 WETlandsa publication of Sungei Buloh Nature Park |
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7 No 1 Apr 2000 St. Andrew's Cross Spider Yellow-bellied Prinia Life in the Mangroves: snippets on plants & animals Divine Diversity Shorebird Population Monitoring (1992-1998) Inundation in the Park Service with a Smile: the Park's frontline staff Field Ornithology training in Sarawak Millenium mementos Butterfly Trail Adoption |
The twin otter aircraft roared through the air. It swept high over the Baram river to the plateau where people with long earlobes live. Six bird ringers in two groups of three each from Sungei Buloh recently went to Sarawak to a pristine sub-montane jungle infested with leeches, sandflies and sweat bees. An intensive week of bird ringing training awaited them.  The
Little Spiderhunter struggled in the net. Su Hooi lifted it off expertly
and brought it to the field camp for biometric processing. White-crowned
Forktail, Brown Fulvetta, White-bellied Yuhina, Green Broadbill—all
these wonderful native birds and more were caught, studied, ringed and released.
Linda, Ramakrishnan and Adeline also managed to ring the exclusive Siberian
Blue Robin. These jewels of the jungle were difficult to spot and were caught with great effort. We had to set up nets in jungle terrain, climb ridges and ford rivers to collect our quarry through regular inspection of the nets at intervals of 45 minutes from 6am to 6pm, walking distances of more than 15km daily. Tough? Yes, but rewarding. Not a day passed without an interesting bird. If it was not the Scarlet Sunbird, it was the Long-billed Spiderhunter. Each net check was a sweet suspense. Once, Halilah retrieved a bird which proved to be a mature male Mugimaki Flycatcher—a species so rare that one can spend 20 years netting birds in Sarawak and not trap it once. The week flew by quickly and we left the mystical plateau of the Kelabits, having seen and handled the jewelled denizens of the jungle. The programme achieved its objectives well with us acquiring advanced skills in bird banding. Such first hand experience and training from an experienced British Trust for Ornithology (BTO) trainer is very beneficial for bird banding studies in the Sungei Buloh Nature Park. |
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© Sungei Buloh Nature Park |