SEAMEO of BIOTROP Held National Songbird Contest

Director of Southeast Asian Regional Centre for Tropical Biology (SEAMEO of BIOTROP), Dr. Irdika Mansur, officially opened the Songbird Contest (29/10). The activity that carried the theme of “Promoting Sustainable Utilization of Songbird” or “Pemanfaatan Burung Hias Berkelanjutan” collaborated with the Faculty of Forestry and the Faculty of Animal Husbandry, Bogor Agricultural University (IPB) as well as the Association of Canary Bird Fans / Paguyuban Penggemar Burung Kenari (PAPBURI). This event was a series of activity of the 50th anniversary of SEAMEO of BIOTROP on the upcoming 6 February 2018.

This event was attended by more than 500 breeders coming from various regions in Indonesia, the observers, the conservation, and the community around the office of SEAMEO of BIOTROP located in Tajur area, Bogor. “Today’s activity is not just the Songbird Contest, there is also the biodiversity conversation campaign, especially the songbird,” explained Dr. Irdika Mansur.

In this contest, there were two types of birds that were contested, namely the types of Canary and Labet. The birds were judged by the chirp, how much power of the chirp and the twinkling of the chirp.

Dr. Irdika Mansur said that this activity was held as one of the conservation efforts of birds that had been successfully carried out by various parties through the captive breeding with the aim of the release and the increase of the bird population in the nature. Other than that, the other purpose was as a hobby and the commercial development for its owners. The songbird breeding in Indonesia was currently well developed, it  was not only for fun, but also it could be a driving force in the family and community economy.

Meanwhile, Vice Dean for Resource, Cooperation and Development, the Faculty of Forestry of IPB, Dr. Naresworo Nugroho, hopefully after this activity more and more people were moved to cultivate the local birds and the socialization about the richness of the germplasm of birds in Indonesia successfully delivered to many parties.

Through this contest, it would be obtained a lot of information related to the origin of birds, the type of feed used, the usefulness of the birds in the economic sector, as well as other information that would be useful for futher improvement. Based on these data, SEAMEO of BIOTROP together with various related parties would try to find the best solution of the problems that arised.(KHO/NM)