Indonesia, the largest archipelago of islands in the world, is a fantastic birding destination. Together with some of the richest forests on earth, Indonesia has more endemic bird species than any other country in the world. Unfortunately Indonesia's huge population has taken its toll on the natural habitat and many bird species are highly threatened due to deforestation. In addition the Indonesian rampant passion for trapping and keeping wild birds in cages is so great that species such as Straw-headed Bulbul and Java Sparrow could easily disappear from Indonesia very soon.

Birdlife International has declared Indonesia to have more Endemic Bird Areas (EBAs) than any other nation on earth. It has 24. The ever increasing population of Indonesia with the consequences for the natural habitat don't give reason for much hope for the future of the avifauna.

Forest destruction in the Sundaic lowlands of Indonesia has and continues to be so extensive that all primary formation forest is expected to have disappeared by 2010. The research work of Derek Holmes, resident expert on Indonesian birds, who sadly passed away in October 2000, showed that at current rates of destruction the Sundaic lowland dry-land forest, probably the most bio-diverse habitat on earth outside of South America, will disappear in Sumatra by 2005 and in Borneo by 2010. Because of these grim findings Birdlife's recently published Threatened Birds of the World included all species confined to lowland dry-land forest in the Sundaic region as either Near-threatened or Vulnerable. The Oriental Bird Club Bulletin (no.33) reports on this and mentions that in order to get one's head around the terrible pace of the forest destruction, in terms of hornbill habitat, (a family of birds which are great indicators of a healthy rain-forest), it is the equivalent of the habitat of 7000 hornbills being lost every day!

Indonesia is so vast and diverse that it would take many months to see a good range of its bird species. On a short visit it is best to confine oneself to a certain region. This trip was to the Greater Sunda islands of Sumatra and Java, with the majority of the trip being spent in Sumatra and a few days in Java. Unfortunately the security situation in Indonesia has now become quite volatile for travelers due to ethnic violence and many parts of Indonesia are effectively now out of bounds. Areas such as the Aceh region in Sumatra and the Moluccas, which includes that endemic rich island of Halmahera are currently too dangerous to visit. Hopefully in the not too distant future these parts will become accessible again, and there will be some habitat left to visit and birds to see.