The number of bird species in Indonesia will increase by 2024

This status is a summary of information on all bird species scattered throughout various regions in Indonesia. This was obtained through searching various sources such as scientific publications, validated bird observer notes, and discussion results with experts in research institutions and universities.

The status of Indonesian birds follows the guidelines of the Handbook of the Birds of The World (HBW) and BirdLife International (HBW & BirdLife International, 2023).

Conservation Partnership Adviser of Burung Indonesia, Ria Saryanthi, stated in a press release on Friday (29/3/2024) that the number of bird species in Indonesia in 2024 has reached 1,836 species, which means an increase of 10 species compared to the previous year.

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"This change also affects the number of endemic bird species in Indonesia, which has increased by one species compared to the previous year's total of 541 species. Thus, this year's number of endemic bird species is 542," he explained.

This endemic bird is defined as a bird species that is only found within the administrative borders of Indonesia. Taxonomic breaks have also had an impact on the number and composition of Indonesia's endemic bird species. Of the 15 species that have been added to the list in this period, four of them are limited in distribution to Indonesia.

With 542 endemic species discovered, Indonesia is the country with the greatest wealth of endemic bird species in the world.

This change also affects the number of endemic bird species in Indonesia, which has increased by one species from the previous year's total of 541 species.

Indonesia is known to have seven avifauna regions, each with unique diversity of bird species (Sukmantoro et al, 2007). Endemic species are also relatively unevenly distributed among these avifauna regions. The majority (169 species, 31 percent) of Indonesia's endemic species are found in Sulawesi, followed by Maluku (23 percent) and Nusa Tenggara (20 percent).

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This also makes the Wallacea region which covers these three regions a hotspot for endemic Indonesian bird species. Kalimantan is the distribution area for the fewest endemic species (6 species, 1 percent) because most of the endemic bird species on this island are also distributed in Malaysia.

New species

According to Ria, there are nine new bird species which are the result of breaking down the taxa of eight bird species. The Morotai spectacled bird (Zosterops dehaani) which is separated from the Halmahera spectacled bird (Zosterops atriceps) based on differences in morphology, bioacoustics and ecology is one example.

This year, there were also five bird species that became new records for Indonesia, such as the slender-billed gull (Larus genei), the Kalimantan uncal (Macropygia tenuirostris), the kermadec petrel (Pterodroma neglecta), black sea scissors (Ardenna grisea), and Indian grebe (Terpsiphone paradisi).

Information about the presence of white-billed gulls (Larus genei) was observed by observers when these birds were migrating in the South Sumatra region. Meanwhile, records of the presence of the other four species were obtained from extracting data from field observations collected by bird watchers on a citizen science platform called eBird.

He also mentioned that there have been quite a lot of changes in the threatened status of bird species this year. According to the evaluation data of the IUCN Red List by BirdLife International, there were changes in the threatened status of 62 bird species in Indonesia. These changes consist of 40 bird species that have experienced a decrease in their threatened status.

A total of 14 new species have been evaluated and their status determined, including nine new species resulting from taxonomic analysis. There are also eight species whose endangered status has increased.

Amid habitat destruction for birds due to deforestation and land use changes, the discovery of new bird species in Indonesia continues to occur. For example, in 2022, researchers from the Center for Biosystematics and Evolutionary Research of the National Research and Innovation Agency successfully identified two new bird species from the Meratus Mountains in southeastern Kalimantan.

These two birds are named Cyornis kadayangensis or flycatcher and Zosterops meratensis or glasses meratus.

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The discovery of the two bird species began with research carried out in 2016. The description efforts carried out by the research team at the BRIN Biosystematics and Evolution Research Center in collaboration with Louisiana State University, United States, were published in the Journal of Ornithology , January 11, 2022.