Urban Birding, Wetlands
Putrajaya, Malaysia
Birds can be seen almost everywhere. Most “birders” (people with a hobby of watching and photographing birds) head towards places such as forests, mangroves, hills, and mountains to photograph and observe birds as it is usually in places such as these where nice, colorful, and unique birds are seen. Seldom do they (birders) congregate at an urban park to watch birds. Seldom is a keyword here. Seldom also means that they do, but not as frequent as with the earlier said settings.
Urban areas including towns and cities do have their share of birds. Should one just take the time to observe them, one will notice a myriad species of birds. They include birds of prey as well as colorful birds. Recently I embarked on a ‘bird race” in Putrajaya, Malaysia organized by Putrajaya Corporation together with the help of NEST (Nature Education Society).
A brown throated sunbird perched on a tree branch at the Putrajaya Wetlands..
A “bird race” is an event where birders in teams oberseve and document (photographing birds too) as many bird species as possible. Birders in this event included students and teachers from local schools and universities, people from the government offices, and the general public. Armed with long and large lenses secured to their cameras, powerful binoculars, and a list of birds in hand, we all gathered at the Putrajaya Wetlands Park on the 16th and 17th of November (2019) with hopes of documenting as many birds species as possible within a stipulated (24 hours) time (race between teams).
It is said that Putrajaya has over 200 species of birds including kingfishers, owls, woodpeckers, raptors, etc. During the event, teams roamed throughout the wetlands and the park in search of birds. With the winning teams taking home hampers, cash prizes, trophies, and high powered binoculars.
The Wetland Gallery.
This event is the first birding event in Putrajaya and it managed to attract about 300 perticipants. The aim of the event is just not to document birds but to also educate and instill in participants the importance of birds and to encourage them to take up birding as a hobby. There are plans to make this event an annual event.
For more information please contact:
Encik (Mr) Mohd Fairus Bin Mohd Padzil
Encik (Mr) Ahmad Fazila Othman
Google Maps to Wetlands Putrajaya
