BIRD FAMILIES (5)

Psittacidae-parrots, lories and allies:
East of wallacea’s line the forests resound with the screeches of parrots: Indonesia boasts no fewer than 30 endemic species. Most parrots are conspicuous and easy to identify, and the sight of a flock of cockatoos assembling for roost, red lories scorching over the florest canopy, or the exqusite, turquoise wings of a Great-billed Parrot catching the evening sun are some of the most enduring memories of a birding trip to Indonesia (72 species).

Cuculidae-cuckoos, koels and coucals:
This is another mega-diverse family in Indonesia comprising typical migrant and Asian Species, with several island endemics. The javan coucal has the distinction of being one of Indonesia’s most endangered bird, and the plaintive and Brush Cuckoos the most maddening, because of their persistent, annoying, ascending whistles and the difficulty of getting good views to tell them apart. (53 species).

Caprimulgiformes-owls, frogmouths, owlet-nighjars and nightjars:
If you want to make a name for yourself in birding circles, this is the group to focus on. The boobooks and scopsowls readily speciate on islands, as yet undescribe forms have been seen by birders on Timor and Sumba, and almost nothing is known about the Taliabu and Lesser Masked Owls of Moluccas. (66 species)

Apodiformes-swiftlets, swifts and tree-swifts:
The 12 species of swiftlet are among Indonesia’s commonest birds but are so difficult to identify that most birders do not bother. Tree-swifts are larger, wit long, scythe-shaped wings and forked tails; they sit around on exposed branches of forest trees. (24 species).

Trogonidae-trogons:
These beautiful and unobtrusive forest birds, with their black hoods, red or orange bellies and exquisitely vermiculated wing feathers, are quite common in lowland forests of Sumatra, borneo and Java. The Blue-tailed Trogon is an exception: it is a montane forest specialist with blue-and-yellow plumage. (8 species)

Taken from Jepson, P, 1997, Birding Indonesia, Periplus Editions. Singapore

BIRD FAMILIES (4)

Megapodiidae-megapodes:
Indonesia support all but five of the world’s 22 species. These extraordinary birds, which bury massive eggs in sand or large mounds of rotting vegetation, from which freeflying chicks emerge, are one of Indonesia’s greatest birding highlights. The black-and-white Maleo of Celebes is the most famous; the orange-footed Scrubfowl of Nusa Tenggara and Dusky Scrubfowl of North Moluccas are among the easiest to see strolling around the forest floor. (17 species)
Taken from Jepson, P, 1997, Birding Indonesia, Periplus Editions. Singapore

Phasianidae/Turnicidae: pheasants, quails and button quails:
Birders in Sumatra and Borneo invest considerable effort in catching up with the superb forest pheasants. Red Jungle-fowl, the ancestor of the domestic chicken, is locally common in Sumatra and Java, and the Green Peafowl’s range extends from Java into Nusa Tenggara. Only the button-quails’ range extends east of the Wallace line. (28 species)

Rallidae-rails, moorthens, and coots:
Rails are long-legged, mostly drably coloured birds that skulk around the margins of forest pools or marshes. They are favourites with birders, probably because they are a challenge to see, although, with a few notable exceptions such as the invisible Rail of Halmahera, they are easy to find in Indonesia compared with other countries in the region. (27 species).
Charadriiformes-waders:
Indonesia is good place to catch up with eastern paleartic species on their wintering grounds: they include Asian Dowitcher, Great Knot, Grey-tailed Tatler, Oriental Plover and Sharp-tailed and Terek Sandpipers. The largest concentarations of shorebirds are found on the river deltas of west Sumatra and north Java, but many birds are scattered in small groups along the eastern Indonesia coasts. Flocks of Red-necked Phalrope are common sight on the seas of moluccas and Lesser sundaes.

Stercorariidae/Laridae-skuas, gulls, terns and noddies:
The almost total absence of gulls is a striking feature of Indonesian Bird Life. Great Crested and Bridled Terns are the typical inshore species, but black-naped Terns are qute common around rocky coasts. In the northern winter flocks of Common Terns, mixed with Brown Noddies and often with couple of skuas in attendance, feed in the mangrove-fringed bays of the eastern islands. Whiskered and White-winged Terns are common over freshwater swamps. (26 species).

Columbidae-pigeons and doves:
Indonesia’s amazing vriety of pigeons-flocking green pigeons; delicate, long-tailed, warm brown and rufous coloured cuckoo-doves; magnificent imperial pigeons, whose deep calls reverberate through the island forests and mangroves of eastern Indonesia; gorgeously coloured friute-doves and the dainty ground-doves and famous crowned pigeons of Papua-will leave you with new depths of appreciation of this familiar bird family (91 species).