Sabtu, 19 April 2008

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.

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