Birds are one of the world’s components of biodiversity. They are unique and extravagant creatures on earth. With their delicate wings and beautiful songs, they never fail us when we’re outside.

Not only eye-catching, birds also play a huge role as important indicators of both biodiversity levels and overall habitat quality. Among animals, birds are especially sensitive to variations in habitat composition and structure.

Many birds are important in plant reproduction through their services as pollinators or seed dispersers. They munch on their favorite food and then distribute seeds, or even spores—ensuring that new plants continue to sprout up.

The vast Indonesia Archipelago is a home of 1,812 birds, with 532 endemic species. Approximately 17% of the world’s bird population exists in the country. Indonesia is considered one of the “Mega Bird Diversity” countries and is among the top four in terms of bird species richness. We have a lot of unique and rare species of birds in our country. As Bird of paradise, best known for their absolute beauty, uniqueness, incredible plumage, odd behaviors, and/or odd mating rituals, some of them can be found in Indonesia. The largest species of Hornbill also exists in Indonesia, which is the Helmeted Hornbill (Rhinoplax vigil).

Based on the latest data collected by Burung Indonesia, Indonesia is facing the highest threat of bird extinction in the world, which is as much as 12% of all endangered birds in the world.

Indonesian Bird Biodiversity Officer Achmad Ridha Junaid said, according to data collected in 2022, there are 177 species of birds in Indonesia in the endangered category. This number consists of 96 species in the Vulnerable (VU) category, 51 species in the Endangered (EN) category, and 30 species in the Critically Endangered (CR) category.

One species that falls into the Critical category is the Citron-crested cockatoo (Cacatua citrinocristata) which is the result of the breakdown of the yellow-crested small cockatoo. The merger and also the separation of bird species also contribute to the changes of number and diversity of bird species in Indonesia.

The threat levels for three bird species–Maleo (Macrocephalon maleo), Crested Partridge (Rollulus rouloul), and Green Imperial-pigeon (Ducula aenea)–have increased.

From the beginning of 2021 to the beginning of 2022, there were eight species of bird species added in Indonesia. Three of these are derived from descriptions of new species, two are collected from new encounter records, and the remaining three species are additions due to recent changes in bird classification and taxonomy.

The three newly described new species include the Kadayang Flycatcher (Cyornis kadayangensis), Meratus White-eyes (Zosterops meratusensis), and the Satin Berrypecker (Melanocharis citreola).

The addition of two new species as a result of the encounter is the Black-tailed Whistler (Pachycephala melanura) and the Dimorphic Jewel-babbler (Ptilorrhoa geislerorum).

These two birds have a major distribution outside the boundaries of Indonesia, but the records of the latest observations prove that both also exist in the country.