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In recent years Indonesia has been competing with the Andes as the region giving rise to the biggest number of undescribed bird species (naturally, all of them endemics). But since Indonesia has more than 1,700 bird species (and that many islands, too), why is this guide dealing only with 1,400?
Distributed across a broad swath of territory that includes India’s Himalayan foothills, Thailand, Indochina, peninsular Malaysia and western Indonesia, this species occurs in moist or semi-evergreen forests that may include secondary growth and degraded habitats in its native range. Common Hill Myna’s range in South Florida.
They are feathered jewels with extraordinary breeding dances almost unrivalled in the bird world. Adding to their mystique is the remoteness of their home, the undeveloped and rarely visited islands of New Guinea and eastern Indonesia. There are few families of birds as bewitching as the birds-of-paradise.
The Olive-flanked (or Yellow-flanked) Whistler ( Hylocitrea bonensis ) is endemic to to the island of Sulawesi in Indonesia, where it lives inconspicuously in montane forests. This unique bombycillid is much-sought by birders visiting the region, and our own Redgannet encountered a flock in Saudi Arabia a couple of winters ago.
This map shows the distribution of the World’s bird species, based on overlying the breeding and wintering ranges of all known species. Indonesia (1615 / 1603). It makes me think what is the meaning of life, the universe and everything? Why am I here? And where all those birds are? Map by BirdLife International. The Oriental realm.
Such programs are somewhat inefficient anyway – in one study , the breeding success of wild male pheasants was 2-5 times higher than for hand-reared and released ones while for females, hand-reared birds were 3 times as vulnerable to predation as the wild ones.
The story is similar for the Red-breasted Parakeet – native and Near Threatened in Thailand and surrounding countries, but with an established breeding population in Singapore, quite likely established from escapees.
Interestingly, the molt of the males takes about 20 days longer than that of the females – the authors speculate that this is because of the different peak time efforts in breeding, with the males being involved earlier (singing, establishing territory) than the females (incubating, nestling care).
So–the book covers islands that belong to the Republic of Indonesia and to Malaysia. But, it doesn’t cover all or Indonesia or all of Malaysia. Does the fact that this guide doesn’t include all of Indonesia or Malaysia mean that a birder going to these countries will have to invest in multiple field guides?
This book is essentially about those birds that breed on the continent south of the Sahara, a topic few birders are familiar with. A few years ago, in the American Birding Association FB group I posted a question: Where would you go if funds weren’t a problem?
Borneo is the third largest island in the world; politically it is divided amongst three countries–Malaysia (Sabah and Sarawak), Indonesia (Kalimantan) and the sultanate of Brunei. Males and females are indicated by symbol, immature, juvenile, adult breeding, adult non-breeding indicated by abbreviations.
Another 170 are in captivity, many of them breeding stock for reintroduction efforts. Over the winter, the universe lost four whooping cranes to what appears to be recreational shooting: three gunned down together in Georgia on December 30, 2010, and another in Alabama on January 28, 2011. Sandhill Hunt: They’re Voting Now.Or
A study on the breeding biology of Whitehead’s Broadbill was just published in May 2023 but leaves a bit of a puzzle as the breeding success is described as relatively high, meaning there should be other reasons for the population decline of the species. This is particularly acute in Indonesia ( source ).
The falcon breeds in south-eastern Siberia and Northern China but winters in Southern and East Africa. Apparently, soloensis stands for “Discovered in or native to the Solo River valley” (Wikipedia; the Solo river is a river in Indonesia). Still as impressed as before?
They have expanded their range through Indonesia and into Australia and is found in post breeding dispersal as far north as South Korea and Japan. The following decades continued the great expansion, and it was recorded breeding in Canada in 1962 and Chile by 1970. There are two main subspecies, the nominate B. coromandus.
Unfortunately, the Ashy Drongos did not exactly do what he predicted that they would do – mob potential predators more frequently during the breeding season and mob the more dangerous predator (in this case, the Black Eagle) more intensely. If you do not want to be put in a cage, it presumably helps to be a bit aggressive.
White-faced Herons are attractive medium sized herons, originally from Australia, New Guinea, Indonesia, and New Caledonia. And now that you’ve been subjected to my hideous photos of non-breeding birds, here’s a shot of a breeding bird by a far more talented individual, Wikipedia’s Bejnamint444 ( GNU Free ).
The Common Tailorbird , Orthotomus sutorius, is a small warbler whose range extends from India to southern China and down into Indonesia. The males have long central tail feathers in their breeding plumage which would be attained by early March in readiness for the season. Otherwise, sexes are alike.
2012 has certainly been a bumper year for me with an estimated year list of around 3,000 species after extensive travels to South Africa, Ethiopia, South Korea, Indonesia, the Russian Far East, United Kingdom, Peru, Guatemala and Panama. Secretive, silent and undetectable outside of its breeding season, found only in the U.S.
The Grey-headed Lapwing- Vanellus cinereus breeds in north-east China and Japan between April and June and then migrate to spend the winter in northern Southeast Asia from northeastern India to Cambodia and southern Japan.
Trying to breed the species in an aviary provided some disappointments, for example with regard to their nest-building abilities: “I don’t know what previous experience the birds had at nest construction, but their attempt was pretty pathetic” ( source ). I think I pointed out in previous posts that mammals are kind of evil.
The year 2016 was not a particularly birdy year for me, mostly because I didn’t get to go on business trips to Indonesia or Kazakhstan, as was frequently the case during the last few years. Lesser Spotted Eagles breed regularly with around 100 pairs in Germany, but unless you know where the territories are you are unlikely to see them.
One study found that there seems to be some work sharing among the breeding adults – the male had a higher visitation rate of the nest while the female was the only one that brooded. Sadly, according to the HBW, this pitta is also frequently caught and sold in the cage bird trade in Indonesia despite having protected status.
While the conclusion seems fairly established now, the paper still puts it in the usual wordy and careful statement: “The shorter minimum stopover duration of both species in spring may indicate a faster migration than in autumn, suggesting a time-minimizing strategy in spring to reach the breeding grounds as fast as possible.”
Hopefully, the winter time in Shanghai gives the Black-faced Buntings some time to relax from the challenges of the breeding season. One Japanese study found that it arrives at its breeding grounds earlier than in the past, most likely due to increased spring temperatures. No wonder no species are named after me.
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