Kukila Volume 18, No. 1 is published!

Twenty years after the alarming report by Lambert (1993) of the rife parrot trade in the Northern Moluccas (Maluku Utara), this province remains a hotspot for parrot trapping, with little law enforcement and an ineffective quota system that sets quotas based on trader demand rather than a monitoring and sustainable harvesting programme. Recent surveys on the island of Obi suggest that approximately 6,000 individuals of the Vulnerable-listed Chattering Lory (Lorius garrulous) are trapped each year on this island alone. This number is substantially higher than previous estimates for the global harvest of the species, indicating that the Obi subspecies may be in trouble in the near future.

This is the dire message of an article in the latest edition of Kukila, which also features reports of the first Indonesian (Papuan) record of the recently recognised Starry Owlet-Nightjar, the first Common Mynas in Java, and the first Javan Mynas in Sulawesi.  This Kukila issue also includes a report of a Black-thighed Falconet, one of the smallest birds of prey, taking a Black-capped Babbler, which weighs about 70% as much as the Falconet. This may be the largest prey item yet recorded for this tiny raptor, which normally hunts by darting after insects from a perch in open country.

The issue concludes with a list of recent publications (2013) concerning Indonesian birds, and a review of HBW Alive, the comprehensive, online reference resource from the Handbook of Birds of the World series.