This EBA includes the coastal zone of Java and Madura in Indonesia, falling within the provinces of Jawa Barat (West Java), Jakarta, Jawa Tengah (Central Java), Yogyakarta and Jawa Timur (East Java), and the restricted-range birds occur (or formerly occurred) here in a variety of coastal habitats. The lowlands of Java have been densely populated for several hundred years, and there had been considerable destruction and modification of these coastal habitats before ornithological exploration began, so the original distributions of the restricted-range bird species present are unlikely ever to be fully known. The EBA is defined here as comprising those sections of the coast with extensive level lowlands, where coastal wetlands and grassland are likely to have been present in the past.

The birds of the adjacent Java and Bali forests (EBA 160) are found mainly in the remaining natural forests on the mountains and foothills, so there is probably no overlap with the Javan coastal zone.

The restricted-range bird species differ somewhat in their habitat requirements and known distributions. The coastally occurring Charadrius javanicus is extremely difficult to distinguish from Kentish Plover C. alexandrinus (a non-breeding visitor to Java) and is thus a poorly known species. Vanellus macropterus was found in moist grassland along the north coast of western Java and the south coast of eastern Java (and doubtfully from Timor and Sumatra: King 1978-1979), but is almost certainly now extinct. Centropus nigrorufus is known from mangroves and adjacent swamp vegetation on Java (and possibly also Sumatra: Collar et al. 1994), but an old record from teak forest well inland and recent sightings in scrub away from the coastal wetlands (S. van Balen in litt. 1994) suggest that it may not be entirely confined to the remnant coastal wetlands. Zosterops flavus is a bird of mangroves and coastal scrub, known from this EBA and coastal Borneo.

Java is by far the most industrialized and developed island in Indonesia, with most industry along the north coast and around Cilacap on the south-central coast (Whitten and Whitten 1992). Large areas along the coast have also been converted to agricultural land, and extensive areas of mangrove have been replaced by aquacultures (D. A. Holmes in litt. 1993, S. van Balen in litt. 1994). As a result, the natural habitats of this EBA are much reduced in area, and seriously fragmented and degraded.

Centropus nigrorufus is classified as threatened because of this continuing destruction and disturbance of its habitat. More widespread threatened species found in this EBA are Milky Stork Mycteria cinerea (classified as Vulnerable), which is only known to breed at one locality there, Lesser Adjutant Leptoptilos javanicus (Vulnerable), which is becoming increasingly rare on Java and is not now known to breed there (S. van Balen in litt. 1994), and White-winged Duck Cairina scutulata (Endangered), which formerly occurred in western and central Java, but is now almost certainly extinct there (Green and Crosby 1992).

There are only a few small areas of coastal wetland in the protected-area system in Java. These include the coastal parts of Ujung Kulon and Baluran National Parks, and Muara Angke, Nusa Kambangan and Wijaya Kusuma Nature Reserves. Additional areas which have been recommended for establishment as new reserves are Muara Gembong, Muara Cimanuk, Tanjung Sedari and Muara Bobos (FAO 1982a, Sujatnika and Jepson 1995). Sujatnika et al. (1995) have called for survey work to be carried out to identify more areas of coastal habitat suitable for protection, and there is a need for the maintenance and extension of rehabilitation programmes that local government is conducting on mangroves and coastal areas.

Recommended citation
BirdLife International (2024) Endemic Bird Area factsheet: Javan coastal zone. Downloaded from https://datazone.birdlife.org/eba/factsheet/161 on 22/11/2024.