Hunted, sexually lazy eagles face extinction<\/p>\n
Bambang M., Contributor, Yogyakarta<\/p>\n
Among the endangered eagle species of Accipitridae, the black
\neagle (Ictinaetus malayensis) may be the most fierce-looking,
\nwith a large, jet-black, raptorial body that can grow to almost
\n70 cm long. Fierce though it may look, it is rather meek when it
\ncomes to reproduction, laying eggs only once in two years.<\/p>\n
\"This bird's rather strange behavior is that it has a low
\ninterest in procreation,\" said Dewi, member of a Yogyakarta-based
\nenvironmental activist group called Raptor Indonesia (RAIN).<\/p>\n
Dewi graduated from the School of Biology at Gadjah Mada
\nUniversity in Yogyakarta, and has researched the black eagle
\nextensively.<\/p>\n
In 2000, she was observing a black eagle couple and their
\nchicks in a nest in the Japanese Cave of Plawangan Turgo nature
\nreserve, located near the southern slope of Mount Merapi.<\/p>\n
She found out that, after the young chicks had been abducted
\nby locals -- and later sold at Ngasem bird market in Yogyakarta
\n-- the female eagle did not lay eggs for two years.<\/p>\n
By 2002, however, the nest -- measuring up to 140 cm in
\ndiameter and perched on top of a Erythrina Sp. tree -- boasted a
\nnew batch of eggs.<\/p>\n
While the reproductive cycle of a black eagle is two years,
\nthat of the Javan eagle Spizaetus bartelsi, another rare species,
\nis shorter, occurring in a two- to three-month cycle.<\/p>\n
Indonesian ornithologists have yet to uncover why black eagles
\nhave such a long reproductive cycle, and the breeding habit of
\nbirds in general are still vague.<\/p>\n
\"We've only got an inventory of species,\" said Ign. Pramana
\nYua, an ornithologist at the School of Biology of Atma Jaya
\nUniversity in Yogyakarta.<\/p>\n
A black eagle's mating period usually falls between January
\nand February. In March, the female eagle lays a single egg and
\nincubates it for 47 days. During this time, it will rarely leave
\nits nest, and the male eagle is responsible for finding food for
\nthe two of them. When the chick has hatched, the mother bird will
\nrear it for about two years, although the chick will learn to fly
\nwhen it is only 6 to 7 weeks old.<\/p>\n
A black eagle generally has two or three nests, built about
\n500 meters away from each other, but it uses only one.<\/p>\n
\"We don't yet know why,\" said Sidik of KANOPI, a locally
\nbased, environmental non-governmental organization (NGO) now
\nengaged in research on this raptorial bird.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, John McKinnon, Karen Phillips and Bas van Balen
\nwrite in their book, Birds in Sumatra, Java and Bali, that the
\nblack eagle usually pillaged the nests of their own kind.<\/p>\n
Frequently, the black eagle builds its nest in a dadap tree
\n(Erythrina Sp.) or kikepas tree (Angelherdia Sp.) and the pine
\ntree (Pinus merkusii), choosing a tree that grows at the edge of
\na ravine.<\/p>\n
\"The reason for this is that it needs a wide-open space in
\nwhich it can make use of the warm air current to teach the young
\nto fly within a short time,\" said Abrar, a KANOPI activist. In
\naddition, the tree it selects for its nest is usually protected
\nby strong winds, said Dwi Lesmana of Birdlife Indonesia.<\/p>\n
A black eagle mainly feeds on rats, squirrels, birds' eggs and
\nsmaller birds. An adult black eagle can eat two to three rats a
\nday, but will eat more when it is caring for its young.<\/p>\n
This raptorial bird usually looks for prey within a radius of
\n20 to 30 square kilometers, beginning the hunt about 7 a.m. At
\nthe break of dawn or on a cloudy day, it waits for prey atop a
\ntree branch. Later in the morning or on a bright day, however, it
\nwill soar overhead and let out a loud shriek to swoop down
\nquickly and seize its prey.<\/p>\n
Eagles are highly territorial birds, and sometimes, when rival
\neagles trespass a black eagle's territory, the black eagle will
\nattack the intruder in mid-flight. A black eagle will also
\nundulate its body to indicate that another eagle is flying over
\nits territory.<\/p>\n
Found only in lush, forested mountain areas, outside
\nIndonesia, the black eagle is found in India, China and other
\nSoutheast Asian countries. Mountainous areas of Indonesia that
\nare home to these majestic birds include the skies above Mount
\nMerapi, Mount Slamet, Mount Lawu and Mount Gede-Pangrango.<\/p>\n
This raptorial bird can generally be found on the islands of
\nSumatra, Kalimantan, Sulawesi, Java and Maluku, although the
\npopulation has declined in the wild.<\/p>\n
The black eagle has been listed as a protected bird under
\nGovernment Regulation No. 7\/1999 on protected animals and plants.
\nIn CITES (Convention on International Trade in Endangered
\nSpecies), the black eagle has been listed in Appendix II, meaning
\nthat it is not yet on the brink of extinction, but that it will
\nquickly become extinct if the trading of this bird is not tightly
\nregulated.<\/p>\n
In a survey that Dewi conducted in four regencies --
\nKulonprogo, Wanagama Forest in Gunungkidul, Pacitan and Bantul --
\nbetween September and October 2002, for example, only two black
\neagle couples were found in the wild, namely in Menoreh Hills of
\nKulonprogo and in Wanagama Forest.<\/p>\n
\"Residents in the areas say the bird is rarely seen now,\" she
\nsaid.<\/p>\n
It is the destruction of this bird's habitat that has led to
\nthe decline in its population. Most low-lying forest areas in
\nIndonesia, which are the bird's main habitat, are scarcely found
\ntoday. This is also why this bird is now found only in
\nmountainous areas. Even this limited habitat must be shared with
\nother raptorial birds.<\/p>\n
Dwi Lesmana said the life of a black eagle relied very much on
\nforest sustainability.<\/p>\n
Although this bird is protected by law, it is still a hunted
\nfor sport.<\/p>\n
If someone wants to keep the bird as pet, he must take a young
\nbird, because an adult black eagle is prone to severe levels of
\nstress in captivity that will eventually kill it.<\/p>\n
Given that the habitat of this bird is now much reduced, that
\nit is still a target of hunters, and that it breeds only once in
\ntwo years, the population of the black eagle is increasingly
\nthreatened.<\/p>\n
\"In the next decade or two, the population of black eagles
\nwill reach a very critical level. That's why we must collect as
\nmuch data as possible about this bird's behavior to ensure that
\nwe can conserve this species properly,\" said Abrar.<\/p>\n
In the case of the Javan eagle, he said, the study of its
\nbehavior was begun only when the bird was already on the brink of
\nextinction.<\/p>\n
Breeding this species in captivity remains difficult as it
\nwill need a very large cage, and the cost of a breeding program
\nwill be extremely high.<\/p>\n
Sidik said that the key to maintaining the population of this
\nbird was to ensure that its habitat would not be reduced further,
\nand to carry out intensive conservation campaigns.<\/p>\n
The extinction of the black eagle will disrupt the balance in
\nthe ecosystem, as this bird is a top predator which controls the
\npopulation of its prey, such as rats and other rodents.<\/p>",
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