Scared away…

Long ago, probably during the early post-colonial days, all the secondary schools were using this “New Guided English” textbooks by D.H. Howe and in one of them, there was a passage entitled, “The Crows of Klang”. Of course, for us in the schools over here, we could not see the significance of that passage and were wondering why on earth anybody would want to read something on those ghastly-looking birds. Only when we had the opportunity to go over to the peninsula did we realise how those birds infested the nation’s capital and the surrounding areas even to this day. For one thing, their appearance isn’t attractive, to say the least…and their loud caws are somewhat eerie. Imagine having one right outside your bedroom window in the middle of the night, cawing away! Eyewwww!!!!!

Here in Sibu, we also have a problem with birds – lots and lots of them, maybe thousands of them…but thankfully, they’re not crows – just swallows or at least, that is what I think they are. They’ve been around for a long time now and if you drive your car out at night, you can bet your bottom dollar that you will be given a “souvenir” or two by the time you get home.  There have been people complaining too that they had it right in top of their heads as they were crossing the road…and if you’re parking your car in town in the daytime, do avoid the trees even though the shade they provide may be somewhat an incentive for you to do so. Should the weather change and the rain comes pouring down, your whole car would be covered with all the bird droppings stuck among the leaves in the tree and washed down by the rain water.

Well, lately, there have been a lot of people who have resorted to hanging cd’s…

…all around their buildings. I have noticed the Rejang Port Authority people doing that and also the HSBC as well…and according to some, those would help scare away the birds.

I have a lot of birds in my garden, among the trees or all over the lawn…and I do not have a problem with them at all. It seems that they’re so used to human company these days that when I walk towards them, they would not bother to fly off…unless I come running and making a lot of noise to frighten them off.

The only problem that I have with them would be the fact that they would love to perch in the shady areas around the house, like under the awnings, for instance. Of course, that is not a big matter but my missus would grumble that she would have to wash away the droppings on the cement ever so often and at times, they would leave stains that would be quite difficult to remove. Besides, there would be droppings on the railings under the awnings as well…and as in the case when you get them on your cars, the waste product is obviously very corrosive and may cause much damage to the paintwork of your vehicle…and likewise, to those metal railings at my house.

Consequently, I’ve resorted to what everybody else seems to be doing – hanging cd’s all around the house…

…in the hope that the movements and the reflections of the sun’s rays that make the whole place look like a discotheque (with the reflections from the disco ball) would help keep those birds at bay.

At this point in time, I would say that it actually does work…or so it seems.