Adam Miller's face was smiling. "There are encouraging findings," said Executive Director of Planet Indonesia Foundation, when met mid-October. He recounted, the exhaustion of the survey conducted by his team and the team from the Natural Resources Conservation Center of West Kalimantan, 'paid', by the fact that is encouraging. A hope, to be exact.
"The survey team saw several ivory hornbills. According to experts this hornbill is very high, "he said, while naming the location of the meeting. For the safety of its habitat from hunting threats, details of the meeting location can not be mentioned. The latest biodiversity survey report in a conservation area in West Kalimantan, provides 'passion' as well as hope for the sustainability of the population of protected species.
From the survey results, obtained data of several species of wild animals living in the area. Like the orangutan (Pongo pygmaeus), the sun bear (Helongctos malayanus), the gibbons (hylobates muelleri), pangolins (sweet javanica), porcupine (Hystrix brachyura), kuau king (Argusianus argus), rhinoceros hornbill (hornbill rhinoceros) and enggang ivory Rhinoplax vigil).
"Within a week, nearly 20 horns of ivory in the region were detected. In fact, during the six months of the survey, there were 37 meetings. Actually, this is not the first finding. The preliminary survey was conducted in late 2016 and the second phase from June to February of next year, "added Adam.
Despite these encouraging findings, the survey team also found the facts of a threat to the panglima population of birds in their natural habitat. The survey team found many illegal activities in the area. Call it people's plantation land, and illegal logging.
Seven types
Adam added that from the survey results there are seven species of hornbill. Type is: hornbill white belly (Anthracoceros albirostris), bushy-crested hornbill (Anorrhinus galeritus), wreathed hornbill (Rhyticeros undulatus), black hornbill (Anthracoceros malayanus), white-crowned hornbill (Berenicornis comatus), rhinoceros hornbill, and julang crested black (Rhabdotorrhinus corrugatus).
"This place is like a hornbill paradise," he said. Adam said, counting this bird population in nature puts forward visual detection. The ivory horns also belong to very sensitive species. Population survey methodology uses transects that generally start at 05.30 WIB until 10.00 WIB.
The observation line along the transect is about one kilometer per day. Meanwhile, the identification books used were Birds of Borneo (Phillipps et al. 2011), Birds of Borneo (Myers S. 2009), Birds in Sumatra, Java, Bali and Kalimantan (MacKinnon et al. 2010). Each species of predatory bird and hornbill observed was recorded and documented.
The species identification also uses a voice recorder to confirm the identification of the bird species. Voice recording is done at each point 100 meters along the transect line. A bird's voice recording is performed for 10 minutes using the H4n Zoom voice recorder and will be deposited to the xeno-canto sound data bank site.
Population surveys in the region also use interview methods. The community to be informants is the local people who often enter the conservation forest area. "Not only horns, survey results also often show endangered bird species such as stone magpie, and green cucak," added Adam.
According to Adam, enggang ivory is actually easily recognizable. It is a very large horn, about 120 cm long, plus 50 cm ribbon on the middle tail, brown and white. At the tail, there was a long mane. His trademark: white tail with a transverse black line and wide white stripe on the wing. Yellow-red horn-off, tall, square-shaped. Characteristic of the male horn is on the neck there is red skin without fur, while the pale blue color in females.
The sound of this bird is very distinctive, breaking the silence of the jungle. Beginning with a low voice, then rising, bubbling with the increased tempo. Residents who live near the tropical rain forest of Borneo, certainly no stranger to this sound. "Forest and nature explorers sometimes want to hear the bird's voice. Just to be a witness, the magical sound of birds that have a place of honor in the Dayak tribe. "
For the Dayak tribe, hornbill is a bird that can bridge the world and the spirit. The elegance of hornbill is also enshrined in dances in many sub-tribes of Dayak. The incision is immortalized in tattoos, and paintings. Hog is also symbolized as a leader, no wonder the horn feathers become markers of position within the tribe.
Yokyok Hadiprakasa, Director of Rangkong Indonesia, in his email to Mongabay Indonesia stated that the existence of enggang ivory in a forest area depends also on the feed tree, as well as the place to live the food source. Yoki, his familiar greeting, is a biologist who has been involved in horn conservation since 2000. Yoki since six years ago has started various efforts to overcome the hunting of ivory horn that occurred massively in Indonesia.
"The feed is small fruits and insects," he said. Hogs inhabits a large tall tree. He made a hole for the nest there. The nest model is unique, not found in other horn types. Enggang has an important role in the forest ecosystem. "He's a grain spreader all over the forest. Its roaming reaches 100 square kilometers. "
In addition to being hunted, the habitat is now displaced by land conversion; for settlements, plantations, industrial plantations, or agriculture. The lack of large, tall trees makes it difficult to make nests. The ego horn conservation status is currently included in the IUCN red list; Critical (Critically Endangered / CR). This animal is protected by legal umbrella Law no. 5/1990 and PP no. 7/1999, and listed in Appendix 1 of CITES.
The findings of this enggang enggang population are both good and worrisome. Imagine, this area has been done several times by law enforcement officials in the scope of the Ministry of Environment and Forestry. "It needs a commitment from the local government," Adam added.
Yayasan Planet Indonesia and Section III of Singkawang Region, which oversees the conservation area, are formulating several programs. Among them, joint patrols. "This joint patrol we call together with the citizens. The goal is to participate in securing the area, "said Dani Arief, Section Head 3 Singkawang Region, in Pontianak, October 24, 2017.
Related to security, as reported from the page BKSDA Kalbar, written that in 2013, the Conservation Section of Territory III has requested the assistance of Regent Landak through Letter Number S. 63 / IV-K.21 /Kons/SKW-III/2013 dated June 25, 2013 regarding the findings road construction in conservation areas. And report to Head of KSDA West Kalimantan by letter Number: S. 56 / IV-K.21 / KONS / SKW-III / 2013 dated June 20, 2013 regarding problem and follow-up suggestion.
Still on the same page, mentioned the last condition, in February 2014, there was a criminal act of illegal logging with the number of wood about 1,000 stems of various sizes. Rescue has been pursued through functional operations in cooperation with the Kec Sector Polsek. Big Water / Serimbu, Resort Police. However, in reality, the wood is looted and difficult to control because of personnel limitations.