The Goffin Lab Tanimbar is a field station on the Tanimbar Islands, Indonesia, which provides a platform to study the ecology, behaviour and cognition of wild Goffin’s cockatoos. It was established by Mark O’Hara and Berenika Mioduszewska in 2017 in collaboration with the Indonesian Institute of Sciences and local communities. Together with the local Department of Conservation (BKSDA), we also study and support the protection of the species.

The station is located at near the Hurlatu Clan, Lorulun village, which provides fast access to the forest. The scientific facilities include three observation towers and a capture-release field aviaries. The towers provide overviews of different habitats to facilitate observations of Goffins’ behaviour and ecology. In the aviary, the behaviour of temporarily-kept small groups of Goffins can be observed in detail before releasing them back into the forest. Additionally, we compare their cognitive abilities with the hand-reared birds kept in Austria.

Video link to the construction of the Goffin Lab Tanimbar.