Tuesday, November 10, 2009

31st Oct and 1st Nov 2009: Festival of Wings, Kuala Selangor Nature Park, Selangor

I attended the 7th Festival of Wings at Kuala Selangor Nature Park (KSNP) a couple of weekends ago.



In conjunction with the Festival, an official plaque announcing KSNP as part of the North-central Selangor Coast Important Bird Area (IBA) was unveiled by Elizabeth Wong - Selangor State Minister for Tourism, Consumer Affairs and the Environment.



People keeping out of the rain in the exhibition booths...



The delegation from BCST - (Left to right): Chaiwat, Benchapol, Ravee, Koses, Piyawan, Nonchaya and Gawin - with lots of interesting merchandise and those famous Thai smiles!



The team from Burung Indonesia - Left to right: Sutejo, Astrid, Dwi, Yoppy, Henny and Fahrul. They were really good at selling - I bought four of their superb T-shirts!



The Myanmar contingent (left to right): Aung Moe from the Biodiversity and Nature Conservation Association (BANCA) and San San Nwe, from the Nature and Wildlife Conservation Division of the Forest Department, and Simba Chan (ex Hong Kong, now with Birdlife Japan).



About half the Selangor Bird Group Committee are here!



There was some pretty impressive artwork being done on ... people's faces!



Our very own MNS BCC Waterbirds Group had an impressive display...



...put together with much hard work by Ang Teck Hin - here's the man himself!



Hey look - the sun! It was nice to see it at last on the second morning.

On the second afternoon, the exhibitors got a chance to take a break and do some birding - yay!



Hmm - so that's what they look like close up?!



The Burung Indonesia team checking out our Malaysian mangroves.



A rare chance to view the mudflats from the seaward side gave us plenty of views of hunting Lesser Adjutants (more aptly-named in Malay Burung Botak Kecil - Lesser Bald Bird!).







And a good opportunity for us to see at first hand the biological richness of the coastal mangrove-mudflat ecosystem - lots of fish, lots of cockles.



Have we got the message yet? MANGROVES AND MUDFLATS = MORE FOOD FOR BIRDS AND MORE RESOURCES FOR PEOPLE. Cut down the mangroves and we forfeit fisheries, coastal protection from storms and tsunamis, carbon sequestering and a host of other benefits.

Thanks to Raj and a host of assistants and volunteers for making this year's Festival of Wings yet another memorable event, despite the weather!

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