Woodcock O'Clock
After a fun week in Malaysia in early June, I headed to Jakarta the evening of June 9 for the Indonesia part of my work trip. I spent the first couple days of that on a field visit in rural West Java, visiting childcare centers and talking with local government officials and feminist activists in the montane communities of Cianjur. That was fun, and it was also cool to be back on the slopes of Gunung Gede, where I had done my first-ever Java birding almost 5 years ago. Unfortunately there wasn't much time for birding amidst all the interviews and visits, so I wasn't able to add much to my year list except for the common endemics like Cave Swiftlet and Olive-backed Tailorbird . The views, on the other hand, were immaculate. Scenes from farming villages on the slopes of Gunung Gede I had just the next weekend in Indonesia before I had to head back to the US. It took me a while to get my act together enough to start thinking about where I might try to get out and go birding. I...