fly like a bird

A friend recently came up to visit me. I was very touched by his gesture and effort. The initial plan was to go on holiday to some paradise island somewhere but alas winds of destiny had other plans for us. It's either we could get the rooms but could not get the tickets OR we got the tickets but not the rooms. So we stayed in good old Kuala Lumpur. His place in Novotel was not a bad location as I had thought in the beginning. It's walking distance to everything and it felt like I was on holiday in some foreign land. For real!

On one of the days, we found ourselves somewhere near Lake Gardens and I thought why not? It's been awhile since I was at the bird park. So in we went. It was fun. Kind of humid. And the birds seem very happy. All in lush gorgeous colours. Especially the peacocks!! We were on the lookout for pelicans cos there were manmade pelican trashcans everywhere but we could locate any!! Until we were at the end of our journey, that's when we saw two of them!

Check out the shimmery colour on his feathers. I'm in awe.

Once again, the natural colours are fantastic. For some reason, the name of these birds are not coming to me. But here they are in a feeding frenzy!

Brilliant red!! We saw another bird that was almost stork-like but smaller near the swamps/rivers and it was ruby red!! Such a stark contrast to the green surroundings. Couldn't get a proper pic of it so this guy would have to do.

I've always been intrigued by owls even before Harry Potter came and made them vogue. There were I think 4 species of owls on display here and they were all freaky yet majestic at the same time. Especially the eyes.

This fella was enjoying his meal when we interupted him for a shoot.

Me doing the tourist thing. You can't see it, but there's another fella on my shoulder. He swooped in just as Patrick was snapping the shot. And they had sharp sharp claws with megastrong grips!!

All in all, this is Mother Nature's pallete. And it was most impressive. Was completely spellbound at some points when the birds took flight especially the storks. And I swear, when some of the peacocks came near us with their head held high, I had goosebumps!! And it was so humbling to notice that the male of all the species here were much more attractive than the female. We saw so many males preening themselves!

The only thing that sort of spoilt the whole beauty was the presence of trash in some spots. Such uncivicness among people nowadays. But I'd still say the bird park is in a much better state than our zoo. I had a blast. I trust Patrick did too ;)