a quiet time in the middle of the city with the birds
obligatory journal 005 | stop and stare 007 | trying something new 002
A WALK IN THE PARK
"What are you looking at?!"
I'm trying to make the post neater by including any information regarding the various pictures below in their descriptions. You just have to hover your mouse over them to see them!
Instead from the usual roaming around the various bustling shopping malls around KL and PJ, I made a conscious decision to see if there's any attraction that I could go around here and I found one that I always passed by going to KLCC or Pertama Complex from the federal highway: Kuala Lumpur Bird Park. It's located between the highway and city itself and although you might take some time to find it if you've never been there but it would be worth it. Okay, if you're just a spontaneous guy or girl that would go in without any prior plan and go with the flow, I am the man for you! If you're more detail oriented and wants to get you money's worth, there are a number of packages for you i.e. birthday party, school trip, seminar, family day & pre-wedding photoshoot (go to the site above for more information). The whole experience was worth the admission fee at least for me (RM 27 for adult & RM 13 for child) but the park made their money from tourists coming in from abroad without MyKad (RM 67 and RM 45 respectively). I would suggest for any potential visitors to the park to take into consideration of their claim of the "World's Largest Free-flight Walk-in Aviary" really seriously since I could really feel the strain of 20.9 acres of verdant valley terrain on my legs, and that's coming for an avid almost daily jogger. If you take your time and explore the park slowly, I'm sure you wouldn't hurt your body too much and wouldn't sweat incessantly as I did since I walked with large strides and didn't linger around.
I love the open concept they have going for them here as more than most of the birds are free to roam the massive park and you could see the groupings of the same species since they mostly stick with each other.
Throughout the path, you could see these birds in a lot of unconventional positions i.e. this pelican on top of the tree.
I rarely see this big of bird perching on top of trees like that. It's an interesting view to greet you really.
Another aspect that I love is how close can you get to these birds especially the more huge in nature whether in their physical size or their personality i.e. the high and mighty pelicans (I was merely assuming all of these so take it in jest), the posing storks and the always inquisitive cattle egrets above. There are a number of signs prohibiting you from touching the wondering birds but they wouldn't let you anyway yet I love going as close to them as possible to have a better look at these animals that I would never have the chance to watch in real life situation.
When you enter the section on the left and you encounter these two hornbills, you have just entered the left wing of the park that I believed spans over half of the aviary so get ready to for the walk. I wanted to highlight the particular species of hornbill on the right because I encountered a number of them over the years here in Sungai Besar whether I was on the road or just jogging in the countryside. I do not believe they are native here and maybe just former exotic pets of some rich people that just can't keep them anymore. I heard how distinct their caws are and I saw how distinct their casque and bill are although the colors on their beaks were all faded away already. I hope they are all alive and well and would bump into them again.
It is understandable that not all of them could be flying in the open but it's nice to see some could and the visitors could get closer to them, although asides from the sole small bird on the guardrail (can you see it above? Enhance!), most of them were really out of reach (a number of them were perching on the steel beams above us). Better luck next time!
At the far end of the park, you could encounter this picturesque man made structures that are made with beautiful scenery perfect for picture sessions in mind. There were a playground for kids to play in and a stage that I deduced to be where bird shows are supposed to be held but maybe the lack of visitors affect whether or not they would proceed with it.
"Why are you disturbing me ...?!"
Another near immobile pelican was a prime target for close picture taking but after its attempt to have a taste of the bag that I'm carrying, I had to keep my distance and had this sorry excuse of a selfie as a souvenir. (the smoky effect on lower right side was the result of me cracking my smartphone further when it dropped on the road weeks back but thank God nobody ran over it! ASUS Zenfone sure is durable!)
Going back to the storks and onward to the right wing of the park, I had to drop by and see this particular part whereby the majority of the storks and all of the pink flamingos are in. Not much can be said here so enjoy the following pictures that I took as best as I could with my smartphone camera. Oh, what I would do to have the proficient ability in taking photographs adeptly and an DLSR camera that would frame these beautiful animals much more nicer.
Well, that's all folks! Thank you for your time and please do come back for my future posts! :-)
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