REZA AZMI presents a shortlist of noteworthy birds in Peninsular Malaysia and endemic birds in Borneo, including simple habitat notes, and briefly reviews their conservation status.

Written by Reza Azmi on 3 Feb 2003 with 0 comments. Be the first!

Noteworthy Malaysian Birds

In all, there are some 640 species of resident, including common migrant, birds to be found in Malaysia. Peninsular Malaysia has about 430 resident birds, 120 or so regular migrants and around 70 vagrants. The number of endemic birds are few. Over in Malaysian Borneo, the number of resident species recorded are just over 400, with 120 regular migrants and 50 vagrants. The number of endemic birds, however, is high, with over 30 Bornean endemics to be seen here.

The list of endemic species, or those restricted in distribution, are taken from Allen, J. and Pearson, A. 1999. A Field Guide to the Birds of West Malaysia and Singapore. Oxford University Press, U.K. & Smythies, B.E. 1999. Birds of Borneo. 4th Edition, revised by Davison, G.W.H. Natural History Publication, Sabah. Common bird names follow the same publications. We have also included some simple habitat notes to help you find these birds.

• Noteworthy Birds of Peninsular Malaysia
• Endemic Birds of Borneo

Upon reflection, it appears that a great proportion of the endemic birds of Malaysia are restricted to the highlands. Some of our hill stations, such as Frasers Hill, or the high-upland country of Borneo (e.g., Kelabit Highlands, Kinabalu Mountain) are therefore important centres for endemic birds. What is more worrying, are the smaller number of endemic, essentially, lowland forest species. These species are restricted to small pockets of virgin lowland forests, and long term conservation of these species are exacerbated by the expansion of urban-development.