Friday 14 September 2012

Urban Hornbills/Enggang near Urban Gardens

Hornbill viewing its domain. Saw this during my morning walk around my housing area. It was a rather chilly (for the tropics!) and gloomy morning, excellent time to go and exercise without sweating too much. Sorry for the poor quality of the photo, this was taken using my camera phone, and then enlarged.

Aunty Kan invited me to join her for her morning walk. I was glad I did, it was fun chit-chatting and peeking into other neighbours' gardens (hahaha what busybodies we are!)

Then I spotted the above hornbill on a tree. There were 2 of them. I remembered as a child here I used to see a pair of hornbills often near my school. I guess these majestic looking birds mate for life. As we got closer, its partner flew away, and soon enough, this one flew off too. It has been years since I last saw one. I do wonder whether they can still be found at my old school.

I found an old article from the Star on dwindling numbers of hornbills, due to destruction of swampland and peat forests. There was a swamp not far from my school, and I used to see brightly coloured kingfishers there all the time. There is a reserve forest near my school as well, though the areas bordering it have been replaced by luxurious million-ringgit houses. Sigh.

9 comments:

TukangKebun said...

Sejuk-sejuk cuaca sana senang sikit nak sow seeds yang challenging. Besar enggang tu.

Mama Pongkey said...

Sekejap sejuk, sekejap panas, weather sedikit unpredictable sekarang. Hehehe dalam hati nak sow semua tapi kena tunggu giliran, atau buat batas rapat sikit. Sigh. Banyak lagi yang saya tak reti ni.
Enggang tu boleh tahan besarnya. Tak sangka sampai ke kawasan rumah saya. Seronok, harapnya diorang ni berkunjung lagi.

Umm AA said...

engggang nampak cantek tuh...long time i didn't have morning walk or jogging then pergi breakfast kat kedai after that..sekarang pagi2 turun kebun jer sehingga matahari terasa panas, tak semoat berpeluh2 pun..heheh...

Umm AA said...

byk kali dah komen..asyik tak lepas jgk...susahnya..anyway..last try..nice hornbill foto wpun tak berapa sharp..bukan senang nak ambik..

Mama Pongkey said...

Alhamdulillah, berjaya juga. Saya pun hairan, salah satu komen Ummu Aidan sebelum ni saya dapat notification, tapi bila check di blog tiada pula.

Ok di sini saya postkan komen Ummu Aidan tersebut ya:

"engggang nampak cantek tuh...long time i didn't have morning walk or jogging then pergi breakfast kat kedai after that..sekarang pagi2 turun kebun jer sehingga matahari terasa panas, tak semoat berpeluh2 pun..heheh... "

Hehe, sebenarnya saya pun dah lamaaa sangat tak pergi morning walk atau apa-apa walk/cardio exercise. Biasanya Aunty Kan ni pergi walk dengan husband dia, tapi pagi ni husband dia dah pergi walk dulu, maka bila dia ajak, siaya pun temankan dia. I had brunch sahaja hari tu, tak breakfast pun.

Mama Pongkey said...

Betul, ni first time saya dapat ambil gambar burung enggang ni. Masa kecik dulu, di sekolah rendah, saya selalu nampak burung enggang ni terbang berdua-duaan, walaupun negeri saya ni tidaklah dikenali sebagai habitat burung enggang. Lagipun masa tu mana ada handphone, apatah lagi cameraphone. Kalau bawak camera ke sekolah sure kena rampas kalau bukan hari special macam Hari Guru ke, lepas exam ke.

Bangchik and Kakdah said...

Bandaraya ada bina kolam/ tasik tapi bukan paya yang hornbill suka.... :)

Mama Pongkey said...

Sedih kan, Bang Chik & Kak Dah? Sebenarnya kalau diorang tak nak bina paya tak apa, tapi preserve paya yang sedia ada. Yang menjadi tumpuan paya air masin, mangrove swamp. Tapi paya air tawar tentu mempunyai species diversitynya yang tersendiri. Dulu di UK saya pernah berjalan kaki menikmati keindahan alam paya di east London, tak ingat namanya, kena cari balik. Seronok, berjam-jam berjalan tak sedar masa berlalu, sambil tu sekodeng burung.

Mama Pongkey said...

Taman ni saya pernah lawati, di south west London, Richmond, tidak jauh dari Isabella Gardens dan salah satu lagi yang tak jauh ialah Kew Gardens yang tersohor itu.

http://www.visitlondon.com/attractions/detail/7280-wwt-london-wetland-centre

Wetland yang saya maksudkan di Walthamstow, dulu saya pernah tinggal di kawasan sekitarnya.

http://www.guardian-series.co.uk/news/9749538.WALTHAMSTOW__Wetlands_plans_scaled_back/