Eager eyes: The event aims to encourage more interest in bird watching while also positioning the UMS campus as a tourism product.
KOTA KINABALU: Bird watching is taking flight as a new part of the educational programmes at Universiti Malaysia Sabah (UMS).
The annual October BIG Day, held on the second weekend of every October, is set to ignite the passion for bird watching and forest rehabilitation among UMS students.
Organised in collaboration with the Sabah Bird Watchers Association (SBWA), this event will become a recurring feature at UMS, as stated by the university’s Borneo Travel Research Centre (BTRC) of the Faculty of Business, Economics and Accountancy.
“This programme is a continuation of the Winged Wonders Programme organised by Shangri-La Rasa Ria with the collaboration of BTRC and SBWA last month,” the statement read.
With the UMS campus frequently serving as a crucial bird migration hotspot, the event aims to encourage more students to explore the wonders of avian life while also positioning it as a tourism product.
They also play a key role in promoting forest health and conservation, said the statement.
SBWA president Ron Pudin emphasised the global significance of October BIG Day, which allows bird watchers to document species using the eBird app over a 24-hour period.
“Today, UMS with SBWA, the Institute for Development Studies Sabah (IDS), and Shangri-La Rasa Ria Resort, Tuaran, held this event at ODEC beach and around the UMS Health Ecotourism forest area and hiking trails,” he said yesterday.Pudin highlighted that events like these are vital as birds not only enrich ecosystems but also serve as indicators of forest health, helping researchers and scientists to gauge biodiversity.
Participants will have the chance to discover various bird species, especially those endemic to Sabah, said Pudin.
“We hope participants will gain a deeper awareness of and interest in bird watching and recording using the apps available,” he added.
Pudin also mentioned that participants can serve as community scientists, fostering interest among locals and foreigners in visiting Sabah for bird watching.
More than 50 participants, from among UMS students and staff as well as members of SBWA and IDS, took part in the event.
The participants used binoculars to spot and record the bird species they observed.
Also present were faculty dean Assoc Prof Dr Mohd Rahimie Abd Karim and BTRC director Assoc Prof Dr Balvinder Kaur Kler.
