I have been in Malaysia for three days and have jumped in with both feet. It is a beautiful country with wonderful people. Truly tropical, it never gets much below 85 degrees and is very humid. It seems that the people are just barely holding back the jungle from creeping over the city. Everything is vividly green and alive, so very different from the snowstorm that was raging when I left from the Minneapolis airport.
Liz arrived in Kuala Lumpur a few days before I did and had already met up with our collaborator in western Malaysia, Dr. Farah Mohd-Taib from the biology department at the National University of Malaysia. We had the pleasure of working with three of her students Wardah, Asmalia, Nabila to find and catch pacific swallows. It was so fun to get to know these students and work with them in the field. They were amazing and we could not have done it without them. With their help, Liz had successfully found an area with several pacific swallow nests about an hours drive from the city. My first day in Malaysia we went to try and catch them.
Liz arrived in Kuala Lumpur a few days before I did and had already met up with our collaborator in western Malaysia, Dr. Farah Mohd-Taib from the biology department at the National University of Malaysia. We had the pleasure of working with three of her students Wardah, Asmalia, Nabila to find and catch pacific swallows. It was so fun to get to know these students and work with them in the field. They were amazing and we could not have done it without them. With their help, Liz had successfully found an area with several pacific swallow nests about an hours drive from the city. My first day in Malaysia we went to try and catch them.
Catching swallows is a bit different from catching other birds. Because swallows eat only flying insects (aerial insectivores), they have excellent eyesight and incredible maneuverability in the air. They are the trick pilots of the bird world. This means that we can’t just put out a mist net during the day and hope they fly into it, like we can with other birds. We have to be sneaky. Nearly invincible during the day, the swallows weakness is their nest. Swallows sleep on their nests at night and while their eyesight is superb when it is light, it is lacking in the dark.
Once we locate active swallow nests, we can return under the cover of darkness and catch them by surprise (think bird ninja). Rather unglamorous compared to the long tidy lines of mist nets most ornithologists set up in the early morning in a forest or wetland and wait patiently for the birds to fly in. Instead, we use short nets that we can position in front of swallow nests built on buildings, under bridges, and in culverts. Even less dignified, we use a long stick to poke the birds awake so they fly into the net. All of this is done with red lights, which are harder for the birds to see and don't affect our night vision. This is often accompanied by much hand waving and flailing with a short butterfly net to make sure the birds actually end up in the net. Don’t worry- the birds are not harmed because mist nets are specially designed to have rows of folded pockets or bails to gently hold small birds.
Once we locate active swallow nests, we can return under the cover of darkness and catch them by surprise (think bird ninja). Rather unglamorous compared to the long tidy lines of mist nets most ornithologists set up in the early morning in a forest or wetland and wait patiently for the birds to fly in. Instead, we use short nets that we can position in front of swallow nests built on buildings, under bridges, and in culverts. Even less dignified, we use a long stick to poke the birds awake so they fly into the net. All of this is done with red lights, which are harder for the birds to see and don't affect our night vision. This is often accompanied by much hand waving and flailing with a short butterfly net to make sure the birds actually end up in the net. Don’t worry- the birds are not harmed because mist nets are specially designed to have rows of folded pockets or bails to gently hold small birds.
This is exactly what we were doing for my first night of fieldwork in Malaysia. Except this time, instead of catching birds in barns, as I have down with barn swallows all over the world, I was on the banks of a jungle river. The river was brown and mysterious, its banks crowded with jungle plants and over hanging vines. Fisherman were catching prawns and fish from small boats and there were signs warning of crocodiles. The night was alive with the sounds of frogs, insects, and swifts and we saw at least one snake slither past our feet. The swallows had nested under bridges and docks and on near by buildings. Once, we nearly slide into the river because of the mud.
Besides our muddy shoes and clothes, the night was a great success! We caught 15 swallows (our goal for this location). And established a rhythm for how to take all the measurements, samples, and photos that we need from each bird and release them in a short time. We finished around 2 am and did not get to sleep till after 3. We finally woke up at 1pm the next day and ate one large meal around 4, not sure if it counted as breakfast, lunch, or dinner. Liz termed our state as reverse jetlag- adjusting to a new time zone and then ruining it by staying up all night catching birds.
I hope our good luck continues and that we are successful catching swallows as we move across Malaysia. Tomorrow we are off to the town of Kuching in the state of Sarawak on the island of Borneo.
I hope our good luck continues and that we are successful catching swallows as we move across Malaysia. Tomorrow we are off to the town of Kuching in the state of Sarawak on the island of Borneo.