The shortest
month has gone by and here it was a hot and dry one. Penang has been immune
from water shortages since we have been here but there are problems brewing if
we don’t get rain soon. The situation seems similar to 3 years ago when the
first three months were almost completely dry. The unceasing heat is rather
debilitating at times.
You can see the normal water level on the main Penang reservoir.
Helen has had a
full book plus some with her teaching on two or three days she has had
afternoon classes as well as full mornings. It was starting to give her no time
to do other things she wanted to do so with the normal turnover of students she
has readjusted to avoid the afternoon classes.
The month has
been dominated somewhat by the 15-day Chinese New Year. A lot of money is spent
on getting things fresh for the coming year so there seems to be a vacuum of
activity in the aftermath. Consequently, after a relatively busy January we
have not seen many inspections in February.
The fine weather
is generally good for nature photography. My star venue appears to be in its
death throe. It is extremely quiet there although I am keeping my eye on a kingfisher’s
nest and the potential arrival of the Blue-throated Bee-eaters. There has been
the occasional visit by Chestnut-headed Bee-eaters but this year there is no
attempt to nest there. My main thrill is an occasional Red Jungle Fowl passing
by and parthenogenic lizards scoping the landscape.
I did get the Chestnut-winged Cuckoo out in the open and his species has eluded me at this site for years.
Most of my
attention recently has centered on Air Hitam Dalan which is a small
conservation park almost exactly opposite our home in mainland Penang. It has
been good to visit once a month in the past but now it is the main site.
I get there
before sunrise and watch the Open-billed Storks take off in the colourful sunrise
to forage in the rice fields.
The Asian
Openbill or Asian Openbill Stork (Anastomus oscitans) is a large wading bird in
the stork family Ciconidae. This distinctive stork is mainly found in the
Indian subcontinent and Southeast Asia. It is a greyish or white with glossy
black wings and tail. The adults have a gap between the arched upper mandible
and recurved lower mandible. Young birds are born without this gap which is
thought to be an adaption that aids in the handling of snails, their main prey.
This stork
has appeared in greater numbers in Malaysia in the last few years. It loves
eating the Golden Apple Snail that was introduced into parts of Asia for a
failed escargot industry. It is a major pest as it eats the rice crops and
farmers should support the storks who are the snail’s main predator.
There is a fish farm adjacent to the forest remnant and this attracts some of the local pescatarians. I have some good shots or three species of kingfisher in the vicinity.
The tiny Yellow-bellied Prinia also likes to
find the highest point in a bush and sing to the world.......even managed with
a moth in his beak.
Various kite and heron species also wait for their breakfast.
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| The flying kites, Brahminy above and Black Kite below |
There are always
Long-tailed Macaques around somewhere there and I was lucky enough to get some
teenagers playing in a flowering tree with a subdued sunrise behind them.
My main
photographic coup was to get the moment a Spotted Wood Owl hits a monitor
lizard with armed talons. A pair of owls had taken up residence in a tree-hole
and it was being raided by a monitor lizard.....who are experts at climbing
trees. The chances of such a shot are very slim as I only had a 0.3 second
window to record any such attack and the sun and background had to cooperate
also.
The next two shots in the sequence. Each shot is 1/10 second after the previous one. The camera is in 'machine gun' mode. The owl is not sitting on the lizard it is an aerial attack.
On the home
front Coco is always excited to go to the beach in the morning. I also enjoy
the sunrise from a different perspective.
There is a small temple at the end of the beach and each year during the Chinese New Year festivities they light a large array of giant joss-sticks to predict, via their burning pattern, what the financial climate with be for Penang during the coming year. The sticks are divided into four to predict each quarter. The first one will be good but the next three with be indifferent. Coco was interested to see what was going to happen to her investments.
From the same
beach the workers leave to go to the island being constructed. They are
currently building a bridge across to it.
Penang played
host to the RMS Queen Mary II during the month. It slipped into port in the
dark so I was determined to get a shot of it leaving....reportedly at 5pm. I
waited along the waterfront with the dogs and the Munias and watched the
fishermen. Finally, just before the sun
set the graceful but solid lady, built for the trans-Atlantic route slowly
steamed out of port.
On one day when
Helen had a cancelled lesson we drove down to Taiping. I had heard there was a
nesting hornbill family in the Rain Trees adjacent to a park. The park was
designed by the British on an old tin mine and it is indeed beautiful. The rain trees
are well known as they have arched over and formed an avenue adjacent to the
lake. Some have arched over too far and have subsequently closed the road. We
did not find the hornbills but had a nice trip.
In the pub quiz
we have not finished out of the money this month with a first and 2 seconds.
There was no quiz in the midst of the Chinese New Year celebrations.
One thing that
is concern generally in the location is the insane amount of building going on
I have no idea
where the potential buyers will come from and it begs the question as to whether
there is any town planning.
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| The front building is on our estate and they have a monstrosity virtually in their back yard. |
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