Birding Indonesia, edited by Paul Jepson and Jessie Unstead

Birding Indonesia is the first definitive guide to bird-watching in Indonesia. Of the approximately 1,500 bird       species world-wide, the archipelago contains 17% of which a startling 381 are found nowhere else on earth. The island of Sumba alone has 10 endemic species of birds.
 
Along with Peru's guano  islands and the Norwegian bird cliffs, during the breeding season migratory species from as far away as India and China touch down on the nesting sites found throughout this vast string of  islands.
 
Among Indonesia's extraordinary birdlife are peacocks, pheasants, partridges, turkey-sized pigeons, and jungle fowl who incubate their eggs in volcanic steam or rotting vegetation. Black ibis fly in V-formations, the blue-crowned hanging parrot of The Riaus emits sharp penetrating notes, the glossy black talking mynah of Nias mimics the call of the gibbon. The rhinoceros hornbill of the Kalimantan jungle walls up its young in hollow tree trunks and is known to cackle gleefully like a human.
 
The bizaare and majestic names of Indonesian species – the dark-eared Myza, the Imperial Pigeon, the Invisible Rail, the Maroon-breasted Philentoma, the Mugimaki Flycatcher - are enough to conjure up all the mystery and exoticism of the country’s 18,110 islands.
 
Written by the world’s leading authorities on Indonesian birds, Birding Indonesia directs you to birding sites as varied as the   sedate environs of Jakarta and the wild Arfak Mountains of Papua.
 
But it is not enough for a publication to distinguish itself by being the only guide to a given subject. The book must also be a competently written and usable. Birding Indonesia deserves praise in both regards.
 
The text is rife with accounts of sightings and countless tips on the identification, vocalization and behavior of the species covered. There's also a complete checklist of Indonesian birds, with both common and scientific names, and an endpaper map of Indonesia and a bibliography.
 
One hundred and thirty color photographs show some of Indonesia's most famous birds as well as their nesting sites. Additionally, there are 28 maps, some with color-coded bird habitats. Most importantly, all the major nature reserves and    national parks where species are found are systematically surveyed.
 
The guide presents learned and well-researched essays on bird families, remarkable individual species such as the bird of  paradise, a history of Indonesian ornithology and a report on the country’s conservation efforts to date.
 
As a bonus, Birding Indonesia also contains detailed practical   travel information geared to all budgets, including transport,  accommodations, restaurants, as well as specialist information relevant to birders such as listings of bird clubs and conservation organizations.
 
This comprehensive guide is indeed so well supported by useful travel data that it can serve as the birder’s only guide to both bird watching and getting around. The advertisements even serve a purpose, referring the reader to specialized   operators who give ornithological tours.
 
Since this is a very specialized guidebook, one wishes that the Indonesian Language Primer in the backmatter             had the birdwatcher in mind by including such words and phrases as: “Quiet! Listen! What species is that? Please walk slowly,” etc.  
 
The book is in fact so attractive, well-laid out and collectible that I'm sure bird lovers would be willing to pony up the             extra rupiah and buy the hardcover edition - if it existed. A hardcover copy would also make it more durable and          longer-lasting in the field.
 
Of interest not only to birders, naturalists, ecologists and biologists could also benefit from this indispensable guide when setting out to explore the spectacular and diverse avifauna of the world’s largest archipelago.
 
Birding Indonesia: A Bird-watcher’s Guide to the World's Largest Archipelago by Periplus Editions, Singapore 2003, ISBN 962-593-071-X.
 
Available for Rp165,000 at Periplus Bookshops in the Bali Galeria in Kuta, Warung Made in Seminyak, Ngurah Rai Airport and in Gramedia bookstores in the Matahari in Kuta Square.
 
 
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Copyright@2003 PakBill
 
 
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