Sumba Island, Indonesia Photograph by © WWF-Canon/Edward PARKER   Southeastern Asia: Island of Sumba in Indonesia Tropical and Subtropical Dry Broadleaf Forests   4,200 square miles (10,800 square kilometers) -- about twice the size of Delaware Critical/Endangered

· The Birds of Sumba
· Special Features
· Did You Know?
· Wild Side
· Cause for Concern
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The Birds of Sumba

On the island of Sumba, birds are a special treasure. Although this ecoregion’s overall biodiversity is low, about 180 bird species can be found here, including seven that are endemic. But the rapid pace of deforestation on the island is threatening these and other species.

Special Features

Located in the eastern part of the Indonesian archipelago, Sumba was a part of the Australian continent before breaking away about 20 million years ago. Along the island’s southern coasts, the hills are covered with lowland evergreen rain forests, the most extensive tract being the Mt. Wanggameti-Laiwanga woodlands. In eastern Sumba, trees grow in ravines and along rivers, forming riparian corridors across otherwise open grasslands and savannas. Vegetation across the savanna includes the sundew plant, which traps and eats insects.

	The Sumba boobook, a kind of owl, is often heard but not seen. For hours on end it repeatedly issues a two-note call that sounds somewhat like a cuckoo.

Wild Side

Of the seven endemic bird species on Sumba, three are stable—the Sumba green-pigeon, Sumba flycatcher, and apricot-breasted sunbird. But four other species are considered vulnerable to extinction because of habitat loss: the Sumba buttonquail, red-naped fruit-dove, Sumba boobook, and Sumba hornbill. These birds are important to watch because they are indicators of healthy forests. The Sumba hornbill prefers the taller forest areas, and the brown Sumba flycatcher can be found in damp gullies. The Sumba green-pigeon and apricot-breasted sunbird favor the more open forests. Twenty mammal species live in this ecoregion as well, but none is endemic.

Cause for Concern

Almost 75 percent of this ecoregion has been cleared, mostly for agriculture. Only a few relatively small, scattered patches of intact forest remain. Livestock grazing, poaching, and burning of grasslands to establish agricultural fields are ongoing threats. Some forest types that are especially vulnerable to fire—such as the dry thorn forest—have almost completely disappeared.

For more information on this ecoregion, go to the World Wildlife Fund Scientific Report.