In the past, black eagle juveniles (Ictinaetus malayensis) were being stolen by poachers. In 2000, a juvenile that had been observed for six weeks suddenly disappeared. A similar incident also happened in 2002 when two juveniles from two different nests vanished. Black eagles have a slow reproduction rate. The bird only laid one egg every two years, resulted in slow population growth.

Amid the circumstances, “Kutilang decided to guard the black eagle nest until the juvenile can fly,” said Lim Wen Sin, Biodiversity Restoration Program Manager, who looked after the nest almost every day.

Once run the mission, Kutilang was assisted by 53 volunteers from many birdwatcher circles and outdoor organizations in Yogyakarta and from other cities. Every day, volunteers guard the nest and record the daily behavior of the eagle. And they did charitable. Beside guarding, they also got a detailed record of black hawk-eagle behavior until the young eagle was able to fly and therefore avoided the chance of being poached.

“This is a great effort,” said Sugiman, a forest guard from BKSDA Yogyakarta. He points that the conservation efforts are not only government’s responsibility, but also public’s.

Beside rescue the juvenile successfully, Kutilang got illustration clearly of his life. “From this mission we got his behavioral data,” said Lim Wen Sin.

In 2005 and 2006 this rescue mission had repeat. And finished with freedom winged the juvenile to the sky. The life still goes on as a part of environment that have right to live.

The succeed was not cause by Kutilang intensity, but hard work and wholeheartedly of commit from community that care about bird preservation in the wild. This is our succeed.

Life will still go on. JBR will not end. Out there, robbing, hunting or whatever its name is probably happen. We must ready when the wild calls.

There is an opportunity for you or your institution to cooperate with us to save the wild bird through public participation program.