Something That I Wanted To Share With You !!!

If you have the chance to enter many birdhouses, you will learned and observed lots of strange things.

Some are very beneficial but some can be very scarry.

I have gathered so much from every BH visit and I am 100% sure there are still more things to be discovered.

From my vivid recollection I remembered, in general,  those birds loves to stay inside rooms.

Inside these room they prefer to be build their nests in the darkest area and near to those walls.

Their preferred choice are the 90* corners.

If there are fake nests they will also capitalise on them.

In many instances their nests are on or closed to those tweeters.

Main target are the internal sound tweeters.

Some just above it, some at the side and some at the back of it.

The only strange thing that I begin to realize is that they have less preferance to build their nests closed to the external sound tweeters.

If you keep your eyes opened you will observed what I have many times observed.

So if you entered your BH please try to check on this strange phenomena.

Those areas where there are lots of bird shits below them with external sound playing will have little chance of nests but those playing with internal sound tweeters will eventually resulted in nests.

First there will be bird shit and soon, about two to three months or so you will start seeing some feathers on the spot.

The moment the feathers are on the floor you will soon find that there will be some kind of nest markings above the spot.

If you are lucky the marking will eventually turned into nest.

The nest making process is nearly the same and you will see this over and over again.

Remember, the chance of having nests is higher if the birdshit is found below the internal sound tweeters as compared to external sound tweeter.

There must be some reason for this but i know for the fact that the internal sound are usually played much longer as compared to the external sound.

Another important thing is that the internal sound, babyking or superbabyking, are mainly the sound of mating and baby sounds.

It wan be that these two sounds accelerate the couple to wanting to start breeding.

While the external sound is just to get them excited to be near to.  Once the sound is switched off they loose their concentration and will normally switched to the internal sound tweeters.

More Sounds In My Collection !!!

Today increased my sound collection by another two.

One of my blog reader was very kind enought to allow me to have his collection for me to analyse and perhaps share with others.

Last two weeks I got more then 5 new sounds that were new and interesting. Normally once I got them into my collection I will analyse the sound using Sony Forge 9 software and also do field trials. The good one will then be distributed among those blog readers that are helpful to conduct some tests and provide their imput.

If the sound is tested and proven to be very good then I will distribute them to those who are new and need to improve their library.

My very sincere advise to all my blog reader about sound will always be as follows:

1) You need to start a sound library as soon as you can, You cannot operate a BH with only one sound for the external and one sound for the internal. This will not be good to you and your BH.

2) You need to start small and slowly built a set of sounds. What you need are those good sounds. Sound that will attract the birds to response to the frequency and most important is for them to enter your BH.

3) You need to be able to differentiate between bird call test, the external and internal sounds. They are different and using them wrongly will cause your BH to be sick or empty.

4)You need to get your bird sound from someone that you know or trust. If you pick them up from someone whom you do not know the sounds might chase your current tenant away. Soon all those birds in your BH will run away to your next door neighbors. Trust me.

5) The best is to own at least three effective external sounds. You need to locate,, test and proof that these will be the most effective for your BH location. Once you have them play those sounds on rotation. Play the 1st for at least 3 months and once their effectiveness are no longer there, you need to switch to the next sound in your collection. Do the same after the next 3 months or so.....

6) You can reuse the sound after you finish the cycle playing the 3 sounds. Do not throw them away. Those birds might like the first sound back after you stop playing for almost 3 months.

7) Try not to use the bird call test sound as your external sound. The call sound is said to be a baby bird giving sos calls. Those birds will hoover over your roof top but will be very scared to enter your BH.

8) If you want to start you sound library, the best is to get at least 5 external sounds, 3 internal sounds and one the bird call test sounds. This will be good to act as a starter library. Try to make sure that one of those external sounds is the Black Cloud.(You can get them from Pak Harry if you wish to).

9) Upon having this set you might want to get more by buying them from shops or friends. My advise here is be very careful. Some sound might chase you birds away.

10) To get a good buy is to buy one set of ten at a price of say 5. You can actually buy in bulk. Buying one by one will cost you more and if you buy them from someone whom you trust, all might be effective.

11) I believed that if you want the external sound you played will last longer you need to play the sound for not more then 2 hours in a day. Good example the Black Cloud. I always recommend that you play this sound only from 6.00 pm till darkness say 8.15 pm. The rest of the time you play other melodies that are slightly less effective then the Black Cloud. Yes use separate amplifiers with timers.

I have a collection of about 200 sounds. Some of these sounds are good but you need to test them if you wanted to start your own collection.

For more details please call Harry at 017 755 1318.

Remember start your library and get the best sound for your BH. You cannot depend on those "Consultants" but yourself. Think carefully and make the right decision.

Any Other Ways To Choose The Right External Sound??

I was on the way back to my Apartment when I received a call from my blog reader from Johor.

"Harry I need your help to get the right external sound for my Birdhouse. Currently the house is empty and no birds wanted to enter the house."

Hmmm ..........

This is nothing unusual and I am sure there is something wrong with the sound that she is using.

How old is your new BH?

"About 5 months old." She said.

Have you tried using my Black Cloud?

"Yes but I was not very sure how to operate it. I am desperate to get the birds into my BH."

That is very sad and I am sure I can try to come out with something for her and hubby.

What I actually have in mind is mind blowing. I told her that the best method is to test all the external sounds that I have with me.

I will carry with me about 200 sounds and try one by one. From the 200 maybe 5 to 10 will be effective.

The effective sound shall be retested for the second time to eliminate those that are not that good among the 5-10.

Once that is completed then I will get them to use the new sound.

Perhaps I will let them have at least three of the 5-10 effective sounds chosen.

I told her that this is my contribution to lend a hand but there is some cost to it.

Told her to think carefully and call me if she is agreeable with my terms and conditions.

My cost is marginal and there is no guarantee that there is a quick solution.

My gut feeling is that among the 200 there must be some that are effective.

Those that face a similar problem you should think of doing the same. There is no need to call Harry but get someone that can help you to do what I have outlined above.

With luck and god helps I am sure there will be an answer......

Best of luck to all .........................

How To Use Your External Sound Effectively !!!

There is nothing like having a beautiful external sound in your BH.

Once you play them on the top of the roof you will see plentiful of those swiftlet circling, chasing each other and the best is to see them swooping into your BH at high speed.

During the day time, if you carefully observed, there will be a kind of wave of birds coming over in groups. Once they finish a new group will come over and repeat the same actions.

Some will be playing, some will be chasing each other, some will lock onto the tweeters and try to peck them.

But no matter how good the sound is, it has a limited life. After a few short days or weeks they tends to be ineffective.

So you then will start looking around for a better or newer sound.

You will stumbled into new sounds and of couse "Black Cloud".

But do you know how to effectively use them?

I mean are sure you know how to tweek those buttons on the amplifier to give the maximum impact to those wild birds?

Have you ever though that you can extend the life of the sound to at least 5 to 8 months?

Let me relate this real events:

"Pak Harry this is Mr.T of Ipoh. Thank you for the BC. Pak Harry how come nothing happen when I use the BC in Ipoh?"

Well well well. Mr.T what type of amplifier are you using?

"Don't know the brand. I think China made."

Do you know how to tweak those buttons on the amplifier?

"Pak Harry I am not very familiar with the equipment so I just plug in the CD and play."

Ai yah yah yah. Mr.T before you play the sound you must at least call me to provide you with the guidelines on how to set those buttons on your amplifier.

Those who are familiar with their amplifiers then it would be very easy to explain but those who do not know, ai ya ya ya ya.......

Okay like this, since I will be passing Ipoh on Monday I shall do my best to drop by.....

In one more case in Kluang, happened yesterday, the BH owner was using a computer to load the sound. He showed me the amplifier. You will be surprised if you were with me.

"Pak Harry, sorry I DIY, so I bought this car amplifier for my BH."

I looked at it and shook my head and murmured to myself "What the bloody hell is this?

This job is getting tougher every day man.

Okay okay where is the button to adjust the volume, bass, the tremble and mid sound?

"You need to use this screw driver sir?"

Ai Ya ya yah, I have never adjust my BH sound with screw drivers. Okay where is the adjust buttons?

He lifted the amplifier and showed me three small screws embedded to the body. I need a magnifying glass to see where to poke the screw driver.

After some tweaking he saw a few birds flying into the house, via a CCTV camera.

"Oh ya pak Harry there were a few birds that flew in just now."

Well the morale of the story is that, if you do not know which button to tweak then you will get very little from the sound that you have purchased.

I did mentioned about how to extend the live of your new found bird sound.

My advise is do not play them all day long. Play one hour in the morning, one hour in the afternoon and perhaps one hour and 45 minutes during the time those birds were flying back home.

By doing this you will maximise the operating life of all your expensive sounds.

If you are not sure please ask. Do not be Mr. Einstein. Even Pak Harry sometime do ask some friends if he have never come across something new.

So if those BC do not work well in your area, please call for immediate helps....

I think now is my turn to take the Penadol .......

How To Make Those External Sound Effectivenes Last Much Longer !!!

How many weeks do you think a very good sound that you have purchased from Pak Harry will last?

I mean its effectiveness?

Maybe 12 weeks or best case is 4 months (16 weeks).

What do you think the best way that you can stretch their effectiveness to a much longer period?

All this while I thought I was the smartest but frankly I am not. I am just a rusty Mechanical Engineer who sometime got this memory lapse like a 65 years old man.

Today I met someone who is far superior then I am and I am truly fascinated with his ingenuity. He owned more then 12 BHs in Setiawan, the Capital city of swiftlet farming in Malaysia at the moment.

How he did is simple.

First he plays those external songs and observed how many days they will get those swiftlets got bored.

One day it dawned upon him that birds are like human. Once they listen to the same song all day long they will get tired of it. At the same time if you play the same sound from morning till evening without stopping these birds will get hungry and tired.

So the best is to limit playing those sound to a limited number of hours a day.

The most important is from 6.30pm till 7.30pm and maybe another hour in the morning.

In the morning you actually catch hold of those young birds to come and visit the BH but the evening is where the pulling action takes place.

In this way the sound will be magnetic and will stay effective much longer as compare to playing all day long.

It makes sense but if you wish to try please be aware that the guy who give this idea will hold no responsibilities if it does not works for you.

It works for him very well and I believe the method he is doing makes lots of good sense.

Again there is nothing to loose by trying............

Pak Harry just wanted to share something special and I hope this article will not upset anybody.

If I do I would like to say sorry.

Common Mistakes That Can Jeopardize Your BH Sound System.

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One of the most important section that many BH owners failed to manage is the sound system.

I think 90% of those who operate their BH do not have any clue about how those amplifiers works and how they are timed to run at the right time of the day.

Some depend so much on their electricians or their consultant to do what the consultant/electrician think right.

Do you think what the consultant set is right or worse the electrician who knows nothing about BH operation?

Their idea is simple, as long the sound is working from say 7 am till 7 pm it is okay to them.

I don't think this is right and my advise is to clearly understand what is best for your BH and make sure those birds like the volume, the timing and the type of sound you played.

I was at this BH during my Friday BH outing and was looking at the sound system. I was supposed to change the sound only but upon looking at the configuration the electrician seem to have mess up the cables and everything was haywire.

Everything that was done was wrong and I am not going to leave until I reconnect those wires.

First was to identify the right cables to the right tweeters.

Then to allocate them to either the internal sound or the external sound.

Finally which should go to the Left and which to the Right connectors at the back of the amplifiers.

Once done you need to be able to control the volume so that the one to be loud is properly set and the lower sound be subjected to proper sound testing.

The method which the timer was used was not right and I have advised the owner to get a new digital timer to get the internal sound be played on a 24 hrs basis.

After reconnection and fined tuning the BH seem to be more appropriate and those birds were on the roof.

I told the owner it is a matter of time that they will become his long term tenant.

He smiled and this was the best smile for a very long time.

He said that for the last 7 months he could not smile and can never have a good sleep. He put every penny of his saving in this BH and the "Consultant" let him down very bad.

"Thank you Harry for all the help".

I am so happy that I put that smiles back on his face.

Inside me I feel sad that his wife is not well. I shed some tears while writing this article. Main reason being I was told by his good friend that his wife is terminally ill and he will loose her shortly.

I just cannot understand why his so call "Consultant" do this to him while he channelled all his saving to this project.

I hope my small contribution will at least make him and wife happy that the money was well spend.

(Note: If you have the same problem with your BH sound system and need a second opinion, just call Harry at 017 755 1318.)

Suddently Those Swiftlets Went Missing !!!

I have been pondering about where do the birds went missing and then suddenly they are back to the house.

I was not alone. Last week Dr.U called and said that he got the same thing happened at his own birdhouse in Alor Star.

"Hey Harry, today there are not birds. All of them are missing. Where do you thing they have gone to?".

I thought I was the only one facing the situation and now I know that there are others who experienced face the same.

Dr, don't worry they will back soon. Just trust me. I told him.

This phenomena in general have something to do with the season and weather. During dry seasons, your swiftlets needs to travel further to find food. As such they tend to be back home very late in the evening and once arrived they will swoop into you BH and straight to the resting planks. They do not fly around anymore due to their long journey.

On a cool wet day, especially after a heavy rainfall, these birds tend to be back much earlier and maybe the rain might have activated those insects to fly out thus feeding these swiftlets to the max. You can see more of them flying around or above your roof top (subject to your bird call sound played.

How far can these swiftlet fly?

It was documented that they can fly for more then 40 hours non stop at a top speed of 120 kilometer/hour. Just imagine 40X120 = 4,800 kilometers of a non stop journey?

Sometime when look up on the sky and you can see, very high above the sky, those birds flying home and they seem to have little effect to your test call. Why are they not responding?

The reason,I recently discovered, was that they have a special timing to reach their home on the dot. If you carefully observe their home coming behaviors, they tend to be inside their house by about 7.50pm (in Peninsular Malaysia). To reach that particular time and the distance to cover, they timed their flight precisely. Once the time is up they will fly straight home and nothing can distract them.

During breeding season, especially when they have those babies in their nest, the birds also behave the same. They have this instinct to fly straight home to feed their babies and bring home water. During their flight home, nothing will distract them.

So if you play those bird call sound and you can see many above you and they are not bothered to come down, just think about this new findings. Well of course your sound also do have their part to lure those birds.

"What Else Should I Do To Bring Those Wild Birds Into My New BH?"

Two of my blog readers asked the same question today.

One via an email while the other via phone.

Both seem to be very concerned that those wild birds refuse to enter their brand new BHs.

For some reasons they think that I have that miracle touch which can make them understand why and what can they do immediately.

Hmm......not an easy task without having a chance to visit their BH and look both inside and outside.

Well since they asked, I quickly asked a few questions about their BH background and how many birds are responding to the sound that they played. Both indicated there are about 20 to 30 birds.

Not bad but it could have been better then that.

The next question was about their BH microhabitat. Temperature, humidity and darkness? Both says nearly the same things. Within the required range ....

Hmm.....both seem to be very knowledgable about the word "micro habitat".

What about the use of any kind of Aroma? One said yes he have splashed all the aroma recommended while the other says that he have not heard anything about Aroma before.

Then I posted about using one tweeter with the external sound in the house. Both have no idea what I was talking about.

Hmm ..... I am getting there.

Oh yeah, this seem to be a good avenue to ask them to try out something new to them.

Okay please try this:

1) Install a tweeter at the far end of your BH and connect their sound signal to the amplifier that plays the external sound. If your BH is two floors, then put one in both.

2) Apply those feaces powder Aroma on the floor. To cut down your cost get two of 5 kilograms bags and split them into four (2.5 X 4). Place them at those four corners of your BH floor. If your BH is two stories unit then get 4 bags and split into 8 bags.

3) Apply those new house Aroma on the BH walls just about 50 cm below the nesting planks. Make sure they do not come in contact with the nesting planks.

4) Get hold of the Close2U Aroma and do the followings:

Pour some into your humidifier's water bowl and let it be sprayed into the BH.

Place some in the hand spray and applied onto those entrance hole perimeter.

Also try to spray some on the perimeter of the door leading to the nesting rooms.

If you have installed those fake nests, spray some on them.

Select the most probable nesting areas on the nesting planks and spray lightly on
them. Make sure they will be quickly dried or else mold will grow (be careful).

Make sure all those ventilation holes are tightly shut except one or two.

5) Externally U should look into how to improve the macro habitats. The first is to unsure that you use the right sound. The sound you played must be able to attract at least 20-30 birds all day long. If they are not doing that, you need to quickly find a more effective sound and replace those ineffective sound.

6) If you have some spare cash, you should consider to install water sprays above your roof to attract as many birds as possible to play on the top of your BH roof.

7) You might consider installing a cluster tweeters on the top of your BH roof, to attract more birds to your BH rooftop.

8) Well what about those insect powder? Activate those insect powder and they should be operational within 18 days. Place them in the roving areas.

Try all these for at least three months without fail. If there are still no birds in the house then you should call Harry. I think we need engage some "Bomoh" to exocise the house. There must be "bad spirits" disturbing those wild birds from coming in.

By the way, are you sure that you BH entrance hole is the right size and facing the right direction?

I hope the above tips are usefull and if you are facing the same problems, just try them.

Harry guarantees that they will increase the birds population however he holds no reponsibilties if they do not work. He can only share his ideas but you have to make the final decision.

The question is, do you have any other better alternatives?

Is It Wrong To Have More Then Two ????

Just call your SIFU and ask him about your Bird House (BH) sound system.

" SIFU, what do you recommend for my BH, the number of sound system that I should have?"

Most SIFUs will say, two is more then enought. One for the external and one for the internal.

Is it wrong to have more then two? Why must it be only two?

I am sure you can guess my thought about how many should I recommend?

Well how about five? Yes FIVE or Lima? Why five and not six?

My real answer is as many as you wanted to. It is your BH and you have the right to install as many as you wanted to. Right? .....

The only thing is why must you have more then two? Just stop and think deeply for a few seconds and give me a good answer(s).

I personally would like to have more then two.

Let me give my reasons why you need more then two.

1) Internal Sound.

If you have more then one floor, can you have different sound on each floor? Is that wrong? Will it cause the birds to be confused? I don't think so. If it is yes then prove me wrong. If you choose the right chicks and love making songs for both floors you might give the birds more then one options to choose where to stay. Some colonies prefer the top floor while the other prefer to be in the lower floor. Let the bird make the choice.

2) External Sound.

External sound is the key to your BH success. If you play the wrong sound at the wrong time of the day you will eventually have very little birds in your house. Many BH owners have complained that most of the time there are lots of birds outside but they never seem to fly into the house.

What if you modify your sound system so that you play two diffent sounds that are timed differently? Will that help? If the answer is yes then you can have two different sounds for the external call.

You should look at having two sets of tweeters playing the sound at a different time. If you are smart you can guess what I have in my mind. Yes just try to read my mind.....

3) Lock me in please.

This is something that you have never heard before. You play a sound at the end of the day, just before darkness, which I call "Lock Me In Please". You will be wondering what is this uncle Harry trying to say. He must be mad ....

Yes I am and you are too. I keep saying that only mad people mixed around with mad people. Now just start that thinking cap of yours ticking and just ask yourself what was I trying to say: " Lock Me In Please".

So now you can count how many sounds are we playing.

No more two but five .....

I have not talked about the six (sound for your Bazookas) and the seven yet (sound for your Hexagonal Tweeters) ..........

He he he

Special Note: This article is just my own ideas which I believed should be considered. There is no fast rules in applying this idea. All you need is some planning of all the things that are viable in bringging in those birds into your BH. Please do not bother to use them if you feel the current two sounds system is more then adequate. Take it that I was just trying my luck to change your mindset.