OBC funding is supporting Big Month Java and Bali 2020 — a new citizen science project that aims to gather occurrence data for birds across the islands of Java and Bali, with a focus on areas that currently lack information.

For the whole of January 2020, birdwatchers across the islands are being asked to concentrate on areas away from the well-known national parks and other protected areas whose avifauna is relatively well-known and explore areas that are visited less frequently, such as agricultural areas, village edges, small forest patches, rivers, and urban areas.

Less experienced birdwatchers will be able to receive assistance in bird identification through the use of Burungnesia, a smart phone app, through which all bird records can be directly uploaded.

Burungnesia is one of the partners organising the Big Month Java and Bali 2020 initiative, alongside the Indonesian Ornithologist Union (IdOU) and Manchester Metropolitan University, UK.

Data from Big Month will be used to provides a baseline against which future changes in bird populations can be measured and to identify areas requiring targeted conservation effort.

Several songbird species in Indonesia are known to be in severe decline as a result of excessive trapping to supply demand for the cage bird trade and for their use in songbird singing competitions.

In 2015, ornithological experts met at the first Asian Songbird Crisis Summit and later developed an action plan to help restore populations of some of the most heavily impacted species.

"The idea for Big Month Java & Bali 2020 came out of the Singapore Asian Songbird Crisis meeting where it was seen as important to demonstrate the extent of declines in common birds across Java. It was also suggested that a good way to bring this to the attention of civil society on the islands would be for civil society itself to be involved in building the report on the State of Java’s birds," explained Professor Stu Marsden of Manchester Metropolitan University.

To find out more about Big Month Java & Bali 2020, and how you can become a supporter and take part, download this document which gives further details (in English and Bahasa) or visit the following websites:
https://www.birdpacker.com/big-month-en (English)
https://www.birdpacker.com/big-month (Bahasa Indonesia)