March Updates, News and Upcoming Events

Two egrets having a great time hunting for breakfast at Lutong Beach, the Chinese Egret (blurred in the foreground) is one of the remaining 3600 left in the wild. Lutong Beach support 2-3 Chinese Egret annually.

Dear Members,

We have received no replies on the question posed to the greater membership wrt potential new activities for the membership and surrounding community. We are still open to any brilliant suggestions from all and sundry. We'd like to hear from everyone.

Please send in you suggestions and what activities you'd be partial to volunteer for and would like to see offered by MNS Miri Branch.

A. PAST EVENTS

1. Asian Waterbird Census 2010

a) Sibuti Wildlife Sanctuary, 13th February
We failed to secure authorisation from Jabatan Pelajaran Negeri Sarawak thus unable to take the 30 interested students out to a half day of birdwatching and practicals of AWC.

We conducted the AWC with 10 local Miri photo buffs, staff from Sibuti Wildlife Sanctuary and several birding groupies from our Branch. It was a good outing, we secured permission to conduct an overnite survey of fireflies as well as birdlife along Sg Sibuti the SWS.

Our write up of the event:
http://miribirding.blogspot.com/2010/02/awc-sibuti-bird.html

b) Loagan Bunut, 20-21st February
We conducted AWC in Loagan Bunut with eight participants. This year we stayed at the national park Hostel which was very spacious and well equipped. Our boat for the survey around the lake on the second day was courtesy of Loagan Bunut National Park.Our highlights were sightings of 10 Oriental Darters in and around the lake. One was actually seen in action, diving into the lake!

Our write-up:
http://miribirding.blogspot.com/2010/02/awc-loagan-bunut-20-21-feb-2010.html

Another highlite was a possible sighting (unconfirmed) of Great-bill Heron, we'd have to go back again to confirm this. Nitewalk along the access road somehow turned out quite dismal, we did not see anything exciting other than a house gecko or two.

c) Pulau Bawai, 27th February
It was fullmoon and a nite of nighjar's galore. We had nitejars calling all nite, a couple actually flew across our camp to check us out. A few big bright eyes shining in the nite also later turned out to be nite jars.The nite being full moon nite, the morning treated us to the years lowest tide ... the sandbar extended all the way from Pulau Bawai to Kuala Baram lagoon.

Though we did not ticked as many waders as we did during previous years visit, it was a fruitful outing nonetheless. No sighting of pontianak or hantu laut recorded.

Our write-up:
http://miribirding.blogspot.com/2010_03_01_archive.html

This is our last AWC for this year. All write-ups and sightings to be forwarded to HOD Conservation as part of our contribution for AWC for Miri, Sarawak.

2. Lambir Treks all of February (14th, 20th, 27th Feb)
Sara, Peter, Faye and crew conducted weekly trek in Lambir covering several interesting locations within the park. They witnessed a rare event too : mass flowering and mast fruiting of dipterocarps in the area.

Sara's write-up on mass flowering:
http://mnsmiri.blogspot.com/2010/02/dipterocarp-mass-fruiting-in-lambir.html
http://www.friendsoflambir.blogspot.com/

3. Birdwatching Bukit Song 07th March
Our birdwating groupie went birding at one of our favorite haunts really early Sunday morning. Their reports still in progress.

Please check http://www.miribirding.blogspot.com/ for the latest entry.

B. UPCOMING EVENTS

1. "Introduction to MNS" and discussion on "Wildlife In Rural Sarawak" at Curtin, 11th March
Confirmed to take place 4:30pm at Curtin University. Nazeri presenting MNS to Curtin PR students, discussing issues related to wildlife consumption and trade in rural Sarawak. Curtin members are invited to make the session more lively.

2. NREB Workshop on SCORE, 11th March in Bintulu
MNS Miri has been allocated one seat for this one day event organised by NREB to discuss a few pertinent points related to Social Environmental Impact Assessment, relocations, dams and affected rural community. Members who are interested to attend to please contact Nazeri. This is a fully sponsored trip.

We have not received any further input from organisers nor interested members.

3. Raptor Watch, 13-14th March
Maya Karin is making an appearance, hoping Rais Yatim wont be there as well!

Please check http://www.raptorwatch.org/Organisers are seeking volunteers to help with Raptor Count from 20th Feb to 04th April.

Please refer to http://miribirding.blogspot.com/2010/01/raptor-count-2010-tanjung-tuan-pd.html for details.

4. Nitewalk to Lambir Hills NP 20th March
A short jaunt up to 1st shelter before Latak Waterfalls to check on our creepie crawly friends. Children welcomed.

Meet : Saturday 1800 hrs Lambir Hills NP Canteen

5. Lambir Summit Trail Maintenance (overnite) March/April
We are waiting for confirmation from Lambir Hills National Park.

6. Trek/Birdwatch/Camp Similajau NP March/April
Expressions of interest are sought from members interested for the following activities in Similajau National Park:
i) trek and overnite camp Golden Beach National Park
ii) conduct firefly survey along Sg Likau
iii) birdwatch (nightjars, owls and others at nite) around park HQ

This event is likely to take place end March/April.

7. Sg Sibuti Boat Traverse for Fireflies and Birds 10-11th April
We will be doing a Congregating Fireflies Zone assessment along the traverse of Sg Sibuti to the estuary by boat. We'll be camping overnite at Kuala Sibuti before coming back early the next day. We'll start from Sibuti Wildlife Sanctuary boat jetty 4pm Saturday 10th April and expect to be back at SWS by 11am Sunday. Limited seats available, preference given to those who can champion the CFZ cause together with Musa Musbah.

8. Bkt Teraja HOB Survey with PNHS 17-18th April
We seek expressions of interest from members willing to contribute their birdwatching expertise, equipment and time to this survey led by PNHS to take place over the specified weekend in Brunei.

Those willing to contribute, please email us. The PNHS will cover the cost of food & accommodation & services as provided by the longhouse.

9. [Tentative] Batek Workshop with Malek Adenan
A repeat of a half day program making batek prints with Malek Adenan, our resident batek artist and member. Event postphone to April, exact dates and venue to be announced separately.

10. [Cancelled] Long Weekend at a Longhouse along Batang Baram
We are taken this off the list due to lack of interests from members.

11. Advance announcement :
a) Trek/Birdwatch Gunung Murud 18-23rd October 2010
This trip is confirmed, final costing is being finalised. Fly Bakelalan, trek Mt Murud, fly Miri via Lawas. Opportunity for extended birdwatching at Church camp for those who suffer from fear of heights (like Nazeri). We will be hiring guides and porters as required.

b) Trek/Birdwatch Nepal April/May 2011
Details can be viewed at MNS Miri Events on Facebook. Further details will be shared with members once Air Asia published their cheaprates for 2011. Expected costs MYR$4000.

OTHERS:

1. A big THANK YOU to members who've taken the time to renew their membership. Those who havent, please do so at your earliest convenience. Please revert to this email if you require assistance or more information on how to renew your membership painlessly and hassle free.

You can now bank in to either Maybank (Account No: 012138304679) or HSBC (Account No: 305194920108) beneficiary name "Malaysian Nature Society". Please email notifications to membership@mns.org.my

Members whose membership expires 31st Dec, and have not renewed:
Samantha Kwan

Membership of the following members expired 31st Jan, and have not renewed:
Jeit Law
Rebecca Pek

Members whose membership expires 28th Feb, and have not renewed:
Amer Matridi Abu Mansur Matridi
Chia Lee Ming, Josephine
Dominique Dodge - Wan
Elisabet Bes
Fazira Azlina Mohd Rofli
Gunaseelan N. Cumurasamy
Kiew Siew Eng (no email)
Lee Bor Seng
Len Siew Yee
Lim Geok Hoon (no email)
Mas Nur Afiqah Rabani
Mohammad Hatta Rizal Mansor
Nurashikin Ikhwan
Tan Kok Khian
Tisha-Lin Sinnathamboo
Wong Chung
Zanti Noviana

Members whose membership expires 31st March:
Sara Wong

Please take time to renew your membership, your Society needs your support. Members in Curtin can contact Sara Wong directly for renewals.

2. Please keep updated with Branch activities via our blog and Facebook
Do keep abreast with weekly activities via our blogspot especially for those quick events, they normally crystalize by Thursday latest. Go to http://mnsmiri.blogspot.com/ .

For Facebook, please search for "MNS Miri".

We need writers and pictures for our blogs, Pencinta Alam, Malaysian Naturalists ... contributors area welcomed. If you think you are not great at writing, just jot something down anyway, we've got folks who can help you put out a nice story for the blog.

If you've articles, write-ups and pictures to share, please email mnsmiri@yahoo.com

They can be uploaded in any of one these blogs on top of our main portal:
http://www.friendsofloaganbunut.blogspot.com/ anything on or about Loagan Bunut NP
http://www.friendsofniah.blogspot.com/ anything on or about Niah NP
http://www.friendsoflambir.blogspot.com/ anything on or about Lambir Hills NP
http://www.friendsofsimilajau.blogspot.com/ anything on or about Similajau NP
http://www.miribirding.blogspot.com/ anything on or about Birdwatching
http://www.dlongwalk.blogspot.com/ anything on or about Trekking or Long Walks
http://www.sarawakfireflies.blogspot.com/ anything on or about Fireflies in Sarawak

3. Meetings in the next months
14th Mar: MNS Bird Conservation Council Meeting at Raptor Watch, Nazeri attending
17th Apr: MNS Council Meeting in KL

20th Apr: Branch Committee Meeting at KRP

If you have any items that needed raising up at these meetings, please email us.

This update is also available on our blog http://mnsmiri.blogspot.com/ shortly.

Please email any comments, suggestions to mnsmiri@yahoo.com

Thank you and kindest regards,

Nazeri Abghanion behalf of MNS Miri Branch Commt

This Weekend's Activities in Miri

Malaysian Plover at Pulau Bawai from AWC 2009.

Saturday, 27-28th February AWC Pulau Bawai Overnite

Pulau Bawai is uninhabited (not by humans anyway) save for a couple of fishermen stopping by to mend their nets or catch fish. Vegetation on the islands is mainly causarina and mangrove. The island being at the estuary of Batang Baram enjoys saltwater on the westside (South China Sea) and freshwater on the eastside (Batang Baram).

There is plenty of accumulated debris in the form of logs, tree roots and tree trunks so we've got plenty of fuel for the campfire. You may get the odd Bujang Senang coming up to shore in the wee hours of the nite to hang out. In general, the island is fairly clean and presentable by Kuala Baram standards.

Meet : Shell Office Lobby 1500 hrs

We will proceed to meet with our boatman to Bawai at the old Kuala Baram jetty before pushing off at 1600hrs.

Expected activities:
1700 hrs Set up Camp and start a fire
1800 hrs Walkabout the sandbar to look for signs of life (birds, animals etc)
2000 hrs Wash-up, prepare dinner, dinner
2200 hrs Walkabout the sandbar to look for signs of life
2400 hrs Bedtime
0600 hrs Wake-up call and Walkabout the sandbar to look for signs of life
0800 hrs Breakfast
0900 hrs Pack-up
1000 hrs Get ready for pick-up

Optional activity : Fishing

Tides:
27 Sat Lowest tide 0700hrs at 0.18m ; Highest tide 2200hrs at 2.17m
28 Sun Lowest tide 0700hrs at 0.23m; Highest tide 2300hrs at 2.12m

Last year we got as close as 3m to a very friendly Malaysian Plover during our nitewalks. Other equally interesting birds recorded were : White-bellied Sea Eagle, Peregrine Falcon, Grey Plover, Sanderling, Kentish Plover, Greater and Lesser Sandplover, and Gull-billed Tern. A large estuarine crocodile made an appearance at the shoreline sometime past midnite when everyone was asleep, we plan to stake it out this weekend, hopefully with the full moon we can see the fella clearly.

Costs :
We will share cost of boat, food and supplies.

What to bring :
A large hat, tent (in case it rains) or you can opt to sleep under the stars, binos, powerful torchlight, insect repellant, plenty of drinking water, fishing gear and bait if you intend to fish, a change of clothing, your favorite midnite snack, and coffee.

Please contact us via email of sms if you are interested to participate. Nazeri 0168542212 or Musa 0168746127.


Saturday, 27th February Lambir Hill Trek

After the long break over CNY surely it wont be easy for us to attempt too challenging a trek. So this weekend we'll take a breather a breather and do a shorter walk of either the Loop or going up the trail to Bukit Pantu again.

Meet : 0700 hrs Taman Awam or 0730 hrs Lambir Hills Park HQ

This will be great training opportunity for our Mt Kinabalu climb in May. With only 10 weeks left for Kinabalu, we have planned several long walks for our upcoming weekend treks in the effort to build up strengths and stamina required for an enjoyable execution of the climb up Mt Kinabalu.

If you are unable to come for the weekly hill walking, please take time to train up your leg muscles by doing sets of lunges and squats, climbing up and down stairs, etc. To increase the overall stamina / fitness, you should also incorporate some other forms of aerobic or cardio workout in your exercise regime.

Please contact Sara Wong directly to participate in this trek.

Palm Oil Plantations are now "Forests"!

Vast sections of our very own Miri landscape (much of Sarawak for that matter) that could in a couple of years time be labelled "forest"! Some already are.

Hiding monoculture oil palm plantations under a business-friendly “forest” definition

An article published on the website EUobserver.com (1) informs that:

“a draft commission communication offering guidance to EU member states on the use of biofuels has classified palm oil plantations - the source of one of the most destructive forms of biofuels - as "forests." Essentially, the document argues that because palm oil plantations are tall enough and shady enough, they count as forests.”

The article quotes the document:

"Continuously forested areas are defined as areas where trees have reached, or can reach, at least heights of five metres, making up a crown cover of more than 30 percent." "They would normally include forest, forest plantations and other tree plantations such as palm oil." "This means, for example, that a change from forest to oil palm plantation would not per se constitute a breach of the [sustainability criteria] .”

The above is the successful outcome of the intense lobbying campaign on the EU Commission carried out by Malaysian producers – through GPlus, the international lobbying outfit hired by the Malaysian Palm Oil Council.

At the same time, it serves well the purposes of the EU, that last year passed the EU Renewable Energy Directive, which requires EU member states to source 10 per cent of transport fuels from renewable sources, much of which will certainly come from monoculture oil palm plantations. Defining those plantations as “forests” will assist in greenwashing their social and environmental impacts.

Indonesia, the world’s top producer of palm oil has swiftly seized the opportunity for defining its destructive oil palm plantations as “forests”. On 16 February, the Jakarta Post informed that “the Forestry Ministry is drafting a decree to include oil palm plantations in the forest sector to comply with international standards in mitigating climate change.”

The head of research and development at the ministry, Tachrir Fathoni, said that “by definition, oil palm plantations will be defined as forest”, arguing that “many countries such as Malaysia, the world’s second biggest palm oil producer after Indonesia, had included oil palm plantations in its forest sector.”

Although defining industrial monocultures of an alien species as “forest” is scientifically absurd, it makes much economic sense, as Tachrir Fathoni explains: “By doing so, Malaysia can reap financial incentives from the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) of carbon trade.” He said that the UN only categorized trees with a certain height as forest trees, without identifying their species and that this move “is to anticipate the implementation of the REDD scheme”.

Under REDD (Reducing emissions from deforestation and degradation) countries with extensive “forest cover” can receive financial benefits by stopping deforestation. Which means that Indonesia will be financially rewarded for destroying its tropical forests as long as they substitute them with oil palm “forests”!

All this absurd situation serves at least to strengthen the position of the many organizations that have for years been challenging the FAO’s definition of forest, that includes plantations as such. International processes such as UNFCCC have uncritically accepted the FAO definition, thus leading to absurd situations such as the one now being exposed.

At the same time, we hope that the leaked document will lead to organized opposition in Europe against such definition by the EU, which if adopted will help to accelerate forest destruction, not only in Indonesia and Malaysia, but throughout the entire South.

Oil palm plantations are not forests!

Original article:

(1) “Palm oil plantations are now 'forests,' says EU”, by Leigh Phillips

From:

WRM International Secretariat
Maldonado 1858 - 11200 Montevideo - Uruguay

Tel: 598 2 413 2989 / fax: 598 2 410 0985

Email : wrm@wrm.org.uy

Website : http://www.wrm.org.uy/

Dipterocarp Mast Fruiting in Lambir Hills

Trees . . . they are everywhere in Lambir Hills National Park (Lambir Park), not only are they in great number buts also in species count.

Let’s see . . . everybody knows there is a 52-hectare research plot somewhere within the Park. Well, in that small plot some scientists decided to make a census count and they found a staggering 1,173 tree species in 286 genera and 81 tree families! Talk about diversity, Lambir definitely tops the list as the richest forest in Malaysia!

Two major types of forest are found in Lambir Park, the mixed dipterocarp forest and the kerangas forest. Kerangas forest is mainly found near the north-eastern part of the Park around Bukit Lambir peaks, while the majority of forest in other parts of Lambir is covered by mixed dipterocarp forest.

For the past few months starting October 2009, something wonderful has been taking place in the mixed dipterocarp forest of Lambir Park: the dipterocarp trees have been producing and releasing enormous amounts of winged fruits onto the forest floor. This special event is called dipterocarp mast-fruiting.


A carpet of dipterocarp flowers on the trails.

During this period many species of dipterocarps come into flower almost simultaneously, followed by mast-fruiting for a period of several months. Unlike other tree families, dipterocarp mast-fruiting only occurs at irregular intervals of anything between 2 – 10 years, a phenomenon that is very unique to dipterocarp forests of South-East Asia.


The different types of winged fruit found on the forest floor of Lambir.


The only spot not covered by the winged fruits is pool.

A few hypotheses have been proposed to explain this distinctive feature of dipterocarp forests, but the most widely accepted must be the predator-satiation theory which suggests that through synchronization of fruiting at around the same time by many dipterocarp species at irregular intervals of several years, it not only prevents the build-up of seed predator population, the heavy fruiting is also a means of defense to prevent seed predators from wiping out the whole crop of seeds, thus ensuring survival of some of the seeds to germinate and grow into seedlings.

A small group of MNS Miri Branch hikers who regularly visited the Park during weekends over the past four months saw first hand the chronological sequence of mass flowering and mast fruiting of several dipterocarp species along the trails they regularly walked.


Peter admiring the young seedlings taing their rightful places on the forest floor.

February month appears to be the height of the dipterocarp mast-fruiting, as the trails are literally covered with thousands of fallen dipterocarp winged fruits, and at some places it is so dense that walking on them makes quite treacherous as it is really slippery underfoot especially on a descend. It is also observed that many of the other plant species were busily producing bountiful fruits and seeds along side with dipterocarp trees. The forest has certainly never been seen so busy with all these reproductive activities!

Come and visit Lambir Hills National Park now and see for yourselves this special miracle before it is all over. You may not easily see it again in the next few years!

Write-up and photographs by Sara Wong.

References:
Hazebroek, H. P., and Abang Morshidi, A. K. 2006. National Parks of Sarawak. Sabah: Natural History Publications (Borneo).

Sakai, S. 2002. General Flowering in Lowland Mixed Dipterocarp Forests of South-east Asia. Biological Journal of the Linnean Society 75(2): 233-247.

This Weekends Activities in Miri

Getting properly kitted up for the boatride around Loagan Bunut back in 2009 AWC.

Saturday-Sunday, 20-21st February AWC Loagan Bunut National Park

Meet : Gloria Hotel, Miri
Time : 0615 hrs
Duration : 2D/1N

We are off to Loagan Bunut for AWC this weekend, we are leaving with 2x4WD vehicles from Gloria Hotel. We'll start very early from Miri with a short break in Beluru to absorb some local color and rejuvenate some body parts most vulnerable to bumpy road conditions. We'll quickly pass through Lapok to register and check in at Loagan Bunut National Park, eta 0900hrs.

Accomodation will be in simple dormitory rooms at $15/person at the Park. Food will at the canteen or whatever we can scrape together for a barbecue or simple cookout, shared costs.

There'll be one boatride to birdwatch along the lakeshores up to Sg Teru on the evening of the 1st day and another very early morning on the 2nd day, again shared costs. There'll be an optional crocodile watching cruise at midnite to Sg Teru for the bravehearted few. We'll be birdwatching around the parkgrounds and nearby trails on both days outside of the planned boatride times.

4WD vehicle is recommended for travel to LBNP due to several spots of rough road conditions between Beluru and Lapok. We'll start our journey back to Miri just after lunchtime Sunday afternoon.

Interested? We have only one seat left on the 4wD, unless you are driving your own car. Please email us at mnsmiri@yahoo.com.


Saturday, 20th February Lambir Hills Trek to Dinding Waterfall

Meet : Taman Awan Carpark 0800 hrs or
Lambir Hills NP HQ 0830 hrs

This weekend we are attempting the 4.8km trek to Dinding Waterfall. Expect to trek for approximately 3 hours to reach the intended destination, or less if you run! The surrounding terrain is undulating and there will be 2 small stream crossings.

Please bring enough drinking water, energy snacks, poncho in case it rains, and swimming gear if you want to take a cool refreshing dip at the waterfall upon arrival. We expect to be back at the Park HQ roundabouts 4pm.

Please email Sara directly.