234 Indonesian Bird Species Endangered

Bogor, Indonesia (News Today) - The Association of Indonesian Wild Bird Watchers said 234 out of 1,599 Indonesian bird species are on the brink of extinction.

"Indonesian bird species is the fourth largest in the world totalling 1.599, but 234 of them are now on the brink of extinction," the association’s spokesperson, Henny M Sembiring, said here Saturday.

Of the 234 endangered species 117 threatened with extinction, 17 under critical conditions, 30 in a crucial state and 70 vulnerable, Henny said. The threat of extinction faced by the birds came from among others human activities such as illegal logging, land conversion and hunting that have destroyed their habitats.

Henny said that birds are very sensitive animals and would migrate and seek other places to nest if their habitat is damaged. Now birds can hardly be seen on the Ciliwung river banks where many of them used to be there, such as the Purple Swamphen (Porphyrio porphyrio), Kingfishers and Javan Kingfisher (Halcyon cyanoventris).

"Nowadays, we can no longer see some water birds species in the Ciliwung river areas because they have already migrated after their habitat became no longer safe for them," Heny said.

According to a research, there were 150 bird species in the Bogor Botanical Garden in 1950, but the number has decreased to 90 species now. Birds are part of the ecosystem, and the loss of the birds will affect the cycle of life because they also play a role in plant pollinating.

The loss of bird species is a warning about human survival indicating a bad environmental level that should make people more aware of the need to preserve the environment. Indonesia has the greatest biological diversity which is highly respected by other nations but due to a lack of awareness in maintaining it some of it is endangered.

Henny urged the community to be more concerned over the threat of extinction on the bird species and would strive to preserve the the environment and stop animal hunting. The association has been engaged in various activities and campaign to protect the bird’s ecosystem.

Various observations on the birds have also been carried out including identifying and documenting the types of birds in Indonesia for use as reference.

Source : kompas

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