By: Nur Arinta (volunteer WWF-Indonesia Mobile Panda)

Introduce, my name is Tata. I am one of WWF-Indonesia's many Panda Mobile volunteers. A few weeks ago, on February 11-13, 2016, WWF-Indonesia provided Training of Trainers (ToT) for volunteers Panda Mobile, Environmental Education, Bumi Panda, and Omah Panda. The ToT was held in the Cibodas Botanical Garden. In the series of ToT events, the volunteers were given various briefings on conservation insights, biodiversity and ecology, forest ecosystems, marine ecosystems, environmental education, and material on how to make games with environmental education content.

One of the activities that really caught my attention at the event was birdwatching. Birdwatching is an exciting and rewarding activity. By observing birds, we can indirectly read the condition of the environment because the presence of birds is one of the indicators of a good environment. Incidentally, I became one of the volunteers in charge of the Bird Watching Post to share knowledge about birds, considering my hobby is birdwatching.

At the post, the other volunteers and I shared information about birds, ecology, and their relationship with humans. Then the volunteers were invited to observe birds and identify some of the bird species that had been observed. Cibodas Botanical Garden is a place with excellent ecological quality and relatively rich biodiversity. This makes birdwatching a very exciting thing to do because we can observe many types of birds that are very interesting.

While birdwatching, I managed to observe some interesting bird species such as Siberian Anis, Forest Sparrow, and Gray Srigunting. Luckily, the other volunteers and I were able to meet two dark-phase Brontok Eagles in flight. Our encounter with the eagles was very exciting as it was a very rare moment.

Birdwatching can be done anywhere, including around our homes. By doing so, we can read the condition of our environment. If you can still find birds around your house, it means the quality of your home environment is still good. It's time for us to start taking care of our surroundings. By protecting the environment, we are indirectly contributing to the preservation of bird diversity in nature. Birdwatching, let's go!