23/08/2026
For birders contemplating a Lesser Sundas trip this East Asia Flyway season, add Timor-Leste to your itinerary. Small island and all very easy habitats to access. Here is my list:
Below is a numbered list of the 68 waterbirds, seabirds, shorebirds and waders recorded by me in Timor-Leste uploaded onto my eBird account.
Waterbirds
Wandering Whistling-Duck �Green Pygmy-Goose �Sunda Teal �Pacific Black Duck �Australasian Grebe �Little Grebe �Australasian Darter �Little Black Cormorant �Little Pied Cormorant �Black Bittern �Yellow Bittern �Black-crowned Night Heron �Nankeen Night Heron �Eastern Cattle-Egret �Little Egret �Medium Egret �Great Egret �White-faced Heron �Little Heron �Pied Heron �Pacific Reef-Heron �Australian Ibis �Glossy Ibis �Royal Spoonbill �Australasian Swamphen �Buff-banded Rail �Pale-vented Bush-hen �White-breasted Waterhen �Eurasian Moorhen �Dusky Moorhen �Eurasian Coot �White-browed Crake �Spotless Crake �Watercock �Comb-crested Jacana �Greater Painted-Snipe �
Shorebirds and Waders
Black-bellied Plover �Pacific Golden-Plover �Greater Sand-Plover �Kentish Plover �Javan Plover �Malaysian Plover �Little Ringed Plover �Red-capped Plover �Oriental Plover �Broad-billed Sandpiper �Common Sandpiper �Curlew Sandpiper �Marsh Sandpiper �Sharp-tailed Sandpiper �Terek Sandpiper �Wood Sandpiper �Long-toed Stint �Red-necked Stint �Bar-tailed Godwit �Black-tailed Godwit �Far Eastern Curlew �Little Curlew �Eurasian Whimbrel �Great Knot �Red Knot �Asian Dowitcher �Common Greenshank �Common Redshank �Gray-tailed Tattler �Ruddy Turnstone �Pied Stilt �Red-necked Phalarope �
Seabirds
Great Frigatebird �Lesser Frigatebird �Great Crested Tern �Gull-billed Tern �Little Tern �Whiskered Tern �White-winged Tern �
Total recorded in Timor-Leste: 75 species of waterbirds, shorebirds/waders, and seabirds.
Notable highlights include Asian Dowitcher, Far Eastern Curlew, Great Knot, Red Knot, Bar-tailed Godwit, Black-tailed Godwit, Broad-billed Sandpiper, Red-necked Phalarope, Javan Plover, Malaysian Plover, Great Frigatebird, and Lesser Frigatebird, all of which are particularly desirable species on the East Asian–Australasian Flyway.
There are many other observations listed on both Ebird and Inaturalist. Check them out.
