Sarawak - Land of Hornbills AND Orangutan

Stork-billed Kingfisher, Sarawak Cultural Village

The Asian Bird Fair 2019 was held in Kuching, Sarawak from 27th October to 1st November 2019. The Kuching Birdwatching Club had invited members from Wild Bird Club Malaysia to the Fair as volunteers.  More information about KBC can be read HERE 
It was the 10th Asian Bird Fair, and I joined to help out on garden birdwatching sessions with schoolchildren and their teachers from schools around Kuching district. I enjoyed guiding and birdwatching with a very well-behaved group of schoolchildren who were accompanied by their 2 teachers from Chung Hua No. 5 primary school, along Kuching Waterfront that Saturday morning. It was good to see the Pied Triller showing up as we started our birdwatching in the garden area quite late at around 10.30am. We ended at around 11.15am, then sat down with all schoolchildren to recap all the birds that we saw. One of the schoolchildren diligently wrote down the names of each of the garden bird species seen. Some of them visited WBCM's booth at the Fair, and bought the notebook (with Malayan Rail Babbler sketch by Tang Tuck Hong). The Rhinoceros Hornbill was the official mascot of the 10th Asian Bird Fair and this mascot was a hit amongst the crowd, particularly the schoolchildren. It was with a heavy heart that I had to miss the trip to see the Far Eastern Curlews at the Sejingkat Power Station Ash Ponds, which was nearby Kuching. Work-related matter intervened crushing my hopes of seeing Far Eastern Curlews for the first time in my life. However, the Gods were kind to me and gifted me with a Black Bittern the very next day at the Sarawak Cultural Village. An added bonus was the Hooded Pitta which perched for less than 1 minute, on a low branch before it disappeared into the marshlands in fast flight mode. This pitta species has a very special zig-zag way of flying low and we only heard its distinct calls thereafter.
The eBird Checklists for Semenggoh Wildlife Centre can be viewed HERE and Sarawak Cultural Village can be viewed HERE.  
Sarawak is also home to Semi-wild Orangutans, according to Semenggoh Wildlife Centre website HERE. We were lucky to see one of the Orangutans that morning. The young adult was busy trying to split a coconut into two against the tree (as shown in picture below).

The Orangutan came down from the tree, lured by the ripened bananas laid out on the wooden platform by the Park Wardens.

The orangutan started to stuff as many bananas as it could in its mouth, as demonstrated by the pictures below:)  With a mouthful of bananas, it started to climb back up to tree to enjoy its meal in private far from the prying eyes of us humans who were delighted to have seen it in its (almost) natural environment.

 This Centre serves as a sanctuary for rescued orangutans which are trained on how to fend for themselves before they are released to into the forest. Fascinating to learn that the Orangutans share almost 97% of the same DNA as us, humans. Unfortunately whilst human beings have the United Nations Conventions to protect the rights of minorities such as women and children, the orangutans rely on human beings to ensure their right to live in forests without being captured as pets.