The Birds' Ark is growing

Stephan has been waiting for some new birds for several months now, which are currently living in Taman Safari Bogor and are supposed to move to our ark. And as luck would have it, the birds arrived during his vacation in Germany. We found out on the same day in the morning that the new birds were supposed to arrive in the afternoon. That meant experiencing real stress for the first time. With hardly any lead time, we had to choose enclosures, set them up, and prepare everything else. And then we had to wait for information. In the afternoon, we received the message that we had to go down to Palang to pick up the birds, as the transporter still had animals loaded that were going to Bali. Some animals from Prigen were also going to Bali, so there was a lively exchange of animals on the road. Fortunately, the road is not very busy, as it belongs to Taman Safari and serves as a second entrance to the park. And of course, the animals were well packed and properly handled.

In the middle is the transporter, which had a Malayan sun bear loaded, among other things. On the left in the front of the picture on the loading area under the blue tarp is a tiger that was supposed to go to Bali. We had already briefly glimpsed and loaded our birds, so we drove the 8 km back to the park with valuable cargo on board.

Since it was already quite late, we had to hurry because it was getting dark and the birds should still have the opportunity to orient themselves in their new enclosures. So we quickly put the prepared food into the enclosures, and then unpacked the birds one by one, checked their health, weighed them, recorded ring numbers, weight, and special characteristics, and then put them in the new enclosures.

And here they are:

6 Nias Hill Mynas.

And 10 Red-billed Mynas.

Since we weren't sure about the gender of some of the other birds (many of the birds have no outward differences between the sexes), Stephan took some feather samples to Germany to have them determined by DNA. He sent us the results from Germany - with a few surprises. There were some 'gender changes' and therefore a few same-sex 'marriages'. And since we want to breed, we had to rearrange the pairs accordingly. Fortunately, just in time for the start of the breeding season!

Since we have a huge surplus of males with the Golden-fronted Leafbirds and the Javan Pied Mynas, each female was allowed to choose the most handsome male. However, the female Pied Myna hasn't made a decision yet.

The 'lucky' one

We don't have any breeding pairs yet. This is partly because the breeding season has just begun, and partly because there are too many disturbances from the outside, for example from the construction workers or gardeners. However, it is quite difficult to explain to people here that it stresses the birds when you constantly walk past the aviaries, stare inside, or shout loudly. A certain empathy for animals, especially for birds, is not easy to assume, even in Germany. That's why we have now started to build a fence around the building so that no one can get closer than one and a half meters to the aviaries.

We also have a surplus of males in football! After almost 4 months of asking around if anyone here plays football regularly and all statements turned out to be dead ends, I casually heard from the guys at Aquatic Land that some people from Taman Safari play football once a week. There is a Monday group and a Sunday group. We first went to see the Monday group and played with them. Since the guys play quite well, almost too well (especially for me), we wanted to check out the Sunday group as well, as it was supposed to be the 'fun group'. And it is! When the guys miss a shot, which happens more often, everyone laughs about it. The guys don't take the game too seriously and that makes it a lot of fun...

Our hall in Palang. Since we rent the hall, everyone pays about 50 cents as a fee.

The game is played 5 against 5. The 'blurry' figure in the foreground is me. By the way, I'm the only woman playing... no surprise there?

Finally, there's a riddle. Well, who can spot the mistake? Zookeepers should stay under one second.

The 'Banana Road' with a view of Mount Arjuna and the entrance to the park and the hotel.

The mountain from a different perspective. We had this view when we were in the village next door drinking a miracle cure made of various powders, after Roy had overexerted himself during his first game of football.

The 3 tiger cubs are hand-reared as their mother had no milk. Once a day, they are taken on a walk with a keeper in one of the photo enclosures (although you can't take photos with them).

Or they are allowed to walk around under supervision. Even though they look cute and clumsy, you should always have enough respect for all animals.

The orangutans right next door think Roy's beard is great and always want to hold on to it. Tania then used my arms as a swing and didn't want to let go. It's incredible how heavy and strong the young orangutans already are. Since I had never had an orangutan hanging from my arms before, I was quite amazed. I have more respect for them than for the little tigers!

This is the Safari Burger and the chicken lump that we eat at least once a week. At least there is some greens on it :) A picture of the food has to be taken (even though it's actually the second one).

And this is the iced tea at the Crocs Resto. On the left is the sugar pot, which is usually already in the iced tea, but Roy now always orders it separately, otherwise he might get a sugar shock. Even saying 'little sugar' doesn't change anything.

In recent weeks and also something to make you smile:

The 'Banana Road' with a view of Mount Arjuna and the entrance to the park and the hotel.

The mountain from a different perspective. We had this view when we were in the village next door drinking a miracle cure made of various powders, after Roy had overexerted himself during his first game of football.

The 3 tiger cubs are hand-reared as their mother had no milk. Once a day, they are taken on a walk with a keeper in one of the photo enclosures (although you can't take photos with them).

Or they are allowed to walk around under supervision. Even though they look cute and clumsy, you should always have enough respect for all animals.

The orangutans right next door think Roy's beard is great and always want to hold on to it. Tania then used my arms as a swing and didn't want to let go. It's incredible how heavy and strong the young orangutans already are. Since I had never had an orangutan hanging from my arms before, I was quite amazed. I have more respect for them than for the little tigers!

This is the Safari Burger and the chicken lump that we eat at least once a week. At least there is some greens on it :) A picture of the food has to be taken (even though it's actually the second one).

And this is the iced tea at the Crocs Resto. On the left is the sugar pot, which is usually already in the iced tea, but Roy now always orders it separately, otherwise he might get a sugar shock. Even saying 'little sugar' doesn't change anything.

The last picture is a puzzle. Well, who can spot the mistake? Zookeepers should stay under one second.

Phew, that was a lot as usual, and I have already left out quite a bit. If you made it this far: Thanks for reading and greetings to everyone!