Every January, thousands of birdwatcher volunteers in Asia visited wetland around the city and collected the data of the aquatic birds. This event is then called the Asian Waterbird Census or AWC, which becomes the part of waterbird monitoring from the International Waterbird Census or IWC, which is coordinated by Wetlands International.

In 2016, Bionicers, people who join the birdwatcher group in Yogyakarta State University, conducted the data collection of waterbird in Rawa Jombor, Klaten. This year, Bionic of YSU participated in the Asian Waterbird Census or AWC event coordinated with the Birdwatching Community of Jogja or PPBJ. PPBJ scheduled the data collection of waterbird event at Arboretum UGM (10-11/1)

Aghnan, the member of Birdwatching Community, Bionic, stated that the event of AWC PPBJ in Arboretum UGM was done in the morning, starting at 05:00 – 07:30 WIB. While in the afternoon, the event started at 16:00 – 18:30 WIB. The birdwatching communities which participated in this event and were united in PPBJ are Biolaska UIN SUKA, KP3Burung UGM, Silvagama, KSB UAD, Binobio UAD, and KSB Atma Jaya. Each representation of the community was asked to fill in four observation points that had been determined before.

“Beside the event of AWC with PPBJ, Bionic also planned to take data of water bird in Mulur Reservoir, Surakarta. This event was held successfully in 17 Januari 2017. The participants of this event were not only from bionic members but also from other institutions. They were Raditya Anjar, Danu and Agus from Binobio UAD and also Wisnu Aji from Kepak Sayap UNS.” Aghnan said.

He added, from this event, it was known that there are 11 kinds of water birds from the total of 27 kinds of birds which are Cangak Merah, Titihan Australia, Mandar Batu,  and Bambangan Kuning. Next, the list of this kind of bird would be noted by The Operasional Division of Bionic. Then, the data would be sent to the coordinator of Atlas Burung Indonesia simpul Jogja.

The next Asian Waterbird Census event will be on the 21^st of January 2017 in Trisik Beach, Kulon Progo. This event is a series of AWC event of the PPBJ. (Aghnan/witono)