By Ni Putu Indah Cahya P.

When I was a kid, I thought that owls were mythological animals that I would never meet in real life. I consider the existence of owls only like actors in television broadcasts and story books. The animal is so mystical in my imagination. Until finally the first time I saw an owl directly in the afternoon before sunset at my campus in Bogor. Two pairs of adult owls of the Serak Jawa (Tyto alba) were flying over my head and perched on a branch of a Meranti tree. I was so impressed with their figure, especially their wingspan which turned out to be so wide. Since then, somehow I have seen them more and more in my daily life.

CH keeps one small owl of the Otis angelinae species, in Indonesian it is called Celepuk Jawa (Celepuk is a regional language which means owl). The bird was so small compared to other owls I had seen, but it was in good physical shape and it was very lively. His eyes are round and big, his head follows wherever we move, very cute.

Like other owls, Celepuk Jawa is also a nocturnal animal that is active at night, so don’t be sad if when you are at school during the day, you find him sleeping… However, sometimes the bird can also be awake during the day, especially when he was feeling disturbed. This bird is an animal that is very good at sneaking, because it rarely makes a sound and even its wings are very quiet. The more mature, this bird will be calmer and that causes him to be very good at hunting. The prey animals are insects and small reptiles.

Celepuk Jawa is an endemic animal to the Java region, Indonesia (endemic means that the bird comes from Java, and is native to Java) whose status is now vulnerable based on the IUCN Red List. In Indonesia itself, although the existence of the population is decreasing, it still escapes the regulation of protected animals. Hopefully people are more aware of the existence of these cute animals and can appreciate them in nature, maintain and preserve their habitat so that their population in nature can increase.