Ooi Beng Yean led 14 members to this padi field area for a day of birding. Leaving at about 7.30 am in the morning the group had a good trip as reported by Dr. Chan Kai Soon.

"A total of fourteen people went in four vehicles. True to the tradition of "Makan" Nature Society, we started by having our breakfast in Pasir Puteh and started on our way at 8.00 a.m. We headed towards Sitiawan and turned left just before the Perak River. Bird life was immediately apparent as two Golden-backed woodpeckers were sighted flying across the road. Soon afterwards, Dr A. S. Nanda stopped by to watch some colourful parrots. We then turned left to cross the Sungai Perak. Near the river, a Southern Pied hornbill was seen pecking on some flowers. Unfortunately, it flew away before Cheang Kum Seng could set up his camera for a good shot. Near the Pasir Salak museum, we could not resist the temptation to stop by the roadside again. We were well rewarded when we could identify a Long-tailed parakeet, a Gold-whiskered barbet, a Black-thighed falconet and a Scarlet-backed flowerpecker, all from the same spot at the roadside! The barbet was probably nesting near the road! We had a good time viewing through the Leica scope Cheang brought along.

Further on, we just had to stop again. This time, several Long-tailed parakeets and Blue-rumped parakeets were sighted. These two species even perched coyly on the same dried tree for a long period. There seems to be a fair number of the long-tailed parakeets in this area. This time, Cheang had enough time to take good shots of the birds. The weather was cool and the sun was at our back. What a leisure trip to start with!

Then we went on to Ulu Dedap, passing many padi fields along the way. Common birds sighted are the egrets (including one intermediate egret) and Black-shouldered kites. There were also many long-legged Black-winged stilts. We saw a Northern Harrier hovering and circling over the padi fields for long periods. We had ample time to take a good look at it.

At about 1.30 p.m., we detoured to Hutang Melintang for lunch. Then we went back to the padi fields to reconfirm the species of long-legged stilts and do a bird count. We were all very sad when we came across many dead birds (including kingfishers, bitterns etc) killed with a fishing net at the edge of a padi field. Dutifully, we photographed this scene for documentation and publication. After all, we do not just appreciate nature - we are also duty-bound to promote nature conservation.

On the way home, we took the Tronoh-Batu Gajah way but were unlucky to sight any more birds. It was already around 5.00 p.m. However, there were already more than enough lifers for me during this trip."