BIRD'S BANDING

Removing birds from the mist net is not that esay for the beginners because as for myself i am still not expert in doing it. Sometimes the birds that i try to remove tanggled very bad and need to cut some of the strings of the nets.

After get the birds from the nets we put it into the cloth bag and bring it back to the processing place that we can work out on banding the bird. Usually we can't put the birds too long in the cloth bag in case of it will be dehydrated so we process it straight away.

All the equipments for the banding is prepared and we get all the information of the birds before we band it. All of the information will be enter into the datasheet that we have. Before take the measurements and check the birds we need to band it in case of it will escaped and flew away.

I try to work out on taking the banding data from the birds after we put the band on it's leg but i am still not good at it. I am still confused on how to look at the fade line, wing wear and how to sexes this birds.

Every data that we take we enter it into the field data sheet.

CAMPING FOR BIRD'S SURVEY

This is how our bed look like at the camp. The most important things you must have for camping like this is your mosquito net and sleeping bag. Why? There is a lot of mosquitoes and after midnight it is really cold. The other extra gadgets you must have is torch lights, insect repellent and also your personal first aid kit. That is only the basic things that i can share for camping with us.

We cook our own food. So, here is the "panorama" of our kitchen at the camp. We have all the basics for cooking from stove to other cooking utensils. Don't worry you will not get starving if go camping like this because all of foods or rations is already prepared before the trip. The clean water basically we bring from Bintulu and the rest is drinking water. 

So, here is some meals that we have at the camp. Isn't it look delicious, even though it is just a baked beans...:p

Where to take a bath? No worry. For every camp, it must located near water source. So, like this camp there is one stream nearby and we take bath there.The water is cold especially if you take your shower late in the evening but is is really refreshing.

Worry about doing something very important? Here is how the camp toilet look like. It is very comfortabale and clean. 

BIRD'S SURVEY 2008

I was equipt with all the recording equipment to get ready for the dawn chorus recording. Usually we get ready at the site around 5.45am because we need to catch the first bird that make their calls. Quite interesting results that we get from all the dawn chorus that we make for the whole trip.

This is the first day of our observation and as usual i will be very excited but at this point i really have problem in identifying birds that i observed. However, do not worry as we practice everyday by refering to the field guide book, it will not that difficult anymore. Developing the skills and information about the birds that we observed.

After our dawn chorus finished, we continue to do observation on getting the foraging data of birds that we observed. With guide from Dr. Alison and Dr. Fred, we try to collect all the information that needed for the foraging data. It isreally cool to look at the birds and follow what it is doing especially on how it get its food, where it get it etc. But to study birds in the tropic forest is a challenge because of the tree is tall and the understorey is dense too.

I am not sure what we are looking at but i think we are looking at the Prevost's Squirrel on the tree down the valley. I really like that squirrel, it is really preety and i have a chance to observed it foraging on the figs fruits. How it hang upside down without care of the presence of birds around it. It just eating and eating.

I just came back after a long trip to the field started from July, 31st until Aug, 19th. It was 20 days in the field for bird's survey with researcher from US. They are bird's expert (ornithologist) and i was lucky to learn so many things related to bird's study from them. We use several methods for this trip. We do the dawn chorus (bird's call recording), foraging data observation, mist netting for bird's of interest by calling the birds using their calls and then we do the bird banding. It is really interesting and there are some area that i still not good at like identifying the species via it's call and collecting the data for the birds that we band. However, as i said earlier practice makes perfect. Continue doing it and doing it right.