As a form of commitment of Record Nusantara to the importance of knowledge and preservation of nature. Last Tuesday, August 1, 2023, we exclusively talked with Tim Laman a Field Biologist, Wildlife Photojournalist and Filmmaker, about the news and beauty of The Birds of Paradise from the Land of Papua.
Cornell Lab of Ornithology collaborated with Rekam Nusantara to produce a film about Crown Jewel of Papua (CJP). An area in the Bird's Head region of Papua, which has a wealth of high biodiversity and a unique community culture and is very dependent on existing biodiversity.
CJP, before being associated with the name, became one of the magnets in Papua for many people to explore, including Tim Laman. For more than 20 years he conducted expeditions in Papua, including in the CJP area.
Tim Laman is a biologist, but he is best known as a wildlife photographer and cinematographer for many of the world's Channel Broadcasters, such as National Geographic, BBC Earth and others.
Rekam was not only involved in filming Crown Jewel Papua, where Tim Laman became the leader for its natural history footages. But TRecord is also an initiator to increase awareness and information about CJP to the people of Indonesia and Papua in general, we call it Recording the Crown Jewel of the Land of Papua.
Many people, especially the younger generation, have an interest and interest in photography, especially in the wild such as the CJP area. Therefore, Rekam Nusantara specially invited the Tim Laman to share their experiences in the Webinar in documenting the rich biodiversity and beauty of the landscape of Tanah Papua, especially CJP.
The webinar also presented Yoki Hadiprakarsa (Wildlife & Ecology specialist, Founder of Rekam Nusantara) as moderator and Wahyu Mulyono (Producer, Writer &; Underwater Filmmaker, Founder of Rekam Nusantara) as the host who played a role in leading the event. Entitled "Exploration of the Crown of Jewels of the Land of Papua", this webinar lasted for 120 minutes.
Papua's forests are not only home to great biodiversity and the indigenous peoples living around them, but also offset the threat of the global climate crisis and contribute to climate control in Indonesia.
Papua rainforest is the third largest tropical rainforest in the world after the Amazon. It has the function of generating oxygen and absorbing carbon dioxide at the same time is the best land for water storage, water management and erosion prevention, as well as controlling temperature, climate and weather around the world to avoid extreme changes. Papua's rainforests are home to endemic flora and fauna, including the Birds of Paradise.
Birds of paradise is defined as a bird of paradise, supposedly because of the combination of the elegance of its feathers and its natural beauty. The charming feathers of birds of paradise and the beautiful nature of Papua make this bird referred to as the bird of paradise.
Birds of Paradise is the most beautiful bird in the world. Usually the plumage of birds of paradise is brightly colored, that is, a combination of black, blue, yellow, red, brown, purple, green and white.
There are 39 species of Birds of Paradise that can be found in Papua New Guinea with different colors, shapes, sizes, sounds.
Physically the size of birds of paradise is very diverse, ranging in size from 15 cm to 110 cm and weighing between 50 grams to 430 grams depending on the type of species.
Birds of Paradise is a King type (Cicinnurus Regius) whose body is small or about 15 cm with a weight of 50 grams. Birds of Paradise Raja has certain advantages that attract the attention of females, Birds of Paradise Raja Male will perform a special dance that is shaking his tail and showing the beauty of his feathers that look like a ball and highlight a charming acrobatic style. Birds of paradise will do anything to stand out, to be liked by the female he loves.
While the large birds of paradise is a type of Black Crescent Beak (Epimachus Albertisi) whose male height can reach 110 cm and has bluish-purple tail feathers with a very long and pointed tip. The upper part of the plumage is purplish-black, the head and back are blue-green, the lower body is black, brown and purple around the chin and neck, the iris is red, the legs are dark gray, and the inside of the mouth is bright yellow.
The chest is decorated with red, brown, and black fan-like feathers with rainbow-colored tips. Females are smaller than males and have reddish-brown plumage, a black underside with a white spot on the back, a brown eye iris, and no ornate fan-shaped feathers.
The 4th webinar of Rekam Nusantara was conducted in a hybrid manner. This time, we present 7 selected registrants through a screening period from various cities who can meet directly with the Page Team. A total of 68 people also participated in this webinar online through the Microsoft Teams platform.
Tim Laman first visited Indonesia in 1987. He earned his PhD from Harvard University after researching Borneo's forests. It all started with an interest in tropical forests, wildlife, and charcoal wood rat trees in Indonesia.Over time, he conducted research on birds of paradise.
For 36 years, Tim Laman has been traveling to Indonesia to find and document birds of paradise. He managed to find as many as 39 species of this bird from various regions in the Arfak Mountains. From the results of his research, there are differences between birds of paradise in the east and the west of Mount Arfak related to sound, female shape, feather shape, and movement. In 2018 it increased by one species of birds of paradise to 40 species. Documenting birds of paradise took 6 weeks to produce a 5-minute video.
"I introduced birds of paradise to the world not because of the uniqueness of the bird, but because of Papua's forests which have the beauty and diversity of bird species," said Tim Laman.
The way the birds of paradise attract the attention of the female, the male performs the action by dancing, circling left and right by showing his wings. The female is on a branch or in front of the male and the female's head moves left and right as if following the male's movements.
In 2007 for the first time, photographs of birds of paradise documented by Tim Laman appeared in National Geographic and now all the documentation is also in various other media.
"How do you build a supporting system both on the field and not on the field to produce such performance?," asked Arby.
"One of the most important things is cooperation with people in Indonesia such as the Nusantara Record Foundation, the Papuan people, the government in Papua, we work together and support each other," Tim Lama replied.
Tim Laman added that the sponsorship came from National Geographic. When Tim Laman is not in Indonesia, he writes emails, proposals to find sponsorship of stories in magazines or in movies.
The next question was from Nanda, an online participant who asked "Until now there is nothing that has not been realized or that is still the dream of a Page Team, especially in Indonesia, Tanah Papua?".
"It's still there, because indeed in these 39 species the photo is not satisfied. Moreover, technology is advancing steadily, the photos I took from 2004 and the photos now are much different," Tim Laman replied.
"Now that the results look even better, I still want to go back to Papua to document the incomplete species," he added.
For Arby, as a registrant who attended directly, this webinar added new knowledge and knowledge. In addition, Arby did not expect to be selected as a registrant who could meet directly with the Page Team.
The insight he got from Tim Laman was to be able to follow the teachings of Tim Laman in the field to correct himself in order to update the skills he had. The hope for the future from the knowledge provided by the Tim Laman is to hone skills in order to get satisfactory output.
Explore more about the Rekam Nusantara webinar with the Tim Laman on our Youtube.
