J

ust like any other day since it was established in 1974, Pramuka bird market in East Jakarta on Monday was packed with pet lovers. Among numerous species of birds on sale, Agapornis, popularly known as lovebirds, were among the most common variety on sale.

Amid dozens of bird cages standing against the wall and hanging from the ceiling of his shop, vendor Heri sat clapping his hands to make his birds chirp louder, while co-owner Jaka was busy dealing with customers at the other side of the shop.

“We’ve been selling birds here for almost 30 years. Lovebirds entered the market circa 2010,” the Semarang, Central Java, native said.

“Lovebirds are always in demand. They’re many people’s favorites because of their nice sound, cute appearance and easiness to nurture and breed,” he said, adding that there were countless lovebird singing competitions.

Lovebirds are among the smallest breeds of parrots with an average lifespan of up to 15 years. They are native to the African continent, but the vendors at Pramuka market mostly import such birds from Taiwan, Pakistan or the Netherlands.

Jaka explained that the price of a lovebird was determined by its plumage and eye color, breeding quality and singing ability. He once sold a lovebird for Rp 60 million (US$4,300) to a bird collector. The bird was one year old with bright green, yellow and orange feathers and could chirp for around 20 seconds.

“If a lovebird can chirp for two minutes, people definitely go crazy and be willing to trade it for a brand new SUV car,” the 54 year-old said, mentioning that the most expensive lovebird ever sold that he had heard of was priced at Rp 2 billion.

Jaka went on to say that the birds provided him with not only a decent livelihood but also the chance to befriend famous people who are bird lovers.

He said he and his fellow bird vendors at Pramuka have hundreds of politicians and state officials as regular customers.

One of them was President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo whose visits to the market gained attention when he became Jakarta governor in 2012. During his last visit in 2016, he bought hundreds of birds of numerous species and released them in the Bogor Botanical Gardens in West Java, according to a kompas.com report on Jan. 3, 2016.

“[Jakarta Governor] Anies Baswedan also used to visit us oftentimes back when he was still an academic. We could talk about birds for hours over cups of coffee,” Jaka said, noting that the famous people did not mind paying millions of rupiah for their desired birds.

Aji, a visitor, wandered around the market that afternoon. He apparently was looking for a match for his lovebird.

His heart was set on a female lovebird at Heri’s shop. It had red eyes with white rings around them. The plumage was a gradation of saffron and light yellow from its head to its tail. Jaka insisted on selling it for Rp 1.2 million but Aji kept on bargaining as he could not afford to pay more than Rp 700,000.

“It’s already my bird’s mating time. I came here to find him a partner that can give him the best offspring,” the Plumpang, North Jakarta, resident said.

Azis, a regular costumer at the shop, came over that afternoon not to buy a bird, but only to share his story of breeding his own lovebirds at his house in Ciledug, Tangerang. Along with a pair of adult and three newly hatched lovebird chicks, Azis also has canaries, kutilang (sooty-headed bulbuls) and red-breasted parakeets.

“I got the birds from my friends and I’m not planning to breed them for commercial purposes or to have them compete in bird-singing competitions. I’m happy just to see them grow,” he said.