Richard Thomas

Oriental Bird Images website is closing...

OBI-screen.jpg

Hundreds of thousands have visited the incredible collection of Asian bird photographs held in the Oriental Bird Images website in recent years and many have contributed their own photos.

The OBI collection was built up over many years through the generosity of thousands of bird photographers throughout the region and maintained by a core team of unpaid but passionate enthusiasts.

However, the OBI team is ready to retire and it is clear to OBC Council that we are no longer able to maintain the database in its current form and the OBI website will soon have to close.

The good news is that after a search for a suitable solution, OBC is partnering with the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. With this partnership, the OBI collection will persist indefinitely as a separate and valuable image database, but will be hosted by and become integrated with the Macaulay Library and eBird at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology.

If you contributed photos to OBI, we need your help. We need permission to transfer your photographs to the Macaulay Library or they will be lost from the OBI collection. If you have already given your permission, thank you very much, your assistance is hugely appreciated. If not, there is a very simple opt-in process to give your permission for the transfer.

Simply visit https://www.macaulaylibrary.org/oriental-bird-images/

Once there, you will be asked to sign-in with your Cornell Lab account if you already have one, or if not to create one, and then asked to give your consent to the transfer of your images.

You will also need your OBI ID number.

If you don't remember your OBI ID, please visit your OBI profile and select the last numbers in the URL.

For example the OBI ID of this profile is 102:

http://orientalbirdimages.org/photographers.php?action=birder&Birder_ID=102

If you still need help, please contact imagemaster@orientalbirdimages.org for assistance.

Please note the opt-in period ends on 16th April 2021.

After this date it will not be possible to accept any further transfers. Many thanks to the owners of more than 85% of the collection who have already agreed to the transfer. If you are one of the 15% minority ACT NOW or your images will disappear.

Ideally we would like to transfer the entire OBI collection to Macaulay—and we're well on the way there, but time is running out.

If you have contributed to OBI over the years, please do consider the merits of maintaining the collection intact. Of course if you chose not to opt-in, that's your decision and will of course be respected, but please be aware that the OBI website and associated images will disappear once the transfer to the Macaulay Library is complete.

Moving forward, OBI will remain a distinct collection within the Macaulay Library, but it will no longer be possible to upload directly to it and users should instead upload their photos via eBird.

As always, all contributors and visitors will have free online access to view uploaded materials in the Macaulay Library, and contributors can download copies of their own media at any time.

OBC thanks all members for their ongoing support of the Club, especially during these difficult times. We hope all members stay safe and well.

Best regards,
OBC Council

Spoon-billed Sandpipers and the East Asian-Australasian flyway webinar

Leg-flagged Spoon-billed Sandpiper © Sayam Chowdhury

Leg-flagged Spoon-billed Sandpiper © Sayam Chowdhury

On Saturday 20th March 2021, OBC hosted the Club’s inaugural webinar, on Spoon-billed Sandpipers and the East Asian-Australasian flyway.

If you were one of the unlucky ones who missed out on this fabulous event, don’t worry, you can catch up with all the latest news and information in this recording.

This webinar will introduce you to the conservation of threatened migratory shorebirds in the Oriental Region, with a special focus on the highly charismatic and Critically Endangered Spoon-billed Sandpiper, a species that many of you may have observed in the coastal wetlands of Thailand. 

The guest speakers are: Dr. Christoph Zockler, Dr. Nigel Clark, and Mr. Ayuwat Jearwattanakanok

Christoph and Nigel are leading scientific authorities on the Spoon-billed Sandpiper and play key roles in the Spoon-billed Sandpiper Task Force. Ayuwat oversees the shorebird conservation work led by the Bird Conservation Society of Thailand, including the OBC-supported project at the famed Pak Thale wetlands, and is also a well-known bird artist. 

Besides learning about conservation efforts targeted at some of the region's most threatened species, attendees will also able to hear updates from the OBC, including our conservation priorities going forward, and have a chance for feedback and discussion. 

The webinar is supporting fundraising for a satellite tagging Spoon-billed Sandpipers project to understand better their migration patterns and where to focus future conservation action. 

A huge thanks to all those of you who have already donated to support our work on satellite tagging Spoon-billed Sandpipers! You can show your support by making a donation here.

Trouble ahead for heavily smuggled Oriental Magpie-robin

Oriental Magpie-robin © James A. Eaton/Birdtour Asia

Oriental Magpie-robin © James A. Eaton/Birdtour Asia

Petaling Jaya, Malaysia, 5th March 2021 – The Oriental Magpie-robin Copsychus saularis, a popular songbird in Southeast Asia is headed for trouble if it is not protected from rampant trapping in Malaysia and smuggling to feed international demand, warns a new report by conservation organisation TRAFFIC and the Department of Wildlife and National Parks Peninsular Malaysia (PERHILITAN).

The Oriental Magpie-robin is common in the wild in Malaysia and other range states. Yet worryingly large numbers are being intercepted in seizures with at least 26,950 of the birds confiscated in just 44 incidents that implicated Malaysia from January 2015 to December 2020.

The research shows that a staggering 66% of these birds were smuggled in 2020 alone.

The report Smuggled for its Song: The trade in Malaysia’s Oriental Magpie-robins reveals that the majority (64%) of the seized birds were being trafficked from Malaysia to Indonesia.

“This points to Malaysian populations of the Oriental Magpie-robin being targeted to feed demand in neighbouring countries, particularly Indonesia. It also indicates an escalation of international trafficking in recent years to feed the persistent demand for the pet trade,” said PERHILITAN Director-General Dato’ Abdul Kadir Abu Hashim.

Seizures in Malaysia took place in only four states implicating these as key source or consolidation points for smuggling. Large shipments of the birds were mostly smuggled by sea to Indonesia, with such cases involving 17,314 birds.

A seizure of 1,825 Oriental Magpie-robins and one White-rumped Shama in Senggarang, Johor by General Operations Force of the Royal Malaysian Police in January 2020. © Pasukan Gerakan Am, Polis Diraja Malaysia

A seizure of 1,825 Oriental Magpie-robins and one White-rumped Shama in Senggarang, Johor by General Operations Force of the Royal Malaysian Police in January 2020. © Pasukan Gerakan Am, Polis Diraja Malaysia

The authors identified greater collaboration between Malaysia and Indonesia as a priority to investigate and disrupt the trafficking chains that drive the trade and also called for improved legal protections for the species in Malaysia as it is not uniformly protected within the country. At present, the Oriental Magpie-robin is only listed as a protected species under Sabah’s Wildlife Conservation Enactment 1997 and not Peninsular Malaysia’s or Sarawak’s wildlife law.

The Oriental Magpie-robin also faces demand within Malaysia. TRAFFIC’s trade assessments of online marketplaces – where most of the wildlife pet trade in the country currently takes place – found that the Oriental Magpie-robin is one of the top species recorded for sale.

“History has shown that when sought-after species are not properly regulated, wild populations can be depleted quickly. Take for instance the once-common Straw-headed Bulbul, which has now vanished from much of its range because of trade,” said Kanitha Krishnasamy, Director for TRAFFIC in Southeast Asia.

“Establishing a strengthened regulation system could prevent this from happening to the Oriental Magpie-robin,” Krishnasamy said.

The Straw-headed Bulbul Pycnonotus zeylanicus only remains in Singapore and some parts of Peninsular Malaysia and Borneo. It was listed as Critically Endangered by IUCN in 2018, due to trapping pressure for trade.

The Oriental Magpie-robin was trapped to near-extinction in the wild in Singapore in the 1980s and required a conservation reintroduction programme to reverse the trend.

“Listing this species as Protected across the three laws is the first step to improved monitoring and regulation of the trade through a licensing system. That way, its legal status and management is harmonised across the country, and will allow for more informed decisions to guide future efforts,” said Serene Chng, Programme Officer for TRAFFIC.

Enigmatic bird missing for 172 years rediscovered in the rainforests of Indonesian Borneo

Black-browed Babbler © Muhammad Rizky Fauzan

Black-browed Babbler © Muhammad Rizky Fauzan

Banjarmasin, Indonesia—The Black-browed Babbler (Malacocincla perspicillata), widely considered by experts the “greatest enigma in Indonesian ornithology”, has been sensationally rediscovered in the rainforests of Borneo more than 172 years after it was first seen.

Mr. Muhammad Suranto and Mr. Muhammad Rizky Fauzan, both locals in Indonesia’s South Kalimantan Province, were gathering forest products in an area not far from where they live when they accidentally stumbled upon an unfamiliar bird species. They caught and released it after taking some photographs.

The two contacted local birdwatching groups, BW Galeatus and Birdpacker who then suspected the bird might be the missing Black-browed Babbler. This was subsequently confirmed after consultations with expert ornithologists from Indonesia and around the region.

“It feels surreal to know that we have found a species of bird presumed by experts to be extinct. When we found it, we didn't expect it to be that special at all – we thought it was just another bird that we simply have never seen before”, said Rizky Fauzan.

The Black-browed Babbler was described by the noted French ornithologist, Charles Lucien Bonaparte in 1850 based on a specimen collected some time in the 1840s by German geologist and naturalist, Carl A.L.M. Schwaner during his expeditions to the East Indies.

Since then, no other specimen or sightings have been reported and the origin of the type specimen has been shrouded in mystery. Even the island where it was taken was unclear: widely assumed to be Java, it was only in 1895 that Swiss ornithologist Johann Büttikofer pointed out that Schwaner was in Borneo at the time of his discovery.

“The sensational finding confirms that the Black-browed Babbler comes from south-eastern Borneo, ending the century-long confusion about its origins,” said Mr. Panji Gusti Akbar of Indonesian bird conservation group, Birdpacker, lead author of the paper giving details of the rediscovery published today by the Oriental Bird Club, a UK-based bird conservation charity in their journal, BirdingASIA.

“We now also know what the Black-browed Babbler really looks like—the photographed bird showed several differences from the only known specimen, specifically the colour of the iris, bill and legs. These three parts of a bird’s body are known to lose their tint and are often artificially coloured during the taxidermy process.”

“The discovery also confirms that this species remains extant despite the massive deforestation and habitat conversion in this little-known part of Borneo. There is therefore a very high possibility of it being severely threatened by habitat loss.”

Mr. Teguh Willy Nugroho, a co-author of the BirdingASIA paper, a member of staff at the Sebangau National Park in Kalimantan, and a founding member of BW Galeatus, observed that the remarkable discovery demonstrated the importance of networks of local people, birdwatchers and professional scientists in gathering information on Indonesia’s biodiversity, especially some of the country’s least known species. This can be important in remote areas of the country that are not easily accessible to scientists.

“I think it is amazing that we managed to document one of the most remarkable zoological discoveries in Indonesia, if not Asia (largely through online communication) in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic, which has hampered us from visiting the site”, Teguh noted.

The dramatic rediscovery of the Black-browed Babbler demonstrates how poorly known Indonesia’s sprawling avifauna is, the largest in Asia—with more than 1,700 species found across the archipelago’s many little-surveyed islands.

“It’s sobering to think that when the Black-browed Babbler was last seen, Charles Darwin’s Origin of Species hadn’t even been published and the now extinct Passenger Pigeon was still among the world’s commonest birds,” said Mr Ding Li Yong, an Asia-based conservationist with the world’s leading bird conservation charity, BirdLife International, and a co-author of the paper.

“Who knows what other riches lie deep within Borneo’s fabled rainforests, especially in the Indonesian part of the island, and the paramount need to protect them for future generations.”

A further publication detailing the bird’s ecology is currently being prepared by the authors, while plans are ongoing to revisit the site where the species was discovered when conditions permit.

Details of the rediscovery are published today by the Oriental Bird Club, a UK-based bird conservation charity, in their members’ journal, BirdingASIA—click on the title below to download the paper.

Akbar, P.G., Nugroho, T.W., Suranto, M., Fauzan, M.R., Ferdiansyah, D., Trisiyanto, J.S. and Yong, D.L. (2020). Missing for 170 years—the rediscovery of Black-browed Babbler Malacocincla perspicillata on Borneo. BirdingASIA 34: 13–14.


Media contacts

For more information, please contact

Panji Gusti Akbar

Birdpacker

Email: panji.gusti@gmail.com

Teguh Willy Nugruho

Sebangau National Park Headquarters, BW Galeatus

Email: teguhwillynugroho@gmail.com

Doddy Ferdiansyah 

BW Galeatus

Email: ferdiansyah.doddy@yahoo.co.id


Ding Li Yong

BirdLife International (Asia)

Email: dingli.yong@birdlife.org