Kuala Selangor is the firefly capital of Malaysia. The kelip-kelip indicators, t-shirts and memorabilia are all a testomony to the advertising impact of a Sir David Attenborough documentary. Most individuals do go to Kuala Selangor to see the fireflies. These persons are idiots – fireflies are hen meals! On the second cease of my Malaysia odyssey (my balik kampung – homecoming to the village) it was going to be mangroves, mangroves and extra mangroves. And probably the most accessible place to see mangrove forest and its birds is the Kuala Selangor Nature Park. I arrived at daybreak after an extended drive by way of endless larger Kuala Lumpur. A really educated younger park guard defined the most effective websites to see birds and she or he gave me an unsolicited 50% senior low cost on the RM4 entry payment. With allow within the pocket and shallowness within the drain I walked to the primary indicated hotspot. I dipped on all her specialties however lucked upon a Stork-billed Kingfisher. His portrait, and all different photos on this submit, are both from the 10000birds archive, taken by Kai or each.
A big watchtower gives a cover view of the swamp forest. I managed to see Edible-nest Swiftlets, Painted Stork, Brahminy Kites and Little Inexperienced-Pigeon from the tower. The storks apparently are zoo escapees, which made for an fascinating escape film theme for the day. Preserve studying…
The shrubs and bushes alongside the canal in direction of the mangrove space had an fascinating mixture of swamp dwellers, mangrove specialists and different extra catholic birds. A trio of tailorbirds Frequent Tailorbird, Ashy Tailorbird and Rufous-tailed Tailorbird had been plying their commerce in apparently completely different habitats, however I couldn’t work out the excellence of their selection of shrubbery – figuring out them was simpler. Yellow-bellied Prinias had been just about all over the place and Swinhoe’s White-eyes, Brown-throated Sunbirds and a Little Spiderhunter had been on the flowering bushes. Three Clean-coated Otters greeted me on the finish of the canal, simply earlier than I used to be getting into the mangrove part.
My guidebook reasonably curtly describes the Dollarbird (function picture) as “cumbersome” as its sole figuring out attribute. That’s like defining the President of the US as simply “economically ignorant“: it doesn’t seize the complexity of the person or on this case, the hen. I discovered the Dollarbird whereas strolling the plank – or reasonably the mangrove boardwalk. I wasn’t alone. Reforestation of the mangrove space is a well-liked Company Social Duty initiative. Regardless of the typically cringeworthy slogans, tree-planting is bringing Malaysians nearer to nature. I chatted with one such group that was knee-deep in pungent mud with pleased grins on their faces. They had fun but in addition confirmed an understanding of the conservation wants of the realm, the advantages of wholesome habitats and their very own private position. Fairly exceptional.
After 3.5 hours of intense birding in intensifying warmth and humidity I drove to the Tanjung Karang Paddyfields to move the noon warmth within the consolation of my air-conditioned rental automotive. The fields had been principally dry and post-harvest, however I nonetheless discovered a whole lot of Asian Openbill. I additionally received a full home of herons with Nice White Egret, Little Egret, Jap Cattle Egret, Purple Heron, Gray Heron and one Javan Pond Heron. A single Crested Serpent-Eagle accomplished my lunch session, and I drove again for the afternoon birding session in Kuala Selangor.
The afternoon was barely much less productive than the morning session, however with three Sunda Pygmy Woodpeckers and a Black-naped Oriole so as to add to the day’s whole I used to be not going to complain. The park pre-dates TikTok and affords little past nature, drawing “our type of individuals“. Very nice. Kuala Selangor Nationwide Park has on-site lodging, which regarded well-maintained and clear. An A-Body Hunt prices RM50 per night time (about 10 Euro), chalets RM60, the hostel is available in at RM175 and the dormitories are RM 220. Very cheap and in shut proximity of the birds. Nonetheless, I splurged 40 Euro/greenback on a lodge room off-site, which was introduced as a “windowless room”. Pondering the outline was some ChatGPT mistranslation I walked into the room and sure, it was certainly windowless. I fabricated a shank from my toothbrush, purchased a Raquel Welch poster after which ran out of Shawshank Redemption clichés as I fell right into a well-deserved deep sleep on my little jail cell bunk. An extended four-hour drive to Taman Negara awaited me the subsequent morning.
