Enter the Dragon

Spring festival or the New Year is about to be welcomed by Chinese all over the world with the largest human exodus expected in China. Food and fruits with auspicious-sounding names are a necessity for Chinese New Year.  Dunkin Donuts are selling CNY-themed donuts which are pineapple-shaped (Ong Lai) and those with red-toppings layered with a gold coin ingot (Red Fortune). These can be viewed HERE. Whilst I was out grocery shopping to stock up for the coming Year of the Dragon, I came across a colourful packaging of a Yee Sang set which featured a pair of swallows:-Some of the interesting websites highlighting the Year of the Dragon include Genting Malaysia's website below:-Legoland Malaysia boasts a dragon built entirely out of plastic bricks, as displayed via their website below:-Watsons Malaysia is having a Chinese New Year promotions contest at their website HERE. Fengshui guru Datuk Joey Yap gave some tips on how to prepare for the Year of the Rabbit. As the rabbit hops away to give way to the dragon, his predictions for the 12 Zodiac animals can be viewed below:-

The Animal Signs in 2024 – Your Guide to the Wood Dragon Year [Joey Yap]

Two competing alcoholic beverage companies have a lovely website layout and a unique play on the characters HEI which means joyful celebrations in Cantonese, to market their products for the Year of the Dragon (as below). Internet users will need to verify their year of birth before entering the websites and where disclaimers are displayed reminding the user to be above drinking age in Malaysia and a non-Muslim before browsing the websites. 

I stumbled across a website from the Royal Museums Greenwich where the Newham Chinese Association explained how Chinese New Year is celebrated by Chinese communities outside of the UK, what decorations are made, what stories & myths are told, what is considered bad luck, why do people have lion and dragon dances, what things bring good luck, what food do people eat and regional differences during CNY celebrations from Northern to Southern China. There's a traditional lion dance performance in the Museum which was featured in this website. 

Where the Tapioca trees grow there you’ll find the Stilts

2023A (2024) has dawned upon us. It has been three years since Covid-19 wrecked havoc and tested the resolve of medical frontliners all over the world. I visited Tanjung Karang on the eve and first day of the New Year. After driving past a row of tapioca trees, I drove onto a road alongside rows of paddyfield fields and spotted a flock of Black-winged Stilts roosting in a block of paddyfield that was filled with water. This was on the eve of New Year’s Day. Tiny dots of stilts in this field as pictured below:- 

Selangor's well-known tourist spots along coastal areas would be places like Kuala Selangor, Kapar and Port Klang. Taman Alam Kuala Selangor is a wetlands nature reserve, and Jeram beach areas are wetland sites where one may venture to find waders and shorebirds. I've read about the shorebirds count conducted at Kapar Power Stations. I've personally never done a count there before. A smaller flock of stilts was seen on same ricefield paddy block on New Year’s Day below:- 

A global not-for-profit organization called Wetlands International has an office in Malaysia and their website can be explored HERE . They safeguard and restore wetlands for people and nature and 2023 appeared to be a busy period for them as they hosted climate week in Johor, a Mangrove restoration programme in Bagan Pasir, Selangor, a workshop in Penang amongst others. Wetlands International appear to be the only international organization that is dedicated to the conservation and restoration of wetlands.   

Elegant-looking Stilt in the middle of this picture, stretching its pinkish-coloured leg like a ballerina would during warm-ups before a dance. 

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Tiny dots of stilts which I viewed through my binoculars (from inside my car) and hearing their calls from quite a far distance on New Year's eve when I was headed out of the paddyfields around 5pm that Sunday. Whilst on my return trip to KL, I managed to buy my mother’s favourite asam laksa from the Selayang night market. Not been birding consistently so seeing and hearing this flock of stilts was pure joy to me as I began my New Year thinking about these stilts which I kept mixing up with stints. In February 2022, flocks of Grey-headed Lapwings were spotted in one of these paddyfield plots in Tanjung Karang. A picture of one of these flocks of lapwings as depicted below and a photo which captured the beautiful emerald hues of a Northern Lapwing on the cover of Taiwan's Nature Conservation Quarterly Winter 2023 edition (see below) both showcase two different species of lapwings. Peninsular Malaysia has had a record of a vagrant Northern Lapwing sighting in Rompin, Pahang before. Here's to many more records of such sightings of both Grey-headed and the Northern Lapwings!