v7i3.184

ISSN: 1800-427X (print)
eISSN: 1800-427X (online)
Alfred Russel Wallace Centenary Issue
DOI:10.47605/tapro.v7i3.184

Proceedings of the Second International Conference on Alfred Russel Wallace and the Wallacea
Organised by the Indonesian Academy of Sciences
Wakatobi - Indonesia (10–13 November 2013)
J. Supriatna, A.A.T. Amarasinghe, and C. Margules (Editors)
Published date: 30 July 2015
Pp. 126–130.

HOW TO PHOTOGRAPH A MOLUCCAN WOODCOCK: EXPERIENCES OF A MODERN FIELD BIOLOGIST IN WALLACEA

John C. Mittermeier*
*Corresponding author. E-mail: john.mittermeier@gmail.com

Abstract
One hundred and fifty years after Alfred Russel Wallace visited the Malay Archipelago much still remains to be discovered about the fascinating species that inhabit the islands now known as Wallacea. While modern fieldwork brings opportunities, and a few difficulties, that Wallace himself would not have imagined, many of the challenges facing field biologists in the twenty-first century are the same as those experienced by Wallace himself. Here I describe the struggles and excitement of Wallacean fieldwork through our efforts to obtain the first photographs of an endangered bird species, the Moluccan Woodcock Scolopax rochussenii, on Obi Island in the Northern Moluccas.

Key words : endangered, field biologists, fieldwork, Northern Moluccas, Obi Island