Bird Watching Near Bidor

Blackwinged Kites

I have not participated in any MNS (Malaysian Nature Society) activities since 2008. In January 2013 MNS newsletter, one item caught my interest. It was a bird-watching activity near Bidor organized by the Selangor Branch. It was to be a half-day bird watching at Chikus, near Bidor and I decided to join this trip. The meeting point was at Bidor exit from the North-South Highway, time 7.30 AM.

That Sunday morning (Thaipusam Day), I got up at 4.00 AM, bathed and got ready. By 5.00 AM, I started my drive to Bidor. Along the way, I stopped at a Shell station to buy a canned coffee and some buns for breakfast. The journey to Bidor was a pleasant one, with a bright full moon in sight.

I arrived at Bidor exit just about 7.40 AM and already there were several cars parked by the roadside after the toll plaza. After I parked my car, I went to look for the organizer, Andy Lee. When I found Andy, I introduced myself since this was our first meeting. After registering, I got to know a few other participants. Most came from KL/PJ while a few were from Perak branch. Most are members of MNS while a few are friends of members. By 8.10 AM, we began our drive to Chikus, which was about 9 KM away along the Bidor-Teluk Intan road.

As we neared the birding site, some of us were to leave our cars by the inlet road and to car pooled inwards. I went in with another car, driven by Mahes. We introduced each other and I got to know that Mahes is from India. He is an engineer working in Subang Jaya. The inlet road was sandy and uneven.

When we reached the birding site (it was a former tin mine, converted to small buffalo or cow farms, surround by palm oil plantation), we got out of the cars and began to walk. I admired Mahes’ camera when he took it out from its case. It was a Canon 50D with a medium telephoto lens, mounted on a tripod. Compared to mine, an entry level 600D equipped with a basic telephoto lens (50-250mm), Mahes’ 50D was a superb camera.

Off we went into two groups, guided by our experienced bird-watchers (or birders as they are normally called). At this first site, we noted several flocks of Blackwing Kites and Golden Plovers. We also spotted a few Lesser Whistling Ducks and Purple Heron, White Cattle Egret (Burung Bangau), Kingfisher, Herons, Tekukur, Swifts and Merbah. There were two raptors, one a Sparrow Hawk and a Hawk Eagle, flying quite high gliding on the thermals. The sun was shining bright and fortunate for us, there were some trees that gave us some shade.

By 11.10 AM, we drove back to the inlet road, boarded our own cars and went to the second site, about 1 KM away. The second site was near the FRIM Station Bidor. There were several ponds grown with water-lilies near a cow farm. Here, we spotted 5 small wild ducks, several green bee-eaters, two purple herons, water fowl and 3 cattle egrets. The day was bright and sunny and most of us gathered under the shade of a tree to observe the birds. A few others braved the hot sun to walk some distance way.

By 12.15, there was a debrief to compare notes of all the birds spotted for the day. Andy and Liung, the main organisers, thanked us for participating and encouraged us to participate in the next birding activity.

My Teen Years - 1977

Stage act "The Kedekut Chetty" - myself (white coat), Karunamurthy (left) and Rajisvaran (seated).

The School Band - 1977. Me, sitted, 5th from right.

School Orchestra - 1977. Me, standing back row, 4th from left.

When my dad passed away in the end of 1976, that was a very sad moment of my life. I felt I had lost someone whom I could refer to for guidance. Fortunately, my mother gave me the encouragement to carry on with my life. I also had a few good friends who also helped me in cheering me up.

When the LCE results were out, I was really happy because I did very well in the examination. At the start of our new school year in 1977, all the boys were still formed into their previous Form Three classrooms first. That was because the school needed a few days to assign the students for the streaming into Science or Arts classes. When the list was ready, I found that I was to go to Form 4 Science 3 class. A few boys who were assigned to the Science Stream requested to be changed to go to the Arts Stream. A few of them were successful. A few others applied to go to other schools, such as the Technical Schools or Sekolah Tunku Abdul Rahman at Ipoh. I applied to go to the Royal Military College but was unsuccessful. So, I decided to remain in the Science Stream and at King Edward VII School.

So, of we went to report to our Form 4 classrooms which were at the Sheffield Hostel block. The building was named as such because it was the hostel for students during the early years of the school. The Sheffield Hostel still stands to this day. There were a number of transfer students from other schools in Taiping district as far as Sungai Kerang.  Some of the new boys were from the Thomson Road Secondary School (renamed as Sekolah Menengah Darul Redzuan). One of them became my good friend. His name was Loh Cheng Kiat from Pokok Asam.

Our class master was Mr Liew. He was a friendly teacher who taught us Geography. Mr Liew was also the gymnastics team coach. I still remember most of the good teachers – Mr Lee Yoke Beng (Biology), Mr Lim Eng Kiat (Physics), Ms Tulasi (Mathematics), Mr Foo Eng Guan (English) but forgive me,  I could not remember the rest. One teacher we boys dreaded most was our Chemistry teacher, Mr  Yow. He was a very temperamental man and liked to give students bad names. Such name calling would land any teacher in trouble in today’s schools. However, those days us boys just let it pass (Mr Yow did land into trouble a few years later when he called a student “mamak tongkang”. That boy challenged him to come out of the class. Of course, he dared not and the matter was reported to the Principal, Mr Long, who gave Mr Yow a stern warning).

A few weeks went by and we noticed one of our classmates appeared to be “uninterested” in class. Lim Meng Yew was present in class but his mind was elsewhere. Then, he informed us that his uncle had made arrangements for him to continue his schooling in the United Kingdom. Lim would be leaving for England in a few weeks. So, we boys planned to have a farewell party for Lim at his parent’s house. Unfortunately, I did not go to the party because my mother did not allow. (It was many years later I met Lim again).

While I was still an active member of the School Band, Loh Cheng Kiat stories of his scouting activities aroused my interest. More so, in 1977, he was amongst the few Scouts from our school who was selected to join the Malaysian Contingent to attend the Indonesia’s Scouts National Jamboree. I joined the Scouts troop which caused some disagreement with my School Band Master, Mr Ng. “Why do you want to join the Scouts? How would you divide your time between the Band and the Scouts?”, he asked. I explained that while my heart was with the School Band, I would like to explore what the Scouts experience could give me. I made a commitment that I would attend the Band practices on Wednesday and attend the Scout meetings on Saturday. However, I spent more time with the Band whenever we were to perform, such as our Annual Sports Day or Pesta Taiping. By this time, I was appointed as the Lead Trumpets and Bugles section. I was responsible for the boys training and performance.

As a Scout, I attended the Malaysia-Thailand Border Scouts Jamboree which was held at Alor Setar, Kedah. Had a jolly good time and made many new friends.

Have you ever had pen-friends? Youngsters nowadays might not know what pen-friends mean. Before the age of internet, email and facebook, the older generation had pen-friends. I started to have pen-friends since I was fourteen years old. The first two were from England, Jeanette Vivien Stray and Julie Owens.  By this time, I was still in correspondence with Jeanette and Julie but I would like to have Malaysian pen-friends. What did I do? I submitted a picture and  a few required information to a local music magazine. A few months later,  I received several letters, from a few girls and boys. My mother got concerned because I was writing letters more than I studied.

 

As for my studies, I was struggling with all the Science subjects, more so with Chemistry, mainly because of that temperamental  Mr Yow as our teacher. A few boys just dropped that subject and focused on Biology and Physics. Anyway, most of the boys were quite relaxed as regards to study because there was not any major examination for us that year. I did shared my worries with a friend of another class, Razif. He proposed that I joined him for tuition classes for the Science subjects with him. The tutor lived a the government quarters somewhere along Jalan Istana and the fees were RM50 per subject. That means a total of RM150 per month. I was already paying for my Mathematics tuition for RM80 per month and I felt I could not burden my mom for another RM150 more. Therefore, I just tried to study by myself and asked my classmates if I did not understand. For the final year examinations, I did well in all other subjects. I managed to pass Biology and Physics but failed in Chemistry.

 

My 16^th birthday was a quiet affair. No big parties to celebrate my “sweet 16”. My mom gave me a Happy Birthday card and RM50 as a present.

(Next – 1978).