Records of the Western Australian Museum 18: 157-178 (1996). 
The birds of Sumbawa, Moyo and Sangeang Islands, 
Nusa Tenggara, Indonesia 
R.E. Johnstone', P. Jepson 2 , S.H.M. Butchart- 1 , J.C. Lowen 4 and D. Prawiradilaga 5 
' Western Australian Museum, Francis Street, Perth, Western Australia 6000, Australia 
2 BirdLife International, Bogor, Indonesia 
3 Department of Zoology, University of Cambridge, CB2 3EJ, UK 
4 Emmanual College, Cambridge, CB2 3AP, UK 
5 Museum Zoologicum Bogoriense, Bogor, Indonesia 
Abstract - This paper is based mainly on data gathered during a vertebrate 
survey of Sumbawa, Moyo and Sangeang Islands by a joint Western 
Australian Museum-Museum Zoologicum Bogoriense expedition in May 
and October-November 1988, a Cambridge student expedition to Sumbawa 
Island in July-August 1993; and a visit by P. Jepson and S. Schmitt to 
Sumbawa in September 1993. 
A total of 172 species of bird were recorded and 362 specimens were 
collected which include the first major collections from Moyo and Sangeang 
Islands and represent important new collections for Sumbawa Island. The 
local distribution, abundance and habitat preferences found for each species 
are described. Many specimens and observations represent new island and/ 
or archipelago records. 
INTRODUCTION 
The islands of Sumbawa, Moyo and Sangeang lie 
in the inner Banda arc of the Indonesian 
archipelago between longitude U6°45’ and 119°15' 
east and latitude 8°0' and 9°15' south. They are 
situated between Lombok in the west and Komodo 
and Flores in the east in the Indonesian province of 
Nusa Tenggara Barat (Figure 1). The Flores Sea is 
to the north and the Indian Ocean to the south. The 
major aim of this work was to document the 
distribution and status of the avifauna of 
Sumbawa, Moyo and Sangeang Islands and to 
collect series of certain species for taxonomic, 
morphological and genetic studies. The islands 
were visited by the joint Western Australian 
Museum-Museum Zoologicum Bogoriense group 
between 6-28 May and 18 October to 15 November 
1988. Additional information was collated from the 
Cambridge Flores-Sumbawa expedition carried 
out between 28 July and 19 August 1993 by Butchart 
et al. (1993), from P. Jepson and S. Schmitt's visit to 
Sumbawa from 10-23 September 1993 from B.R. 
Lees' visits to Moyo from 1992 to 1995; and from 
the Museum Zoologicum Bogoriense collection. 
Pulau Sumbawa is an irregular shaped volcanic 
island 270 km long on its east-west axis and 90 km 
wide and covering about 14,750 km 2 . Large bays 
(Teluk) in the central and eastern part of the island 
namely Teluk Saleh, Teluk Dompu, Teluk Bima 
and Teluk Waworada give the island its irregular 
shape. Teluk Saleh is the largest and divides the 
island almost in half. Sumbawa contains several 
extinct volcanoes, the largest Gunung Tambora 
rising to 2821 m. The massive eruption of Tambora 
in 1815 produced 80 cubic kilometres of airborne 
ash which cooled the world enough to produce the 
year without a summer in 1816 (FAO 1981). 
Collections and observations were made at 
fourteen main sites on Sumbawa namely; Desa 
Belo 8°52'00"S, 116°50'00"E, Desa Meraran 
8°41'30"S, 116°51'00"E, Batu Hijau 9°00'S, 116°55'E, 
R.F2 (a meteorological station) S^’S, 117°00'E, 
Desa Merente 8°33'10"S, 117°01T5"E, Gunung Olet 
Sangenges 8“35'S, 117°07'E, Babar 8°55'S, 117°05'E, 
Batu Dulang 8°35'00 , ’S, 117°17'20"E, Batu Tering 
8°48'00"S, 117°22'00"E, around Sumbawa Besar 
8°30'00"S 117°26'00"E, Teluk Santong 8°43'40"S, 
117°53'30"E, Desa Daha (near Huu) 8°45'00"S, 
118°26'00"E, Desa Waworada 8°42'30"S, 
118°47'30"E, Desa Sangeang 8°18'00"S, 118°56 , 00"E 
and Sape 8°34'00"S, U9°00 , 00"E (Figure 2). 
In the annotated list we summarise for each 
species its relative abundance (whether it is very 
common, common, moderately common, 
uncommon, scarce or rare), whether it feeds alone 
or in groups, status (whether it is a vagrant, visitor 
or resident), habitat preferences and breeding 
season. 
Eight major habitat types were recognised on 
Sumbawa. 
1. Marine. Includes coastal seas, straits between 
islands and gulfs. 
