The Black Bird Of December - Asian Koel

While growing up at the place where I now live, the only black bird that I know of are Crows. I get to see these Crows almost everyday when they fly, as they still do now, from South to North in the mornings and in the reverse direction come evenings, squawking as they fly slowly up high overhead.

These days, there is another rather big black bird, a migrant bird in fact, that comes visiting only in the month of December - 10th December to be exact for this year. They are the Asian Koel. I think they are quite common in the coastal areas. But up to about 30 or even 20 years ago, I don't think I have ever heard or even seen one before. I wonder why and when did they decided to move inland?

Map Of Old Greentown, Ipoh

I have searched and I could not find a map of OLD Greentown (Ipoh, Perak) online. I do have 2 partial maps of Greentown from Shell and Mobileoil (circa 1960) but they were no good simply because they were incomplete. Someone did give me a 1959 contour map of the Ipoh district earlier this year but I could not reconcile this map with what I know. There were no road names (which make things harder) and for about half of Greentown the roads were not properly drawn. Just some blocks on the map to denote 'houses' and I have to resort to guessing where the roads/lanes are - and I got myself confused.

Old Greentown

My only resort then is to draw the map myself. And with a little help from here and there, this is the result of my attempt: a map of OLD Greentown that I knew and grew up in during the 1970s and 1980s. Do click on the map below to view in full size.