For several decades until 1980s, tin mining industry especially in the Kinta Valley played a key role as one of the major contributors to the Malaysian economy at that time. I was one of those boys who grew up in the neighbourhood of tin-mining towns where most of my neighbours, relatives and childhood friends depend on tin-mines for a living. Recently, my birding hobby had given me opportunities to visit such towns. They included Pusing, Sipueh, Tronoh, Batu Gajah, Tanjong Tualang, Gopeng, Malim Nawar, Kampar etc. The extensive sandy land between these towns and outside of the main roads are now hundreds or perhaps more than a thousand abandoned mining pools of various sizes. Some of these pools have been put into uses and converted into farms for fish, ducks and other livestock. These ponds and its vegetation form important habitat of extensive areas for many different species of wetland birds.
What impressed me was the parent (photo below) which was seen looking dull and haggard with mud stains over its head, face and plumage, a result of working hard hunting for insects in the mangrove mudflats for the fledgling. Before breeding, the parents were fresh, clean and bright. That’s what all parents would work very hard to make sure their children get the best food to grow up. A haggard parent bringing food to its chicks. A clean, fresh fledgling waiting for the parent to feed. A young offspring. Parent and child, after feeding. Right is fledgling. A parent feeding its fledgling. Parent and fledgling, left is parent. An adult mangrove pitta, taking a rest after feeding its young. Feeding two offsprings the size of its own is not easy for the parent.