Villagers preserve rare egrets in Ketingan

Sri Wahyuni The Jakarta Post Yogyakarta

It was 5:30 p.m. in Ketingan, a hamlet in Sleman regency, some 10 kilometers north of here. The dusk wan setting in and the hamlet became quiet. A call for evening prayers came from the village mosque's loudspeakers.

All of a sudden, the quiet the village became very noisy with the sounds and the flapping wings of thousands of egrets descending from the sky.

They came in large numbers forming a circle before they perched in the trees. In less than an hour, the village became quiet again.

"They (the egrets) have found their home in the hamlet," Sriyanto, Ketingan neighborhood chief said.

The egrets usually left the hamlet very early in the morning looking for food some 10 kilometers away and will not come back until dusk. Only during the hatching season will some egrets stay at daytime to protect and feed the young egrets.

Ketingan Has become a rare place where egrets have a place they may call a safe home.

Sriyanto said the birds have been for some five years living side by side with local people who have voluntarily protected the rare birds from hunters.

They let them live, nest, and grow undisturbed. People have put up at a number of places signboards forbidding anyone to hunt the birds down. They will not hesitate to stop and repulse trespassers.

"We the residents have agreed to protect the birds and let the animals live safely and peacefully for as long as they like. We all believe that the birds have brought us good luck," said Sriyanto, who is a bird lover.

Ketingan villagers have no recollection when exactly the egrets started to come and live in their neighborhood. They were aware their hamlet became an egret colony after hundreds of them lived there already.

But Sriyanto claimed he knew the exact day the egrets started to come and built their nests.

"It all began in 1997. Then I saw dozens of egrets build their nest in bamboo clusters at our backyards. I also noticed that more and more egrets were coming here after Sultan Hamengku Buwono X (Yogyakarta sultan and Yogyakarta governor) paid a visit to inaugurate an asphalt road here," Sriyanto said.

"We do believe Ngarso Dalem's (the Sultan) visit had something to do with the growing population of the egrets in our neighborhood. It's like was the animals came here to show the birds a safe place to live," he added.

The fact that only in Ketingan the egrets live has spurred superstition among Ketingan villagers. They consider it a mystery that no birds live in the neighboring Cebongan hamlet, which have the same environment and tall trees. Biologist Bambang Agus Suripto of Gadjah Mada University said that security factor could be the main reason why the egrets chose Ketingan and nowhere else as their home.

Living in large groups, egrets are highly sensitive to disturbance. That was why they live on tall trees, Bambang said.

Egrets, too, according to Bambang, have a good flying capability. They can fly over 10 kilometers without stopping. That explains why the birds, which live on fish and other small animals including lizards, frogs, and worms can live far away from places where food is abundant, such as ponds.

Bambang said there were a number of places in the Yogyakarta province where egrets temporarily stay or even live for a longer period of time. Gembiraloka Zoo compound is one, although the population is not as large as that of Ketingan.

In fact, there has yet been any scientific research on both the population number and the exact species of the egrets currently living in Ketingan. However, head of Yogyakarta Natural Resource Conservation Board Kuspriyadi Sulistyo estimates that the population of egrets in Ketingan is about 8,000.

According to Kuspriyadi, egrets in Ketingan belong to at least two species but locals call them kuntul Cina (Chinese Egret, scientifically known as Egretta eulophotes) and blekok sawah (Javan Pond-heron or Ardeola speriosa). They belong to the Ardeidae family.

Government Regulation (PP) No 9/1999 on plants and animal preservation has put these two species on the list of protected birds.

The Yogyakarta Natural Resource Conservation Agency bestowed an award last month to Ketingan residence for voluntarily preserving the protected birds.