Just arrived from Brunei and quickly sat down infront of my computer to check on various emails plus do my report.
The trip was enlightening and this was the first time I felt very embarrassed when something that I was very sure of Walet (edibile birdnest swallows) but turned out to be Serinti (Non edible Birdnest Swallows).
My full report is as follows:
After the Catamaran boat ride from Labuan Island to Bandar Seri Bangawan, I took a pirate taxi to Centerpoint Hotel in Town. Trust me these are no other taxis once it is after 4.30 pm !!!
The first thing I did was to call Mr Victor to meet me for a short introduction.
Bath and came down to meet him. He was staying somewhere near the Hotel. We chat for almost 3 hours.
The next day after my other business meeting Victor came to pick me up for an advanture that I surely will never forget.
We went to Tempurong, a Brunei land area that is located to the North East which is divided by Malaysia in between.
We crossed the Brunei border, chopped our passport and then got it chopped again at the Malaysian Checkpoint. Passed a small town called Limbang. After a short drive we took a small ferry to cross a river and again got to chop our passport.
Once we were back in the other part of Brunei we quickly find a suitable place to conduct our birdcall test. The first area was a flat land closed to a padi field and thick virgin forest. Before we do that we can clearly see lots of those House Swallow, which victor called "lazy swallows", plus those which I assumed as "Walet". These so called "Walet" fit perfectly like those edible birdnest swallows. They way they fly, with their wings not closed and they just what I thought to be the edible birdnest "Walet".
We blasted our music for almost 5 minutes. The so called "Walet" did came near just for about 10 seconds (maybe they were just flying by) and immediately after that they ignored the sound in total. There were only about 8 to 10 of them. Yuks I was very very dissappointed and in my head I keep guessing what went wrong.
It could be the sound that we played? No way, since we played more then three birdcall musics.
It might be the tweeter? Cannot be, since the same tweeters were used in Pontianak, Indonesia a couple of weeks ago they were perfect.
Then my next guess was that the bird must be a wrong species? But they fly just like those Walets that I used to see in Merbok and Sekinchan and many more places in Peninsular Malaysia.
I was not satisfied and insisted that we should find a few more spots to carry out the call test.
We selected four more locations all were with swallows flying ("Walet") around. All the four other test resulted the same. More often, they actually ignored the calls in total.
I was very frustrated and confused. It cannot be, but the truth is that they do not respond.
By late evening we make our way back to Bandar Sri Bagawan and reached home at about 8.30 pm.
Well, this time Victor wanted to show me something that change my perception about those so called "Walet" that I always assummed.
He took me to this Apartment where in their car parks there were numerous bird nests that were located about 12 feet high. The place was brightly lited and the nests were those of grass kind with a bit of the bird's saliva. They were dark in color.
I took my camera and captured almost all the nests that I saw. The birds were roosting and after taking photos a few jumped out and flew around the car park.
That was the time of the real truth. These were the so call "Walet" that we saw in Tempurong today.
They are not Walet but Serinti (Grass Swiftlet). I was so disappointed but I do learn a very good lesson. They looks the same, fly the same but they are not the edible birdnest walet that I assummed.
Please view these pictures and hope you can see the different.
My conclusion is that there are lots of Serinti in Brunei and I told Victor that if he wanted to start his birdhouse he should either do them in other country like Malaysia or Indonesia. But if he still wanted to do in Brunei he need to harvest these wild Serinti and then swab their eggs with walet eggs.
What a good lesson .........
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6 comments:
I am new to swiftlet farming & thinking of starting mine in KK Sabah ! Grass swiftlets are very common in Sabah & you can find them flying around! I heard there is someone who is willing to buy their nests at RM80 ~ 100 per kg.
Very little compared to A.F. swiftlets.
Yee,
Based on my recent visit to Brunei I concluded that there are many of these grass swiftlets around.
The best is to think of a way to capitalise on their abendunce. U should try to investigate on the best techniques on how to capitalise on these grass swiftlets and do accommadate them in your swiftlet ranching.
The term they used, if I am not mistaken is, "Crossed Fostering". The idea is to build a farmhouse that will allow the grass swiftlets to nest in it and once they start to lay eggs, you swab them with edible nest swiftlet eggs. Once they are hatched and look after by these foster parents they will become your target to populate your swiftlet house.
The method is not new and are very common in Indonesia. The only thing that you need to do is to find out the exact method how to apply them.
Harry
Harry,
TQ for your super fast repond !
Have you got any idea where to buy the eggs ! May be easy in West Malaysia but I expect some difficulties in Sabah!
I heard some farmers design their bird hse with 2 compartments, one near the entrance is brighter (like kaki-5) with a 2nd inner compartment for the AF. The grass swiftlets (GS) will hatch the eggs & feed the new born babies in the brighter compartment without realising the eggs & babies were actually not theirs. One the young AF are mature enough to fly, they will return to the inner (darker) compartment. I understand the GS got no buit-in sonar system but the AF yes !
Don know if these info are correct :-)
Yee,
The issue of getting the eggs is not that difficult. What U need is to arrange a so call purchasing agreement that U need let say 100 per month with those who have their own swiftlets bridhouses. Once they carry out the nest harvesting there are plenty of eggs that are for sale. The only problem is the handling lisence.
The best method to carry out this cross fostering farming is to ensure that your swiftlet house is specialy designed. The house must first able to accommodate the grass swiftlets and later slowly it will be transformed to white nest swiftlets.
The one you mentioned is quite common but the method is not in line with what I term as tapping the wild resources.
If U have a properly designed units you can slowly transform your house from an open type (bright)to a close type (dark).
I intend to prepare an article about this soon.
Dear Harry,
Just curious. Are you sure that the pictures are that of seriti or C. linci?
Regards,
Waletandy
Waletandy,
I prefer to use the term "grass wallet". They have exactly the same charecter as edible nest walet but their nests are made of grass. They never response to all our walet birdcall music. We used four sound but nothing will attract them.
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