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THE LIGHTER SIDE OF BIRDWATCHING � AS I SEE IT
by Helen Cheah

What is all this bird-watching business about? Where?, When? seemed to be hovering in my head but that did not last long due to the ever helpful seasoned birders.

As a novice, I was rather unprepared � yes, that was the right word. On my first few trips, I committed the first sin in bird-watching, that is, I discovered I was wrongly attired twice � once, with a bright, sky-blue T-shirt and another time with a rainbow-coloured T-shirt! � very, very much to the chagrin of all the "See-Foos". My most sincere apologies to them!

The pleasure of the first few sights of these feathered friends did not come easy as I had to be taught on the basic rudiments of binocular usage. Holding the bino to focus is an art. Firstly, you have to learn to cock one side of your eyes to adjust, then one after another to focus on the target. I followed strictly to every instruction that I could hear but my sight always seem to beat my audible senses. Somehow, my first sight was a human "mesia". Later, to my dismay, due to my wrong focussing and audible sense, what I actually sighted was only Leow's "misai" ! I wonder why he always got in my way!

The most sensible thing to invest in bird-watching is a pair of bino � which I did. But of course, I found out it has many usage besides sighting birds. My first experience with the new purchase was to watch opera � "Carmen" at Ipoh DBI hall. No doubt, the opera singers did not come out as colourful as the birds but at least I know why they could sing at such a pitch.

It took me quite a while to be smitten by these wonderful creations of God � the feathered friends. On subsequent field trips, I found out it was rather amusing when I observed our own group of birders. One of them is our Chairman Cheaw, who would be lugging along his tripod, scope and with cap turned backward and his usual signature smile. But, one must not miss watching Chairman's typical stance when he positioned his tripod and seriously tried to focus. I guess most of us know how film producers take shots. The only difference is that Chairman would shout out excitedly "It is a Asian Fairy Bluebird!" instead of "cut !"

Somehow, I found out that it is a disadvantage in bird-watching when one is a bit short. There was one time when I enjoyed watching a Speckled Piculet at Frasers where that little fellow was busy pecking a perfect round hole on a tree, suddenly my vision was interrupted by a "hairy-chested" unfeathered �.! Rubbing my eyes and down my bino, I saw Chairman in front of me enthusiastically positioning his tripod with his famous stance.

Sometimes, we do get some special treats from Cheang KS � where, once we got to sight the moon. The after effect of that night's watch had me seeing a few silhouettes of Alfred Hitchcock among our birders! But of course, Leow has improved tremendously in his physique (due to our frequent climbs at Kledang), so now he is half of Alfred Hitchcock.

I also found out the many names of birds could be rather confusing. For example, Mesia sounds like misai, mina like Aminah, Niltava like murtabak, Sultan Tit like Sultan's teats. In order to solve this problem, I am seriously thinking of investing in my next item, that is, a bird book and log all the birds that I have sighted so far.

Maybe, it is quite difficult to express that type of pleasure where all the crazy birders shared. You have to experience for yourself this special creation of God. As for me, whenever I sight any special species they would perch high up on a branch, some majestically hold their heads high, occasionally twitching their little heads left right, left right, up down, up down and calmly would cock their slanting eye-lids, without a care in the world. Ever so cunning and contented � that made me more "geram" about them.

Like all bird-watching beginners, I found the many different species fantastically bewildering. To identify different species, the identification goes by their colours, feathers, head, etc. The correct identification go by "crowned or capped" � not head: "silver-breasted" � not silver-chested, etc. It would take some time for one to master certain ornithological literature. But given time and tons of patience, you too can join in the bandwagon.

Anyhow, if one feels stressful in working and sometimes situations or people that could make one's face sour enough to curdle milk, then perhaps one should consider bird-watching to de-stress!

Happy bird-watching !


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