It’s Global Big Day 2022 once again, and this time around, birders and birdwatchers can go anywhere in the country without the Covid19 restrictions and border crossing hassle.
After two whole years of lockdowns and restrictions, Malaysians can finally take part outdoors for Global Big Day in Malaysia 2022, and I visited the Shah Alam Botanical Gardens early this morning for my part.
Global Big Day in Malaysia 2022
Since Covid19 came around in 2020, much of the birding activities in the country were crippled as many national parks, botanical gardens and birding hotspots were closed due to the strict lockdowns.
Most birders did the previous Global Big Day in 2020 and 2021 from the comfort of their homes or their immediate surroundings with the common garden birds.
Global Big Day is an annual celebration of birds around you, and no matter where you are, you can help celebrate World Migratory Bird Day by sharing the birds you find with eBird. Participating is easy as anyone can be part of Global Big Day, even from home or from your office.
However, the buildup to GBD2022 was quite exciting as, by late 2021, the state borders had opened up, allowing birders to cross states for birdwatching and photography.
By April of 2022, international travel was allowed for several countries and some birders have already started travelling to explore the world of birds. Those who are still a little worried chose to stay back and explore their own backyard.
And even better news, the Fraser’s Hill International Bird Race 2022 is also taking place this coming July, and it will see quite a number of birders and bird photographers attending this birding event in Pahang.
For Global Big Day in Malaysia 2022, I personally went out early in the morning and visited the Shah Alam Botanical Garden (Taman Botani Shah Alam) with a few other birders from the Wild Bird Club Malaysia.
We met at the car park at 7.30 AM and headed in to walk and count some of the birds there. As it was a Saturday, the crowd visiting was getting larger, mainly due to the fact that many are still reluctant to travel abroad.
We must have spotted at least 20 species here in the first hour of our bird walk, stopping every 10 meters as the bird waves were in and out, with several common and uncommon birds sighted.
I left by 10.00 AM while some of the other WBCM members continued their Global Big Day count here. For me, those three hours were quite exciting as I managed 32 species of birds which included the White-rumped Shama that was singing causally in the open. My checklist was uploaded to eBird and you can find it below as I have provided a link there.
The last article I wrote for this event was Global Big Day 2019, way before Covid 19 hit worldwide and when things were great for the birding industry. In 2020 and 2021, I did not do any coverage due to the pandemic, and hopefully, the avian tourism industry will slowly get back to normal.
Conclusion
I’m sure many birders out there had a field day for Global Big Day in Malaysia 2022 and submitted their findings to eBird by the end of the day. As for me, I managed to submit several lists as I was out since 6.00 AM.
You can also view my eBird profile to see my submission and possibly become friends there. Well, I hardly use eBird, but only for Global Big Day. Maybe I will start to submit more of my birding lists when I have more time.
