Lockdown April

I will keep this unusual month’s blog to a few words but illustrate it with a number of images. A slideshow with these images can be seen here

You don’t value your freedom until it is suppressed. I have visions of what I see as freedom.

FREEDOM

April 2020 has seen a month like none other I have experienced. A large part of the world is locked-down because of the  the Covid-19 pandemic. We have been confined indoors and to the boundaries of the condominium estate. Fortunately, it has been a stroke of luck or superb timing that we located here with so much of the natural world on display....not to mention the lack of financial worries in a non-existent housing market.

 EAGLES AND KITES

Starting with the raptors; there are a pair of Brahminy Kites and a pair of White-bellied Sea Eagles nesting in the forest-clad hill behind us. The eagles greet the morning with a wake-up cackle. Junior is getting so big he possibly takes up too much nest space and gets a morning scolding. They also talk a lot to each other while flying.

The little guy flying with the eagle is a House Swift (pictured below)
....a hyperactive flyer with a white bottom

 

Brahminy Kite drying off.

RACKET-TAILED DRONGOS

I hear and see the Racket-tailed Drongos in the morning. This bird, that constantly has two bees chasing it, is a consummate mimic of other bird calls and knows the difference between distress calls and mating calls. If it sees another bird with food it will make the species distress call hoping it will take immediate flight and abandon the morsel. I note they almost always follow the Dusky Langurs through the forest feeding on the insects the langurs disturb as they throw themselves from tree to tree.

DUSKY LANGURS

The Dusky Langurs keep me amused as well. A major target was the little orange infants. The troop appears around the carpark or road through the estate perhaps 2-3 times each week. You can easily see where they are along the road by the collection of green leaves under the targetted feeding tree. I was amused at the juveniles in a huge flowering tree. They were deliberately jumping to see the shower of yellow flowers that resulted. You could almost hear them giggling with delight.

I was happy to get to photograph a crèche from the spare bedroom window and to get a shot of a baby-clinging jump. I hope to see more of them before they change colour.

COCO

It contravenes the current Movement Order to take your dog for a walk outside your residence boundaries. 22,000 Malaysian residents have been arrested for breaching this ruling. I walk down to the beach with Coco and do about 4 circuits before retreating. She enjoys the exploration and freedom and other bodily necessities. She misses the big boys.....one of which has had a fight with another dog, was bitten on the bum by two strays and further bitten by a python.

Because a little dog needs some later action the soccer-playing of puppy days has been restored.

Where did that crab go?

MOODS AND COLOURS

The ever changing vista around us is a source of awe as the colours and moods change.

 

ELECTRICAL STORMS

When. night falls nature takes on another form. We are ideally placed to watch lightening displays over the mainland. I have done a lot of reading about what lightening is and how storms are displayed, starting from a large cumulonimbus cloud and if you are lucky you will see red sprites, pixies, blue jets,  and elves along with spiders and anvil creepers.

 This last image is unusual in that the lightening is going upwards from the ground.

TRIBUTES

Helen attacks her daily exercises with great gusto and does the main run to the supermarket and provides tasty meals each day. We both wish you all health and safety and salute those working on the front-line.

Lockdown March

What a difference a month makes. We knew the Covid-19 virus was around in China and we expected that we would have some restrictions at some point but this month our lives have been dominated by it. When March started I was preparing for photographic trips to Thailand and Ecuador. Nikki was planning a 30th birthday celebration in Italy. All of those dreams collapsed in 31 days. Italy has been particularly hard hit and patients have overwhelmed the medical system. Many other countries have been locked down to varying degrees and they seek to keep pace with the victims of the declared pandemic.
 Locally most businesses are also closed for the 4 weeks. Earlier Helen and I had been to a concert and appreciated an art exhibition in the same building aimed to highlight the plight of the Malayan Tiger. There were some nice pieces.

I particularly like this following painting for great imagery. The tiger is stabbed by the stamen of a red hibiscus which is the national flower of Malaysia.....plus the blood that flows.

Malaysia stopped travellers going out or coming into the country around the 18th of March and then invoked a 4 week semi-lockdown. You can  go and get food or go to the doctors but not do other activities. The condo pool and gym were closed and the army was called out to help police the situation in the country. Joggers were arrested.....for jogging. Malaysians having little time for our canine friends makes no allowance for them. I have had to sneak out in the dark hours of the morning to walk for an hour and to take Coco to the beach. I might add that little girl has been great and has the most brilliant nature. What a companion she has been.

long hair because no hairdressers open...light for illustrative purposes only

During the so-called lockdown Helen and I have managed OK. Collectively we have good cooking and yeast manipulation skills. The Weber kettle comes into play too ...producing succulent chicken and a very moist leg of lamb. Our generation of baby-boomers has been lucky in that we have not had to endure the hardships of a Great War. As a young man I never thought I would see the day when my kids had armed Gurkhas at their school and I would walk into a shop with a mask on....and give them money.

I salute my heroes, Tim Berners-Lee, Steve Jobs, Bill Gates and the Malaysian Government who have made the internet free during lockdown and so has Mr Photoshop.

We feel for members of the family who are in the front line; daughter Nikki and daughter-in-law Debbie

Earlier in the month before the closedown Nick Baker stayed a few nights with us. We went to Air Hitam Dalam one morning and Nick set up a recorder around the forest near the condo to see what species of bats there are. Different specifies squeak at different frequencies...give or take.

Black, Giant Squirrel

Racket-tailed Drongo

Yellow-bellied Prinia

Spotted, Wood Owl...got raided by the Monitor lizard last year

Identifying bats by the frequency of their sound emissions can be accomplished with specialised recording equipment and a knowledge of the local species. Some bats...ie fruit bats don't emit sounds as they are not hunting moving prey. An example of the different emission frequencies can be seen from an area in England.

Nick found two species in our forest....and handsome boys they are. Blyth's Horseshoe Bat and the Great Roundleaf Bat.

The sound recording looks like this on the computer.

Nick joined us for the pub quiz and with his wife we all enjoyed a nice Italian dinner.......the fun almost stopped there. We had a composite team for what was to become the final pub quiz for a while.....but still managed to win.
Steve, a committed scuba diver spends about 3 months in Malaysia. Although it was Mike's turn for the prize Steve wanted to clooect it to clearly send a message to someone.

Coco enjoyed running with the big boys earlier in the month but that also is over as we now go under the cover of partial darkness and take less time.....a run and a poop and we are good.

Coco also met some of the pups from the beach pack.

With no big boys to play with ....for the duration, Coco has to talk to the crabs

The beach will still play an important part in the day as we watch a bunch of otters having lunch or a fisherman trying to net his next meal.

There are 10 otters in this picture....and several crows

Photography has been confined to what you see from the apartment. We do get some nice sunrises and sunsets and I managed to capture a lightning strike using similar exposures techniques to shooting fireworks.

There are no windsurfers, water-skiers or cruise-boats or gambling boats..We just have to admire the flowers and shoot eagles out the window.