RIP Dr Ivan Polunin 12th Dec 1920-21st Dec 2010

Photograph by Dr Ivan Polunin, Bruce Coleman, Picturequest
Sourced online from : http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/ngm/tellus/0205/tellus4.html

Dr Ivan Polunin, one of the very few leading SE Asian firefly researchers, passed away 21st December 2010 after a short heart related illness. He is suvived by wife Madam Fam Siew Yin and daughters Nadya and Olga Polunin.

May his path henceforth shine bright and luminous.

MNS CFZ Workshop at Kelab Rekreasi Petroleum, Lutong 11-12th December 2010

Dr Mahadimenakbar Dawood, ITBC, University Malaysia Sabah expounding on the Firefly Survey and Monitoring Manual developed by his colleagues Wan Faridah Ahmad Jusoh and Nor Rashidah Hashim, University Putra Malaysia at the MNS Miri Congregating Firefly Zone Workshop organised by MNS Miri Branch at Kelab Rekreasi Petroleum Lutong, Miri Sarawak.

Flickering fireflies from our favorite haunt at Kpg Kuala Sibuti. Ten participants from the workshop piled into two 4WDs that trudged through the coastal highway to witness and photograph the spectacle along kampong road.

The 2nd part of the workshop today will cover observations made at Kpg Kuala Sibuti, SWOT analysis of past observations made in Miri as well as key items to look for in identifying fireflies in the field.

The rest of the afternoon will be spent on discussing key deliverables for Congregating Firefly Zone Northern Sarawak Survey 2010 by MNS Miri CFZ team as well deliberations on the way forward for CFZNSS2010 and future firefly work in Malaysia in general.

Examples of different species of Pteroptyx fireflies of Sabah from Dr Mahadimenakbar Dawood, ITBC, University Malaysia Sabah.

Dr Mahadi and MNS Miri Branch CFZ Team going over the firefly data collected over 2010.

Nazeri Abghani/MNS Miri

MNS CFZ Workshop at Kelab Rekreasi Petroleum Lutong this weekend.

Dear Participants,

Greetings from the Malaysian Nature Society Miri Branch (MNS Miri).

We are pleased to inform you that our MNS CFZ Workshop will take place this weekend 11-12th December at Kelab Rekreasi Petroleum, Lutong. Workshop registration will start at 1300hrs at Meeting Room No. 2. Please be prompt.

MNS Miri Branch under the funding of the Congregating Firefly Zone Survey Northern Sarawak 2010 by MNS Merdeka Fund, is currently compiling baseline data on congregating firefly zones (CFZ) of the mangrove lined rivers in Northern Sarawak. The work started in August 2010 at the branch level and will continue until April 2010. The project aims to create a CFZ directory for Northern Sarawak which hopefully will eventually culminate in a number of candidate locations suitable as targets for conservation or rural eco-tourism development.This particular workshop organised in Miri hopes to share the experiences and enthusiasm to date on the firefly survey and monitoring work in a 1.5 dayclassroom sessions and one evening fieldwork session.

Participants are expected to cover their own travel and accommodation expenses for the duration of their stay in Miri, they will be provided relevant materials and group meals. Transport to and from fieldsites will be provided by the organisers or carpool.

We hope at the conclusion of the workshop participants will have had good exposure about firefly conservation in Malaysia and several concrete ideas and steps to further improve the collective work in CFZ in Malaysia in general. It is also our fervent hope that the sharing of experiences on methodology and practical learnings during the event will spur further activities in firefly survey and monitoring in Sabah and Sarawak.


Further details:

Congregating Firefly Zone Survey and Monitoring Workshop
Venue: Kelab Rekreasi Petroleum, 98100 Lutong, Sarawak
Date: 11-12th December 2010

With the objective of learning the basics about fireflies, methodologies and techniques for firefly survey and monitoring, the workshop hopes to share the collective experiences and enthusiasm to date on firefly work in Malaysia and abroad in a two day classroom sessions and an evening of fieldwork gathering firefly data at a selected local site.

At the conclusion of the workshop, participants will have had good exposure to firefly conservation initiatives in Malaysia and overseas, understanding of key firefly survey and monitoring techniques as well as opportunities to explore concrete ideas and steps to further improve the collective work in CFZ. This will hopefully lead to ways to advocate for their conservation.

It is our fervent hope that the the event will spur further activities in firefly survey and monitoring in Sabah and Sarawak in general.

MAIN RESOURCE
Sonny Wong Senior Conservation Officer, MNS Conservation Division
Dr Mahadimenakbar Mohamed Dawood Institute of Tropical Biodiversity and Conservation, University Malaysia Sabah
Musa Musbah Project Executor, CFZ Survey Northern Sarawak 2010, MNS Miri Branch


PROGRAM
Saturday 11th December 2010
1300-1400 hrs Registration at Meeting Room No. 2 KRP
1400-1415 hrs Introduction to MNS
1415-1500 hrs Introduction to Fireflies and bioluminescent organisms
1530-1600 hrs MNS Firefly and Habitat Conservation Initiatives
1600-1700 hrs CFZ Survey and Monitoring Techniques I
1700-2000 hrs CFZ Site Assessment and Survey Sg Adong
2100 hrs Group Dinner (venue to be confirmed)

Sunday 12th December 2010
0800-0900 hrs Group discussion on findings from Sg Adong/Sg Maloi
0900-1000 hrs CFZ Survey and Monitoring II
1000-1200 hrs Identifying fireflies in the field MMD,MM
1200-1400 hrs Group Lunch at Kelab Rekreasi Petroleum Lutong
1400-1415 hrs Introduction to CFZ Survey Northern Sarawak 2010
1415-1500 hrs Progress CFZ Northern Sarawak 2010
1500-1600 hrs Compiling and Interpreting CFZ Data
1600-1700 hrs General discussion of the way forward with CFZ
1700 hrs Closing and end of Workshop

Note*:
In the event of rain or foul weather, the fieldsurvey of fireflies of Sg Adong will be conducted on the 2nd day of the course.

Participants are expected to cover their own travel and accommodation expenses for the duration of the course and relevant group meals. Transport to and from fieldsites will be provided by the organisers.

Partcipants to please revert with the following details to facilitate your access to KRP :
a) Full name, IC and HP no.
b) Car registration no.
c) whether you are able to furnish life-jackets for the planned boat-trip on Saturday.

If you have any further questions please do not hesitate to revert to this email. If you require direction to KRP, please indicate in your reply email.

Thank you.

Yours Sincerely,
Nazeri Abghani
Project Lead, CFZ Survey Northern Sarawak 2010
MNS Miri Branch
nabghani@yahoo.com/016-8542212

Finally our precious find : firefly larvae

We finally found our precious firefly larvae!!!

Sparkling diamonds in the sky and beremban of Kpg Kuala Sibuti

The skyline just after sunset.

Right after the first community outreach program for the Congregating Firefly Zone Survey Northern Sarawak 2010 at Pustaka Miri, a few of us (Musa, Nazeri, Clare, Sim, Iqbal, Sue, Ali and Aisya) decided to extend the euphoria of the day just that bit further by making a trip to Kpg Kuala Sibuti via Kpg Pejuang Kelulit to stake out fireflies.

The drive was a few minutes shy of an hour from Miri City along the Coastal Road pass Bekenu junction, along Kpg Pejuang Kelulit along decent single lane road leading to Kpg Kuala Sibuti. Wheb we reached the area, the tide was just rising and the sun was just setting.

We waited for the little Coleopteras to reveal themselves. As the lights diminished, the twinkling sparkles started. And what a show it was, from one beremban tree to the next, it was awesome. The fact that the site was by the roadside made it even more exciting, easily accessible.

The children were thrilled to bits as more fireflies revealed themselves. Some started to fly here and there, some decided to take the adventurous route crossing the road to where we were.

The clear skies revealed more sparkling diamonds, this time the stars in the very sky above our heads, being away from bright city lights, the Milky Way made a magnificent show.

Amongst the base of mangroves, on the waterline, 4 pairs of eyes were constantly watching us all the while. There were three juvvy crocs nearby and perhaps a mama croc if not an adolescent watching us from slightly further away. They were all probably wondering what these two legged creatures were fussing about in the neighbourhood. Sparkling diamonds in the skies and amongst the beremban trees are probably commonplace for them.

We left the spot just before 9pm on a high note ... not often on a landas nite in Sarawak.


Mangrove lined waterways, seemed ideal habitat for crocodiles and fireflies.


As the nite enveloped the mangroves, the beremban started to flicker.


Sparkling diamonds in the beremban trees by the roadside.


More fireflies dancing the mating dance on their last few days on earth, what a way to go.


Fireflies, spectacular show as the nite gets darker and darker.


Sparkling diamonds in the sky.

Write-up and pictures by Nazeri Abghani/MNS Miri/CFZ Project/Nov 2010.

CFZ Community Outreach at Pustaka Miri

One of the key activities for CFZ Survey Northern Sarawak 2010 as stipulated in the project document is in situ community engagement via activities with schools and local community; through presentations and fieldtrips in selected key urban centers within each zonal divisions.

Several of our fireflies night time recce work have included rivers withing the Miri area, some in urban centers such as Miri. Sg Miri as have recently been found to harbor a respectable number of display trees along it's bank. It seemed appropriate that we kicked off our first CFZ event at Pustaka Negari Sarawak Miri Branch, centrally located and well equipped for the occasion.

The day started off with a coloring contest in the morning emceed by Faye Osman, Branch Chair and facilitated by Ahmad Samsudin, librarian and event focal point and his able crew. Several branch members were on hand to assist including Anura Dason, Branch Vice-chair; Puteri Shariza Megat Khaled, Branch Secretary; and Musa Musbah, key event resource and CFZ Project Executor.


A portion of our young participants, CFZ project team, branch members and the public at the start of the Firefly presentation.


Encik Musa Musbah, biostratigrapher specialising in nano-plankton fossils giving as talk in his role as Project Executor for CFZSNS 2010.


From the left: Faye Osman (Branch Chair), Yung Lin Lim (MNS Miri-Reefcheck) and Anura Dason (Branch Vice-chair). Behid them from the left are CFZ project volunteers D. Dodge-Wan and S. Wong.


Students and parents listening to the talk.


Our young artists and their winning artwork post prize giving.

Almost forty children participated in the coloring contest, ranging in age from age 9 to 12 years old. Eager parents also came along to givesupport and encouragement.

Several schools took the advantage of the post-exam lull to send their students to the event chaperoned by their teachers. The coloring contest tself lasted for 2hrs with a short lunch break before the start of the actual talk and slideshow, Pustaka has generously sponsored packed lunch for participating children and facilitators.

At the talk, Musa covered introductions to fireflies which included types of fireflies found in Sarawak, their lifecycle, research and conservation. The audience was also given the latest update on CFZ work in Miri by our project team to date. Relevant links between fireflies and a healthy river system as well as the need for more work in the area were well highlighted by Musa.

At the same event, MNS Miri-Reefcheck took the opportunity to give an update about the recent activities of the project via a presentation by Yung Lin Lim. Several training sessions with major stakeholders have been completed, all of which included local divers. Yung Lin also presented a brief overview of the results of reef surveys to date.

Concluding the talks, three top winners (sponsored by Miri Branch); three consolation prizes (sponsored by Pustaka) including one lucky draw (a one-year MNS family membership sponsored by branch) were handed out by Anura and Ahmad during a short ceremony at the end of the talk.

Future community outreach activities by the branch would target riverside communities along rivers and the coasts such as Kpg Kuala Nyalau along Sg Nyalau (cfz completed oct 2010), Bekenu town along upper Sg Sibuti, Kpg Kuala Sibuti at the estuary of Sg Sibuti (cfz completed oct 2010), Kpg Bakam (cfz outstanding) along Sg Bakam, Kpg Kuala Niah and Kpg Kuala Suai for Sg Niah (cfz completed Aug 2010) and Kpg Kuala Suai (cfz planned for Q1 2011).

All these activities will be delivered together with members from branch project teams. Coral reef, dolphins, waterbirds and fireflies are the perfect four combined for this in community awareness sessions.

Article and pictures by Nazeri Abghani/MNS Miri/CFZSNS2010

MNS Firefly Survey and Monitoring Workshop

CFZ Firefly Survey team after having concluded a survey of Sg Nyalau, Kpg Kuala Nyalau last October. Photo by Sara Wong.

The MNS Miri Branch together with MNS Conservation Division, would like to invite participants to the MNS Miri Firefly Survey and Monitoring Workshop to be held in Miri, Sarawak from 11-12th December 2010.

Venue : Kelab Shell Petroleum, Lutong
Date : 11 and 12th December 2010

Our main resource for the course will be Sonny Wong, Senior Conservation Officer, MNS Conservation Division and Dr Mahadimenakbar Mohamed Dawood, Institute of Tropical Biodiversity and Conservation, University Malaysia Sabah. Musa Musbah, Project Executor for CFZ Survey Northern Sarawak will also share his experiences to date with Sarawak fireflies.

Participants are expected to cover their own travel and accommodation expenses for the duration of the course, they will be provided materials and relevant group meals. Transport to and from fieldsites will be provided by the organisers.

MNS Miri Branch under the funding of the Congregating Firefly Zone Survey Northern Sarawak 2010 by MNS Merdeka Fund, is currently compiling a baseline data on congregating firefly zones (CFZ) of the mangrove lined rivers in Northern Sarawak.

The project started in August 2010 at the branch level and will continue until April 2010. The project aims to create a CFZ directory for Northern Sarawak which hopefully will eventually culminate in a number of candidate locations suitable as targets for conservation or rural eco-tourism development.

MNS Miri Branch welcomes contribution from other Branch members in East Malaysia, UNIMAS, UMS, government agencies as well as members of the public to help in the compilation of the CFZ in Northern Sarawak. It is also hoped that this work will be replicated to other regions in Sarawak as well as in Sabah. The directory will be made available to the respective State Governments for conservation of the firefly and the mangroves habitat or potential eco-tourism activities.

This particular workshop organised in Miri hopes to share the experiences and enthusiasm to date on the firefly survey and monitoring work in a two day classroom sessions and one evening fieldwork session.

We hope at the conclusion of the course participants will have had good exposure about firefly conservation in Malaysia and several concrete ideas and steps to further improve the collective work in CFZ in Malaysia in general.

It is also our fervent hope that the sharing of experiences on methodology and practical learnings during the course will spur further activities in firefly survey and monitoring in Sabah and Sarawak.

Please contact the organiser for further information:

Nazeri Abghani, MNS Miri Branch
nabghani@yahoo.com or please call 085-453185/016-8542212

(Program details are available upon request).

CFZ Firefly Upper Sibuti River 30th Oct 2010

CFZ Firefly Upper Sibuti River 30th Oct 2010
Upper Sibuti Firefly Night Time Assessment
Observers Name : Rebeca Cruz, Dominique, Sim, Anura, Aju, Nazeri, and Musa.


3 km Upper Sibuti River with 19 Display trees

River Water Property:
Specific gravity 1.002
Water temperature of 26.5° C
Air temperature is 24.0° C.
We set off from the jetty 18:30hrs.

Fieldnotes Upper Sibuti River CFZ Firefly
Survey Date : 30th. October 2010

START Time: 18:30
COMPLETION Time: 19:30

PHYSICAL CONDITION:
a. Moon: Last quarter, with no moon visible due to rain

cloud.
b. Weather : Raining throughout the survey.
Relative Humidity: Wet
Temperature: Cold.
Water pH : 6
Wind : Windy

c. River Condition Current: No current, Rain runoff.
Boat used: Yamaha 15 hp and 3 hp
Survey Average Speed 6 Km/hr. Tide: high

Sungai Sibuti on 30 October 2010 (evening - tide rising)


Location Ambiant temperature River temperature

River SG River pH
Waypoint 284 24.0 26.5 1.002 6.0
Waypoint286 24.0 26.5 1.002 6.0
Waypoint 290 24.7 27.6 (not taken) 5.0

31-Oct-10
Sg Sibuti at HQ Sibuti Wildlife Sanctury 10am, falling tide

1.004 6.5
Sea water at Bungai Beach 11am, falling tide 1.020 7.5



WPT Date Time Side Fauna Estimate count
273 30-Oct-10 18:30 Left Firefly 5
274 30-Oct-10 18:33 Right Firefly 5
275 30-Oct-10 18:33 Right Firefly 5
276 30-Oct-10 18:35 Right Firefly 5
277 30-Oct-10 18:36 Right Firefly 10
278 30-Oct-10 18:38 Right Firefly 5
279 30-Oct-10 18:38 Right Firefly 5
280 30-Oct-10 18:46 Right Firefly 5
281 30-Oct-10 18:47 Right Firefly 15
282 30-Oct-10 18:51 Left Firefly 5
283 30-Oct-10 18:55 Left Crocodile 1
284 30-Oct-10 19:00 Left Firefly 20
285 30-Oct-10 19:07 Right Firefly 10
286 30-Oct-10 19:11 Right Firefly 50
287 30-Oct-10 19:13 Right Firefly 10
288 30-Oct-10 19:14 R and Left Firefly 50
289 30-Oct-10 19:18 Right Firefly 30
290 30-Oct-10 19:19 Right Firefly 50
291 30-Oct-10 19:31 Left Firefly 50

CFZ Firefly Survey Nyalau River 9th Oct 2010

Nyalau Firefly Night Time Assessment Observers Name : Sim, Sara, Zeanna, Nazeri, and Musa.


8.5 km of Nyalau River survey on 9 Oct 2010.


Our survey team at Sg Nyalau : Sim, Affendy, Nazeri, Musa, Zeana. Sara took the photo so was on the opposite side of the picture. Photo by SW.


Our humble abode for the nite of CFZ. Photo by NA.

Jetty/Berth Location: Affendy Jetty. Location: 3°38'27.39"N 113° 33'08.20"E

Nyalau is 136 km Southeast of Miri and was once a well known fishing village. It used to be only accessible from the sea. The majority of people living there are the Brunei Malay. Since the opening of the new alternative road to Bintulu the place is now easily reached via this new road. My mother used to tell me a story of my great grandfather who was a fisherman, who sailed with his small sail boat to Nyalau from Miri. He related stories of meeting Nyalau folks bartering rice with dried sea products. It was during my younger days that I wanted to visit this place. In those days, rivers and seas were the only mode of connection between people living along the coast.

Most of the estuarine villages became quite well known. People took shelter in these villages and traded with the occupants along the way.

It is also well known that Kuala Nyalau is a great place for fishing. The fish there were reputedly stonger and more powerful than many other surrounding rivers nearby.

Sg Nyalau is one of the rivers on the list for our CFZ survey. A week earlier I was here to make arrangement for a boat and accomodation for the MNS Miri Branch survey party. I took the opportunity then to bring my son and his friends to fish for barramundi and mangrove jack. There were other people doing the same too. While fishing we saw an egret, a Collared Kingfisher and an Asian Black Hornbill flying among the casuarina trees nearby. We heard a sudden big splash from the other side of the rivermouth, apparently a crocodile was seen jumping out of the water probably trying to catch a bird flying across.

Last Saturday the MNS Miri bRanch team comprised of Sara, Zeana, Sim, Nazeri. Each was assigned a particular task while on the boat. Sara was assigned to record our encounter on the logbook. Zeana was assigned to record our GPS position and that of the display trees. I am to take water pH, temperature and density. Nazeri was to catch firefly sample and Sim to secure collected samples into labeled bottles. That nite, we had Affendy Gudang from the village as our boatman.

We started our survey at 6:33 pm. The sky is still bright with a low thin cloud. While waiting for darkness to come, we slowly maneuvered up river with a 15hp Yamaha outboard motor. The water pH is 5 and air temperature is 26.3° C and water temp was 25.8° C. The wind is gently blowing, the reason why most of the display firefly is positioned just above water, slighly below the tree lines where the wind is at its lowest speed. The first single firefly was detected at WPT 232 at 6:35pm.


Sim and Sara admiring a particularly interesting display tree along our traverse. Photo by NA.

While going up river our concentration was on the fireflies display. We only happen to see two crocodiles, when Affendy pointed them to us. The river is lined up with nipah trees and sporadic bakau and berembang trees. The only other fauna at the river are mosquitoes and small insects. We came across a Black-crown Night Heron and several unidentified bats flying away from us.

Thorughout the nite we can flashes of lightning hidden by heavy clouds. As we reach the 8 km mark, we were warned by the boatman that the river at this point to turn back due to high occurrence of submerged logs in the river. We read water ph at this point again that read pH 5 and water temperature of 25.4° C and air temperature at 25.5° C.


Cruising at slow speeds along Sg Nyalau, from the estuary to Kpg Nyalau Tengah. Photo by NA.

We backtracked and we noticed that the trees that bear fireflies did not diplay anymore. My experience tell me that bad weather is coming and that the reason the fireflies were a bit not showing off that night. On the way back we move a bit faster and the boat man is able to scanned the river with our powerful search light. We counted 25 crocodile along the way back.


Leaves of the Bakau Tree where the fireflies normally congregate. Photo by MM.


Typical vegetation along the river, fireflies were present on both the bakau trees and nipah palms. Photo by NA.

It was a surprise that most crocodile concentration is close to the river mouth. We saw two juveniles on the beach very close to teh house we rented.. We concluded our survey at 8:30pm.

While the girls are preparing dinner I went out to river mouth, to see the crocodile that we saw earlier from the boat. I saw the crocodile only few feet from the water's edge. It came close to investigate my LED headlight, probably mesmerised by the light, I did not bring a camera and slowly move back to take my camera that I left at the house. It look might be a 2 meter length crocodile. I got back to house as dinner was being served. We had papaya and noodles that nite mixed with canned anchovies and sambal prawn. Delicious!

Our plan to check out the beach after dark (for crocodiles and others) as well as a nitewalk to look for firefly larvae went to nought when heavy rain started minutes after dinner. What a waste!

The night was quite except for the humming of generators in the distance. The brushing of the coconut leaves against the zinc roof is sometimes annoying, but it was sort of quirky. The night is cool and we made sure the mozzies stayed well away with several smaking mosquito coils in the house. We all had a goodnite's sleep.

After breakfast we head straight to the beach. We found a crocodile track nearby. Nazeri and me tried our luck casting for barramundi. While casing there I could see the fine bubbles jus meter from where I was fishing. This is clearly bubbles made by a crocodile, as described to me by my geat grandfather.

While we fish Sara went out far to the river mouth bank where an old lady is fishing a mantis shrimp. She use a rattan thorn to fish the mantis out from a meter in the sand.

Zeanna and Sim were busy cleaning up the house in preparation for our departure, they joined us later for a short walk on the beach. We packed up and left Kpg Kuala Nyalau around 10am.

We reach Miri at 12:30 pm after a short recce excursion to Kpg Kuala Sibuti.


A tell tale sign of a crocodile, "I was here!" not 15 feet from where we slept the nite before. Photo by MM.

River Water Property:
Specific gravity 1.000
Water temperature of 25.8° C
Air temperature is 26.3° C.
We set off from the jetty 18:33hrs.

Fieldnotes Nyalau CFZ Firefly
Survey Date : 9th. October 2010

START Time: 18:35
COMPLETION Time: 20:03

PHYSICAL CONDITION:
a. Moon No moon
b. Weather 80% Cloud covered sky, and raining at end of survey.
Relative Humidity: Low
Temperature: Cold.
Water pH : 5
Specific gravity: At jetty 1.000
Wind : Slight breeze No Haze

c. River Condition Current: Fast moving down, Clear rain runoff water.
Boat used: Yamaha 5 hp.
Survey Average Speed 6 Km/hr. Tide: high

WPT Time Coordinate Side Amount
232 18:35 N3 38.417 E113 23.274 Right 1
233 18:38 N3 38.341 E113 23.410 Right 1
234 18:44 N3 38.204 E113 23.592 Right 1
235 18:45 N3 38.178 E113 23.624 Right 20
236 18:49 N3 38.172 E113 23.626 Right 20
237 18:52 N3 38.141 E113 23.660 Left 50
238 18:53 N3 38.116 E113 23.677 Right 50
239 18:54 N3 38.115 E113 23.678 Left 30
241 19:00 N3 37.935 E113 23.912 Left 20
242 19:00 N3 37.899 E113 23.903 Left 10
243 19:02 N3 37.792 E113 23.860 Right 5
244 19:03 N3 37.759 E113 23.866 Right 5
245 19:04 N3 37.731 E113 23.898 Right 30
246 19:05 N3 37.732 E113 23.922 Right 150
250 19:10 N3 37.770 E113 23.971 Left 20
251 19:10 N3 37.769 E113 23.997 Left 10
252 19:12 N3 37.695 E113 24.027 Left 5
253 19:12 N3 37.679 E113 24.030 Right 50
254 19:16 N3 37.582 E113 24.184 Left 10
255 19:17 N3 37.679 E113 24.192 Right 50
256 19:19 N3 37.702 E113 24.292 Flying 1
257 19:21 N3 37.654 E113 24.439 Left 150
259 19:26 N3 37.483 E113 24.349 Left 100
260 19:27 N3 37.425 E113 24.339 Right,Big tree 150
261 19:30 N3 37.385 E113 24.505 Left 20
262 19:32 N3 37.481 E113 24.553 Left 150
263 19:35 N3 37.574 E113 24.694 Left 20
264 19:44 N3 37.245 E113 24.904 Left 300
265 19:48 N3 37.130 E113 25.059 Left 20
266 19:49 N3 37.071 E113 25.044 Right 300
268 19:55 N3 36.792 E113 24.916 Right 150
269 19:56 N3 36.778 E113 24.925 Left 20
270 19:58 N3 36.781 E113 25.052 Left 50
271 19:59 N3 36.792 E113 25.093 Right 10



Article by Musa Musbah/MNS Miri/Oct 2010

Walking in the rain in Kpg Bakam

Sara, Steve, JJ, Musa, Nazeri, Sim, Ali, Chris, Anura, Ernyza and Dominique promptly gathered at the Marriot lobby to our anticipated nite-walk to Kpg Bakam. There were stories of bright eyes shining in the nite, and of sparkling fireflies by the villagers.


Our 1.7 km one wet nite in September.

It's been a rather wet week in Miri, it was anticipated to be the same this nite. It was already drizzling lightly as I was driving to our agreed meeting place. The participants arrived at the lobby one by one, the drizzle kept drizzling. Sim arrived first after me, we immediately set off after Sara drove into the parking lot.

We went straight to Kpg Bakam where we met our guide, one of the kampong's old timer very familiar with the area. We set off to the head of the trail, our guide carried with him a shotgun apparently as a safety precaution. Rumour has it that several sightings of leopard have been reported in the area. There's also the potential of wildboars.

The rain didn't any signs of stopping as we walked into the trail. Some put out their umbrellas, some donned their plastic raincoat while others simply enjoyed the cool drops as they walked along.

The nite was dark with no signs of stars in the sky only sparkling droplets of falling rain, by then the drizzle has progressed to light rain. The surrounding grasses and vegetaion were, the path only barely lit by torchlight revealing the meandering path white fine sands.

We crossed our first obstacle in the form of a bamboo bridge. It was a small adreline rush for some considring the 10 feet drop off with only a shaky bamboo structure between us and the wet below. Everybody crossed safely. The path further on was quite, it seemed devoid of life other than bats, small frogs and some insetcs. The rain didn't help matters, earlier we decided to cut short the trek.

We crossed a couple more bridges soon after. The last bridge was probably the most exciting : it wasnt actually a bridge but just a fallen big tree which has been fashioned into a bridge with nails and handrails. It's was inlined 30 degrees into the river we were crossing. It was too much for some of us, Steve chose to wet his feet by walking across the river.

Throughout the whole trek we discovered only two roving fireflies which were too high up to net as samples; bats; a large forest cockroach; a pair of stick insects and some nasty ants. Everyone agreed that we should attempt this trail again in better weather for the fireflies and perhaps once during the day to assess birdlife in the area.

We ended our nite time trek around 9:30pm after having traversed 1.7 kms of the landscape in the rain.


Those who made the cut.


Forging a stream in the nite.


Tip-toeing on a rickety bamboo bridge with a 10ft dro-off.

Article by Musa Musbah/MNS Miri/Sep 2010
Photos by Jia Jun Law/MNS Miri/Sep 2010

Upcoming CFZ Outings in the Miri area

MNS Miri Branch is going on after sunset rivercruise in September and October. More similar nature trips are being planned for the months of November and December.

Malaysia is one of the few South-East Asian countries with fireflies that congregate on “display trees” along both sides of mangrove-lined rivers. The insects can even be found congregating up to 100m inland from the riverbank where they breed.

As Malaysia is at the centre of the firefly region that stretches from India to Papua New Guinea, we are fortunate to have a relatively high diversity of the insect. Of the over 20 species of fireflies, Malaysia hosts seven.

Of these, the most familiar would be the Pteroptyx tener, also known as the congregating or synchronous firefly.These fireflies typically congregate in groups along riverbanks and synchronise their flashes, thereby creating the light display that so many people gather to witness. (Wong, Sonny:MNS, 2009)

There is every little information if any on fireflies in Sarawak, these outings are a part of a major branch effort to populate fireflies data in the greater Miri area and gain better understanding of firefy population in these rivers.

Outings planned for September and October months:
1) 4WD Nite-cruise in Kpg Bakam, 04th September
2) Rivercruise along Sungai Bakam 25th September (retimed)
3) 4WD Nite-cruise in Lambir area, 02nd October
4) Rivercruise along Sungai Nyalau 09-10th October, this is an overnite trip.
5) Rivercruise along Sungai Sibuti upper reaches 30-31st October, this is an overnight trip.

Join us for an after sunset cruise at these places to checkout fireflies (among other things).

There are limited seats available. Interested participants must bring life-jacket (rivercruise only), and since this is a working trip participants are expected to be able to conduct small assigned tasks while in the boat.

Please email mnsmiri@yahoo.com for details.

CFZ Updates after the International Firefly Symposium

Having attended from the 2nd International Firefly Symposium and the two weeks Asian Firefly Taxonomy Course in Kuala Lumpur, several firefly researchers descended upon Miri for a quick look see of the our local firefly scene.

Lynn Faust, Luis Vasconcelos, Maria, Jose and I completed a run of firefly display tree count of Miri, Niah and Likau rivers.


Sungai Miri GPS track, 10th August 2010.

The Sungai Miri segment was conducted on the 10th August 2010 from 1910 – 2115hr covering 16 kilometres in total starting from Mat Shah Jetty all the way up to the Maloi junction, some 1 kilometre past the Taniku ferry point. All five of us were in one boat.

101 display trees were recorded with a display estimate of between 20 – 500 individual fireflies for each tree.

The peak display period for this area was recorded between 1930 to 2030hr.

Miri Fireflies Display Trees 10 Aug 2010
Miri River Track profile
Lenght 16.0 km
Average 7.8 km/hr

WPT Date Time Co-ordinate
6 10-AUG-10 19:12:16 N4 27.181 E114 01.328
7 10-AUG-10 19:12:22 N4 27.174 E114 01.327
9 10-AUG-10 19:13:46 N4 27.083 E114 01.319
10 10-AUG-10 19:14:22 N4 27.052 E114 01.315
11 10-AUG-10 19:15:33 N4 26.986 E114 01.306
12 10-AUG-10 19:19:38 N4 26.726 E114 01.291
13 10-AUG-10 19:20:59 N4 26.656 E114 01.335
14 10-AUG-10 19:21:03 N4 26.654 E114 01.337
15 10-AUG-10 19:22:43 N4 26.562 E114 01.395
16 10-AUG-10 19:25:09 N4 26.417 E114 01.454
17 10-AUG-10 19:25:22 N4 26.402 E114 01.456
18 10-AUG-10 19:27:52 N4 26.243 E114 01.483
19 10-AUG-10 19:28:20 N4 26.216 E114 01.484
20 10-AUG-10 19:29:13 N4 26.164 E114 01.490
21 10-AUG-10 19:30:21 N4 26.098 E114 01.502
22 10-AUG-10 19:32:19 N4 25.975 E114 01.517
23 10-AUG-10 19:35:38 N4 25.745 E114 01.499
24 10-AUG-10 19:37:18 N4 25.625 E114 01.504
25 10-AUG-10 19:39:11 N4 25.493 E114 01.494
26 10-AUG-10 19:42:19 N4 25.286 E114 01.361
27 10-AUG-10 19:46:03 N4 25.003 E114 01.266
28 10-AUG-10 19:46:41 N4 24.957 E114 01.240
29 10-AUG-10 19:51:41 N4 24.683 E114 01.407
30 10-AUG-10 19:53:13 N4 24.697 E114 01.560
31 10-AUG-10 19:56:47 N4 24.777 E114 01.913
32 10-AUG-10 19:58:29 N4 24.885 E114 02.042
33 10-AUG-10 20:07:05 N4 24.669 E114 02.521
34 10-AUG-10 20:07:16 N4 24.657 E114 02.517
35 10-AUG-10 20:08:09 N4 24.596 E114 02.519
36 10-AUG-10 20:10:10 N4 24.562 E114 02.631
37 10-AUG-10 20:10:37 N4 24.567 E114 02.662
38 10-AUG-10 20:10:58 N4 24.571 E114 02.686
39 10-AUG-10 20:11:18 N4 24.575 E114 02.710
40 10-AUG-10 20:12:49 N4 24.569 E114 02.819
41 10-AUG-10 20:13:28 N4 24.593 E114 02.854
42 10-AUG-10 20:13:55 N4 24.620 E114 02.870
43 10-AUG-10 20:14:49 N4 24.670 E114 02.906
44 10-AUG-10 20:15:08 N4 24.675 E114 02.927
45 10-AUG-10 20:15:59 N4 24.631 E114 02.957
46 10-AUG-10 20:17:04 N4 24.560 E114 02.939
47 10-AUG-10 20:17:24 N4 24.536 E114 02.937
48 10-AUG-10 20:17:50 N4 24.509 E114 02.948
49 10-AUG-10 20:18:21 N4 24.478 E114 02.967
50 10-AUG-10 20:19:02 N4 24.441 E114 02.990
51 10-AUG-10 20:19:24 N4 24.422 E114 03.008
52 10-AUG-10 20:19:46 N4 24.402 E114 03.022
53 10-AUG-10 20:20:44 N4 24.364 E114 03.070
54 10-AUG-10 20:21:25 N4 24.383 E114 03.107
55 10-AUG-10 20:22:21 N4 24.425 E114 03.147
56 10-AUG-10 20:23:34 N4 24.500 E114 03.172
57 10-AUG-10 20:24:13 N4 24.549 E114 03.159
58 10-AUG-10 20:24:54 N4 24.602 E114 03.155
59 10-AUG-10 20:25:10 N4 24.620 E114 03.166
60 10-AUG-10 20:25:31 N4 24.629 E114 03.192
61 10-AUG-10 20:25:48 N4 24.623 E114 03.213
62 10-AUG-10 20:26:05 N4 24.612 E114 03.233
63 10-AUG-10 20:27:05 N4 24.557 E114 03.290
64 10-AUG-10 20:27:19 N4 24.555 E114 03.308
66 10-AUG-10 20:27:31 N4 24.558 E114 03.322
67 10-AUG-10 20:28:02 N4 24.590 E114 03.346
68 10-AUG-10 20:28:34 N4 24.629 E114 03.334
69 10-AUG-10 20:28:59 N4 24.658 E114 03.318
70 10-AUG-10 20:29:24 N4 24.689 E114 03.314
71 10-AUG-10 20:29:34 N4 24.702 E114 03.319
72 10-AUG-10 20:30:07 N4 24.722 E114 03.355
73 10-AUG-10 20:30:26 N4 24.726 E114 03.382
74 10-AUG-10 20:30:56 N4 24.723 E114 03.422
75 10-AUG-10 20:31:06 N4 24.721 E114 03.431
76 10-AUG-10 20:31:45 N4 24.722 E114 03.471
77 10-AUG-10 20:32:41 N4 24.753 E114 03.516
78 10-AUG-10 20:33:03 N4 24.764 E114 03.532
79 10-AUG-10 20:34:53 N4 24.807 E114 03.634
80 10-AUG-10 20:35:40 N4 24.798 E114 03.686
81 10-AUG-10 20:36:40 N4 24.784 E114 03.741
82 10-AUG-10 20:37:21 N4 24.776 E114 03.776
83 10-AUG-10 20:37:36 N4 24.770 E114 03.791
84 10-AUG-10 20:37:51 N4 24.766 E114 03.803
85 10-AUG-10 20:38:14 N4 24.760 E114 03.824
86 10-AUG-10 20:38:42 N4 24.748 E114 03.848
87 10-AUG-10 20:39:03 N4 24.745 E114 03.866
88 10-AUG-10 20:39:19 N4 24.742 E114 03.880
89 10-AUG-10 20:40:01 N4 24.736 E114 03.919
90 10-AUG-10 20:40:53 N4 24.740 E114 03.971
91 10-AUG-10 20:41:43 N4 24.754 E114 04.003
92 10-AUG-10 20:42:38 N4 24.763 E114 04.019
93 10-AUG-10 20:43:59 N4 24.790 E114 04.087
94 10-AUG-10 20:44:48 N4 24.770 E114 04.130
95 10-AUG-10 20:45:20 N4 24.761 E114 04.156
96 10-AUG-10 20:46:06 N4 24.753 E114 04.202
97 10-AUG-10 20:46:30 N4 24.769 E114 04.218
98 10-AUG-10 20:47:59 N4 24.859 E114 04.232
99 10-AUG-10 20:50:15 N4 24.898 E114 04.271
100 10-AUG-10 21:00:11 N4 24.764 E114 04.018
101 10-AUG-10 21:01:28 N4 24.737 E114 03.921
102 10-AUG-10 21:08:59 N4 24.726 E114 03.429
103 10-AUG-10 21:12:29 N4 24.710 E114 03.326
104 10-AUG-10 21:18:11 N4 24.625 E114 03.195
105 10-AUG-10 21:29:40 N4 24.519 E114 02.948
106 10-AUG-10 21:51:25 N4 24.849 E114 02.321
107 10-AUG-10 21:51:34 N4 24.848 E114 02.311
108 10-AUG-10 21:55:20 N4 24.900 E114 02.193

It seemed that most of the synchronised display was absent with only a few individual displaying in short flashes. However when the leaves around those individuals were scooped with the sweep net, the amount of fireflies caught were many. This suggested that mating has completed, they have achieved fertilisation and the females are ready to lay eggs.

Sg Niah GPS track, 11-12th August 2010.

We completed the survey of Sungai Niah on the 11- 12th August 2010 from 19:30 11 Aug – 00:22hr 12 Aug. We covered 28 kilometres of Sungai Niah starting from the Niah National Park all the way to the Sungai Niah river mouth.

56 display trees were recorded with a display of estimate of between 20 –100 individual fireflies for each tree.

Niah Fireflies Display Trees 11 Aug 2010
Niah track 11 Aug 2010
Total 24.9 km.
Average speed 7.6km/hr

WPT Date Time Co-ordinate
112 11-AUG-10 20:23:06 N3 51.828 E113 45.190
115 11-AUG-10 20:27:43 N3 51.873 E113 44.795
123 11-AUG-10 20:28:55 N3 51.958 E113 44.753
128 11-AUG-10 20:32:16 N3 52.264 E113 44.749
129 11-AUG-10 20:34:05 N3 52.423 E113 44.745
130 11-AUG-10 20:35:31 N3 52.458 E113 44.653
131 11-AUG-10 20:36:51 N3 52.468 E113 44.539
132 11-AUG-10 20:37:36 N3 52.473 E113 44.478
133 11-AUG-10 20:38:12 N3 52.478 E113 44.435
134 11-AUG-10 20:39:17 N3 52.468 E113 44.352
135 11-AUG-10 20:40:26 N3 52.391 E113 44.315
137 11-AUG-10 21:04:12 N3 52.137 E113 42.924
138 11-AUG-10 21:06:37 N3 52.175 E113 42.774
139 11-AUG-10 21:09:18 N3 52.279 E113 42.594
140 11-AUG-10 21:12:07 N3 52.382 E113 42.458
141 11-AUG-10 21:15:48 N3 52.514 E113 42.251
142 11-AUG-10 21:17:03 N3 52.554 E113 42.203
143 11-AUG-10 21:18:49 N3 52.616 E113 42.125
144 11-AUG-10 21:25:17 N3 53.037 E113 42.108
145 11-AUG-10 21:27:06 N3 53.161 E113 42.140
146 11-AUG-10 21:28:27 N3 53.230 E113 42.196
147 11-AUG-10 21:35:04 N3 53.072 E113 42.506
148 11-AUG-10 21:37:02 N3 53.093 E113 42.612
149 11-AUG-10 21:55:00 N3 53.746 E113 42.574
150 11-AUG-10 21:56:55 N3 53.828 E113 42.608
151 11-AUG-10 22:03:40 N3 54.018 E113 42.839
152 11-AUG-10 22:12:09 N3 54.339 E113 42.705
153 11-AUG-10 22:13:22 N3 54.409 E113 42.683
154 11-AUG-10 22:15:55 N3 54.573 E113 42.698
155 11-AUG-10 22:27:43 N3 55.048 E113 42.734
156 11-AUG-10 22:35:06 N3 55.404 E113 42.418
157 11-AUG-10 22:57:37 N3 56.320 E113 41.651
158 11-AUG-10 22:57:51 N3 56.329 E113 41.649
159 11-AUG-10 22:59:33 N3 56.396 E113 41.641
160 11-AUG-10 23:01:45 N3 56.479 E113 41.673
161 11-AUG-10 23:04:49 N3 56.551 E113 41.779
162 11-AUG-10 23:06:57 N3 56.567 E113 41.873
163 11-AUG-10 23:09:23 N3 56.615 E113 41.958
164 11-AUG-10 23:09:34 N3 56.623 E113 41.963
165 11-AUG-10 23:10:38 N3 56.660 E113 41.976
166 11-AUG-10 23:18:27 N3 56.752 E113 41.828
167 11-AUG-10 23:21:52 N3 56.741 E113 41.783
168 11-AUG-10 23:31:40 N3 56.779 E113 41.702
169 11-AUG-10 23:44:55 N3 57.296 E113 41.849
170 11-AUG-10 23:45:01 N3 57.299 E113 41.852
171 11-AUG-10 23:45:50 N3 57.322 E113 41.879
172 11-AUG-10 23:45:54 N3 57.325 E113 41.882
173 11-AUG-10 23:57:30 N3 57.389 E113 41.934
174 11-AUG-10 23:58:11 N3 57.387 E113 41.931
175 12-AUG-10 00:10:11 N3 57.397 E113 41.953
176 12-AUG-10 00:10:34 N3 57.411 E113 41.966
177 12-AUG-10 00:11:14 N3 57.441 E113 41.985
178 12-AUG-10 00:14:25 N3 57.601 E113 42.089
179 12-AUG-10 00:14:27 N3 57.603 E113 42.090
180 12-AUG-10 00:18:52 N3 57.805 E113 42.224
181 12-AUG-10 00:27:04 N3 57.724 E113 42.142

It is here that we collected two females that was found to be alive afterwards and had laid healthy looking eggs in wet tissue paper, more on this exciting finding later.

It took us quite a long time to reach the mangrove area to see the peak display. We turned back and reached the NP jetty at 0400 on 12th August.

Sungai Likau GPS track, 12th August 2010.

Sungai Likau was surveyed 12th August 2010 from 1935hr. We covered 1.5 kilometres of Sungai Likau starting from the National Park jetty.

9 display trees were recorded with a display of estimate of between 10 –50 individuals per tree. We might have arrived too late and missed the maximum display period.

Likau Fireflies Display Trees 12 Aug 2010
Likau River Track profile
Lenght 1.9 km
Average 2.6 km/hr

WPT Date Time Co-ordinate
183 12 Ogos 2010 19:36:48 N3 20.869 E113 09.482
184 12 Ogos 2010 19:41:33 N3 20.887 E113 09.480
185 12 Ogos 2010 19:51:57 N3 20.833 E113 09.501
186 12 Ogos 2010 19:56:15 N3 20.824 E113 09.502
187 12 Ogos 2010 19:57:34 N3 20.805 E113 09.508
188 12 Ogos 2010 19:59:51 N3 20.771 E113 09.509
189 12 Ogos 2010 20:03:47 N3 20.712 E113 09.512
190 12 Ogos 2010 20:10:33 N3 20.601 E113 09.504
191 12 Ogos 2010 20:32:27 N3 20.150 E113 09.517

We continued with a night walk in the park along a track along Sungai. We did not encounter any firefly larva in track. Only one single occurrence of a firefly was recorded on that track.

Data collected will be incorporated as part of the MNS Miri CFZ Survey or Northern Sarawak officially to commence September 2010.

A first attempt of firefly laying eggs in an artificial environment in Sarawak

Little firefly eggs from two female specimens developing in wet tissue paper.

Case 1: Female from WPT 168 was collected from Sungai Niah
11th Aug 23:32 Specimen caught in the sweep net
12th Aug 15:30 At Simalajau National Park: while putting other specimens to sleep, introduced wet tissue paper.
13th Aug 16:30 Found 6 eggs being laid (Top Left)
13th Aug 18:30 Found the eggs to have grown bigger (Top Right)

Case 2: Female from WPT 174 was collected from Sungai Niah
12th Aug 15:30 At Similajau National Park: while putting other specimens to sleep, introduced wet tissue paper.
13th Aug 16:30 Found 12 eggs being laid. Some broken Yellow (Bottom Left)
13th Aug 18:30 found the eggs to have grown bigger (Bottom Right)

This is the first ever record of eggs being laid in an artificial setting in Sarawak. We are keeping a close eye on this one to see how the egg develops. We'll make regular updates on findings.

Article and images by Musa Musbah/MNS Miri/Aug 2010

CFZ Firefly Survey Miri River 10th July 2010

Miri Firefly Night Time Assessment
Observers Name : Faye, Aju, Salam, Faiz Nasir, FaiZ Djamil, and Musa.

15 km of Miri River survey on 10 July 2010.

Jetty/Berth Location: Mat Shah Jetty. Location: 4°27'42.84"N 114° 0'40.26"E

This time around I make a Firefly survey with the MNS and Curtin Students. The MNS Miri is represented by Faye and me. Where as Curtin student are Aju, Salam, Faiz Nasir, and Faiz Djamil. I reach Mat Shah’s house at 5:20pm. I have actually paid up down payment of RM100 to use his boat. He rented his boat for me to use for RM200. He then shows his boat to me and let me to handle it for this trip. He quickly taught me how to operate the steering, throttle, forward and reverse gear. It been years I have not handle a powerboat.
Soon I have got the boat along side the jetty. Faye called if she reaches to the right place.

Faye, Aju and his friends.

Aju and his three friends are also coming just in time.
We boarded the 20footer fiberglass boat with a hefty 44hp engine. We done our life jackets, do a quick safety briefing and giving off each person of his or her task in this survey.
Faye has been given a task to record on paper. Aju is to mark wpt of display trees. Both of them have to do a visual estimate count of the fireflies. Salam is to point in advance any display trees, so that Aju could record the wpt in the gps. Faiz Nasir is to get random water samples for it temperature and specific gravity. Faiz Djamil is to help to light on a spot light when it becomes necessary. I drive the boat.

Black-crowned Nite Heron





After all have been assigned their task, we took water samples and record it specific gravity and temperature. It already 6:pm and we set off up river. I decided we go to the Taniku ferry point where the oil palm plantation is.

Not up to a kilometer into our journey. There is a cute grey heron on the right side of the river. I make a U-turn and come close to have our team member to take photo. This heron is not afraid of our presence, and just not to waste our time move off to Taniku Ferry point.
As we cruse fast along the river I notice that there are still a lot of berembang trees along the river bank, where it was no inhabited by house. This is a potential Display tree, I was thinking that the fireflies would not be in the trees, most probably being disturbed by the housing light.


Faye Manual record as back up if digital GPS reading failed.


The river flow is not so fast and I could drive along broken off floating plants. There is not many rubbish in the river at this time. It is well known that there is plenty of rubbish in the river. The rain that fall a few days ago could have push off all the rubbish out to the sea. The specific gravity of 1 indicated the rain also have diluted the river.

We reached Taniku at 7:00 pm. The twilight is still bright at this time. We decided to go along with the river flow.

By 7:09 we saw the first Display tree at WPT7 at 7:09 pm. The light is still bright but we could see the fireflies. We could not estimate the number due to the fireflies we saw on our side of the view. That is being block by the sun rays from the other side. The surrounding is still bright. After we passed the 32nd trees, we then could see the fireflies display tree in darkness, and at this point we could estimate the individual counts.

The fireflies’ display are red and non synchronising type. The display trees are very high. We could not take samples due to it located not close to us, and very high in the tree.

Curtin Students taking reading of SG and pH of Miri's river water sample.

We saw a huge trees with plenty of fireflies display. As we passed the Datok Perpaisuri area the fireflies display are at low trees and the display is a synchronised and flashing green color. Then I decided not to sample them because I have done so in my first trip where we got our out boat engine broke it prop pin. Beside that the boat is too big and it hard to control. I am not familiar yet handling this big boat.

My previous survey I saw plenty of fireflies in this huge binjai tree. In this survey it also have plenty.


From far we saw a bright swift farm security light. This is the area is being threatened by this light. Actually as we passed the swift farm there are also display trees, despite the bright light.
We passed Pujut corner and entering Adong area. The Adong area toward Pujut 7 bridge surprisingly have fireflies display trees.

I was mesmerised by light that came far out in front, thinking it was the Sea Survival Training jetty. I actually ram the riverbank thinking it a straight line into the main river. It was lucky that we are moving at slow speed. Just a sway from side to side move us out of the sand bank. We went slowly but in the middle of the river this time as the bent is a bit too sharp. About 100 meter from us on the right side of the river there is a crocodile eye reflecting the light from the spot light. We might have miss most of the crocodile as we are about 90% traveling without light.

Then we came along the populated area around Kpg Pengkalan, this area there are few display trees. As we passed Lutong bridge we came to an area of small berembang trees and these trees did have a lot of fireflies display.
At this point we are already close tour jetty. I check the fuel is just one inch from the base. I was thinking to go toward old Lutong airport, where I suspected there could be more display tree. Because we could run out of fuel, then I decided to call it a day at this point. We concluded our survey at 20:40 pm.

Our Finding about Miri River Fireflies.


Upper Part of the Survey.


Lower Part of the survey.



1. There are still fireflies in Miri river despite big development.

2. The starting place is a ferry point for Oil-palm plantation. The goggle

map is not uptodate. Around this area there still fireflies. Because the

area is not been cut.

3. We did not enter Sungai Maloi in this survey.

4. Area that have no housing at the side of the river have fireflies

display.
5. Miri river distributaries such as Pengkalan River, Adong river, and

Maloi, Taniku and Kabali have not been survey yet. This could potentially

have fireflies.
6. Our last survey indicated Sungai Dalam have fireflies despite development

of Industrial and Golf course.
7. The lower part as from Mat Shah to the river mouth have not been survey.

The potential area is the Piasau Camp to Lutong Airport.
8. The fireflies are threatened by swift farm security lighting.
9. Two bridges crosses Miri river. Lutong bridge area have no fireflies

because both end have man activity clearing. Pujut 7, bridge have fire flies

on the other side, but the other side have housing settlement.


Field notes Sungai Miri CFZ Firefly Survey
Date : 10th. July 2010


River Water Property:
Specific gravity 1.000
Water temperature of 28.8° C
Air temperature is 28.5° C.

We set off from the jetty 18:00hrs.

START Time: 19:00
COMPLETION Time: 20:40

PHYSICAL CONDITION:

a. Moon
No moon

b. Weather
50% Cloud covered sky, few stars visible.

Relative Humidity: Low
Temperature: Warm.
Water pH : 6


Wind : No Wind, No Haze

c. River Condition
Current: Slow moving down, red tanning river water.

Boat used: Yamaha 40 hp.
Survey Speed 6 -10 Km/hr.
Tide: Low

Summary Observation log:
WPT Time Co-ordinate Estimated Counts
7 19:07 N4 24.779 E114 03.549 Not possible to count still bright
8 19:07 N4 24.779 E114 03.547 Not possible to count still bright
9 19:08 N4 24.767 E114 03.533 Not possible to count still bright
10 19:09 N4 24.731 E114 03.501 Not possible to count still bright
11 19:10 N4 24.725 E114 03.477 Not possible to count still bright
12 19:11 N4 24.716 E114 03.457 Not possible to count still bright
13 19:11 N4 24.715 E114 03.442 Not possible to count still bright
14 19:11 N4 24.717 E114 03.428 Not possible to count still bright
15 19:12 N4 24.719 E114 03.420 Not possible to count still bright
16 19:12 N4 24.722 E114 03.409 Not possible to count still bright
17 19:12 N4 24.721 E114 03.402 Not possible to count still bright
18 19:13 N4 24.724 E114 03.387 Not possible to count still bright
19 19:13 N4 24.722 E114 03.374 Not possible to count still bright
20 19:13 N4 24.719 E114 03.361 Not possible to count still bright
21 19:13 N4 24.716 E114 03.354 Not possible to count still bright
22 19:15 N4 24.700 E114 03.320 Not possible to count still bright
23 19:15 N4 24.681 E114 03.312 Not possible to count still bright
24 19:15 N4 24.670 E114 03.313 Not possible to count still bright
25 19:16 N4 24.648 E114 03.326 Not possible to count still bright
26 19:16 N4 24.634 E114 03.335 Not possible to count still bright
27 19:17 N4 24.618 E114 03.343 Not possible to count still bright
28 19:17 N4 24.609 E114 03.347 Not possible to count still bright
29 19:17 N4 24.598 E114 03.346 Not possible to count still bright
30 19:18 N4 24.572 E114 03.336 Not possible to count still bright
31 19:18 N4 24.560 E114 03.320 Not possible to count still bright
32 19:18 N4 24.558 E114 03.311 Not possible to count still bright
33 19:18 N4 24.556 E114 03.303 Not possible to count still bright
34 19:18 N4 24.556 E114 03.301 Not possible to count still bright
35 19:19 N4 24.581 E114 03.262 Not possible to count still bright
36 19:20 N4 24.603 E114 03.242 Not possible to count still bright
37 19:20 N4 24.612 E114 03.229 Not possible to count still bright
38 19:20 N4 24.621 E114 03.214 Not possible to count still bright
39 19:20 N4 24.627 E114 03.201 200 individual (estimated)
40 19:21 N4 24.623 E114 03.168 100 individual (estimated)
41 19:22 N4 24.587 E114 03.150 50 individual (estimated)
42 19:22 N4 24.573 E114 03.152 70 individual (estimated)
43 19:22 N4 24.567 E114 03.154 100 individual (estimated)
44 19:22 N4 24.560 E114 03.156 200 individual (estimated)
45 19:23 N4 24.520 E114 03.164 300 individual (estimated)
46 19:23 N4 24.481 E114 03.171 20 individual (estimated)
47 19:24 N4 24.452 E114 03.162 500 individual (estimated)
48 19:25 N4 24.399 E114 03.121 30 individual (estimated)
49 19:25 N4 24.381 E114 03.101 100 individual (estimated)
50 19:26 N4 24.370 E114 03.078 100 individual (estimated)
51 19:26 N4 24.370 E114 03.061 300 individual (estimated)
52 19:27 N4 24.385 E114 03.035 30 individual (estimated)
53 19:27 N4 24.410 E114 03.020 200 individual (estimated)
54 19:27 N4 24.427 E114 03.007 50 individual (estimated)
55 19:27 N4 24.436 E114 03.001 100 individual (estimated)
56 19:28 N4 24.447 E114 02.993 100 individual (estimated)
57 19:28 N4 24.463 E114 02.976 200 individual (estimated)
58 19:28 N4 24.484 E114 02.961 500 individual (estimated)
59 19:29 N4 24.506 E114 02.949 50 individual (estimated)
60 19:29 N4 24.537 E114 02.939 100 individual (estimated)
61 19:30 N4 24.559 E114 02.941 300 individual (estimated)
62 19:30 N4 24.583 E114 02.950 50 individual (estimated)
63 19:31 N4 24.609 E114 02.956 300 individual (estimated)
64 19:31 N4 24.623 E114 02.957 250 individual (estimated)
65 19:31 N4 24.635 E114 02.959 300 individual (estimated)
66 19:32 N4 24.663 E114 02.944 100 individual (estimated)
67 19:32 N4 24.668 E114 02.903 400 individual (estimated)
68 19:33 N4 24.656 E114 02.888 100 individual (estimated)
69 19:33 N4 24.644 E114 02.881 250 individual (estimated)
70 19:33 N4 24.629 E114 02.872 100 individual (estimated)
71 19:34 N4 24.598 E114 02.854 20 individual (estimated)
72 19:34 N4 24.584 E114 02.843 180 individual (estimated)
73 19:34 N4 24.578 E114 02.838 250 individual (estimated)
74 19:34 N4 24.576 E114 02.835 300 individual (estimated)
75 19:34 N4 24.567 E114 02.808 30 individual (estimated)
76 19:35 N4 24.568 E114 02.787 100 individual (estimated)
77 19:36 N4 24.575 E114 02.693 200 individual (estimated)
78 19:36 N4 24.573 E114 02.681 500 individual (estimated)
79 19:36 N4 24.563 E114 02.658 500 individual (estimated)
80 19:37 N4 24.551 E114 02.621 100 individual (estimated)
81 19:37 N4 24.543 E114 02.579 500 individual (estimated)
82 19:38 N4 24.547 E114 02.564 100 individual (estimated)
83 19:38 N4 24.564 E114 02.531 300 individual (estimated)
84 19:38 N4 24.578 E114 02.524 100 individual (estimated)
85 19:39 N4 24.592 E114 02.521 50 individual (estimated)
86 19:39 N4 24.621 E114 02.521 100 individual (estimated)
87 19:40 N4 24.665 E114 02.520 500 individual (estimated)
88 19:40 N4 24.688 E114 02.524 500 individual (estimated)
89 19:40 N4 24.719 E114 02.524 50 individual (estimated)
90 19:40 N4 24.723 E114 02.524 50 individual (estimated)
91 19:41 N4 24.745 E114 02.520 100 individual (estimated)
92 19:41 N4 24.770 E114 02.511 100 individual (estimated)
93 19:41 N4 24.791 E114 02.501 200 individual (estimated)
94 19:42 N4 24.843 E114 02.451 50 individual (estimated)
95 19:43 N4 24.851 E114 02.431 500 individual (estimated)
96 19:43 N4 24.854 E114 02.399 100 individual (estimated)
97 19:43 N4 24.855 E114 02.355 500 individual (estimated)
98 19:44 N4 24.852 E114 02.326 300 individual (estimated)
99 19:44 N4 24.852 E114 02.284 200 individual (estimated)
100 19:45 N4 24.877 E114 02.236 50 individual (estimated)
101 19:46 N4 24.906 E114 02.199 200 individual (estimated)
102 19:46 N4 24.914 E114 02.184 50 individual (estimated)
103 19:46 N4 24.922 E114 02.122 300 individual (estimated)
104 19:47 N4 24.917 E114 02.102 50 individual (estimated)
105 19:47 N4 24.885 E114 02.037 150 individual (estimated)
106 19:48 N4 24.851 E114 02.005 100 individual (estimated)
107 19:48 N4 24.846 E114 02.000 200 individual (estimated)
108 19:49 N4 24.811 E114 01.964 250 individual (estimated)
109 19:49 N4 24.802 E114 01.951 100 individual (estimated)
110 19:50 N4 24.792 E114 01.939 20 individual (estimated)
111 19:50 N4 24.778 E114 01.900 200 individual (estimated)
112 19:51 N4 24.771 E114 01.879 100 individual (estimated)
113 19:51 N4 24.759 E114 01.816 300 individual (estimated)
114 19:52 N4 24.740 E114 01.745 100 individual (estimated)
115 19:53 N4 24.723 E114 01.706 100 individual (estimated)
116 19:54 N4 24.700 E114 01.622 100 individual (estimated)
117 19:54 N4 24.702 E114 01.601 50 individual (estimated)
118 19:55 N4 24.701 E114 01.546 200 individual (estimated)
119 19:56 N4 24.685 E114 01.408 200 individual (estimated)
120 19:56 N4 24.682 E114 01.385 100 individual (estimated)
121 20:00 N4 24.886 E114 01.214 200 individual (estimated)
122 20:00 N4 24.928 E114 01.228 300 individual (estimated)
123 20:01 N4 24.947 E114 01.235 300 individual (estimated)
124 20:01 N4 24.959 E114 01.242 50 individual (estimated)
125 20:01 N4 24.975 E114 01.249 50 individual (estimated)
126 20:02 N4 25.053 E114 01.292 80 individual (estimated)
127 20:02 N4 25.078 E114 01.300 100 individual (estimated)
128 20:02 N4 25.104 E114 01.307 50 individual (estimated)
129 20:03 N4 25.142 E114 01.317 50 individual (estimated)
130 20:03 N4 25.215 E114 01.340 50 individual (estimated)
131 20:04 N4 25.283 E114 01.363 50 individual (estimated)
132 20:06 N4 25.433 E114 01.455 50 individual (estimated)
133 20:06 N4 25.444 E114 01.463 200 individual (estimated)
134 20:06 N4 25.457 E114 01.473 200 individual (estimated)
135 20:10 N4 25.842 E114 01.516 100 individual (estimated)
136 20:11 N4 25.968 E114 01.520 200 individual (estimated)
229 20:11 N4 26.014 E114 01.515 300 individual (estimated)
261 20:11 N4 26.042 E114 01.512 200 individual (estimated)
262 20:12 N4 26.087 E114 01.508 300 individual (estimated)
263 20:12 N4 26.144 E114 01.499 100 individual (estimated)
264 20:13 N4 26.188 E114 01.490 100 individual (estimated)
265 20:14 N4 26.353 E114 01.467 100 individual (estimated)
266 20:15 N4 26.390 E114 01.460 100 individual (estimated)
267 20:15 N4 26.421 E114 01.453 100 individual (estimated)
268 20:15 N4 26.439 E114 01.448 50 individual (estimated)
269 20:15 N4 26.461 E114 01.442 30 individual (estimated)
270 20:15 N4 26.481 E114 01.434 50 individual (estimated)
271 20:16 N4 26.571 E114 01.389 50 individual (estimated)
272 20:17 N4 26.671 E114 01.321 100 individual (estimated)
273 20:18 N4 26.704 E114 01.302 50 individual (estimated)
274 20:18 N4 26.721 E114 01.294 100 individual (estimated)
275 20:18 N4 26.751 E114 01.284 50 individual (estimated)
276 20:18 N4 26.771 E114 01.276 50 individual (estimated)
277 20:19 N4 26.853 E114 01.272 20 individual (estimated)
278 20:20 N4 26.974 E114 01.306 300 individual (estimated)
279 20:20 N4 27.013 E114 01.313 100 individual (estimated)
280 20:21 N4 27.086 E114 01.322 200 individual (estimated)
281 20:22 N4 27.253 E114 01.321 50 individual (estimated)
282 20:23 N4 27.304 E114 01.318 100 individual (estimated)
283 20:23 N4 27.318 E114 01.314 30 individual (estimated)
284 20:24 N4 27.331 E114 01.307 200 individual (estimated)
285 20:26 N4 27.356 E114 01.184 200 individual (estimated)
286 20:35 N4 28.101 E114 00.629 30 individual (estimated)
287 20:35 N4 28.030 E114 00.563 30 individual (estimated)
288 20:36 N4 27.972 E114 00.548 250 individual (estimated)
289 20:36 N4 27.942 E114 00.552 50 individual (estimated)
290 20:37 N4 27.906 E114 00.556 50 individual (estimated)

Firefly expert to speak at Symposium

The 2nd International Firefly Symposium announcement.

PETALING JAYA: A renowned expert on fireflies will be sharing his experiences on the conservation and restoration of their habitat in an international symposium here next month.

Prof Ohba Nobuyoshi, who is from the Ohba Firefly Institute, will join other researchers in discussing new findings and exchanging ideas on conservation during the Second International Firefly Syposium.

Prof Ohba, who was involved in a study of fireflies along Sungai Selangor some 10 years ago, will give a talk about working with the local community in Yukosuka City in Japan to restore damaged firefly habitats.

The “Firefly Conservation: From Science to Practice” symposium, which is jointly organised by the Forest Research Institute Malaysia and the Malaysian Nature Society, will be held from Aug 2 to 5 at Holiday Villa Subang.

The research institute said in a statement that over 100 researchers, academicians and non-governmental organisation members were expected to attend the symposium.

There is a special discount for MNS members whom are keen to attend this symposium. The registration fee is RM500 per person (Normal Fee: RM800 per person). The cost includes symposium materials, lunch, 2 tea and bus trip to FRIM for the 4 day symposium. Attached please find the the detailed programme and registration form for the symposium.

The symposium is targetted for:

• Scientists, researchers and academicians involved in firefly research and conservation.

• Members of nature societies, environmental NGOs and other stakeholders.

• Firefly enthusiasts and interested members of the public

For more information, contact Nada or Veronica at 03-6279 7112/7111, email to ifs2010@frim.gov.my or visit its website http://www.ifs2010.frim.gov.my/.