Coming Soon - KL Orchid and Bonsai Show 2015

UPDATE: THIS EVENT HAS BEEN POSTPONED TO AN UNKNOWN DATE IN AUGUST DUE TO THE ASEAN SUMMIT MEETING IN KL.

Just a little reminder for Flower Shows/Events this month, the KL Orchid and Bonsai Show 2015 is scheduled for 23 April 2015 - 26 April 2015. The venue is of course the KL Lake Gardens, or now known as Perdana Botanical Gardens.

My visit to previous exhibitions:

• KL Orchid and Bonsai Show 2014
• KL Orchid and Bonsai Show 2012

The Yellow-Vented Bulbul - A garden songbird

The Yellow-vented Bulbul (Pycnonotus goiavier) or locally known as Merbah Kapur, is a common urban bird that has been successful in sharing habitat with two legged monsters (aka humans). The family of Bulbuls (Pycnonotidae), which are generally found in Asia and Africa, are mainly fruit-eating birds, but do take insects as well.

There are 26 members in the genus Pycnonotus that can be found in Malaysia, of which the Yellow-vented Bulbul is a member and the least shy and the commonest in cultivated areas. I was quite delighted to find one of their deep, cup-shaped nest in a friend's garden. 

Two eggs in a deep cup-shaped nest.

Today was the first day for the chicks... So hopefully I can track them as they eat, poop and grow up until they fledged.

All huddled up in the nest - they are one day old.

UPDATE: Alas, my dream of blogging about them growing each day was dashed, for when I returned the second day, the nest was empty! There were traces of what looks like blood in the nest. Maybe the crows got to them. I guess this is Nature's way. With less and less place for them to nest, nesting on a balcony means they are susceptible to being preyed on.
 

Hippeastrum Tres Chic

Yippy, got my Hippeastrum Tres Chic to bloom. And thanks to Mei Kheng for passing me the bulbs. All that was done was to dry rest the bulbs for a month.

You kind of can tell it is a two-tone flower when the buds peek out from the sheath, for the rear portion is whitish green whilst the rest are a strong red/carmine colour.

Love the red and white, but the lines in the throat aren't that clean, probably due to weather. Now waiting for the Cherry Nymph to do the same.