PONTIAN: The number of migratory bird species in Tanjung Piai National Park has dropped significantly from 70 to only 17 over the span of 10 years, says Tourism Johor director Suhairi Hashim.
Conservation efforts, he said, should be stepped up in the wetlands to ensure that the area continues to be one of the stopping points for migrating birds.
“These migratory birds come from Russia, China, Japan, and South Korea to escape the cold weather in search of a warmer climate.“However, due to the ongoing global climate change and development, some of these species are no longer coming to Tanjung Piai as their feeding grounds have dwindled,” he said after officiating the Migratory Birds @Tanjung Piai ceremony here yesterday.
Some of the migratory bird species include the crested honey buzzard (Pernis ptilorhynchus), Eurasian Curlew (Numenius arquata), little green heron (Butorides striatus) and black baza (Aviceda leuphotes).
These birds, said Suhairi, would first fly to Gunung Pulai before stopping to feed in Tanjung Piai.
“They would then continue their (journey) to Indonesia and feed there before returning to their habitat once the cold season is over,” he said, adding that the Migratory Birds @Tanjung Piai programme would be listed as an annual activity in the Johor tourism calendar.
“Currently, we only have two birding activity sites in the state – Tanjung Piai and the Panti Forest Reserve in Kota Tinggi.
“We hope we can turn this into one of our tourism products because it happens simultaneously along the west coast from the Klang Valley until Tanjung Piai.
“The most important thing is to ensure that there are enough natural feeding grounds for these birds. As long as there are feeding grounds, the birds will come,” he said.
Johor National Park Corporation director Taufik Bahar said more efforts would be put in to ensure that the Tanjung Piai National Park was free from any sort of pollution.
“We also hope that members of the public would take part in protecting and conserving our environment,” he said.
