Bird Projects of the Gunung Leuser Park
Ashley Willis
During November 4-6 of the year 1996, my class took a trip to the Gunung Leuser National Park. The area where I stayed was a disturbed secondary forest a good number of miles by rugged roads west of the town of Besitang. This town is close to the Strait of Malacca and about a 2 hour drive from Medan, the largest city in Sumatra. While I was there I spent a portion of my time bird watching, studying, and talking about the birds that inhabited the area under research. From these experiences I was able to make my decision and choose to study the secondary forest birds in the Gunung Leuser Park as my project.
In April 14-16 of the year 1997, my class took yet another trip into the Leuser Ecosystem. The birds I studied this time are all very valuable to the rain forest and to humans. It is important that people study these birds because there are so many tropical species in the forest that we know very little or absolutely nothing about. Also, birds greatly add to the biodiversity of the rain forest. Many of these birds humans have never even seen before!
I chose to focus on birds in the Gunung area for my project for many reasons. For one, birds have always fascinated me. I have always been interested in their colours, nests, and sizes. So, the thought of an opportunity to actually do real field research on birds really excited me. Also, I overhead Chris Shepherd (a bird specialist and photographer working with us at the park) talking after a few hours of bird watching. He would say things that greatly aroused my interest such as "I saw a bird I had never seen before" or "a bird I saw today is extremely rare in these parts of the forest," and "this species is becoming more and more common." What really got me listening was when he would describe the birds' exotic colours and features.
Because of Chris's knowledge of tropical birds, another thought which contributed to the making of my decision to focus on birds was that I would be learning from a bird specialist who could give me an unlimited supply of information that I might need. Another reason is that I felt my reports, studies, and experience would be useful to those who are also trying to save the rain forest and its inhabitants.
To perform effective field study, I went through this procedure to identify as many birds as possible. First, I awoke at around a quarter to 6:00 to go bird watching because in the morning the temperature is very cool. (After about 9:00 the climate becomes too hot for the birds to be active.) We would then find an open area that contained many trees with no leaves so we could see the birds relatively well. Once we committed to a location we remained very quiet and still to avoid scaring away the wild birds. If we were patient, after a period of time, a bird would come to us in clear view. Once a bird was sighted, I found it much easier to successfully identify a bird; if one person reported the characteristics of the bird, the other person wrote the characteristics down. After all the features of the bird were described, using the notes previously made, we identified the bird in the field guide and recorded the name of the bird seen, as well as the time and date the bird was seen.
I was very pleased with my field research in that I identified so many new birds and was introduced to so many new species. All in all, I gained so much more knowledge about the rain forest and its inhabitants. I also found many different ways that I can help with different solutions that will eventually improve this ecosystem's condition. I had never seen any of the birds I saw in the Leuser ecosystem before, but some species seen, I later learned, were quite common around those parts. The common species sighted were: drongos (Family Dicruridae), Yellow Vented Bulbuls (Pycnonotus goiavier or in Indonesian terms Cerukcuk, Terucuk), woodpeckers (Family Pecidae), and swallows (Family Hirundinidae.) The swallows were common also, but they always stayed in the air, so we couldn't identify their species. However, we could tell they were woodpeckers and swallows because of their shape and size. Some other species seen - some of which were very rare - were: Barbets (Family Capitonidae), a Whiskered Tree Swift (Hemiprocne comata), king fishers (Family Alcedinidae), and probably a Raffles Malkoha (Rinortha chlorophea).
The data that I collected about the birds in that region through interviewing, bird watching, and researching are extremely valuable to others. My records give knowledge to others as to which birds were rare and which birds were common during the year 1997, so other researchers know which birds they need to help. The information is valuable for ecotourism because tourists need to know what birds they are seeing and how special the birds are. In the future, if people are going to save the forest there, it is crucial to know about the animals in the forest that's going to be saved. For example, it is necessary to know what resources the birds in that area use, what kind of groups they travel in, where they nest, etc. If people are to restore the rain forest so that its inhabitants can survive in it. The knowledge about the birds I gain while in Gunung Leuser can be used to help me to educate local people of all ages. I want to explain to local Indonesians that if they keep poaching animals, in just a few years there will be none left. If there are no animals left to poach, the job of poaching can no longer exist and poachers will no longer have any money to support their families. Another point they need to understand is that there are more honest ways of making money and they shouldn't teach their children to poach because very soon it will be an extremely difficult trade.
Two other possible ways of displaying and communicating information about the wildlife in the park are (1) comparing the birds in an industrialised region to the birds at the park and (2) making a checklist of the separate sets of birds. A checklist is a method of showing all the different types of birds in that area. A checklist is made by bird watching consistently until you find 20 different birds. Make a graph that looks like this for every group of 20 species of birds you see.
A checklist is only valuable if the information it contains is accurate, and if the same bird is not counted more than once. If a bird is counted more than once on the graph one identification represents one particular species. If you see one species 5 times and you put the information on the graph 5 times, then readers of the graph will think you saw 5 more species than you really did.
In conclusion, bird watching is a relatively difficult job, but I love every moment of it and it is worth all the work and effort. Just one bird watcher alone can make a world of difference in the animals environment. Birds' vivid colours, sweet melodies and graceful flight has given me an even stronger incentive to provide them the habitat and freedom that they deserve. I hope that through this writing others will be inspired to do their part in helping to keep this rain forest alive.