Lots of Skippers But No Birds

25th September 2009, Senok, Kelantan

Kampong Senok is  a quiet and picturesque  fishing village located on the coast of  Kelantan. I used to frequent this place during my younger days to fish at the river mouth. We went there during the Hari Raya break just to investigate if there were any birding opportunities in the area.       One always hope that every birding outing would kick off  with a bang, and in this case we nearly had a BOOM……..sonic boom!   These two  supersonic birds had recently migrated from Russia   (species: Sukhoi Su-30MKM)  flew overhead. I could see the SKIPPER and his rear officer in the cockpit.           Well, not the kind of birds we were after- nice markings but NO feathers.             An hour passed and still no birds. The trigger finger had started to itch badly. Started  scouting along the river to see if we could find anything worth shooting. Laurel & Hardy ( my son and elder brother) shooting anything that moved.It appeared that Ilyas had begun shooting his uncle’s ear- an early symptom of acute SCDS (Shutter-Clicking Deficiency Syndrome); AMAT MERBAHAYA!       Ahaaa……   MudSKIPPERS. Beautiful fish. This guy was busy trying to impress  the other fish without success. Hmm….I dare not ID them; my previous attempt   was not 100% spot on. Ok I’ll give it a shot: could be a  Slender Mudskipper (Periophthalmus gracilis)       Then we saw  a brightly painted  boat going past the jetty to a mooring point somewhere further in. This type of traditional fishing boats are exclusively found in Kelantan. They used to have sails but nowadays Cummins engines (locals call them Enjeng Kambing meaning ‘Goat’ engine) have taken over.         Homeward bound with the SKIPPER at the helm.               Then we realized that the fishing boats were returning from their day out at sea. A flotilla of small boats  flying colourful flags entering the  river mouth which is protected by  a massive wave breaker                 Kelantanese are very colourful people and this is reflected in their personality and their worldly possession.                         All nicely tied up and ready to be unloaded.                       No birds today but at least it temporarily cured our SCDS.