- Jamal Adam, a former farmer, began volunteering with forest rangers on Indonesia’s Halmahera Island before joining the region’s largest bird sanctuary when the rehabilitation facility opened in 2019.
- The Halmahera center admits mostly parrots on site and rehabilitates numerous species before later releasing them back into the wild.
- Indonesia’s North Maluku province historically saw relatively low tree cover loss compared to the rest of the country, but groups have raised concerns that a local nickel mining boom will threaten bird habitat in the medium term.
HALMAHERA, Indonesia — Most days, Jamal Adam watches over the 10 aviaries in Ake Tajawe Lolobata National Park with veterinarians and support staff. But during the holidays this past December, the 60-year-old farmer was in charge of the ambitious conservation work.
“We rely on instinct and a love of birds,” Jamal told Mongabay Indonesia, as birdsong whistled in the background. “We’ve been nursing and looking after these birds for several years.”
Five years ago, Jamal was earning a living as a local farmer and casual laborer here on the west of the Halmahera mainland, not far from a clutch of volcanic islands rising out of the Maluku Sea in eastern Indonesia.
At first, he had only a cursory understanding about birds. But an instinctive love for wildlife prompted him to sign up as a voluntary forest ranger in his spare time. He then gave environmental talks in schools and worked as a guide in the national park.
In 2019, when local authorities opened eastern Indonesia’s largest sanctuary for parrots and other birds near Jamal’s home, they recruited Jamal to join the project.
Since then, Jamal has worked on a team of five to rehabilitate and release birds seized from the pet trade, affected by habitat loss, or injured by predators. The sanctuary has released more than 100 parrots since it opened five years ago.
Parrots are among the world’s most at-risk order of birds, with almost a third of 400 known species classed as threatened with extinction on the IUCN Red List.
“Parrots are the most threatened of any bird order of comparable size,” George Olah, a Ph.D. scholar at Australian National University, said on publication of a study on parrots almost a decade ago.
Most parrot species rely on cavities in forest tress to build their nests. But between 2001 and 2022, North Maluku province lost 274,000 hectares (677,000 acres) of its tree cover, or an 8.9% decrease from two decades earlier.
The tree cover loss in North Maluku was lower than the 18.9% average decline in tree cover across Indonesia during the same period, but this region contains vast mineral reserves, and new nickel mines have driven growth in economic activity — and forest loss — in recent years.
Researchers say they hope Jamal’s bird sanctuary on Halmahera Island can catalyze positive impacts on the area’s fragile bird populations.
A similar sanctuary established on neighboring Seram Island in 2004 recruited former wildlife traders to rehabilitate birds in the buffer zone of Manusela National Park. A 2021 study concluded that the Manusela sanctuary had possibly played “an important role in the increasing population of cockatoos in the region.”
Read more: Group helps illegal bird traders transition into different lines of business
In the wings
Jamal’s day was interrupted only by three visitors from a mining company, who arrived carrying a yellow-crested cockatoo (Cacatua sulphurea).
The Halmahera sanctuary is believed to be the only bird sanctuary in eastern Indonesia that will take in any birds for rehabilitation with no questions asked.
“If a bird is threatened by another animal or is sick, from the sound of its call we really understand, we can immediately provide help,” Jamal said.
The sanctuary has 10 enclosures, which in December housed a patient population of 25 birds. New arrivals like the yellow-crested cockatoo are triaged following an initial inspection. Usually a new patient will first go into a quarantine cage before being transferred later to a dedicated aviary for rehabilitation.
During Mongabay Indonesia’s visit, the birds at the sanctuary included four white cockatoos (Cacatua alba), five chattering lories (Lorius garrulus) and five Tanimbar corellas (Cacatua goffiniana), a bright white cockatoo native to this part of Indonesia.
In 2022, the sanctuary released a white cockatoo as well as a red-and-green chattering lory, both protected species in Indonesia.
The rehabilitation center experienced diverse challenges in caring for the birds during the COVID-19 pandemic. The team responded to difficulties accessing medicine and general supplies by using traditional local knowledge and forest products to nurse the birds under their care, Jamal said.
On average, a bird will stay for six months before it’s considered ready for release, although it depends on the species and the condition of the patient.
“If the bird is tame or it has been very close to humans, it will take a long time to rehabilitate it [for life in the wild],” Jamal said.
Research has shown that habitat loss and the illegal wildlife trade are the primary threats to bird populations. The vulnerability of birds to the effects of climate change is expected to be more varied.
In December, the heat outside the aviary was stifling, likely due to an El Niño system that sparked drought and wildfires across much of Indonesia in the second half of last year.
Read more: Maluku farmers sweat El Niño drought as Indonesia rice prices surge
A 2023 study found that overall reproduction declined among 201 bird species from 1970-2019, although the impact of warming temperatures on bird populations was mixed. The researchers found 57% of bird populations showed declining reproduction, whereas 43% of studied groups produced more offspring.
Staff from the regional conservation department last year recovered 35 different species of parrots from the pet trade. So far this year, they’ve rescued 13.
Jamal said he remains focused on nursing the birds under his care. Wearing a T-shirt with the national park’s logo and a sun hat, Jamal approached a perch in one of the enclosures and gently handed food to a parrot.
“As time has gone by,” Jamal said, “I’ve really come to understand the condition of the birds we’re caring for.”
Banner image: During Mongabay Indonesia’s visit, the birds at the sanctuary included five chattering lories (Lorius garrulus). Image by Bramans via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 3.0).
This story was reported by Mongabay’s Indonesia team and first published here and here on our Indonesian site on Jan. 28 and Feb. 18, 2024.
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