Current view: Text account
Site description (2003 baseline):
Site location and context
This area has the highest peak of Gunung Sabatai (1090 m) and the highest area in Morotai Island. Around and inside of the area there are 9 settlements that spread in the western to northern part of the coastal area. Generally, the people who live in the villages are Tobelo people. People work as dry land farmer and some of them also work as fisherman, they also collect medicinal plants, resin, rattan and hunting. The main comodity from plantation are coconut and cacao.
Chattering Lory
Lorius garrulus live in this area. In 1945, this bird was the commonest parrot species in Morotai Island and Rau (BirdLife International 2001). Population estimate between 1991-1992 was 3848-27120 birds (Lambert 1993 a,b) and considered as a common species (Coates & Bishop 1997). The vulnerable Dusky Friarbird
Philemon fuscicapillus also found in this area. In 1945 this bird was very common in this area (Lendon 1946
in BirdLife International 2001). There is no new information about this bird.
Non-bird biodiversity: Fauna: Phalanger sp morotai (endemic of Morotai Island), Cervus timorensis moluccensis.Endemic flora: Mastixia petandra moluccana, Euonymus moluccensis, Bridelia morotaea, Archidendron monopterum and Largestroemia moluccana (Monk et.al.1997)
Evergreen rainforest and some of semi-evergreen forest (Monk
et.al.1997)
Pressure/threats to key biodiversity
Logging by HPH, land clearing for plantation and bird catching (Parrot) for trading.
95000 ha of this area is proposed as a Nature Reserve in National Conservation Plan for Indonesia (Mac Kinnon & Artha 1981). Most of the area is Protected Forest.
Recommended citation
BirdLife International (2024) Important Bird Area factsheet: Morotai (Indonesia). Downloaded from
https://datazone.birdlife.org/site/factsheet/morotai-iba-indonesia on 22/12/2024.
