Mohd Amin Jalil
am@hmetro.com.my

 

SEREMBAN has the potential to be developed as a prestigious bird watching location following the presence of more than 100 species of birds, including those migrating from Japan and South Korea. Chief Executive Officer of Nature Educational Society (NEST) Malaysia, Sulaiman Salikan said, the results of observations and studies conducted by them found that there were 111 species of birds, including from abroad, that stopped over in the areas surrounding Seremban district. According to him, the species included yellow bitterns, painted storks, grey herons and black-shouldered kites in addition to migratory bird species.

 "There are also local birds, but some of the birds are not native to this place. Instead, these birds migrate and refuse to return to their place of origin. "In an expedition we carried out recently, we found that four locations which attract birds are the Putus Hill route, Mount Telapak Buruk and Mount Berembun near Pantai as well as Taman Malaysia or Seremban Lake Garden."Comparing the three locations, Seremban Lake Garden (Taman Malaysia) was identified as the latest stop-over location for these birds, involving 111 species overall," he said after a briefing session on bird-watching activities at the Seremban Lake Garden, here, yesterday.

Also present were the Mayor of Seremban City Council (MBS) Datuk Zazali Salehudin, and President of the Wild Bird Club Malaysia (WBCM), Andy KL Lee.The briefing organized by MBS aimed to share information to promote Seremban or Seremban Lake Garden as a bird-watching destination to attract tourists. Sulaiman said, the birds came from various countries such as Tanjung Rupat Sumatra, Indonesia, and even further away from there, including South Korea and Japan, especially in the winter between October to February every year.

He said, the study found that there were more than 800 species of birds worldwide and if the place was able to attract around 10 percent of the species, it would be a good development for the local tourism sector. "NEST is the first club in the country to promote bird-watching activities and we also work with governmental and non-governmental agencies such as the Putrajaya Corporation in driving these activities," he said.

Meanwhile, Zazali welcomed the efforts and will work to develop a bird-watching segment in this district as a new tourism product.

This article was published on: Monday, July 14 2020 @ 5:29 pm