South-East Asia

Hospital day today, and as it turned out a very long one. After spending some time with J I travelled to Chester Zoo, only a 20 minute drive away, returning early afternoon.

I spent quite a lot of time in the South-East Asia part of the Zoo. The buildings attempt to reflect the region. There’s a big focus on conservation. I went into one aviary attempting some photography, which proved to be not easy. A lot of dense vegetation, and the birds were very fast, but I do have a pic of a Bali Mynah as an extra, only 100 left in the wild. In the much larger Monsoon experience the use of my camera proved impossible as the lens steamed up completely (a shame, it’s a fantastic space).

A useful information board set out work to understand the Asian Songbird Crisis. Working with local organisations on the island of Java a researcher supported by the Zoo has been trying to understand why people keep birds - there is a caged bird for every two people, and the capture of wild birds is devastating wild populations. Keepers fall into three categories - hobbyists who keep them as pets, contestants who engage in competitive singing competitions, and hobbyists who breed. The crisis will only end with behavioural change, and working with local people. It’s easy to criticise from afar, but it was not that long ago here that people collected eggs, and shot birds to be stuffed or to use the feathers for fashionable ladies hats and clothes. And here and across Europe lots of migratory birds are still shot for “sport”.