B I O D I V E R S I T A S ISSN: 1412-033X (printed edition) Volume 10, Number 2, April 2009 ISSN: 2085-4722 (electronic) Pages: 81-87 DOI: 10.13057/biodiv/d100205  Correcponding address: Jl. Raya Jakarta-Bogor Km 46, Cibinong 16911 Tel. & Fax.: +62-21-8765056 & 8765068 e-mail: wiedodo_318170@yahoo.com Population Status of Cacatua sulphurea parvula and Trichoglossus euteles in Alor, East Nusa Tenggara WAHYU WIDODO ♥ Zoology Division, Research Center for Biology, Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI), Cibinong-Bogor 16911. Received: 11 th November 2008. Accepted: 23 rd January 2009. ABSTRACT The aim of this survey was to know the abundance status of the Yellow-crested Small Cockatoo (Cacatua sulphurea parvula) and Yellow-headed Lorikeet (Trichoglossus euteles) in Alor, East Nusa Tenggara Province. There were four observation sites in the survey, namely: (i) Air Mancur preparatory Village (in and around of Tuti Adigae Natural Tourism Park, East Alor Sub-district), (ii) Tanglapui Village (Kampong Irawuri) (East Alor Sub-district), (iii) Probur Village (Kampong Wormanem) (Southwest Alor Sub-district), and (iv) Bota Village (Northwest Alor Sub-district). The survey was used for the bird encounter rates per unit time method. The bird population was estimated by abundance score value. Fifty species of birds or 64.9% of 77 species of birds occurring in Alor were recorded during field work. The yellow-headed lorikeet observed was more abundant with five abundance score and for the numbers per 10 hours observation were 58.06. There was no yellow-crested small cockatoo observed during the survey. However, the yellow-crested small cockatoo was presumed to be present in the fields by the direct observation of old nest site of Canarium trees. © 2009 Biodiversitas, Journal of Biological Diversity Key words: parrot, population, Cacatua sulphurea parvula, Trichoglossus euteles, Alor. INTRODUCTION Psittacidae family is a special and unique group of parrots. Indonesia has less 76 species of parrots. Most of the parrots, namely 44 species are found in the middle of Papua forests, 20 species in Maluku; 16 species in Sulawesi; 14 species in Nusa Tenggara, five species in Kalimantan, four species in Sumatra and three species in Java, Bali and Madura (Sukmantoro et al., 2007). Among the species of parrots, Cacatua sulphurea parvula (yellow-crested small Cockatoo) and Trichoglossus euteles (yellow- headed Lorikeet) are found in the territory of Nusa Tenggara, especially in Alor. Because of the diversity of the body colors and smartness of such parrots in Indonesia attract fanciers, especially foreigner. This is shown by the increasing demand for export of such birds annually to several foreign countries, such as Europe, America or Asia, including Hong Kong, Singapore, Japan, and Saudi Arabia. In order to secure parrot export and keep their sustainability, the government c/q LIPI (the Biological Research Centre) as a scientific authority and Department of Forestry (PHKA) as the management authority must have cooperation annually to determine the quota of catch or export of such parrots proportionally. However, due to wide spread distribution of parrots in Indonesia, the determination of such quota is sometimes less likely supported by solid data or information on their population of parrots in their natural habitat. This caused by the fact that the survey taken on the population of such parrots mostly spreading the eastern part of Indonesia encountered many constrain, especially associated with the expensive cost of transportation. Nevertheless, LIPI (the Research Center for Biology) continuously conducting surveys in the past years on the population or abundance of Cacatua spp., parrot species in several Indonesian territories, namely in Buton (Adhikerana et al., 1997), Masa Lembo Isles (Darjono et al., 1997), Sumba (Hartini et al., 1997), East Flores (Hartini et al., 1998), North Halmahera (Widodo, 1998), Nusa Penida, Bali (Darjono and Hartini, 1999), South Tanimbar (Widodo, 1999), Lore Lindu National Park, Central Sulawesi (Widodo, 2001), and Manusela National Park, Seram (Widodo, 2006). In this paper, the survey findings on bird population or abundance in the territory of Alor, East Nusa Tenggara will be discussed. The specific objective of the survey is to obtain information on the population status of Cacatua sulphurea parvula and Trichoglossus euteles. In addition, this study also intended to record sources of their natural feed, resting