Out to Space

Change is inevitable and it come at a cost.

First morning light in Thailand trip revealed an empty marshland in the back of my brother’s house where I stayed for a few weeks. This property was left unoccupied quite sometime ago. I was really glad that there were many green areas remained untouched in Bangkok.

It created a nature micro ecology as an oasis in Bangkok’s urban desert. Bird’s habitats were protected by willows and plants grew organically as well as frogs and snakes in the marshland.

Then the land owner decided to develop the property and profit from this investment. The marshland has to go and give way to another housing estate. An excavator squashed the unwanted weeds down to the ground and concrete rubble from other demolition was used for filling the marshland.

A new ecology was generated from this transforming landscape. It welcomed people into once an abandoned field. Local members seized the opportunity to collect scrap metal and sell it.

The flattening made it easier for a predator to look for food on the ground since the hide was destroyed whereas some found that its dwelling had gone in a flash. However, sooner or later, there would not be any food or home left for the wildlife benefited from this vanishing green.

It was a heart-broken to witness this change. It was happening in front of my eyes nd I am sure it is everywhere.

Jonathan Harris spent 9 days, photographing Inupiat Eskimos annual whale hunt in Barrow, Alaska. 3214 shots were taken in 5-minute interval, even when sleeping. And he does not waste any of them by lining them up as an interactive interface. It beautifully tell the experience he witnessed this old tradition of the tribe.

Caution: Rainbow-dolphin lovers may fine some of the images disturbing.

We go to this particular place, Hongsa Pathumawas Temple (วัดหงษ์ปทุมาวาส), for my birthday merit for another reason. It locates on Chao Phraya River bank in Pratumthani Province, 20 minutes drive from the northern outskirts of Bangkok. The riverside scene not only has less traffic and is more peaceful than the popular tourist spots in the city, the main attraction of this temple is fish. Actually, its nickname is Wang Pla Wat Hongsa(วังปลาวัดหงษ์ - Swan Temple, Fish Palace) because people come here to feed fish as another way to make a merit.

There is always a triangular relationship among animals, human and religions in one way or another. We have been using animals as the medium to the spiritual world since the ancient time. In general, in Thailand, activities that could harm animals including fishing are not allow in Buddhist temples. Hence, they become sanctuaries for all sorts of creatures. Usually, stray dogs and cats are the most common to be found walking around without a hassle. Some places are famous for a particular wildlife such as monkeys, tigers and birds.

Wat Hongsa offers a row of piers for the merit makers to easily feed the fish and they can buy fish food there. Once the food is tossed into the river, the thousands of fish surface and strive for it. To be honest, it is more fun to watch them than anything else.

Moreover, there will also be a mass merit making this afternoon. They are preparing fish and food for, presumably, a corporate group along side with the monks to free and feed them. Those lucky fish, obtained from markets, will not be anyone’s dinner if they still hang around here.

I cannot remember how long ago I have not googled myself until last night. Amongst the usual associate and photography sites, one surprising result is from Google Books. Thanks to this new beta version of Google search engine, I have found my first photograph published in a book.

Apparently, one of my good old rainbow lorikeet photographs is an illustration in a scientific book, Extinction & Biogeography of Tropical Pacific Bird by David W. Steadman. I gave the permission to use the image in the book two years ago but thought that the author was not going to use it because I had not heard from him since. So I forgot about it.

Although the black & white version in the book blanches the colourful feature of the couple from the original web version and, in fact, they are not captive animals as captioned, I feel honoured that it is a part of an epic research of birds in the region.

Sprinkled across the tropical Pacific, the innumerable islands of Oceania are home to some of the most unique bird communities on the planet, and they sustain species found nowhere else on earth. Many of the birds that live in this region are endangered, however; many more have become extinct as a result of human activity, in both recent and prehistoric times.

Reconstructing the avian world in the same way archeologists re-create ancient human societies, David Steadman—a leading authority on tropical Pacific avian paleontology—has spent the past two decades in the field, digging through layers of soil in search of the bones that serve as clues to the ancient past of island bird communities. His years of indefatigable research and analysis are the foundation for Extinction and Biogeography of Tropical Pacific Birds, a monumental study of the landbirds of tropical Pacific islands—especially those from Fiji eastward to Easter Island—and an intricate history of the patterns and processes of island biology over time.

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Dr. Steadman came across the image through the Web as well as I discovered the book from the same channel. It is a wonderful world of the Internet.