Birds of Nusa Tenggara islands 
163 
Figure 11 Southern side of Pulau Sangeang, photographed by R. How. 
northern end (between 6-9 November); Brang Kua 
8°09'30"S, 117°36'45"E on eastern side (between 9- 
11 November); and Tanjung Pasir 8°23'15”S, 
117°3r30"E on southern end (between 11-14 
November). B.R. Lees visited areas on the west 
side of the island including the vicinity of 
Amanawana Bay 8°16'S, 117°30'E and Labuan Aji 
(Labuhanhaji) 8°13’5, 117°30'E. 
Most of the southern half of the island consists of 
a rather extensive plateau undulating between 85 
and 160 m. The northern half descends more gently 
to the sea, is more forested than the south, contains 
a more extensive drainage system, and has more 
land suitable for agriculture. 
The major habitat types on Moyo Island are as 
follows: 
1. Mangal. Many bays around the island contain 
small stands of mangroves. They consist mostly 
of a pioneer or seaward zone of Sonnemtia and 
a landward zone of Rhizophora and Bruguiera. 
2. Semi-evergreen rainforest and moist 
deciduous monsoon forest. This forest occurs 
over most of the northern half of tire island on 
the central and southern slopes of the plateau 
and along southern creeks. The canopy has an 
average height of 20-25 nr. Dominant trees 
include Calophyllum, Cripteronis, Eugenia, 
Schoutenia, Crewia, Schleichera, and Protium. 
Scattered trees of Podocarpus and Dipterocarpus 
occur mainly in the north. 
3. Grasslands. Most of the central and southern 
part of the island consists of grassy plains with 
emergent prickly trees and shrubs. (Figure 10). 
4. Cultivated areas and secondary regrowth. This 
includes areas cleared for agriculture and 
depauperate scrubs with Alstonia, Tamarindus 
and Lantana. 
Presumably the vegetation on Moyo would 
have been devastated by the eruption of 
Tambora in 1815. 
Pulau Sangeang is a roughly circular volcanic 
island 15 km wide, 150 km 2 and with a central 
active volcano Gunung Api rising to 1949 m. It is 
situated 8 km off the northeast coast of Sumbawa 
and was visited between 21-23 October 1988 on 
the southwestern side at 8°13'30"S, 119°00'20"E. 
Gunung Api last erupted in 1986. 
The narrow coastal fringe is vegetated mostly 
with low open woodland with a ground cover of 
rank grasses. Small thickets dominated mainly by 
Ficus spp. occur in some gullies but much of the 
vegetation has been disturbed by recent lava flows. 
Many derelict village gardens were overrun with 
castor oil plant. Large areas of 'alang alang' occur 
on the lower slopes of Gunung Api and patches of 
vine forest occur higher up and in deeper gullies. 
(Figure 11). 
CLIMATE 
Sumbawa, Moyo and Sangeang Islands have a 
tropical monsoon type climate, characterised by 
moderate stable temperatures and high relative 
humidity. The wet season (northwest monsoon) 
