Villagers preserve rare egrets in Ketingan

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.