Nusa Penida, BALI
2nd Quarter Report – Year 2010
April – May – June
Wildlife Protection, Habitat Restaurering, Community Wellbeing
Jeg. Innledning
I 2010, Venner av National Parks Foundation har truffet bakken kjører fortsetter med vår pågående og konsekvent innsats av de siste årene i viltstell. På Bali Bird Sanctuary på Nusa Penida disse aktivitetene fokusert på fugl rehabilitering og oppfølging av tidligere utgitte fugler, inkludert Bali Starling (Leucopsar rothschildi), Mitchells Lorikeet (Tricoglosus haematodus mitchellii), Lesser Sulphur-crested Cockatoo ( Cacatua sulphurea parvula) and the Moustache pareakeet (Psittacula Alex). Observasjon Resultatene viste det var svingninger i befolkningen spesielt Bali Starling.
Apart from activities directly related to animals, other supporting activities such as land rehabilitation, conservation education and community development continued with the objective to maintain the strong working relationship and support given by the local community for FNPF’s activities.
II. Report on Bird Release
II. 1 Observation on the Bali Starling ( Leucopsar rothschildi)
The Bali Starling monitoring was continued in cooperation with the Begawan Foundation and the local community. Our information and observations about this highly endangered species relies on the efforts of our staff observation and information contributed by local people.
We are pleased to report there were some reproduction activities during this period. There are now two additional proven pairs which makes a total of eight. The most exiting part is that one of the new proven pairs conists of two birds that are wild bred! One of the two babies produced by the pair that was nesting in April at Banjar can be found at Ped village. One baby was found on the ground at Biaung village and one of the people from the village brought it to our office. This act of care for the birds demonstrates the interest and commitment to their well being by the local community. This is especially important, knowing that these birds are extremely valuable and could fetch upwards of US$1,000 for sale to the caged bird market.
No new birds were observed in May. But in June, a new pair was observed nesting / breeding on nearby Lembongan island. This pair is also a wild bred pair. This is exciting news because it shows that the birds are spreading across the 3 islands to breed.
The number of birds that were observed for each month during this period were ranged from 85 April; 81 Mai; 74 Juni. Note that we have 1 staff member that does the bird monitoring every day. He visits about 25 locations where we know that the birds frequent. Tilsvarende, he works with the villagers so that they notify FNPF of any new locations where the birds are sighted.
II.2 Observasjon på Mitchells Lorikeet (Tricoglosus haematodus mitchellii)
The Mitchell’s Lorikeet is still occassionally observed around the office area. At least one of the 3 released birds comes periodically to the office area. The three lorikeets that we are rehabilitating are expected to be ready for release in July 2010.
II.3 Observation of the Lesser Sulphur-crested Cockatoo (Cacatúa sulphurea parvula)
During this period the released male that was already close to one of the wild females continued to have very good interactions with her but there has been no sign yet that they are going to breed.
The female that we took back to the office for rehabilitation is already able to fly like a wild bird but does not move too far from our center. Men, she has started to spend some nights outside of our office area at the Dalem Bungkut Temple area (about 300 m from our office) and Adegan village (about 500 m from our office area). She is demonstrating her ability to get food such as Jamaican Cherry (Muntingea carabula) frukt, Morringga uleifera seed, Red Bead treet (Adenanthera microsperma ) seed, Api Api fruit (local name) and chilli from the wild. This particular female also eats young leaves and buds especially Ficus sp.
The breeding and release program for the Lesser Sulphur Crested Cockatoo was presented to the Bali Government on April 6, 2010. Our application for the import permit is currently with the Forestry Department in Jakarta and we are waiting for government approval to bring the bird to Bali. We hope the Forestry Department in Jakarta will give their support as readily as the Bali Government has done.
We are also looking for supporters who are willing to contribute toward the cost of building breeding cages for ten pairs of cockatoo on Nusa Penida. The cost for each of the 10 cages is approximately U$ 1,500. Please contact FNPF if you think you can help, or if you would like to organise a fund raising event for this specific item.
II.4 Java Sparrow (Frog oryzivora) Breeding, Rehabilitation and Release Program
Despite this bird not being on the Endangered list, we recognise that their numbers in Bali and elsewhere in Indonesia are already greatly reduced. We fear that they are at risk of becoming Critically Endangered. They are currently available to buy in Bali bird markets, but are rare to be seen in the wild in Bali. They were once very common all over Bali.
Based on our previous experience of releasing these birds, we believe that releasing the sparrows in higher numbers increases their chances of survival from predators. We are now starting to breed this bird in order to build the population up enough for a release event. At our center we currently have 16 adults birds. We would like to increase this number to have 100 birds to release together. We hope we will find more birds in the future for our breeding stock so we can build our population faster.
II.5 Observation on Red Lory (Eos Borneo)
Both of the Red Lory continue to frequently appear around Ped village
II.6 Moustache Parakeet (Psitacula alexandri)
We have still only found one of the Moustache Parakeets, en uparet fugl, rundt vår kontorareal. The two other pairs were not observed during this period.
III. Supporting Activities
III.1 Conservation Education
During May and June, conservation education activities were minimal due to the schools’ focus on new students for the 2010-2011 academic year and identifying new students who would like to join this program. One exciting development is that one of our committed donors in Australia, Patricia McWhirter, will sponsor and raise funds for a teacher from the local high school in Nusa Penida to visit and promote this program to some schools in Australia. This activity is one of our initial steps to increase collaboration between FNPF and Cardinea Environment Coalition, and also between high schools in Nusa Penida and high schools in Melbourne. We hope this will give benefit to all of us and the future generations.
III.2 Land Rehabilitation
FNPF’s planting activities were focused on seedling propagation and maintenance of seedlings that were previously planted. At the end of June we had 29,528 seedlings ready to be planted during the upcoming rainy season. These seedlines consist of eleven species including: White teak (Gmelina arborea), Jamaican cherry (Muntingea calabura), Silk treet (Albizia chinensis), Monkey pod (Albizia saman), Kassof tree (Cassia siamea), Palm, Neem (Azadirachta indica), Tropical almond (Terminalia catapa), and Bead tree (Adenanthera microsperma).
Apart from these, a total of 6,566 seedlings were acclimatized at our nursery, herunder: Neem, (Azadirachta indica), Monkey Pod (Albezia saman), Cassuf Wood (Casea seamia), Psidium sp , Nut Soap Tree (Sapindus sp), Jamaican cherry (Muntingea carabula). From these, 4,186 were taken and planted by local community members during this period. This number was a bit higher than expected due to an unusually long rainy season.
III.2.1 Planting at Tanglad the reforestation site
We did not do detailed monitoring for this period because there was an unusually long rainy season. Men, we did observe that most of the saplings were growing well during this period.
III.3 Community Development
I begynnelsen av 2010, FNPF fortsatte Community Development programmet (se nedenfor) with the objective of maintaining support given by Nusa Penida residents for FNPF’s programs.
III.3.1 Bamboo plaanting
During the second quarter, the bamboo, activities were focused on seedling propagation and monitoring beause this program is being reviewed by our donor. The survival rate of all of our bamboo is 82.6% and we still have more than 26,000 saplings. We are in the process of doing carbon sequestering research on the bamboo that we have planted which will continue into next quarter.
III.3.2 Seeds For Bali Program
Den seedlings for dette programmet, which was funded by Pt. Bank Danamon Indonesia Open (Danamon) og American Express Card medlemmer, have shown good results in terms of survival rate. In some places they have also showed very good growth. We will do yearly monitoring at the end of the rainy season (usually around July) for this project because the seedlings are now well established.
III.3.3 Children’s Traditional Dance Class
The children’s traditional dance classes continued to be held on the grounds of FNPF’s office at Ped and at Batumadeg. Klassene holdes to ganger i uken. At these two places, the number of students participating is between 40 til 50 on each class day
III.3.4 Scholarship
We are currently able to provide scholarships for three high school students with support from a private donor, Marcella Pierce, and send one of our local staff to Veterinary Faculty in Udayana University with support from a group of Australian sponsors, Patricia Corbit, Patricia McWhirter and Elaine Cebuliak. We also have commitment from Humane Society International (Australia) to sponsor 41 students to attend high school … one student from each of the 41 landsbyene på øya.
IV. Other
IV.1 Half a Cow Appeal
The cow that we got from this appeal is still pregnant and we hope we will have a calf by the end of next quarter. We hope we can encourage more people to support this appeal.
IV.2 School Visit Scientific Research
The master’s degree student who was doing scientific research during the previous quarter has finished her data collection for the wet season. She will continue her research when the dry season comes again.
I. Conclusion
Despite ongoing limited funding availability, we are managing to maintain our work with good support from the local community and local government. We hope to have additional financial support to ensure the long term survival of the Bali Bird Sanctuary on Nusa Penida and to continue to improve the quality and breadth of our work in wildlife conservation, gjenplanting, agroforestry, environmental education and community development.
