A different citiwalk, a birdwalk

A Pink-necked green pigeon is resting on a Bungur tree

Birdwatching in a city is definitely unpopular, particularly when you talked about Jakarta, one of the most populated cities in the world. Once I uploaded my story of my recent birdwatching activity in the center of Jakarta, I received a suggestion to visit another birdwatching site up in the mountains. Sigh….

To most birdwatchers, seeing a rare, endemic species is maybe like winning a prestigious prize. But, this was not my intention that day. More than 10 years ago, our small bird club carried out a bird survey in the city. Our question was simple. Can we still see wild birds in Jakarta?

Linking one to another in Fort Rotterdam

Aside from my attendance in International Conference on Alfred Russel Wallace and the Wallacea last week in Makassar, I forced myself to visit Fort Rotterdam during the drizzling rain of Friday afternoon.

Raffles, a naturalist in a colonial time

“It is impossible to convey the idea of the pleasure of sailing through this beautiful and unparalleled archipelago, in which every attraction of nature is combined”, Lady Sophia Raffles (during her field trip with Raffles in Bengkulu forest).

To most Indonesians, Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles was only a lieutenant general of Java during a short period of British colonization in Indonesia (1811-1814), and later was governor general of Bengkulu (1818-1824). Having been under ages of colonization under the Dutch, his appearance had at least made some significant changes to the welfare of the Indonesian people. He abolished the slave trade and changed the forced-agricultural system of the Dutch which forced farmers to grow particular plants (coffee, tobacco) without being paid into land-tenure system.  The other side of Raffles was less known but more exciting….

Being a tree detective

Measuring tree diameter is probably the easiest field work. You just need to bring the DBH meter and follow the standard operation procedure for measuring tree diameter and somebody else need to record the measurement. But it’s not as simple as that.

The colorful life of butterfly

Watching a butterfly visit a flower is always fascinating. The color of the butterfly and the flower are always in contrast. The black-and-white Common clubtail (Pachliopta coon) visiting the white flowers of Siam weed (Chromolaena odorata), or the Tailed jay (Graphium agamemnon) visiting the Lantana flower are all illustrating the importance of patterns and colors in butterfly life. And all of them are able to absorb important information from the environment such as finding potential mate, detecting flowers with high-concentrated nectar, or finding the right leaf to lay the eggs. All of because their perception of colors and movement.