The Lion and The Bird Storybook

Children's storybook entitled "The Lion and The Bird" by Marianne Dubuc:-

The write-up by Maria Popova entitled "The Lion and the Bird: A Tender Illustrated Story About Loneliness, Loyalty, and the Gift of Friendship" has further illustrations from this book. Love the picture of the little bird snuggling in one of the Lion's bedroom slipper. Looking forward to buying this book at the upcoming Big Bad Wolf Sale.  

Pergi Ipoh instead of Ipoh Mali

Short weekend trip to Ipoh, Perak to attend my Indian friend's wedding.  It was the loveliest Indian wedding invitation card. The front card depicted a golden-hued outline of a peacock:-

 

 and when I opened the flap to the left, it revealed the lovely feathers:-

The normal 2-hour journey from KL to Ipoh turned into a crawl from Slim River to Bidor that Saturday afternoon. That additional 1-hour crawl was mind-numbing. Painful reminder to avoid Plus highways on a public holiday (It was the Agong's Birthday that Saturday). Despite the stiff shoulder aches, I was really glad and happy to make it to my friend's wedding dinner which was held in the spacious hall of Chung Tack Chinese School in Kampung Simee, Ipoh.

Ladhus and Kacang Putih mixed with rock sugar were placed on each wedding table and a special section serving vegetarian dishes was made available. My mother being a vegetarian, thoroughly enjoyed the vegetarian dinner. Sunday morning beckoned and with Waze on hand, it was time to explore Ipoh and discover the food trail...   

Thank You My Garden Birdwatch

Thank you My Garden Birdwatch for this lovely and quirky:) Certificate issued for my participation in the 2013 Bird Count. The Malaysian Nature Society and Bird Group Selangor have done a really great job in helping to promote birdwatching for everyone in Malaysia, including our friends from Sabah and Sarawak.

Bird Song Hero by The Cornell Lab

This is an amazing game-based method to teach an avid birdwatcher like me how to identify a bird's song. Although all the bird species highlighted in this game were "alien" to me since these are common birds in North America, learning their songs was really fun. First time I learn what a spectrometer does. The Cornell Lab of Ornithology game is very informative and educational, even for a Malaysian like me.

The introductory Bird Song Hero page below is displayed before the game starts. 

The Song 1 begins so guess which bird sings it? See below:-

Guess right and you are on your way to Play Song 2 until the 7th and last song for the First Round of the Game as below:-

It's interesting that I can get to learn the songs from other bird species and their spectrometer readings, when I had keyed in the incorrect answers. By the way, look out for the comparison with human whistle! Hope the songs from the Northern Cardinal, Tufted Titmouse, Common Potoo (one funny-looking bird that with big bulging eyes), Red-chested Cuckoo, Eastern Meadowlarks, Upland Sandpiper and Wood Thrush will remain in my memory. Because if I do visit North America some day, I hope their real calls will trigger something in my brain so that I can start looking out for each of these birds.

Scored 86% on my first try so it's back to the Cornell Lab Bird Song Hero to learn more about American birds and their songs, before I attempt the Ultimate game.