Budding Birdwatcher: Kapar Power Station

The Kapar Power Station on a hot Friday morning (as pictured above). It was the third day of Hari Raya Aidilfitri and I'm so grateful for the public holiday and the availability of Concorde Hotel Shah Alam which I booked via Agoda for a very reasonable price at RM188 per night. We stayed for 1 night, and whilst my mum (and helper) rested in the spacious room, I ventured to explore the small town of Kapar. I've heard so much about the Kapar Power Station and upon checking Google Maps, it was less than 45 minutes from the hotel so off I went to the site where the critically endangered Spoon-billed Sandpiper aka Spoonie had been spotted during high tide amongst other species of waders at the ash ponds back in 2008, April 7th to be exact, by Mr David Bakewell. His pictures, checklist, pictures and the comparison made to the Red-necked Stint at eBird portal can be read HERE. A permit is required to enter the Kapar Power Station Ash ponds, the site of which has been the subject of the Kapar Declaration on the Future of the Kapar Ash Ponds, dated 25th June 2016 published by the East-Asian Australasian Flyway Partnership (EAAFP) website HERE. It would appear that the Kapar Ash Ponds was removed from the Flyway Network sites leaving only Bako-Buntal Bay in Sarawak as the only site in Malaysia listed out of 16 sites in ASEAN region, as of 2017, according to a powerpoint presentation by the Director of Conservation, Sungai Buloh Wetlands Reserve, National Parks Board of Singapore which can be read HERE. True enough, Spoonie was spotted in Buntal Bay, Sarawak by members of Malaysian Nature Society Ms Batrisya and Mr Daniel Kong during shorebird survey in 2022, which you can read about HERE. Other globally threatened species that can be found at these flyway sites include the Great Knot, Far Eastern Curlew, Chinese Egret and the Nordmann's Greenshank. Seeing the Spoonie feels like winning the birdwatcher's ultimate lottery ticket, and I saw mine way back in 2012 in the salt farms of Pak Thale Petchaburi province of Thailand, during the Asian Bird Fair which can be read HERE. The consistent sightings of Spoonie in this EAAFP site at Thailand can be read HERE.

White-breasted Wood-Swallow chased off a House Crow in mid-flight and perched on one of these wires nearby the funnel of power station. However I couldn't get a good picture of the perched Wood-Swallow as it was out of range of my 600mm Panasonic Lumix digital camera. Had a good look through my 8x42 Minox binoculars though.

High tide at this mangrove forest area next to the Kapar Power Station

Night-Heron flying just above the river.

Black-Crowned Night Heron peering out from within the undergrowth at riverbank

Two Black-Crowned Night Herons.

A patch of mangrove forest nearby the entrance to the Kapar Energy Ventures Sdn Bhd (subsidiary of TNB) as pictured above. The checklist of the birds sighted and heard that morning before it got unbearably hot is available at eBird Malaysia HERE.

Black-crowned Night Heron in flight just above the river with the Great Egret perched together with four Night Heron species.

A group of Dusky Leaf Monkeys and White-thighed Surili were seen feeding on the same tree as several long-tailed macaques. The former two species were visibly shy and hopped away from the tree as soon as they saw me peering at them through my binoculars. The macaques were notoriously bolder and did not pay any attention to me at all! Macaques behave in a very gangster-like manner when they are in a big group, and I would steer clear of these creatures whenever I come across them in parks and forests. Took my mum and helper for dinner at Klang the night before and managed to find a table on the second day of the public holiday. The ladies at Yew Sifu Bak Kut Teh restaurant were friendly and welcomed us as the famous Four Eyes Bak Kut Teh restaurant under the tree nearby had soldout by 7.30pm!