Which country in the world has the most

endemic bird life?

Patricia Soule | Palmyra, Virginia

INDONESIA I S HIGH on the list, because it has some17,500 islands with varied topography. Each of Indonesia'sislands host its own bird life. M a n y different

species arrived on the different islands and just stayed and evolved there. That said, I just returned from a trip to Colombia; there are lot s of endemic

bird species there and elsewhere in South America. The Andes mountain range is h high in diversity, since its many peaks are like islands in the sky.

 Gary Graves, research zoologist and curator of birds,

National Museum of Natural History