Birding in Bintulu - 2017

Black-bellied Malkoha
Note the grasshopper caught in between its beak.

There are many places in Bintulu that can be made birding locations.  However, the Kambatik Park where I stay remains the best place for me to carry out birding activities year in and year out on a daily basis. Stepping out into the jungle is not a problem because it is just at the back door.  My policy of making the park a nature park has given me dividends in the many encounters I had with exotic and strange birds.  This year a significant find was the Black-bellied Malkoha.  Fo rthe full story please follow this link....>>>>http://mybirdingsarawak.blogspot.my/2017/07/black-bellied-malkoha.html

Birding in Bintulu - 2016

Scarlet-rumped Trogon

Rufous Woodpecker

For the record in 2016,  I continued to carry out birding activities in Bintulu.  The birding highlights in 2016 which were memorable were lifer moments with the Scarlet-rumped Trogon, Black-bellied Malkoha, Banded Woodpecker and the Rufous Woodpecker.

Birding has been an integrated part of doing the landscaping of the Kambatik Park, a place I call home.  The park has given me treasured moments with the birds in Bintulu. 

For all the significant birding encounters in Bintulu  that are blogged in 2016 , please follow this link  ......>>>>http://mybirdingsarawak.blogspot.my/search/label/2016

Wildlife Park of Bintulu in 1989

View of the Wildlife Park ( Taman Hidupan Liar) seen in 1989.
Works on the construction of the Wildlife Park or Taman Hidupan Liar in Malay started in 1989 and the park was officially opened to the general public on the 2nd of August,1991.
Picture shows my family members and their cousin, with our car driven right to the top of the hill where later the wordings  "Taman Hidupan Liar" were planted using cover plants approximately where  the car is parked.

View of the park  taken on 9th of March,2015.  
Today, the park is re-named as "Taman Tumbina".

It was the first and only park of its kind in Sarawak when it was opened in 1991.  Today, the park is called "Taman Tumbina" but when it was first started and opened it was known as Taman Hidupan Liar or Wildlife Park.  It was one of my pet projects while in the Bintulu Development Authority (BDA).  This project brought me places to Singapore and West Malaysia to see similar projects and learn from them.  In the park (as shown in the layout plan below) there were many botanical as well as zoological attractions.  One of the big attractions was the flamingo pond.  Follow this link to know more in-depth story of my role in bringing the flamingoes to Bintulu  here .  In the top picture, the Bintulu coastline is seen in the background.  It is evident that that were no condominiums or high-rise buildings in Bintulu in the 1980's along its coasts.  The condominiums were a thing of the 1990's in Bintulu.  

( Note: The above story is a re-posting from my blog ' Images of Bintulu Before and Now' and the link is here.

Birding in Bintulu 2013 - 2015

 Black-winged Kite (Elanus caerulueus) , sighted 2014

Dark-sided Flycatcher (Muscicapa sibirica), sighted 2014

 Large-tailed Nightjar , sighted 2013

Black Hornbill, sighted 2015

One of the many things that Bintulu can offer is nature.  In fact, nature tourism is one of the pillars of tourism for Sarawak and is capsulated in the acronymn CAN (Culture, Adventure, Tourism).  Bintulu as part of Sarawak also puts emphasis on nature tourism though at a secondary or low priority level, since Bintulu is promoted as an industrial city by the local development authority (BDA).  This does not mean that attempts to bring back nature to urban living or environment is forgotten.  I tried my own ways to bring this at my Kambatik Park.  Thus from 2013 to 2015 I was effectively photographing and blogging on the birds at the park.  There are of course other birding sites in Bintulu like Bakun dam, Similajau National Park, Tanjung Batu beach areas besides the Kambatik Park.  For a list of birds which got into my camera frame in and around Bintulu between 2013 to 2015 follow the link here and here