The islands of Indonesia have some of the greatest biological diversity on earth.
Despite this incredible diversity, many parts of Indonesia remain poorly-studied by biologists and there’s still a huge amount we don’t know about the species that inhabit this region. Between 2012-2013, I spent six months in Indonesia and Malaysian Borneo during my Master’s degree at Louisiana State University’s Museum of Natural Science.
One of my projects in Indonesia was to assess the conservation status of the Moluccan Woodcock, a bizarre forest-dwelling sandpiper relative that went missing to western science from 1982-2010. A team consisting of myself, Eden Cottee-Jones (University of Oxford), and Nova Maulidina Ashuri, Eka Hesdianti, and Endang Christine Purba from the University of Indonesia, spent two months on the island of Obi in eastern Indonesia searching for this strange bird and trying to learn more about it.
Check out the links below to learn more about this project and my other work in Indonesia!
Learn more…
My fieldwork in Indonesia was possible thanks to the Ron and Mary Neal Graduate Fellowship at Louisiana State University, the National Geographic Society Waitt Grants, and the Royal Geographic Society IBG Geographic Fieldwork Grants.
Cottee-Jones, H.E.W., J.C. Mittermeier, and D.W. Redding. 2013. The Moluccan Woodcock (Scolopax rochussenii) on Obi Island: a ‘lost’ species is less endangered than was believed. Forktail 29: 88-93.
Mittermeier, J.C., R.C. Burner, C.H. Oliveros, D.M. Prawiradilaga, M. Irham, T. Haryoko, and R.G. Moyle. 2014. Vocalizations and display behavior of Javan Woodcock (Scolopax saturata) support its status as a distinct species. Forktail 30: 130-131.
Mittermeier, J.C., C.H. Oliveros, T. Haryoko, M. Irham, and R.G. Moyle. 2014. An avifaunal survey of three Javan volcanoes (Salak, Slamet, and Ijen). Birding Asia 22: 91-100.
Mittermeier, J.C., H.E.W. Cottee-Jones, C.E. Purba, N.M. Ashuri, E. Hesdianti, and J. Supriatna. 2013. A survey of the avifauna of Obi Island (Northern Moluccas, Indonesia). Forktail 29: 128-137.
Photographing a Moluccan Woodcock
At the time of our expedition to Obi, nobody had ever photographed a Moluccan Woodcock alive. Eden Cottee-Jones and I were desperate to get some kind of visual documentation while we were on the island. This turned out to be easier said than done. In the end, we succeed in getting pictures but they were far from the “National Geographic quality” that we had imagined. As our colleague Eka Hesdianti commented when I proudly showed her my shots, “it looks like you took a picture of a giant mosquito.”
Many better photos of the Moluccan Woodcock have been taken since, but this story provides insight into our struggles as amateur photographers trying to be the first to document this elusive bird.
Mittermeier, J.C. 2013. How to photograph a Moluccan Woodcock: experiences of a modern field biologist in Wallacea. Taprobanica 7(3):157-161.
