D

r. Pamela C. Rasmussen has studied various species of birds for decades, including the endemic birds of Indonesia.

The US bird researcher has observed birds in over 40 countries, and is currently focusing her research on the birds of the Lesser Sunda islands.

The lecturer of ornithology in the School of Zoology at Michigan State University (MSU) is interested in observing and recording the sounds of endemic birds in Timor, Sumba and Flores in East Nusa Tenggara.

Rasmussen’s current research in Flores was prompted by the numerous endemic birds of the region, as she revealed to The Jakarta Post amid her observations around Lake Ranamese in Borong district, East Manggarai regency in Flores, recently.

Born in Michigan on Oct. 16, 1958, Rasmussen has spent most of her life studying the unique sounds of birds throughout the globe. Before her research in the western part of Flores, she recorded endemic bird sounds in Timor and Sumba, but says she had some difficulty as bird guides were not found there.

While in Flores, Rasmussen toured the forest zone of Mbeliling in West Manggarai regency, home to the rarest endemic birds of Flores. Though many researchers from Europe, America, Australia and Asia observe birds in Indonesia, Rasmussen records their calls while watching with a recorder no longer produced today.

Rasmussen, 54, said that before specializing in ornithology and conducting field studies, she learned from different books about the species and sounds of birds. In Indonesia, she has observed birds in Sulawesi, Sumatra and Java before moving east.

The results of her observations and studies were published along with Widodo from the Bogor Institute of Agriculture (IPB) in 1998 in Rediscovery of Flores Scops-owls, Forktails. For Lesser Sunda, she says she is the first to have observed endemic birds on Timor, Sumba and Flores.

The wife of Dr. Michael D. Gohreid said that while in Mbeliling, she was fortunate to see such Flores specialties as monarch birds, scops-owls and crows. Guided by Burung Indonesia (Indonesian Birds) staffer Samuel Rabenak, she also saw fantails, flower-peckers, Wallacean white-eyes and many other species.

While exploring Lake Ranamese, Rasmussen, also a biology lecturer at MSU with an 18-year career, feasted her eyes on red-cheeked parrots, orioles, green imperial pigeons, golden whistlers and Timor warblers.

Rasmussen explained that not much was known about the endemic birds in the region, particularly in Flores. The limited literature and information about these birds therefore motivated this ornithologist to delve further into the field.

The regions covered in her three-day exploration of Flores were West Manggarai, Manggarai and East Manggarai, including the Puarlolo forest in Mbeliling.

Rasmussen added that she had toured Lake Ranamese and Mount Ranaka, besides trekking in the Ranamese Tourist Park.

Later, Rasmussen continued her Flores bird observations on Mount Lusang in Langke Rembong district, Manggarai regency.