REZA AZMI lists all the endemic birds known in Peninsular Malaysia, Sabah and Sarawak, and includes some clues on where to find them.

Written by Reza Azmi on 3 Feb 2003 with 2 comments. Contribute!

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. and 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.

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.

Endemic Birds of Peninsular Malaysia

• Malayan Whistling-Thrush Highlands. Forest, 700 to 1700m
• Malaysian Hill-Partridge Highlands. Forest over 1000m
• Mountain Peacock-Pheasant Highlands. Forest over 600m

Endemic Birds of Borneo

• Black Oriole Highlands. Kelabit Highlands
• Black-and-Crimson Pitta Lowlands. Sepilok, Kinabatangan
• Black-sided Flowerpecker Highlands. Kinabalu Park, Crocker Range, Kelabit Highlands, Mulu
• Black-Throated Wrenbabbler Lowlands. Sepilok, Kinabatangan
• Blue-banded Pitta Highlands. Kinabalu Park, Crocker Range, Kelabit Highlands, Mulu
• Blue-headed Pitta Lowlands. Kinabatangan floodplains
• Bornean Barbet Highlands. Kinabalu Park, Crocker Range, Mulu
• Bornean Blue Flycatcher Lowland/Highlands. All over Borneo
• Bornean Bristlehead Lowlands. Sepilok, Danum Valley, Lambir and Kutai
• Bornean Ground Cuckoo Lowlands. Rare
• Bornean Peacock Pheasant Lowlands. Sabah, but extremely rare
• Bornean Stubtail Highlands. Kinabalu Park, Crocker Range, Kelabit Highlands, Mulu
• Bornean Treepie Highlands. North and Central Mountain range
• Bornean Whistler Highlands. Kinabalu Park, Crocker Range, Kelabit Highlands, Mulu
• Bornean Wren-Babler Lowlands. Mulu, Batang Ai, Sepilok, Sukau, Danum
• Bulwer's Pheasant Highlands. Crocker Range, Tenom and Danum
• Chestnut-crested Yuhina Highlands. Kinabalu Park, Crocker Range, Kelabit Highlands, Mulu
• Crimson-Headed Partridge Highlands. Kinabalu Park, Tenom, Kelabit Highlands, Mulu
• Dulit Frogmouth Highlands. Kinabalu Park, Crocker Range, Kelabit Highlands, Mulu
• Dulit Partridge Highlands. Kinabalu Park, ?Tenom, Kelabit Highlands, Mulu
• Dusky Munia Lowlands. Open country
• Everett's Thrush Highlands. Kinabalu Park, Crocker Range, Kelabit Highlands, Mulu
• Friendly Bush Warbler Highlands. Kinabalu Park
• Fruithunter Highlands. Kinabalu Park, Crocker Range, Kelabit Highlands, Mulu
• Golden-Naped Barbet Highlands. Kinabalu Park, Crocker Range, Kelabit Highlands, Mulu
• Hose's Broadbill Highlands. Kelabit Highlands
• Mountain Barbet Highlands. Kinabalu Park, Crocker Range, Kelabit Highlands, Mulu
• Mountain Blackeye Highlands. Kinabalu Park, Crocker Range, Kelabit Highlands, Mulu
• Mountain Serpent-Eagle Highlands. Kinabalu Park, Crocker Range, Mulu
• Mountain Wren-Babler Highlands. Kinabalu Park, Crocker Range, Kelabit Highlands, Mulu
• Pygmy White-eye Highlands. Kinabalu park, Mulu
• Red-Breasted Partridge Highlands. Crocker Range, Tenom, Danum
• White-crowned Sharma Lowlands. Kinabatangan floodplains
• White-Fronted Falconet Lowlands. Sabah: Gomantong Caves, Danum Valley, Tabin, Poring
• Whitehead's Broadbill Highlands. Kinabalu Park, Crocker Range, Kelabit Highlands, Mulu
• Whitehead's Spiderhunter Highlands. Moss forest; Kinabalu park, Mulu
• Whitehead's Trogon Highlands. Kinabalu Park, Crocker Range, Kelabit Highlands, Mulu
• Yellow-rumped Flowerpecker Lowlands/Highlands. Forest edge

Keith Taylor

Guest

Wednesday, 24 February 2010 at 1:30 AM:

Sharma should read Shama. Instead of the alphabetical order of appearance above, try placing them in the order they appear in field guides.

jytou

Guest

Wednesday, 15 September 2010 at 2:56 PM:

Most of the Bornean endemic are not Malaysian endemic, except Dulit Partridge, Friendly Warbler, Everett's Thrush, Black-and-crimson Pitta and new split Bornean Swiftlet.

The Black Oriole and White-crowned Shama is recently discovered in Indonesia and White-fronted Falconet turned up at Brunei as well as Sarawak (previously only in Sabah). These new discovery had removed the 3 species as Malaysian's national endemic but nevertheless still very important regional endemic in the country.

For Peninsular Malaysia, both Mountain Peacock Pheasant and Malaysian Partridge are discovered in extreme south Thailand, again taking away their country endemic status, currently only the Malayan Whistling Thrush is a true political Peninsular Malaysia endemic, and if the the local Crested Argus is finally decided to be split into 2, our Malay Argus would be a new national endemic.

Sorry. We've been getting a lot of junk comments lately. So commenting has been turned off for now