Eyes on the . . . Crows

My sister called me and said she spotted some olive and red colored honey eaters. She tried to photographed them but the zoom didn't help.

I thought to myself, what a wonderful world! (She lives in Bali)

Here in Jakarta, all I see are sparrows. They perch and feed in front of my room mostly in the morning. in the evening, i often hear a laughterlike sound of nocturnal birds but their shape remains unknown to me.

last week i spotted a tiny red honey eater in the dump site about 200 m from my room. it was beautiful and dainty. the last time i saw this kind of bird was about 7 years ago in front of my room in Depok. Honey eaters are very small, hummingbirdlike, and have bright colored feathers and they move energetically. so beautiful.

and then i remember when i went to Malacca, i saw numerous crows and starlings (jalak). I wondered how this could happen. they roamed freely! (This is almost impossible in Indonesia. Go to bird markets and you will find even sparrows are sold! my!) I asked some locals and they said, they had no intentions or thoughts to kill the birds for food or pets. They added, the colonial govt urged them to sustainably live side by side with nature. I've never heard of that, but i think that's a good idea.

We should have this kind of policy in Indonesia. I want to see birds more often.

Got Milk?

in the wild, parrots are known to munch clay and mineral rocks as parts of their diet. here at the Taman Safari Bogor, they sip minerals from milk.

Drinking milk makes sociable scene apparently.

Sem

Dolphins Lullaby

This whole world may never change
The way it's always been
I know all the ways of war
Cannot change it back again

I've been searching...for the dolphins in the sea
Sometimes I wonder do you ever think of me...

I'm not the one to tell this world
How to get along
I only know that peace will come
When all the hurt is gone

I've been searching...for the dolphins in the sea
Sometimes I wonder do you ever think of me...

Sometimes I think about
Saturday's child
And all about the time
You and me were..black and white

I've been searching...for the dolphins in the sea
Sometimes I wonder do you ever think of me...


this is my current fave song, by Beth Orton and Terry Callier
it's folksy and sedative, a song to lull me to sleep

my experiences with dolphins have been pleasant.
when i was small, my parents brought us to Jakarta and their friends took us to Ancol
it's one of my cheered memories

i was kissed my a sea lion. this was how: Pi held me and the beast's bristles. The wet snout then kissed my right cheek. (i no longer regret the lost photo because Engkong loved it too)
and i watched hippos and all amusing animals, the clever dugongs, ferrets and parrots. that was years ago :)

you know, i still feel the urge to approach the pool to be kissed by the dolphins. when i was small (again), i want to be kissed by the dolphins but i retreated, got no guts because i was worried my clothes would get wet or i would stumble into the deep pool. i was afraid that my cheek would bleed because the dolphins looked like made of steel. silly thoughts.

so when i got aboard on Kambuna to Medan, i set aside time to dolphin watch for four days. i kept a small diary on what i saw: mostly jellyfish and flying fish and an unidentified floating object that resembled small shark (?). no dolphins at all. but the lines of Summer of Jubilee ("Atta boy!") were still on my head.

so i haven't seen any dolphins in the open sea.

for a long while i din see any until i went to Taman Safari Bogor. A dolphin on the mountain! really and its residence has the shape of Noah's Ark! my, that's interesting. he was about 3 m long and swam alone.

i was so excited that i put my hand into the pool to attract his attention. but he ignored me and swam around in the same manner over and over.

i was worried he was sick or depressed.

the man said that the dolphin had just arrived. "he won't be lonely," added he. " another is on the way"

i hoped so.

Sem