Look Where Those Bats Are Flying!!!

To most swiftlet farmers, bats are nuisance and keep them away from your BH.

Their shit smell are not welcomed by your tenant.

The best method to shoo them away is to either catch them or apply those ammonia solution on where they stay.

On the other hand, you might want to look at some good thing about bat.

Two days ago I was in Melaka and yesterday in Kota Bahru, Kelantan.

Both days I was engaged with looking at where the birds comes back home. Yes I was asked to determined which direction those birds take their path home.

For some good reasons those birds did not appear until late 7.15pm or so.

What I saw was where those bats were flying. Most were going towards where they can find lots of food.

And you can guess where those birds were flying back from.

Exactly the same place where those bats were flying towards.

I might be wrong but both in Melaka and Kota Bahru, the bats helps me to get ready where to focus my eyes.

If you happened to conduct path direction inspection, just look at those bats.

They gives you an early indications...........

Is It Possible That The Birds Change Their Flight Path !!!

This question was posted to me recently:

" Pak Harry, after some time can these swiftlets change their flying path? Let say now my BH is below their flight path now, say 5 to 10 years, from now will they change?"

A very sensible question which I thing need to get sensible answers.

My answer is yes however the probability is slim unless there are a few drastic changes in the followings:

1) The food source which they used to go and hunt depleted badly. This might be due to bad weather or a serious forest fire. If their hunting ground are totally burned down they will move their hunting locations to a newer place. This will effect their flight path.

2) A new walet central suddenly came into the vicinity of your BH. This can happen when a new walet central was created by some one who is good swiftlet farming. This person knows the ins and outs of making sure that his new BHs are perfect and will pull all those birds to move to his new BH. If this should happen, very rare in deed, the flight path will be affected to.

3) Suddenly there is a new source of food along the way home. This is something that not many people have thought about. Just imagine suddenly a new water pond or waste treatment plant were in operation a few short kilometers from you BH and they are spewing out lots of those mayflies. These birds will now move their flight path to that pond before going home. If this ponds are not within your BH range, you will experience this unusual flight path change.

What can you do to reinstate them?

The best that you can do is to look into creating the environment to lure them to you BH areas.

I suggest that it would be advisable for you to start looking at proving food within your BH compound.

You might want to built a suitable water pond and inside those ponds you rear some kind of plants that will produce insects.

You might want to store some wood logs. Choose those that are capable of generating a kind of beetles that are a food source to those swiftlets.

The easiest would be to built a small barn where you can generate fruit flies. These fruit flies are easily cultivated. What you need are rotten fruits and some yeast. If they are slow in breeding you might want to introduce those insect powder in the barn to be the core insects to spread onto those rotten fruits.

Well if you are afraid that they might change their flight path, you need to quickly populate your BH in the first 5 years.

Remember, the best is to get 500 nest within the 5 years period and the rest is a history.

Once your BH touches 500 nests, subject to the stable micro and macro habitats, they will multiply at least 3 times a year. From this moment they should grow in an exponential path.

As such you are on the way to the bank every three months. That actually is the right flight path. He he he.

Entrance Hole: Must It Be Facing The Return Home Path And Why ??

I remembered the first successful advice given to a Vietnamese blog reader who visited Kuala Lumpur and managed to meet up with me.

During the one day tour to Kuala Selangor, Sekinchan, Sungai Rambai and Rawang, I gave him a very useful tip.

He was having difficulties in bringing in those swiftlets in the evening when they are flying home.

I just quipted, why don't you ask your father to change the entrance hole direction facing towards the return home path?

He immediately called his father, in front of me, and told him about my suggestion.

His father did just that. After three days he called me up with such excitement in his voice.

I asked him what happen?

"Harry your idea was incredible. Within three days there were more birds then before. How the hell you come out with such a marvellous idea?"

My answer was just based on logic if you think about it.

Just imagine for a minute if you are one of those birds. In the morning you come out of your house and your appetite for breakfast overwhelms you. Would you want to fly around and visit BHs with sweet bird chirps?

But in the evening, when you are full, you wouldn't mind to glide around and stop by to look at those new BHs especially if they're blaring with sweet melodies.

If you feel right you might want to move your residence to this new BH which is nearer to the hunting ground or perhaps because of the nice interior with good aroma, cool temperature and just the right humidity for nesting.

So you can understand why those flight path is vital in swiftlet birdhouse location selection. Choose the return flight path must be set as first priority.