Birdwatching at Malim Nawar

 

For those planning to do some birdwatching at Malin Nawar, you are in for some shorebird luck. This old tin-mining town called Malim Nawar has also been recently slated to be developed into a bird sanctuary.

This peaceful secluded place has seen several local birders and conservationists come here over the last few years for general birding and surveying, including me, who explored on a half-day trip here in 2022.

Birdwatching at Malim Nawar

Malim Nawar and its surrounding tin mining area are quite popular for migrating shorebirds from October to March. It has been the talk among nature enthusiasts and conservationists in recent years.

 

On the last official survey, Ecotourism and Conservation Society Malaysia spent a few days doing a bird count. It recorded a total of 184 different species of birds in the wetlands of Malin Nawar.

According to the conservationists, there are eight sites in the core area where the surveys took place. One of the shorebirds spotted was the Little Cormorant, found at only two locations in Peninsular Malaysia — Kinta Nature Park in Batu Gajah and Malim Nawar. This sought-after bird is known in Malay as Pependang Kecil, and many birders or photographers aim to see this beautiful shorebird.

Malim Nawar is also one of the stopovers for migratory birds during the winter season, with many birds coming from countries like China, Taiwan, Japan, South Korea and Eastern Russia.

What Birds Can You See at Malim Nawar?

When I visited in early 2022, I explored many of the abandoned mining ponds concisely and saw quite a few water birds here. However, based on other people’s visits, their list of birds that can be seen here are;

1. Asian Glossy Starling
2. Black-winged Stilt
3. Eurasian Tree Sparrow
4. House Crow
5. Spotted Dove
6. Little Cormorant
7. Long-toed Stint
8. Common Myna
9. Common Sandpiper
10. Wood Sandpiper
11. Snipe species
12. Oriental Pratincole
13. Black-crowned Night Heron
14. Grey Heron
15. Pond Heron
16. Purple Heron
17. Straited Heron
18. Cattle Egret
19. Great Egret
20. Intermediate Egret
21. Little Egret
22. Red-wattled Lapwing
23. White-throated Kingfisher

 

 

 

Overall, there has been a record of 83 species of birds identified at Malim Nawar to date, but there has not been any official list done. These are from surveys done by Ecomy and MNS. A total of 42 bird families make up the species identified.

How to go to Malim Nawar?

Malim Nawar is a short drive from Kampar and can be visited in half a day. But one must leave KL city at about 5.00 AM to reach here by around 7.30 AM as it takes two and a half hours to drive here.

Once you reach Kampar, you can opt to drive via Jalan Batu Sinar to pass the many mining ponds along the way to Malim Nawar. You can make several stops to spot birds here, but be careful where you stop as the roads are narrow here.

Plans to Turn Malim Jawa into a Bird Sanctuary

A local councilman Leong Cheok Keng, the Malim Nawar assemblyman, had initiated the survey for potential bird watching and the general area’s eco-tourism potential. He has since forwarded the report to the state government requesting an increase in facilities and promoting Malim Nawar as a tourism and bird-watching area.

Conclusion to Birdwatching at Malim Nawar

You can also read some of my other articles on birdwatching in Perak. For anyone who wants to see the Little Cormorant and other shorebirds, Malim Nawar and its surrounding area are great places to visit. You can also visit one of the last remaining tin mining dredges, the Tanjung Tualang Dredge No 5.

There is also some awesome food to be discovered around Kampar; therefore, those doing birdwatching at Malim Nawar can spend half a day here and be back in KL after lunch.