in my backyard, with the intention of attracting more birds to my garden and also enticing them to stay around with me. For the birds, there is an assurance of constant food supply and fresh water, they should not be bothered to go elsewhere. Not a new idea but one borrowed the idea from the hoteliers in Frasers Hills.

Before I have the chance to materialise that dream, I saw the reality when I was back in my old house in Air Itam. The happening there, I realized that our garden has the sort of environment where human virtually lived with birds. Without effort I could see the routine of a few birds. The scene knocked some sense into me as to type of ambience that makes birds stay or choose their resting place.

The 1st incident was with this Dollarbird. Punctually each dawn and twilight, he would perched there for a while - calling.
 
 
 
His stay was longer in the morning about 5 minutes and a brief one in the evening, the action done when there was no daylight. I can't help but thinking that the bird was roosting among the trees in my garden - that perch was his first and last place of call.

 
 
Next bird - Last year we decided in chopping down the Durian tree just beside the house. On which the Coppersmith had a few seasons of successful nesting.
 
 
 
This year, without its old nest, they found a replacement. A low horizontal bough on the nearby rambutan tree. Watching their behavioral pattern for CNY time, I would say that the eggs were being hatched. All day long I got Coppersmiths just 15 feet away from the front door of the house. By the second day of CNY, feeding started! Signs of the chicks hatched! Too bad, I don't live not in Penang. Nothing lost for me I've got another nest in Rimba to follow through.

 
 
 
Next, the most obvious example of birds behavior was shown by this pair of Mynas.


 
 
Each time when they needed rest or seen preening their feathers, they would return to the same bough. That pattern was repeated virtually at hourly interval.
 

The Tailorbird whose habit was spending their time among the bushes. That was the perimeter fencing. Here it felt comfortable to strayed onto the sandy patches to forage, spending considerable time.
 
 

 
 
A scene that I almost forget. Tree Sparrow who did get water for their bath had made use of the sands instead.

The birds were so calm and unbothered in going about their routine.
 
At every couple of hours interval, this Little Heron would dropped by to his favorite perch. In the morning and evening, spent a long time on the perch.
 

 
I suspect that this one pair of Fantails were sharing a nest in a tree beside the house. For playing and resting, I saw them emerging from that tree and seen on another tree where most other birds would perch.
 
 
 
On a few occasions, they seen chasing away the Oriole who had stayed into the favored tree.
 

My house was no where near forest edge but right in the heart of the built up area. With that fact we cannot omit the Yellow-vented.
 
 
Though the Bulbuls were noisy birds at dawn and twilight, in their routine, they were not involved in any dramatic display. Typical of this species, they were the most seen bird and always being around the whole day.
 

"Naked" tree with birds. I would expect this to be a typical scene in Rimba Kiara especially in the morning hours, thinning off as the surrounding heats up. At the compound of my house, the place restricted to a small confine and sighting of the birds a natural reflex, such scene struck me as a common sight the whole day. Endlessly, different birds taking the stage at various time. I suppose the main difference - birds in Rimba were constantly moving around in much wider area for various activities, but the birds on the trees in my house were actually "at home" in their rest places.


Though most of the birds mentioned are "trash" birds by most people definition, I enjoy seating on the verandah and watching the going-ons. A true interpretation of backyard birding.