OBC-supported project goes cuckoo

Onon, photographed in 2019 just before release after being fitted with a satellite tag.

The remarkable travels of Onon, a satellite-tagged Common Cuckoo featured heavily in the media this week, with an article in the UK's Guardian and also featured on BBC radio and television.

Onon was one of five birds tagged in June 2019, four of them Common Cuckoos and one Oriental Cuckoo. The bird successfully completed a round trip of 26,000 km from its breeding site in Mongolia, all the way to Zambia in southern Africa.

The Mongolian Cuckoo Project

During its epic migration, the bird took in 27 border crossings and 16 countries and on the return leg flew right across the ocean from the Horn of Africa to northwest India.

The Mongolia Cuckoo Project is a joint initiative by the Wildlife Science and Conservation Center (WSCC) of Mongolia and the British Trust for Ornithology (BTO), facilitated by Birding Beijing and generously supported by the Oriental Bird Club and Mr Dick Newell.

Join the Oriental Bird Club and help support projects like this and conservation work across the Oriental region. Remember the Club is entirely run by volunteers so every penny we raise goes to where it counts most.

Forktail updates

Forktail 35

New issue mailed to 2019 members

2019 members should shortly be receiving their issue of Forktail, the Journal of Asia Ornithology. You can find the full contents here.

Congratulations to the new editorial team, led by Frank Rheindt and Ding Li Yong for another fabulous issue.

If members have not received their printed copy by the end of July 2020, please email membership@orientalbirdclub.org for assistance. Thank you.

Non-members can purchase the latest issue as either a printed or electronic copy here.

In line with OBC policy, that means the papers for Forktail 32 are now all freely available. You can download them here.

Membership Secretary sought

Fancy helping the Oriental Bird Club to look after our membership ?

We’re looking for fresh volunteers to help run the Club.

If you’ve got what it takes, please contact membership@orientalbirdclub.org for further details.

We look forward to hearing from you!

Forktail: new editorial board appointed

The new Chief Editor of Forktail, Frank E. Rheindt

A new editorial board, chaired by renowned ornithologist Frank E. Rheindt has been created for the Oriental Bird Club's peer-reviewed journal, Forktail.

Frank, who is based at the National University of Singapore as an Assistant Professor, will be ably supported in running the journal by OBC Council Member Dr Ding Li Yong, and an impressive team of knowledgeable bird experts from across the region, specifically:

Dr Carmela Española (University of the Philippines, Diliman); Dr Chang-Yong Choi (Seoul National University, South Korea); Assoc. Prof. Chongleong Puan (Universiti Putra Malaysia); Dr Colin R. Trainor (Charles Darwin University, Australia); Dr Fangyuan Hua (Peking University, China): Dr Geoffrey W.H. Davison (National Parks Board, Singapore); Dr James A. Eaton (Birdtour Asia (based in Malaysia)); Dr Le Manh Hung (Institute of Ecology and Biological Resources, Hanoi, Vietnam); Dr Pavel Ktitorov (Russian Academy of Sciences, Far Eastern Branch); Assoc. Prof. Philip Round (Mahidol University, Thailand); Sayam Chowdhury (Bangladesh Spoon-billed Sandpiper Project); Shashank Dalvi (Birdtour Asia (based in India)); Dr Simon Mahood (Wildlife Conservation Society Cambodia); Tim Inskipp; Dr Wieland Heim (University of Münster, Germany); and Dr Yuda Pramana (Atma Jaya University, Yogyakarta, Indonesia).

Forktail is the premier journal of Asian ornithology. Under the new editorial team, the journal continues to pursue academic excellence by providing a forum for impactful research on Asia’s avifauna.

With the on-going global environmental crisis worsening across Asia, Forktail will give particular consideration to submissions that have important conservation implications. At the same time, the journal continues to be open to submission of manuscripts dealing with ecology, physiology, bioacoustics and taxonomy, and has a new focus on field survey work that produces significant findings in an Asian context.

The new Forktail editorial board is currently seeking new paper submissions from established and up-and-coming bird researchers from across the Oriental region.

Correspondence and manuscripts for consideration should be sent to the newly created email address: forktail@orientalbirdclub.org

We look forward to reading the results of your ornithological research!

OBC supports Big Month Java & Bali 2020

Sunda Forktail (c) Lip Kee Yap / Singapore. CC-by-sa-2.0

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)

OBC supports NGO liaison and learning!

OBC helped conservationists from Aceh province Sumatra to visit a Planet Indonesia site in Kalimantan to learn and exchange experiences concerning community conservation initiatives.

Lend us a hand?

A reminder that OBC is always looking for volunteers to help with running the Club.

You don’t need to be an expert on birds – you simply need to have the enthusiasm and willingness to donate a few hours a month to support bird conservation efforts. For logistical reasons, volunteers should ideally be based in the UK.

Interested? Simply send a message to mail@orientalbirdclub.org to find out more

Diary date: 2019 Autumn Meeting

The famous windmill at Cley. Photo courtesy Palmiped

The OBC Autumn Meeting, incorporating the 35th AGM, will be held on Saturday 21st September 2019 in Cley Village Hall, Norfolk, UK.

 

The address for the village hall is The Fairstead, Cley next the Sea, Holt, Norfolk NR25 7RJ. If coming by car, please try and share lifts. There is lots of parking at the village hall. By public transport, the nearest railway station is Sheringham from where the Coast Hopper bus will take you to Cley.

Programme
10.30 Doors open
We’ll be serving tea, coffee and homemade cakes

11.00 Welcome and opening remarks
John Gregory, Chair of OBC

11.15 An update on the political situation in China and what this means for conservation
Terry Townshend
Terry is ‘our man in Beijing’. He’ll give a current perspective on China. Many of you will have seen his amazing footage from the Valley of the Cats earlier this year

11.45 Annual General Meeting
This is where you get to tell us how we are doing as a Council for your Club. Please come prepared to ask questions. The 35th Annual General Meeting Agenda.

12.15 Lunch (featuring Dick Filby’s famous curry!)
For many years Dick and his curry were a key feature of the OBC AGM. By popular demand we’ve managed to lure him back to prepare a culinary sensation—please ensure that you diet for a few days beforehand!

During lunch there will be an opportunity to buy books from Wildsounds.

1.15 The Mongolia Cuckoo project – further science and engagement in East Asia
Chris Hewson
OBC is helping to fund a radio-tagging project for cuckoos in Mongolia. Many of you will remember the trials and tribulations of Flappy McFlapperton – he managed to get all the way to Africa. Chris will give us all a brief update on this follow up project. Chris is a BTO project officer.

1.45 Birding in little known Inner Mongolia
Terry Townshend
Terry likes to go off-track! He will take us to some areas where birders do not often go but where wildlife is flourishing.

2.15. OBC Prize Draw
We raise funds each year through our raffle—thanks to everyone for their support! We’ll be asking our speakers to draw the winning tickets

2.25 Afternoon tea break

2.45 What’s hot in SE Asia – an overview of conservation efforts
Ding Li Yong
Ding Li will be elected to the OBC Council at this meeting. We are proud to welcome him as our first ever Council Member from the region. Ding Li works for BirdLife International and is based in Singapore.

3.15 Asian Songbird Crisis – an overview of the issue and the conservation efforts to resolve it
Professor Stu Marsden
Based at Manchester Metropolitan University, Stu is a long-time member of the OBC, recipient of several small grants and is now driving work on the songbird crisis. He will update us on the latest situation and concerted efforts to improve the situation.

3.45 Extreme Birding – the Seram Thrush Trek
Ashley Banwell
Ashley is an intrepid world birder but what you might not know is that he is also a leading authority on Hawfinches and Willow Tits and is doing inspirational work locally in Norfolk. Ashley recently hoodwinked the OBC Chairman into accompanying him on a never to be forgotten trip to see the little known Seram Thrush and recently described Seram Masked Owl…

4.15 Closing remarks by the Chair and day raffle draw

4.30 Meeting closes

See you there!
Minutes of the 34th AGM, held in September 2018. 35th AGM agenda

OBC AGM to be held in Cley, Norfolk

Cley Mill © Andrew Dunn / CC 2.0

Advance notice that the Oriental Bird Club’s Annual General Meeting will be held on Saturday 21st September 2019 in Cley Village Hall, Norfolk, UK.

As ever, there will be a packed agenda of top quality speakers during the day – details to follow. For the time being, be sure to make a note in your diary.

At that time of year, autumn migration is in full swing, and given favourable winds, we can reasonably expect birds from the Asian region to be reaching the UK’s shores.

So why not make it a full weekend and include some birding in fabulous Norfolk at this prime time of year? We hope to see as many of you there as possible!

Volunteers sought

The OBC is seeking volunteers to help with running the Club.

You don’t need to be an expert on birds – you simply need to have the enthusiasm and willingness to donate a few hours a month to support bird conservation efforts. For logistical reasons, volunteers should ideally be based in the UK.

Interested? Simply send a message to mail@orientalbirdclub.org to find out more

OBC and BirdLife sign agreement to collaborate on conservation

Signing of the OBC-BirdLife MoU

The Oriental Bird Club and BirdLife International have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to collaborate on bird and habitat conservation, awareness-raising and capacity-building initiatives across the Oriental region.

The MoU was formally signed by OBC Chairman Mike Edgecombe and Patricia Zurita, Chief Executive of the BirdLife International Partnership, and during the British Birdwatching Fair in August 2018.

Under the agreement, OBC and BirdLife will work to support each others bird conservation initiatives, including support for fundraising and research opportunities, and in particular for work on flyways initiatives.

The text of the MoU can be found here.

Forthcoming book auction

Dominic Winter will be selling books from Martin Woodcock’s collection on 12th December. It includes scarce titles on Asian and African birds, and much else, including a number of extra-illustrated “one-offs,” some with original watercolur vignettes by Martin.

The catalogue will be online on the Dominic Winter website on 30th November and the hard copy catalogue will be available from 3rd December.

Diary date: 2018 Autumn Meeting

The OBC Autumn Meeting, incorporating the 34th AGM, will be held in the Wilkinson Room, St John the Evangelist, Hills Road, Cambridge CB2 8RN on Saturday 22nd September 2018. Doors open at 10:30 and the meeting starts at 11:00. All are welcome – please bring your friends. Snacks, cakes and hot and cold drinks will be available all day.

Speakers include: John Geeson on Birding Highlights of the Tibetan Plateau H S Sathya Chandra Sagar on Impacts of bird trapping in post-logged forest in lowland Sumatra James Robinson on Fighting to save the Spoon-billed Sandpiper - Dr Nigel Collar on Unidentified flying objects in Asia Pete Morris on Japan – Birding through the Seasons

Download the meeting agenda here...and see you there! Minutes of the 33rd AGM, held in September 2017.

Forest Owlet day in Tansa

BirdingASIA 29

OBC Members should already have received the latest edition of BirdingASIA 29. Another issue packed full of the latest news from the region, including articles on latest taxonomic updates, species new to Malaysia and elsewhere in the region, new breeding records, latest sightings and much much more…

As an OBC member you will receive two issues of BirdingASIA per year plus our scientific journal Forktail – all for a bargain membership fee. So don’t delay, join today!

Flappy's journeys end

Flappy: close up taken when the bird was fitted with a satellite tag

On 17th May 2018, the last satellite transmission was received from Flappy – the Oriental Bird Club sponsored Common Cuckoo of the nominate subspecies – 100 km north of Mandaly and 30 km east of the Irrawaddy River in Myanmar. It seems certain Flappy perished sometime on the night of 14-15th May, during the return leg of her migration from wintering quarters in Mozambique to where she had spent the previous two summers, in northern Mongolia, close to the border with Russia.

The first cuckoo to be fitted with a satellite transmitter as part of the Beijing Cuckoo Project in May 2016 in Beijing, China, during the two years before her demise, the bird crossed 61 international borders involving 16 countries: China, Mongolia, Myanmar, Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, Nepal, Oman, Yemen, Somalia, Ethiopia, Tanzania, Kenya, Mozambique, Zambia and DRC.

The insights into cuckoo migration have been profound: few predicted the cuckoos passing through China in spring would summer as far north, let alone winter in southern Africa. The truly remarkable journeys made by Flappy were followed by a large online audience and a number of high profile media articles. Her exploits helped link two great continents and thanks to OBC sponsorship, helped raise the profile of the Club too.

Full details of the remarkable travels of Flappy and the other cuckoos – which took in East Asia, parts of South-east Asia and South Asia, then across the Arabian Sea and along the coast of the Arabian peninsular and into the Horn of Africa, down through East Africa to southern Africa – can be found on the The Beijing Cuckoo Project website.

The Beijing Cuckoo Project aims to engage Chinese audiences about the wonders of bird migration with a view to promoting conservation and helping to strengthen the links between Chinese and international bird conservation organisations.

The main scientific goal was to discover the unknown migration route and winter quarters for Common Cuckoos breeding in East Asia. In 2017, there are plans to tag further birds to learn more about the remarkable migrations.

The Beijing Cuckoo Project is a collaboration between the Beijing Wildlife Rescue and Rehabilitation Centre (BWRRC), China Birdwatching Society (CBS), the British Trust for Ornithology (BTO) and Birding Beijing.

BWRRC logo

(小）中国观鸟会logo

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Alongside OBC, other supporters of the project are the Zoological Society of London and the British Birds Charitable Foundation and BirdLife International.

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BirdingASIA 28

OBC Members should already have received the latest edition of BirdingASIA 28. Another issue packed full of the latest news from the region, including articles on latest taxonomic updates, species new to Malaysia and elsewhere in the region, new breeding records, latest sightings and much much more…

As an OBC member you will receive two issues of BirdingASIA per year plus our scientific journal Forktail – all for a bargain membership fee. So don’t delay, join today!

Shrike photos sought

Chinese Grey Shrike © James Eaton/Birdtour Asia

Norbert Lefranc and Tim Worfolk are preparing a  revised edition of 'Shrikes: a Guide to the Shrikes of the World' for Bloomsbury Publishing.

The book will include photos and the authors are seeking images of as many species, subspecies and recognisable plumages as possible. Photos should be uncropped, preferably in RAW or TIFF format, however for rarely photographed species a high quality JPEG may be acceptable.

All published photos will be individually credited. Unfortunately the budget is insufficient to allow payment, but contributing photographers will receive a copy of the book. Please contact Tim Worfolk timworfolk@blueyonder.co.uk if you think you can help.

2017 Autumn Meeting

2017 Autumn MeetingThe OBC Autumn Meeting, incorporating the 33rd AGM, will be held in the Wilkinson Room, St John the Evangelist, Hills Road, Cambridge CB2 8RN on Saturday 23rd September 2017.

Doors open at 10:30  and the meeting starts at 11:00. All are welcome – please bring your friends. Snacks, cakes and hot and cold drinks will be available all day.

The Annual General Meeting, at which only OBC members may vote, will be held at 12:10 pm.

Programme

10:30 Doors open – hot drinks & cakes available 11:00 Opening remarks by the Chairman 11:15 Species conservation beyond borders: the need for collaboration Rob Sheldon, Chairman of OSME 12:10 Annual General Meeting 12:40 Lunch break – refreshments and sales 13:40 In search of the Grey Ghost – Snow Leopards and birds of Ladakh. Andy Mears 14:30 The Asian songbird crisis Brian Sykes 15:15 Winners! OBC Prize Draw 2017 15:30 Break – refreshments & sales 15:50 Is the Pochard Baering up? Updating Baer’s Pochard conservation Debbie Pain, Director of Conservation, WWT 16:40 Beidaihe: migration on the East Asian Flyway Mark Andrews 17:20 Closing remarks by the Chairman and day raffle draw 17:30 Meeting closes

Day raffle in aid of the OBC Conservation Fund

Minutes of 32nd OBC AGM

OBC Annual Report & Accounts 2016

Getting there: Parking in side streets around the venue is very limited and we recommend that you travel by rail where possible or use the ‘Park and Ride’ service, see: http://www.cambridgeparkandride.info/babrahamroad.shtml Walking time from Cambridge Station forecourt is about 15-20 minutes. Walk up Station Road to the junction with Hills Road and turn left. The venue is on the left hand side of Hills Road, about 400m after it crosses the railway, directly opposite Homerton College. There is a frequent bus service from Drummer Street bus station via the railway station forecourt, and along Hills Road. For a map, type the postcode CB2 8RN into www.streetmap.co.uk.

BirdingAsia 27 published

OBC Members already, or should shortly receive the latest edition of BirdingASIA 27. Another issue packed full of the latest news from the region, including articles on recent taxonomic changes proposed for Asian birds, breeding birds of Wallacea, the Asian songbird crisis, Rote Island Indonesia, Virachey National Park Cambodia and much much more...

As an OBC member you will receive two issues of BirdingASIA per year plus our scientific journal Forktail - all for a bargain membership fee. So don't delay, join today!