We finally found our precious firefly larvae!!!
Sunday, November 28, 2010
Sunday, November 7, 2010
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.
Saturday, November 6, 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
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
Wednesday, November 3, 2010
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:
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
nabghani@yahoo.com or please call 085-453185/016-8542212
(Program details are available upon request).
Monday, November 1, 2010
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
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
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