"Nabbed" By A Malay Mail Blogspot CIA !!!

This is something unusual and I believed it will be something good to popularise my swiftlet farming blogspot.

I was "Nabbed" by a writer from The Malay Mail.

She called and wanted to write about me and my favourite blogspot.

Her name is Mdm.S and she duressed me for some answers about me and all those relevant things about my blogspot.

Frankly she came to know that I met the PM recently to push the use of NGV on a larger scale but I prefer to talk about swiftlet farming.

So here goes new milestone in my blogging.

The article should be up in the Malay Mail soon and U should wait and see what she will come up with.

PS: Please see what she wrote today July 2nd 2008:

BirdCall Tests: Tanjung Malim, Port Klang And Kota Kuala Muda !!!

The last few days, I have conducted three birdcall tests in three areas using the birdcall gadget.

I am of the opinion that all the tests conducted were very interesting and you can learn so many things from each test conducted.

These are some of the interesting things resulted from those tests:

1) Kota Kuala Muda.

One of my relative claimed that he have a piece of land, about 7 acres, hilly areas closed to Pantai Merdeka, Kuala Muda district. I remember this place very well because this was where I met my 1st girlfriend and now she is my beloved wife.

Once at the site I pull the test kit and played the Duress or should I now call "Fiesta". The moment the sound was switched on, the birds came over and stayed for almost 30 minutes until we switch the sound off. The number was about 100 of them.

After the test we headed home towards Sungai Patani, Kedah. On the way back I saw a huge number of swiftlets playing above those padi fields. I quickly slowed my car and turned to a side road. This time I told my relative that this will be a very good feat for him to see the actual birdcall test. The moment the Fiesta was played, more then a thousand flocked above the gadget. He could not believe what he saw and he quickly agreed with me that the result at his piece of land is too little as compared to this latest test.

2) Meru, Klang.

I was contacted by one of my blog reader who wanted to purchase a piece of agricultural land in Meru, Klang. First he wanted my sincere advise.

I told him before me make any commitment do a birdcall test first. I was there last Friday, June 27th,3 2008. The land, about 132,000 square feet, was closed to the sea but the number of birds were not very encouraging by looking at the sky.

As usual, the Fiesta was played and not a single bird responded. I feel bad and decided to move the test about 50 meters away in an open area. We played nearly 40 minutes and about 20 turned up.

My conclusion is that the area is not suitable and it is better to look around for another site. He agreed and thank me for helping him to pull off from departing with RM100,000 for the land. He now decided to purchase the birdcall gadget on this July 3rd, 2008 GAHP seminar. He has a piece of land in Pekan, Pahang....

3) Tanjung Malim, Perak.

This is one of the most exciting birdcall test and worth my effort.

The test went rather slow. For the first 5 minutes there were only 5 but it started to grow quickly to 250 birds after 20 minutes.

After we stop the sound there were many more that were on the way from nearly all directions (360*). Very unique and there are so many things that you learn from this test.

Firstly, even the sound was very mild (low) the birds can still detect the sound.

Second, once they locate the sound they will not move away but continue circling above the sound source until we stop the sound (5 minutes or so).

Thirdly, the number continues to increase every minutes until we decided to stop the call.

Fourth, they seem to enjoy the sound to the maximum. Some seem to chase each other and do not feel threaten or scare of any predators.

Fifth, they seem to fly mostly (60%) in the clockwise direction while the rest will be the other way.

Sixth, they will stay around for more then 5 to 10 minute even after the sound is no longer in operation.

Seventh, those who came in late will fly toward the initial source looking around where those sound originated. I think I heard them saying "Oh Shit I was late".


The above are some interesting observations and you need to be there to see the actions.

The best is to have your own birdcall gadget and play the "Fiesta".

I will continue to do these tests and I can assure you that I always carry one in my car boot.....

Cooling of Birdhouse Using Creepers !!!

Wanted to share this special photo sent by Mr. Victor of Bandar Sri Begawan, Brunei, about a GREEN BH.

The picture shows you a BH with creepers growing on the wall up to its roof.

This might be a very good solution in keeping your indoor temperature low.

Once those sunlight beams onto the plant, their leaves will absorb the energy and turn into food. With that less heat will be able to be transferred to the BH walls thus making sure that the internal temperature low.

There are many pros but there are also the cons sides.

Firstly the creeper will allow predators to climb on your walls and might enter those entrance hole(s). Snakes, rats, lizards, geckos, musang, and ants can easily climb up to your BH rooftop.

Next, the creepers once properly anchored will be strong enough in allowing burglars to climb in. Make sure there are no doors, windows and holes which are easily assessable by these culprits.

As long as you are prepared to face these possible downside, you may want to try....

Duress Birdcall Sound Is Still The Best !!!

Just wanted to write about my last Birdcall Test experiences in Tanjung Malim, Perak.

One of my Blog reader from Port Klang was very keen for me to conduct a Birdcall test. I was not very free until two days ago. I just got hold of a new set of Birdcall Gadget (Plug N Play or PP) unit and was very eager to try.

We met at Sungai Buluh Jenjantas R@R area and after a short introduction we proceeded to Tanjung Malim.

We have some coffee and famous pau at Yik Mung restaurant and left for a factory area about 4 kilometers away.

We inspected the factory lot that we were supposed to convert to a BH and have to admit that after more then 15 years without any maintenance, the unit is in a real big mess. The doors were no longer there, the gutters were leaking and the floors were wet and lots of growth. I think there will be a lot of work before it can be called a BH....

Anyway we plug in the PP into our Xtream 4x4 lighter socket and chooses Duress sound.

Before that I briefed my blog reader and his two uncles that if within 20 minutes there are less then 100 birds, we should not go ahead with the BH conversion.

Once started, there were very few birds that responded. I was pretty worried that these swiftlets are of the different species. There were two BHs around the vicinity.

After 5 minutes we got only 5 birds flying above the 4X4 wheeler. Hmm .... I was not very happy but keep hoping that the number will increase.

Then after 10 minutes the number climbed up to almost 30 birds. They keep coming and we can see from a far distance that more were on the way.

By 20 minutes, the number climbed up to more then 200 and there were more from all angles.

I am very amazed with the number of swiftlets responding to Duress sound. We stop after about 20 minutes and observed what happened next.

These are some of the things that I discovered:

1) Duress sound seem to be very powerful sound that attracting swiftlets from every corners of your test areas.

2) Once they found the source of the sound, they seem to enjoy flying in circle above the tweeters. Some turn in clockwise and some the opposite.

3) People claimed that they are scared of the sound but I think otherwise. They seem to enjoy the sound and we can see that some even chase each other as if they at in a Fiesta mood.

4) One thing for sure was that once they reach the location they stay there forever until you stop the sound.

5) The longer you play the more birds will be vacuumed to the location.

6) Once you stop the sound they will take a period of time to move away but those who were late will still come over to the location of the sound played earlier.


I am very excited over this behavior and I promise to be more observant in my next birdcall test. Of course I will be using the Duress.

Next birdcall test will be this FRIDAY, June 27th 2008, in Klang.

New Birdcall Test Unit: Plug And Play !!!

I came across this new Birdcall Gadget that is easier to use as compared with the earlier unit.

This new unit consisted of three important parts.

1) A single Piezo tweeter.

2) A Control Box

3) A power supply plug suitable for your car cigarette lighter socket.

The unit is installed with three sounds and one of them is Duress.

The design is unique where you do not need to make any attachment with your car CD player. You just plug the power source and choose the sound that you need to play. Use Duress then everything will be okay.....

The only downside is that since you use only one tweeter the sound volume is a bit too small and the birds takes a longer time to hear the sound.

I conducted a birdcall test yesterday in Tanjung Malim and the unit performed very well. After 20 minutes we have more then 200 birds flying above the unit.

I recommend this unit to those who travel home by plane or use other people's car to visit the Birdhouse sites. You need not touch the car CD player and thus much easier to use.....

If you are keen to own a unit kindly call Harry at 017 755 1318 today..

How To Make Sure Your BH Will Not Be Blacklisted By Your Local Authorities !!!

There are a few things that you must do to ensure that your new BH will not be blacklisted by the local Authorities.

The most important is to ensure that the sound emitted by your new BH is not too loud.

As long as there is no complains reaching the local Authorities from the people staying within the range of your sound coverage BH you are safe. If not you are on a hot seat.

You need to monitor the situation and the best is to be closed with the local Authorities people who can help to advise U if there are any complains.

One more thing that you should consider is to get to know if there are any BH owners associations in the town that you plan to have the BH constructed. If there are then my best recommendation is to apply to be a member. Get hold of the Association's President and meet him in person.

In Btng, I was inform of the Bntg BH Owners Association and manage to talk to the President. He sounds very friendly and willing to meet anytime if I am around the Town.

My plan is to get all my Partners to meet him and ask for all the kind advises to ensure that we are running our BH operation within their guidelines.

So if you do have any plan to convert or built a new BH just make sure that you do them within the guideline.

Do not ignore these local authorities because if you do you will not be safe from their actions.

Trust me you can never run an operation without the blessing of your community....

My BH In Operation: After Three Full Days !!!!

Two days ago my BH is Btng (Bentong) went full blast. All those internal and external tweeters were with birdcall sounds at about 4.00pm.

The "Santa Maria" was out of order so I was left with little choice but to get my spare amplifier to work.

I was pretty worried over the sound pollution so got my partner to go round the building to check those sound and report via his mobile phone.

Seem to be okay so set the sound to the optimum i.e. not too loud and not too low.

We were very happy to get the system up and running, after 5 weeks of running up and down from KL.

Our Btng partner agreed to have a grand dinner on the house. We have some champagne and some expensive fish on our plate. The moment of truth has just begun.

Yesterday I took my wife to Btng just to check the sound system in case they are not functioning. Lucky enough they were running well. I took her up to the roof and she was very pleased with the number of birds flying around. One nearly hit her hair.

Today at around 6.00pm received a call from my Btng partner.

"Harry I am standing opposite mbbank and you know what is happening? There are a few thousand birds above our BH rooftop".

My answer: "You are joking".

His answer: "I am not kidding. I thing your sound is doing well or infect too well. There are at least 1000 birds".

My answer: "No, I don't believe you. You are kidding. It was just three days. It cannot be".

His answer: "Harry I am serious. There are at least one thousand birds circling on the BH rooftop. You hear me?”

Oh shit, I hope he was not pulling my leg and it was not due to the sound loudness......

Never mind, I will be there tomorrow to do some routine inspections plus full observations of all those birds.....

Frankly I can't wait for tomorrow ......

Oh God, please bless my BH in Btng and ensure that those birds keep coming. I just want to prove that using new technologies will work. If it works I will promised to share all those technologies used with those (especially failed) who do need them ....

Programmed Birdhouse Aroma Spray Equipment !!!

I have been looking around for stand alone aroma spray equipment for sometime now.

My idea was initiated by those wall mounted fragrance spray equipment installed in some offices which I visited. This equipment will automatically spray based on a preset time.

For my birdhouse I wanted to apply the same technique but their features are much more sophisticated that those office spray system.

The following features are essential:

1) It must be a stand alone and operated using electrical power to activate the pump.

2) It can be time to a precise moment of the day when the aroma will be sprayed. Say I choose to spray at 4.00pm everyday for one minute.

3) The aroma will be sprayed via at least 2 nozzles which I can put apart (5 meters or more) in one floor.(unit came with 10 nozzles)

4) The unit can suck in the aroma liquid from a container (at least 5 liters) and push these liquid out via the nozzles. The aroma quantity must be adequate for at least one month.

5) The whole unit is portable. Once it served one floor it can be relocated to another location or floor or building with ease.(You can use this aroma spray technique to get those swiftlets to populate other areas in your BH that are not occupied)

Got the unit for my R&D and will put them in operation in the next few days in Kedah.

The unit can be the best way to apply those aroma liquid Close2U in my BH.

I believed for initial installation it must be closed to the bird's entrance hole. Later I will move it to the nesting areas which are not pretty occupied.

If you have the same idea like mine and have been searching for similar equipment, I recommend you to use the unit.

Price is affordable and I am sure those aroma, sprayed on a pre programmed timing will be fresh and will attract more birds to enter your BH.

Currently I use hand spray to apply the aroma and can only do that once every month. Just imagine after two weeks, the smell will be less effective as compared to a fresh spray every day from this unique spray system?

Call Harry (017 755 1318) for further explanations plus how to buy one unit for your BH now....

At Last The New BH Was Officially Operational !!!

More then 4 weeks of shuttling from KL to Btg and at last the BH was in full operation.

The unit is a masterpiece and all my 7 visitors were very impressed with the amount of efforts we put together.

Some of the important features that we included were:

1) Wall insulation, about 2 inches of insulation wool and covered with a 4mm of cement board.

2) The water spray system activated using smart degree sensor.

3) 3 metric tons of 6"X 1" of nesting woods properly boxed up about 100cm X 40 cm.

4) The motorala tweeters arrange facing the entrance direction.

5) The distribution of tweeters to run colony sound and baby sound.

6) High end amplifiers to operate the internal and external sounds

7) A separate line for two altrasonic sound tweeters magnetic type.

8) Rooftop water spray system to cool the building temperature.

9) The aroma placement on the floors.

10) The application of wall aromas and etc......

The sound were tested and fully operational at 4.00pm after visiting a temple nearby for some blessing.

The 3 hours before sundown we keep observing the entrance hole. Lots of swiftlet responding. Most of them come and go. They love to hang aroung those tweeters.

My only hope is that they do enter the BH and of course stays ......

I need all the prayers and luck .......

Please do pray for my new BH ........

My New Baby Will Ready At 3.30pm Today !!!

There are lots of exciting things happening and the best is to start a new Birdhouse.

Yes, I selected today as the day for my new BH to be in full operation. A very good Friday, full moon and after friday prayers for the Muslims. My partner went to the Chinese Temple nearby to get some blessing yesterday.

The selected time is 3.30 pm.

There are 10 people specially invited to be with us and the unit owner promised a full course dinner tonight.

That is why I feel so good and relief. We have finally come to the final stage of the conversion job and now to see the result.

Once those ultrasonic sound plus the conventional sound starts its operation we can start to attract the wild birds into our new BH.

The last three days the house was under aroma treatment. Applied the wall aroma, open those birdshit bags and got those faeces powder placed into those containers.

Also running well were the mist sprays and the rooftop nozzles.

We will see what happen next .....

A Marvellous Idea In Preventing Chicak, Geckos and Snakes !!

I received the above picture from a regular blog reader on how a prevent his BH from Cicaks, Geckos and Snakes.

His idea was to place mesh wires below the nesting plank. Exact description of his recommentdation is as follows:

Quote:

I noticed in one starting BH that the hatchlings don't seem to mature. I suspected that some gecko lizards were preying on the eggs and hatchlings. So I took some wire screen - about 3/4" x 3/4" square and cut off strips about 8" wide and about an arm's length long. I cut along the edge of a horizontal wire leaving the edge with pin-like projection. These strips I attached using staples on the outer face of the nesting planks leaving at least 6" so that the pin edges were pointing downwards like a line of spears. The barrier must form a continuous enclosure - no gaps and no contact with the walls. I have observed chicks maturing to fly off after this measure. The pin-fence should discourage any gecko or snake from crossing towards the nesting area. Also, be sure your ceilling has no holes where these pests can pass. Please see attached picture. Good luck.

Unquote:

I hope the description and picture provided are usefull and informative.

Enjoy learning new things......

Have A Good Laught !!!

This morning received this email title: Tenjewberrymuds.

A very interesting story about how English are spoken in the East. Please read this.

Quote:

To get the full effect, this should be read aloud.

You will understand what 'tenjewberrymuds' means by the end of the conversation.

This has been nominated for the best email of 2007.

The following is a telephone exchange between a hotel guest and room-service, at a hotel in Asia, which was recorded and published in the Far East Economic Review:


Room Service (RS): "Morrin. - Roon sirbees."

Guest (G): "Sorry, I thought I dialed room-service."

RS: "Rye..Roon sirbees..morrin! Jewish to oddor sunteen??"

G: "Uh..yes.I'd like some bacon and eggs."

RS: "Ow July den?"

G: "What??"

RS: "Ow July den?...pryed, boyud, poochd?"

G : "Oh, the eggs! How do I like them?
Sorry, scrambled please."

RS: "Ow July dee baykem? Crease?"

G: "Crisp will be fine."

RS : "Hokay. An Sahn toes?"

G: "What?"

RS:"An toes. July Sahn toes?"

G: "I don't think so."

RS: "No? Judo wan sahn toes??"

G: "I feel really bad about this, but I don't know what 'judo wan sahn toes' means."

RS: "Toes! toes!...Why jew don juan toes? Ow bow Anglish moppin we bodder?"

G: "English muffin!! I've got it! You were saying 'Toast.' Fine. Yes, an English muffin will be fine."

RS: "We bodder?"

G: "No...just put the bodder on the side."

RS: "Wad! ?"

G: "I mean butter...just put it on the side."

RS: "Copy?"

G: "Excuse me?"

RS: "Copy...tea...meel?"

G: "Yes. Coffee, please, and that's all."

RS: "One Minnie. Scramah egg, crease baykem, Anglish moppin w bodder on sigh and copy....rye??"

G: "Whatever you say."

RS: "Tenjewberrymuds."

G : "You're very welcome."

Unquote:

Usage of Temperature Sensor To Activate Mist Spray System !!

The installation of the mist sprays in my Bentong BH went well.

Initial problem was due to low pressure from storage tank connection. After switching to direct water pipe, the mist spray system went very well. Infact too well.

Basically the "Smart Degree" sensor uses a thermocouple wire to detect the room temperature and once the temperature hit your high temperature setting, it will activate your water pump thus allowing your mist nozzle to spray those filtered water.

Example: If you set your high temperature setting at 29*C the pump will receive the electrical energy to operate push the water to those nozzles. Once the water are sprayed in your nesting areas, the temperature will automatically drop due to the latern heat of evaporation.

The trouble is when your temperature hit just one degree below the set high temperature. In this case 28*C. Once the temperature hit 28*C the sensor will shut the power and the pump will stop operating. Though there are still water ozzing out, the temperature will go down, the most to 27.5*C.

Immediately after this, due to the current hot weather, the temperature will immediately rise. At 4pm, the rate of rising was so fast, it takes less them 10 minutes to activate the pump to move those tap water again.

Well with this routine pumping, the amount of water on the floor will be enought to flood the whole floor.



This is something that not very encouranging but I guarantee you that your room temperature will be always below the setting point.



So how do you prolong the 10 minutes lap to perhaps half an hour?

Firstly, you need to avoid too much hot air from coming into the nesting room. Shut all of them down but open just one.

Secondly, you need to ensure that your top roof are well cooled. Make sure there is a kind of roof or spray some water regularly.

You need to insulate those walls (external part) that are coming in direct contact with the everning sun.

You need to make available more water traps (pots with sprays perhaps) in the nesting areas.

To avoid flooding you can place a container just below the nozzles to trap the water.

Place two humidifiers per floor to ensure that the mists will take away more heat out of the nesting room.

How about increasing the temperature setting up by one degree ie 30*C?

It is getting very interesting with every new problems when you come face to face ....

Silicon Immitation Nests With Real Feathers !!!

While is Medan, bought this fake nest which have something unusual.

The Immitation nest comes in 20 pieces a pack and is made of silicon wax.

The unique thing it have is the real birds feathers embeded on the outer surface of the nest.

They looks very real and if it does not cheat the birds it does to one of the hotel worker.

The story goes like this. I was having a cup of coffee in one of the Medan hotel lobby and I placed the immitation nests pack on the table. When the cewek (lady) came to serve us she saw the pack of immitation nest.

She was very curious and ask me what were those. Before I could say that it was immitation nests my friend told her those were birdnests. Wow, she have never seen one. So she held in her hand and said that these are real and beautiful. They do have those feathers on them and sofe like rubber.

I felt very bad for going along with my friend but the good thing is that she like it very much ....

Those who wanted to try them, please call Harry at 017 755 1318.

Some Strange and Interesting BH Designs ....

These are some photos taken during my last trip to Kuala Trengganu.

They look very simple, fantastic and colorful. Looks like a portal cabin on the rooftop !!!!

Frankly I am not sure if they do attract any swiftlets:

Something I Discovered About White Colored Swiftlet!!!

I was away in Medan yesterday for a one day trip.

AirAsia have a regular flight there. Went in on the first flight out and came back on the the flight in. I was actually on a secret mission but took some opportunity to visit a few Toko BH.

Managed to stop by two Tokos (Shops)and bought a few items home for R&D.

While at the shop met with the operator and have a short discussion.

In her respons, she took out some photos showing some white colored swiftlets.

I was not that impressed since I have seen them before and all the while I thought it occurred only in Indonesia.

What excite me and which I would like to put on this blog (my diary) is her sweet story about white swiftlet.

She claimed that this white colored swiftlet is the "Queen" of all the female swiftlet.

The moment one enter your birdhouse, she will be able to attract many birds into your BH. She became the center of attraction to the males and of course lead a colony (this is according to her, it might not be true).

Your birdhouse, according to her, will stay successful for at least 7 generations.

One weired story she added was that due to curiousity about these white colored bird, someone placed a video camera close to where the birds nest. It was during this observation, the BH owner saw a female figure transformed during one occasion. This was why the white colored swiftlet is called the "Queen". This happenned in a BH located in Tebing Indonesia.

She claimed that there are two more swiftlet houses do have this white Queen. One in Tanjung Pinang Indonesia and the other is in Pahang, Malaysia.

She might be wrong but I just wanted to record this story and perhap share with my blog readers.

I have yet to see a white colored swiftlet and perhaps those who have some relevant stories can add their experiences ......

"BIGFOOT" In Daro, Sarawak !!!

I tried not to believe in this "Bigfoot" things, but cannot turn down when Mr.T, one of my blog reader sent me some pictures.

Mr.T is a BH enthusiast hailed from Daro, Sarawak. I got to know him during the Pulau Kapas Seminar on Advance Swiftlet Farming about six months ago. He came down to KL and together with Mr.Ben and Mr.Victor we drove up from KL to Kuala Trengganu.

That was how I got to know him and I understood from Mr Ben, Mr.T have officially lauched his BH about three months ago.

Last two days he reported the sighting of a 47 inch by 17 inch foot marks in Daro. I did not believed in at first. Today the Borneo Post posted the news. Go to: http://www.theborneopost.com/?p=36789

Borneo Post Write ups:

Villagers have no explanation for giant footprints but businessman says proof is in the pudding


DARO: Villagers here are reeling from the shock of discovering two extra large footprints near the fence of a nearby orchard.

has been spreading like wildfire in Daro district for the past few days and among those drawn to the phenomenon was local businessman Tan Soon Kuang.

(According to Wikipedia, Bigfoot is one of the more famous creatures in cryptozoology, and, like many cryptids around the world, there is a fierce debate as to whether the Bigfoot species exists or not. Cryptozoologist John Willison Green has postulated that Bigfoot is a worldwide phenomenon.)






CLEARED PATH: All ready to receive visitors.


Yesterday, Tan, 42, e-mailed the images of the mysterious creature’s footprints. He said he personally went to the village (which he refused to name out of respect for the wishes of the locals) to check on the truth of the story.

“The truth is in the photographs that I have taken with my camera,” he told The Borneo Post in a telephone interview yesterday.



SHOCKING FIND: Picture shows a group of boys gathering around the right footprint which measures 47 inches by 17 inches.


According to him, each footprint measures 47 inches from heel to toe and 17 inches sideways “clearly too gigantic for any normal human being”.

Asked when and how he went to the village and took the photos, Tan answered: “I went there last Wednesday, June 11 after I heard about the news.

“I drove about five minutes from Daro town to the village. Then, I walked on foot along a footpath for quite a few minutes to the place where I met many villagers who were gathered there.

BIGFOOT TRAIL: A girl points to the two big footprints circled in yellow. The distance between the left footprint (foreground) and right footprint speaks volume of the size of ‘Bigfoot’. — Photos courtesy of Tan Soon Kuang


“Then some villagers pointed to the big footprints. I was shocked to see them and excited as I took those photographs.”

On his conversation with the villagers, he said: “When I asked the villagers the first time they discovered the two big footprints, they told me it was June 9.

“They also told me they now recall that before they came across the footprints, the villagers had, a few months ago felt uncomfortable and sick as if there was something ‘unclean’ in the air.

“They said they decided to look for a ‘bomoh’ (medicine man) who told them to go to an area, dig a small hole, then build a fence around it.

The bomoh further told them to make offerings outside the area fenced.

“And then last Monday morning the villagers saw the two big footprints outside the fenced up area.”

Tan further said: “When I asked the villagers if they were afraid or not they told me some were afraid; other just curious. But all of them apparently believe that the place was ‘unclean’.

“The villagers are now clearing up the footpath leading to the large footprints in anticipation of more people coming to have a look at the footprints.

“The villagers also told me that it was not the first time that they saw such mysterious big footprints in their village. In fact, the first time they saw such big footprints was about 50 years ago.”

Asked if there is any possibility that the footprints were man-made, Tan said it would be a tough act for a person to create such a mark on the hard ground.

Jemoreng assemblyman Abu Seman Jahwie when contacted yesterday said he heard about such discovery somewhere in a village in Daro area.

Asked if thinks it is real, he replied: “Sorry, I can’t say. It could be just rumours. I have not been to the place. I am now in Matu.”

The story has spread to Sibu where Abdul Aziz Pung, who is very familiar with Daro, said he had heard about the footprints from friends and relatives.

“Yes, they said it is true. Initially I laughed it off, but then some of my friends who came down to Sibu town convinced me that they are real. I may be going there soon to see them for myself.”

Meanwhile, a Daro villager who spoke on anonymity, said the villagers stumbled upon the footprints not far from the village that was once attacked by monkeys. This episode was reported by The Borneo Post some months ago.

According to him, many villagers believe that the monkeys had run out of their jungle habitat to escape from ‘Bigfoot’.

What Do You Think Will Happen If Your BH Internal Sound Stop Playing !!!

This came from my personal experiences while visiting a BH in the South.

I entered this brand new BH and make a very close observations on anything perculiar that might be of special interest to enhance my knowledge.

The caretaker was complaining on three things:

1) The birds seem to be not willing to come down to the lowest floor.

2) On the second floor the birds seem to occupy only a certain areas.

3) There were many birds on the third floor.

I was very curious and badly wanted to find a good answer why.

I walk in and the first thing that I did was to inhale those birdshit smell. Hmm they are not that strong but just okay.

I then concentrate on the sound from those tweeters. Hmm not that clear.

I walk upstairs to the second floor. There were many birds in a specific areas while the rest were empty. I could not understand why?

I walk straight to those areas where the birds congrugated, oh yes, those tweeters were working. I then walk back to those areas where there were not birds, Hmm there were no sound ......

It seem that if your sound system are not properly functioning and evently distributed the birds seem to choose to hang around those areas where your tweeters are functioning.

I moved down to the lowest floor where there were no birds at all just to make sure that I was right. Yes I was right. There were no sound.

On the highest floor there were many birds and it seem that most of the tweeters were working.

I was very suprised over this new findings and I think this is a very good point to take note by all my blog readers.

My personal conclusion " You must ensure that all those tweeters are in operation. Always make every attempt to check that all of them are working in good order. The internal sound must be evently distributed".

There is nothing like sharing......

If you think I am wrong then you should try by disconnecting some of those tweeters (a zone) and have some in operation (another zone). See for yourself how these wild birds behaves.

Now let me ask you this: what will happen if you choose to mix a low quality tweeters and high quality tweeters? Will there be any effect on their preferences?

I think yes but may be others will say no. I leave it with all my interlligent readers to find the answer but I am very sure there are many mixed answers. I do not blame anyone if they disagree with my conclusion.

What I saw was true and I wish I have my camera to proof.....

Accidently True: Some Bright Light Do Help !!!

Something that I am puzzled but would like to report in my Blog.

Maybe some one has some good explanations........

I was on my way collecting some equipment for my Bentong BH today.

Received a SMS from Mr.K from Port Klang.

Mr.K's BH went into operation mode about three weeks ago. He followed nearly all the advises given in my Blog.

I was invited to view his data room once and we have a nice evening watching those wild birds swooping into his BH from the outside. He do installed a CCTV system which I can view from the data room.

" Harry I forgot to switch of one of the neon light on the lower floor. There seem to be more birds going down to the lower floor now".

I was curious and make a call to check on what he was trying to say.

Well, he indicated that that neon light, a four feet length neon light, was not switched off during his last visit in his BH. When he came back to switch off, there were more birds then before. How come?

I was a bit puzzled with the phenomena. All this while we thought that the light must be 2 candelas and the maximum about 10 candelas. Now he got his room lighted up with a four feet neon light and the birds seem to be okay with it?

Hmm...... he is asking why is it so? I just could not find a rational answer!!!

Could be because his BH is pretty new and the birds need more light to find the way down to the lower floor?

Before the light was on only three birds flew in. Now he has more then 10?????

I suggested to him to let the light on for a few more days and observe the population. If they keep rising, he should continue with the light on......

Hope he will continue sending me his reporting .....

I just wanted to share with my blog readers .....

These are some weird things that are against the understanding of swiftlet farming practice. Since it work, why should we go against it .......

Hmm.... weird, weird and weird .........

How Many Eggs Do You Think A Nest Should Have?

I always thought that each nest will have only two eggs.

But I was wrong. A matured nest may have three but in some occassion there is only one. What if I tell you that there are some without any ???

This is what you should know.

When a birdhouse is being harvested using a forced harvest technique, some owner might harvest when the birds have yet to lay the second egg. Also in the case where your BH being bugalurised and they take away all the nests.

The female birds, with one more egg to lay, have little choices but have to lay the other egg in her belly in any nest that are without any resident, at her labor time. If the real nest owner comes back home with one extra egg in her nest, she will end up with three eggs, two hers and one someone else.

There are also cases where they couple have only one egg. Two main reason. The other egg must have fallen down or this female is already at her final monopause age. She can only produce one egg. This happenned when she is about 12 years of age.

Those nest without any eggs but have birds staying in them, are usually nests made to call home but not for laying eggs. This is nothing unusual in swiftlet colony. You will ask why but I am not telling you.... Just observe this unique thing and you will get use to it .....

A Very Interesting Service That Will Help Those Who Requires Birdcall Sounds !!!

Yesterday I was back in my Hometown and make a special trip to Sungai Bakap.

At Sungai Bakap I visited one of my blog readers who have been inviting me to visit him if I happened to be in PW. His name is Mr.B.

He operated two shops selling eye wears. He is also a professional Dancer. Sometime in the week he conducts dancing classes.

Coming back to swiftlet farming, he specializes in sound collection for BHs.

He have been collecting birdcall sound for almost 5 years and have a few hundreds of them.

He introduced to me the Sony Forge sound audit software and he seems to be very good in using it.

I took with me one of my BH sound and download to check for any errors. You will be surprised what happened when we download the sound. There were various areas that need immediate remedies. Some that we noted were:

1) The sound was not consistent in volume. The same cries have low and high volume.

2) There were gaps between the sounds. These gaps will give a break in my sound.

3) There were also areas where the sound was too high above the peak that are considered not safe to attract those birds.

4) The volume of the two tracts (left and right) was not consistent.

These are things that we take for granted and they need a kind of operation to smoothen them up by using these sound audit software.

I was advised by Mr.B the software is very simple to operate and there is no reason why BH enthusiast should not use them. In fact all those sounds that you purchased or exchange must be first check for any errors before you use in your BH. Trust me they are worth every penny that you spend in learning on how to use them.

One other specialty that Mr.B has is that he can find you the sound that your neighbor is playing.

Example: If you happened to pass your neighbor's BH and he seems to attract lots of birds circling above his rooftop, you may want to use your camera and get a video clip of it. Download and sent to me for him to find the sound that is similar from his library. It might be something that will help you to attract those birds to your BH.

Remember you need to pay a certain fee for it.

This is his specialty and the offer is not for everybody but those that are serious in getting more sound in their collection.

Have another good week .....

Let's Take A Break and Read This !!!

A POTRAIT OF: Ludwig van Beethoven




This is Something Very Interesting…!

Question 1:

If you knew a woman who was pregnant, who had 8 kids already, three who were deaf, two who were blind, one mentally retarded, and she had syphilis, would you recommend that she have an abortion?

Read the next question before looking at the response for this one.

Question 2:

It is time to elect a new world leader, and only your vote counts.
Here are the facts about the three candidates.

Candidate A: Associates with crooked politicians, and consults with astrologists.
He's had two mistresses. He also chain smokes and drinks 8 to 10 martinis a day.

Candidate B: He was kicked out of office twice, sleeps until noon, used opium in college and drinks a quart of whiskey every evening.

Candidate C: He is a decorated war hero. He's a vegetarian, doesn't smoke, drinks an occasional beer and never cheated on his wife.
Which of these candidates would be your choice?


So, your answer is Candidate C... Right?............. Think again.....It's wrong

Candidate A is Franklin D. Roosevelt.
Candidate B is Winston Churchill.
Candidate C is Adolph Hitler.

And, by the way, on your answer to the abortion question:
If you said YES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .…. you just killed Beethoven.

Pretty interesting isn't it? Makes a person think before judging someone. This is exactly the reason we should never come to a decision about anything by just looking on the surface.

Remember never judge a book by its cover…!

Have A Good Weekend !!!!

Collected My Amplifiers and Tweeters !!!

The final purchase of equipment for Bentong BH was done and next week the installation will be completed.

The tweeters will be those of Motorola and have allocated about 110 per floor.

Finished the marking last Thursday and each location were given a number written on the wood. This will ensure a proper cable lines and what type of sound will be played with. The numbering can also be later used to identify which tweeters are having problems.

Each tweeter have at least two functions in a BH.

The first is to act as the decoy to cheat the birds by playing those sounds (colony and baby). They will feel safe and peaceful since there are so many birds are in the BH (actually there are none or not many).

The second function is to act as fake nest. Usually when these wild birds enter a new BH, they tend to latch or stay on or close to these tweeters. You can see this after a few weeks where there will be birdshits patch below the tweeters. This is why it is fully recommended that you fix the tweeters with wire mesh on the front of it.

Based on what have been recommended, I allocated the sound distribution based on two sound distribution. As far as possible the colony shall be in the perimeter of the colony areas and the baby sound in the center areas. Main reason being when the birds enter a colony divider they will fly in a circular path around the perimeter. This could be clockwise or anticlockwise. When they do that they will hear more of the colony sound. Only when they settled down they will hear more of the baby sound.

One more observations made by someone I know, is to include mating sound together with the colony sound. You can do this by cutting two sounds in one. The colony sound will let the birds feel very safe in the house while the mating sound will arouse their desire to mate. This will accelerate these birds to built their nests and ready to mate.

You should consider this idea and see what happen. If you have CCTV install in your BH, you can place your camera in various strategic locations to make the observation what happen when the colony sound are playing and compare with when mating sound are played. I can assure you that there are differences and the birds behave differently.

You might need to carefully plan how many minutes to play the colony sound and how many minutes the mating sound. They must be proper and carefully designed.

The idea is to allow then to settle down to rest after a hard day of searching for food. Once that is done, you need to excite them to make those nests for you.

How to achive this configuration, you need to think yourself. It might be complicated in the beginning but it is not impossible. Crack you head and try to come out with the right method of sound allocation........

Decided Not To Opt For The Kondo Nesting Design!!!

One of my wish to incorporate in my new BH was the Kondo Nesting design nesting area.

Unfortunately, after a long discussion with my buddy Mr.O and an experience BH builder, I have to scrap the idea but perhaps the next unit it will be there.

Main point of concern is the gap created at the back of the nesting wood, especially the upper part.

What we were concerned about was the possibility of creating a nesting areas for those house cockroaches. They love to be in BHs and these specially made kondo is very much for them. Once they breed and make lots of babies, they will start to eat your precious birdnests and grow into a big fat motherf**** at a very fast rate.

Beside chewing away your valuable nests, they will shit behind the kondo's gaps. Their shit is knowned to be very pungent and are not welcome by your swiftlets. Once the birds land on the Kondo and those pungent smell are there the swiftlets will not continue their nest building. Unless your BH is full and there is not other choice ?????

The only way to make them work is to ensure that those gaps at the back are fully covered and this will take lots of your nesting woods. Hmm we have just enought wood for our nesting areas.

Well one more good advise is to ensure that your BH will be laced with those cockroach poison as early as you can. It is better to have those poison in place immediately after the house is ready and place them at those strategic corners or latches which you think the cockroach will land. Eliminate them from the beginning is better then trying to kill them after they have colonised your BH.

You might argue that it will give more nesting space. Yes I do agree with you but what is the purpose if the gaps are filled with cockroaches and the birds hates to built their nests there? It defeat the actual purpose of your instalation.

My though is, get as many birds to be your permanent resident and you then bring in those kondo ready built with all the gaps taken care of and mount them on those selected areas.

Have a good day and I hope this article make lots of good sense !!!

Birdhouse Internal Sound Distribution !!!

Most of us will have very little idea on how those tweeters are installed and how those copper cables are laid.

I am very fortunate that my new BH is about to be ready and just completed the nesting planks instalation (lower floor).

There are two more items to be installed and by June 15th,2008 it should be ready to bring those wild birds into the BH.

Today will install those mist spray system complete with a Smart Degree temperature sensor. Got a complete set of the unit (pump, selonoid valve, water filter, nozzles) yeaterday and have place order for 1/2" PVC pipes plus a number of tees, cock valves, caps and angles. Not to forget a few cans of cement bounding chemicals and those clamps to hold the pvc pipes onto the walls.

The mist spray installation is not much a challange as compared to those tweeters and those sound systems.

First and foremost I need to plan where to place the amplifiers and those tweeters. The most critical will be the exact location where the tweeters for the colony sound be situated and where the piyik (baby sound) be installed.

The best will be to have the colony sound to be at the perimeter of the colony area while the piyik at the center.

A proper copper cables with strong signal carrying capability must be purchased to do a good work.

Latest that I was warned about is to use not more then 25 tweeters per cable length. Once the tweeter exceed the number, the signal received by those few tweeters, located at the far end of the cable, will be very faint or no signal at all.

If my tweeters are incomporated with those capacitors, I need to make sure that the attachment to the copper cable are on the right side always. Any mistakes in these cable connection, will cause the sound to be poor in quality and defeat the purpose of a proper installation. I will ensure that every connection need to check and certified that they are done in accordance to this special guideline.

As for the amplifier, they are set to be delivered this weekend and I have choosen five units. They will those recommended to give a crystal clear sound and have a one year warranty of any failures. All will have both the memory card, thumb drive and external CD player attachment.

Two for the internal sound, two for the external sound and one for the Bazookas.

The ultra sonic (Santa Maria) need just a CD player unit and two magnetic compressor's tweeters (medium size).

There will be a few digital timers to be purchased.

Hope the above tips are valuable to those who planned to set up their own BH.

Anyway, if you wish to come and have a look at my new BH in Pahang, please give a call to Harry 017 755 1318 or drop an email. There will be a slight charge about Rm 200 per head (revised to include new fuel surcharge) inclusive of lunch and preview of BHs in Bentong. Price indicated are subject to change (fuel price is up today).

Giving More Tought Time !!!

Yesterday I was in Bentong, Pahang monitoring my nesting planks contractor's instalation.

The works were fined and hopefully by Wenesday the job will be over with. They started about noon yesterday and I stayed back till they finished the day's job ie. until 7.00pm.

Tommorow planned to be up here again for another long day.

While waiting for the installation works received a call from Seremban, N9 from Mr.K and he was complaining that the Seremban Local Council have issued letters to all the Birdhouse owners to remove their instalations with immediate effect.

A total of 58 owners were affected.

This might be due to the noise pollution created by those unsrupolous owners who were fighting to draw more birds to their BH. The local council must have received numerous complains about those noise I pressumed.

My advise to him was to present the case to the Ketua Pengarah about the use of "Santa Maria". This will help to reduce those blarring sound and if accepted they should be enforced in all town areas.

I hope the suggession will be well received and probably some help from Dr Reduan Ibrahim of Jabatan Haiwan will be usefull.