Wednesday, March 14, 2007

The Amazing Bird Race @ Fraser's Hill, Pahang

Shh! Look! I saw! I saw a bird. Where? There, resting on a wire. What size is it? Like robin. What color is it? I’m not sure but it has a spotted breast. Oh! No. I think it still not in our list yet. Quick get all the details first, we will look for the name later.

Guess what? All the questions and answers above are the most popular words that come out from all the birdwatcher for at least 24 hour period beginning 12th June 2004. My first thought about bird race was pretty funny. Bird Race? Do we actually line up all the Fraser’s Hill birds and with the blow of a whistle, get them to race against each other by flying as fast and as far as they can?. No! Actually, a bird race is a ‘fun race’ where teams of 3 birdwatchers compete against each other in sighting, identifying and recording as many species of birds (not the number of birds) within a stipulated time frame and location. In order to participate you don’t have to be an expert in birds to join the ‘fun race’. A bird guide book, a pair of binoculars (Petaling Street version also can) and a ton of enthusiasm is all you need.

To answer my queries about this ‘fun race’, a workshop entitled ‘An Introduction to Bird Watching – Beginners’ was conducted by WWF Malaysia Fraser’s Hill Nature Education Center (FHNEC) a day before the official flag off. This workshop was truly informative and full of laughter as it assist the beginners to learn the finer points of this fantastic hobby.

On Saturday afternoon 12th June 2004, all the birdwatcher gathered around the Fraser’s Hill Sport Center eagerly waiting for the official flag off by the Pahang State Assemblyman. While waiting, my eyes focusing to this Japanese Group. I’m admire their enthusiast about birds when they bring along with them a so called sophisticated binoculars and even some of it we used to see when an astrologist used when searching or looking for a moon or stars in the skies above. After quite a sometimes staring at their prestigious equipment, Zoolihsan the one whom responsible to introduce me about this fun race drag me and introduces ourselves to them. I am so proud when they mention about the vast variety of nature that Malaysia has that still untouched by the rough modern development. They cannot miss visiting Malaysia, at least once a year especially for the International Bird race events that Malaysia and Pahang Tourism Board jointly organized since its debut in 1988.

At 2.00pm the whistle blows off to mark the beginning of the amazing race. All the birdwatcher started to look around with their binoculars focusing towards the tree, make an elephant ear to hear the sound of birds. My group ‘Serindit’ name after a beautiful sound of famous bird started to walk around and our mission is to complete at least 2 out of 4 checkpoint that all the birdwatcher need to visit during the race in order to come out with a long list of bird species. Our first checkpoint was at the gap. At certain point, we can see a variety of birds flying and lying on top and between the branches. All of them look the same sometimes with naked eyes. The only way to carefully identified them are to scan the treetops using our ‘Petaling Street’ binoculars and listen for the telltale calls. With a pair of a Bird Guide Book that we bought yesterday during the workshop, some of the bird we managed to identified. As a Malaysian, we used to called pipit, gagak, helang, burung hantu, belatuk and many more but during the race we have a difficulties to match and name the birds with their English name that somewhat or rather appear to be so nicely name. Little Cuckoo Dove, White Bellied Swiftlet, Green Magpie and many scientific names that seldom heard by us in order to fully specify in what species do they come.

After end of the 24 hour period that was allocated for all the birdwatchers to find and identify as many species as they can, our group managed to identified at least 70 species that we have found from the timid and tiny highland species to the bright and resplendent lowland varieties. Although winning the prize is not the sole intention of most birders participating in this ‘fun race’, honesty is also an important element to be subscribed in each team. As sighting or identifying of birds are left to sheer immersion of each team in the race to record as many species of birds. At least our team has contributed something for the World Wide Fund (WWF) as the records will be submitted and vetted by arbitrators appointed by the organizer. During the prize giving ceremony that show the appearance of Sultanah of Pahang, the Japanese team was announced a winner when they come out with the longest bird’s species found. The story I have heard from one of the committee member, the Japanese team even camp in the jungle just for the sake of the birds hunting.

My amazing bird race experiences end later that evening when everybody started to drive down the Fraser’s Hill and the situation back to normal again. No more people gathered around with their binoculars and looking at the skies. As what the state assemblyman was said, by promoting the race, we will be supporting an event, which aims at promoting bird’s conservation and raising public awareness on the diversity, beauty and fascinating of birds, and lastly making Malaysia a better known destination for birds and nature lovers.I would like to thank En. Zoolihsan Ahmad and En. Shaani from Felda Agricultures Resort for their sponsorship for my accommodation and introduce to me this avian extravaganza race. Here birdie-birdie!

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