BirdingASIA 17 (2012): 81–93 81 BIRDING HOTSPOT Birding the tip of the Malay peninsula: bird diversity and birding sites in Johor KIM SENG LIM, DING LI YONG, WEI WAH LUM & KIM CHUAH LIM Introduction million people and is congested and sprawling. The Johor is the southernmost state of Peninsular state government has established a development Malaysia, covering an area which historically area—Iskandar Malaysia—and is moving to a new included some of the largest expanses of lowland administrative centre at Nusajaya. rainforest in South-East Asia and even today some 20% of this forest cover still remains. Not Natural habitats in Johor surprisingly the state is rich in birds, but sadly is Not surprisingly, montane vegetation is exceedingly ignored by most birders visiting Malaysia who focus rare, confined to the few peaks that dot the state, on the ‘traditional hotspots’ of Gombak, Taman and the dominant climax vegetation is mixed Negara, Fraser’s Hill and Kuala Selangor in Pahang lowland and hill dipterocarp forest, which is and Selangor. But with more than 450 recorded unfortunately reduced to a few large blocs in the species Johor has much to offer, particularly for north-east (e.g. Ulu Sedili FR and Endau-Rompin those passing through or domiciled in Singapore— NP) and many scattered smaller fragments (e.g. the main lowland rainforest site in southern Johor, Gn Pulai FR and Arong FR) surrounded by a matrix Panti Forest Reserve (Panti FR) is accessible by of monoculture and settlements. The forests are road from Singapore in an hour. A week spent in dominated by multiple genera of dipterocarp trees Johor’s diverse habitats can produce 200–250 with heights exceeding 30 m although, given species depending on the season. extensive logging, only a limited amount of what This article does not attempt to cover all Johor’s can be considered ‘primary’ forest remains. sites, but we hope that it will foster the growing However, there are still large areas of logged forests interest in birding and ecotourism in the state, a in managed forest reserves. jewel of Peninsular Malaysia. Lowland dipterocarp forests in Johor (as with similar areas elsewhere in Malaysia, Brunei and Background to Johor today lowland Sumatra) support the richest and most Johor, 19,984 km² in area, is the third largest state diverse bird assemblages in tropical Asia. A patch after Perak and Pahang (Lum 2010) and is the only of lowland forest only 2 km² may support a resident state in Peninsular Malaysia that straddles the bird community of 190 species (Wells 1999) and peninsula with coastlines bordering the Strait of when migrants are excluded, more than 200 species Malacca to the west and the South China Sea to have been recorded in an 8 km section of primary the east. Largely flat, Johor is isolated from the and logged forest in Panti FR (Yong 2006). These main Titiwangsa mountain range and its satellites lowland forests form a crucial habitat for many with few peaks exceeding 1,000 m; the highest globally threatened lowland specialists such as the being Gn Ledang (formerly Mt Ophir) at 1,276 m Vulnerable Crestless Fireback Lophura in the north-west, followed by Gn Belumut at erythrophthalma, Endangered Storm’s Stork Ciconia 1,010 m in the centre. Johor is drained by many stormi, Vulnerable Wallace’s Hawk Eagle Spizaetus rivers notably the Sungei Johor (Johor river) which nanus, Vulnerable Short-toed Coucal Centropus rises in the Panti massif and flows through primary rectunguis and Vulnerable Brown-chested Jungle hill forest, riparian forest and a largely deforested Flycatcher Rhinomyias brunneatus. floodplain to the mangrove-fringed Tebrau Strait Swamp-forests have generally received north-east of Singapore. Other major rivers include considerably less attention from biologists as a the Muar, draining into the Strait of Malacca, and result of difficulties in access. However, in Johor the Skudai, which drains into the western part of where swamp-forest is an important habitat, Corner the Strait of Johor. (1978) made one of the best botanical assessments Economic development came early to Johor and of riverine swamp-forests in tropical Asia on the conversion to oil palm, rubber, gambier and Sungei Johor. Swamp-forest, both freshwater and pineapple cultivation account for the bulk of the peat, is partly waterlogged and usually abuts land-use change, although recently urbanisation dryland dipterocarp forest and supports a similar and industrial development have increased. Johor bird community, although many ground-dwelling Bahru, the state capital, has a population of over 2 birds occur in lower densities. 82 Birding the tip of the Malay peninsula: bird diversity and birding sites in Johor poor avian community of adaptable birds typified by Red-wattled Lapwing Vanellus indicus, Red Junglefowl Gallus gallus and Oriental Pied Hornbill Anthracoceros albirostris, as well as a few species of bulbul, sunbird, tailorbird and cuckoo; but areas adjacent to forest may exhibit slightly higher diversity. Oil palm plantations support a number of owl species, with nest-boxes successfully placed in some estates to attract Barn Owls Tyto alba as rodent control agents. Spotted Wood Owls Strix seloputo are likely to have been attracted by the high density of rats and even Barred Eagle Owl Bubo sumatranus has been recorded where there is still forest nearby. There is a small area of wet paddy cultivation in the north-west and the paddyfields which adjoin areas of secondary scrub and mangroves are used LUM WEI WAH WEI LUM by foraging Lesser Adjutants and a number of Plate 1. Brown-chested Jungle Flycatcher Rhinomyias resident heron species. In winter this area is utilised brunneatus, Gn Belumut, Johor, 22 April 2010. by various Aquila eagles, especially the Greater Much of the east coast has sandy beaches with Spotted Eagle A. clanga which occurs annually, pockets of remnant beach forests and, rarely, together with harriers, kites and other migratory mangroves, while the west coast, despite herons and passerines (Lum 2010). considerable exploitation, supports healthy stands of mangrove forest, with large patches protected A brief history of ornithology in Johor in a few major forest reserves (e.g. Benut) and William Farquhar, the Resident of Malacca (later national parks (e.g. Tanjong Piai). Although overall the first Resident of Singapore), is credited with species diversity is considerably lower than in the first recorded collecting in Johor, obtaining lowland rainforests, mangroves form unique specimens on Mt Ophir sometime after 1795. He habitats that support a number of specialists, was followed by other notable naturalists and including Mangrove Pitta Pitta megarhyncha, ornithologists—Alfred Russel Wallace visited the Mangrove Blue Flycatcher Cyornis rufigastra, site during July–October 1854, followed by Robert Greater Flameback Chrysocolaptes lucidus and Ramsay (1873) and John Whitehead (1884–1885). Copper-throated Sunbird Nectarinia calcostetha. Possibly even more famously, William Davison, The adjoining mudflats support a significant curator and travelling collector to A. O. Hume population of the Vulnerable Lesser Adjutant (Collar & Prys-Jones 2012) and later curator of the Leptoptilos javanicus as well as herons and waders, Raffles Museum, Singapore, explored and collected including in winter the rare Vulnerable Chinese in Johor in 1875, 1879,1880 and 1891. Davison also Egret Egretta eulophotes. exchanged notes and specimens with Henry There are three Important Bird Areas (IBA) in Kelham, a military officer, in 1879 and Kelham also Johor (BirdLife International 2004, Yeap et al, explored north-west and south Johor and collected 2007). The south-west coastal IBA extending from from Gn Pulai (Wells 2007). It is not surprising Sungei Muar in the north, with Parit Jawa and that sites in Johor are type localities for Sundaic Benut at its midpoint, to Tanjong Piai and Pulau species such as Black Partridge Melanoperdix nigra. Kukup (both Ramsar sites) in the south, includes The twentieth century saw further activity in a significant area of mangrove forest and tidal Johor from museum curators based in Kuala mudflats. The other IBAs, Panti FR and Endau- Lumpur and Singapore, including Herbert Rompin National Park (NP) (shared with Pahang Robinson, Frederick Chasen and Carl Gibson-Hill state), cover large areas of lowland rainforest. (Wells 2007). The American explorer William Beebe visited the Labis district on his way north in Man-made habitats in Johor 1910, and the English educator E. Bromley Large areas of Johor are converted to agriculture published the first observations of birds in Johor with plantations of oil palm which continue to during the 1940s and 1950s. G. Hutchinson wrote expand (Peh et al. 2006, Lum 2010) dominating about woodpeckers in South Johor in 1950 and the the state, whilst many smaller areas of fruit planter and OBC member Dennis Batchelor orchards produce durian, banana, pineapple and published a detailed account of the birds near Mt watermelon. This landscape supports a species- Ophir during the 1950s. BirdingASIA 17 (2012) 83 The formation of the Malayan Nature Society South-East Asia. Bulbuls and babblers dominate the (MNS) in 1940 accelerated the rise of amateur resident avifauna in most areas of lowland forest in naturalists and ornithologists who became the main Peninsular Malaysia and some areas such as Johor observers of birdlife in Johor. Two notable examples may support up to 12 species and nearly 20 were Ian Teesdale who explored Johor from 1965– respectively. Many species of bulbuls co-exist and 1970 and Derek Holmes who was active in the state well-explored sites like the Panti FR have been found between 1970 and 1973. From the 1960s to 1970 to support up to 12 species, including the scarce bird observation and ringing was carried out by the Finsch’s Bulbul Alophoixus finschii and the elusive, Royal Air Force Ornithological Society and the Army nomadic Black-and-white Bulbul Pycnonotus Birdwatching Club based in Singapore—their melanoleucos.