Tuesday, August 24, 2010

Bird House in Kuantan

So our friend Raymond took us to his bird house in Air Putih here in Kuantan on Sunday afternoon. I have heard of bird houses before but as yet have never had the pleasure of entering one. Apparently they are dark and smelly and very, very loud. I read an article in the newspaper last year about the uproar that has resulted in a bird house in Melaka. The owners of nearby shops and houses were complaining heavily over the noise being emitted from the bird house. It had become a nuisance indeed.

However, as we sat comfortably in the car on the way to Raymond's bird house here in Kuantan, I was excited as you always are when doing something for the first time. The sense of exploration is a great asset we as humans have. Raymond's bird house is located above a shop. You would never have guessed it was a bird house from the outside:
Not a sound, or a bird, in sight!

Raymond unlocked a door which led up a dirty flight of stairs to another locked door. A small device sat on a shelf by one wall:

The volume controls.

Speakers in the bird house above are connected to this machine which blast out the noise of birds chirping, to attract swiftlets to the den. Yes, the birds in mention here are swiftlets. Swiftlets are attracted to the bird house by the shrill sound of their call being blared out into the skies by these machines. There is one just down the road from our house. No matter what time of the day I could always hear the loud singing of birds - then Raymond informed me on what it really was.

The final set of stairs leading to the top floor were pitch black as Abigail, our other friend, closed the other door shut. And then we heard it - the swiftlet caller's sound started out faint and distant, but as we entered the cavern above it was much louder than I had ever imagined it would be, a piercing din which rebounded constantly off my eardrums.


The actual bird house was dark apart from one light against the back wall which illuminated silhouettes of the swiftlets as they randomly flew around our heads amidst the deafening song of the bird. Raymond just walked further in to the place, seemingly oblivious of the low-flying swiftlets. I followed suit, not worrying anymore about what would happen should a swiftlet crash right into my face!

He pointed out the work of the swiftlets in his house. A great wooden grid lies on the ceiling and this is where the work is done. When birds find a partner for mating, they begin work on an amazing nest on the wooden grid, made entirely from their saliva.








These swiftlets are busy building their own nests from their own saliva so that they can have their own offspring together. Strands of their gummy saliva hardens when in contact with air, forming these nests which the Chinese love to consume in Birds Nest Soup. When the nest is finished, it will be removed, cleaned and sold to restaurants or international traders doing business with clients from mainland China.

A single gap in the roof allows the swiftlet call to be sent out, and brings the swiftlets in, in the allure of finding a mate. While we were there we noticed a small swiftlet struggling on the floor. Raymond explained to us that it had probably fallen out of its nest and probably doesn't yet know how to fly. If we were to touch it in an attempt to help, the mother would immediately disregard it as she sensed it had been in contact with a human. So we had to leave the baby bird on the floor, hoping its mother would soon discover it.


The temperature and air humidity must be monitored closely to maximise the breeding swiftlets in the bird house, resulting in an increased quantity of nests to sell.

It was an interesting experience and I was able to learn knowledge that I hadn't known beforehand. People make a lot of money out of bird houses and swiftlet farming, and it is an intriguing process indeed.

As we left the den upstairs we descended once more into the darkened staircase, glad to see the daylight spilling through the door at the bottom of the stairs. The shrill screaming sound of the swiftlet caller disappeared and we walked back out into the hot Malaysian sun where not a sound was heard on this beautiful Sunday afternoon.


5 comments:

  1. Well that's really interesting! Raymond does all this to obtain birds' nests for Birds' Nest Soup? How cool!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Yes he does this 'farming' so that he can earn big money and people in China can enjoy birds nest soup! Very cool!

    ReplyDelete
  3. my relatives on my mom's side of the family tried to make me eat it. i think i had the same problem at the time i heard it was bird spit. but for the sake of health, I am now taking it regularly.

    btw, i don't buy the super-expensive kind like old people do. the ready-to-drink kind at the stores are pretty affordable. (e.g. www.geocities.jp/hongkong_bird_nest/index_e.htm)

    ReplyDelete
  4. Hello. Sorry for arriving here so late. But I came through the Google space-time continuum by looking up the words: complain swiftlet noise Malaysia.

    Just a quick run on Google would reveal the malady that's turning Malaysia inside out. Whether it be Muar:

    http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2011/7/29/focus/9196200&sec=focus

    Klang:

    http://www.nst.com.my/streets/johor/illegal-swiftlet-operations-driving-residents-cuckoo-1.6888

    Or in your neighborhood Kuantan:

    http://thestar.com.my/metro/story.asp?sec=nation&file=/2011/5/24/nation/8744605

    My area is in the same dire state. Although in the past I didn't mind it so much, but recently things have gone down the road to armageddon. It began like this.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lYcLEfymits

    The bird house in the video is but one. Within 100m radius of my residence there are 3. 6 if you count the one just across the street on another block. The further you drive into town, the more ear-splitting it gets.

    The one that aggravates me the most is 2 streets away, but it directly faces my bedroom. So I have firsthand knowledge of what people meant in web forums when they said that the the bird call is like a night club. Here's a recording I made just recently at 6:40am.

    http://s1085.photobucket.com/albums/j440/taipingnoise/?action=view&current=650am.mp4

    The noise is played from morning to night, non-stop. I can shut the windows, draw the curtains, clip an additional layer of bedsheet between the curtain and the window, and the noise would still vibrate my living room.

    Aside from the relentless mental torture, there are also health issues.

    http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?sec=focus&file=/2011/3/1/focus/8157138

    (Although if you speak to a bird house owner, he/she would likely to tell you a contradictory view.)

    There is supposedly a guideline for the swiftlet farming industry. The new law, 1GP (1 Garis Panduan) would make it possible to punish bird house owners for setting up within 100 m of residential area, and blasting out inordinate bird noise at all hours.

    http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?sec=nation&file=/2011/6/17/nation/8917034

    Swiftlet operators told to abide by the rules or face consequences.

    http://thestar.com.my/metro/story.asp?file=/2011/8/11/metroperak/9276095

    This sadly is just not happening. My town continues to be awash with the nerve racking noise that can be easily mistaken as a legion of banshees. My trusty friend these days is a couple of earplugs. I've become a pro in picking up the real good ones. But this is not the solution.

    The solution is Lynas.

    I pray that it's as destructive as they claim. I pray that it come soon. And I hope to God it'll flush us out, like in the good old days of the Ark.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Well great thing for a new adventures

    ReplyDelete

Thank you for your thoughts, comments and opinions. I'll be responding soon! I will not be publishing anonymous comments so make sure you leave your name with your comment!

LinkWithin

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...