TEMPO.CO, Bogor - Various types of songbirds continue to make good sales on the market. In Indonesia, the straw-headed bulbul (locally known as cucakrawa) is currently the star among the songbirds. One straw-headed bulbul costs Rp8 million to 20 milllion, and yet the fans continue to grow in number.
"It is expensive because the fans outnumber the available birds," said a bird breeder Suhardi, after a discussion about bird conservation at Safari Park Indonesia yesterday.
"And more people from the middle-class society want to buy cucakrawa." Suhardi said breeding cucakrawa was uneasy.
"The bird is so sensitive and prone to stresses, making the eggs fail to hatch," said Suhardi.
Unfortunately, many people are still hunting the wild cucakrawa to be used as the parent birds. Wild birds are believed to be the best to teach the baby birds to sing.
"Some people use recording of [wild] cucakrawa singing to train," said a member of Indonesian Bird Conservationist (PBI) Endang Budi Utami yesterday.
Other songbirds such as white-breasted starling, Bali myna, and murai batu (Copychus malabaricus) are also favored.
ANWAR SISWADI