The Palani laughingthrush (''Montecincla fairbanki'') is a species of
laughingthrush
The laughingthrushes are a family, Leiothrichidae, of Old World passerine birds. They are diverse in size and coloration. These are birds of tropical areas, with the greatest variety in Southeast Asia and the Indian subcontinent. The entire fam ...
endemic
Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found elsew ...
to the hills of the
Western Ghats south of the
Palghat Gap in Southern
India
India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...
. Found in the high montane forests, this grey bibbed, rufous bellied bird with a prominent dark eyestripe and broad white brow was grouped along with the grey-breasted subspecies of the
black-chinned laughingthrush and known as the
grey-breasted laughingthrush. This species is found in the
Palni Hills
The Palani Hills are a mountain range in the southern Indian states of Kerala and Tamil Nadu. The Palani Hills are an eastward extension of the Western Ghats ranges, which run parallel to the west coast of India. The Palani Hills adjoin the hi ...
while another closely related form, the
Ashambu laughingthrush
The Ashambu laughingthrush or Travancore laughingthrush (''Montecincla meridionalis'') is a species of bird in the family Leiothrichidae. It is found in the Western Ghats in southern Kerala and southern Tamil Nadu. It was formerly considered ...
(''Montecincla meridionalis'') with a shorter white brow is found in the high hills south of the
Achankovil Gap and was treated as a subspecies. The two forms were together treated under the name of Kerala laughingthrush.
Description
This species has a dark grey-brown crown and narrow dark grey eyestripe with a broad white supercilium above it. This supercilium extends behind the eye in this species but stops above the eye in the closely related ''meridionalis''. The throat is distinctly grey unlike in the
black-chinned laughingthrush found north of the Palghat Gap and continues into the upper breast. The grey of the upper breast is faintly streaked in brown. The lower breast and belly is rusty brown and the upper parts are olive brown. The bill is browner and not as dark grey as in the black-chinned. The Ashambu laughingthrush (''M. meridionalis'') which was earlier treated as a subspecies has greyer upper plumage, paler crown and the centre of the belly is white with chestnut brown on the flanks and vent. The iris is dark red or red-brown. The sexes are indistinguishable in the field.
Taxonomy
This species was described from the Kodaikanal
Kodaikanal () is a hill station which is located in Dindigul district in the state of Tamil Nadu, India. Its name in the Tamil language means "The Gift of the Forest". Kodaikanal is referred to as the "Princess of Hill stations" and has a long ...
region on the basis of a specimen obtained by Rev. Samuel Bacon Fairbank and came to be called the Pulney laughing-thrush. The lack of the black chin of ''jerdoni'' was noted even when this species was first described but it was made into a subspecies under ''jerdoni'' in the second edition of ''The Fauna of British India, Including Ceylon and Burma
''The Fauna of British India'' (short title) with long titles including ''The Fauna of British India, Including Ceylon and Burma'', and ''The Fauna of British India Including the Remainder of the Oriental Region'' is a series of scientific books th ...
'' in 1922 by Stuart Baker.[ In 1880 Blanford described ''meridionale'' based on a specimen obtained by F. W. Bourdillon. The close relationship of ''meridionale'' and ''fairbanki'' was noticed by ]William Ruxton Davison
William Ruxton Davison (died 25 January 1893) was a British ornithologist and collector. Davison was born in Burma but grew up mainly in Ootacamund in southern India. He worked as a private collector and museum curator for Allan Octavian Hume bef ...
in 1883. The current regrouping of the forms, considering the Palghat Gap as a biogeographic barrier and giving importance to the chin colour, was introduced in 2005 by Pamela C. Rasmussen
Pamela Cecile Rasmussen (born October 16, 1959) is an American ornithologist and expert on Asian birds. She was formerly a research associate at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C., and is based at the Michigan State University. She ...
and Anderton. A study published in 2017 found that the species was best placed in a new genus ''Montecincla'' and that based on the divergence, ''meridionale'' is best treated as a full species.
Behaviour and ecology
They are found in pairs and small groups and they sometimes join mixed-species feeding flocks. They feed on the nectar of flowers of ''Lobelia excelsa
''Lobelia'' () is a genus of flowering plants comprising 415 species, with a cosmopolitan distribution, subcosmopolitan distribution primarily in tropical to warm temperate regions of the world, a few species extending into cooler temperate reg ...
'', ''Rhododendron
''Rhododendron'' (; from Ancient Greek ''rhódon'' "rose" and ''déndron'' "tree") is a very large genus of about 1,024 species of woody plants in the heath family (Ericaceae). They can be either evergreen or deciduous. Most species are nati ...
'' and ''Strobilanthes
''Strobilanthes'' is a genus of about 350 species of flowering plants in the family Acanthaceae, mostly native to tropical Asia and Madagascar, but with a few species extending north into temperate regions of Asia. Many species are cultivated for ...
'' species. They also feed on the petals of some flowers such as ''Strobilanthes
''Strobilanthes'' is a genus of about 350 species of flowering plants in the family Acanthaceae, mostly native to tropical Asia and Madagascar, but with a few species extending north into temperate regions of Asia. Many species are cultivated for ...
'' and the fruits of a range of plants including ''Viburnum
''Viburnum'' is a genus of about 150–175 species of flowering plants in the moschatel family Adoxaceae. Its current classification is based on molecular phylogeny. It was previously included in the honeysuckle family Caprifoliaceae.
The membe ...
'', ''Eurya
''Eurya'' is a genus of about 70 species of flowering plants in the family Pentaphylacaceae.
Fossil record
Several fossil seeds of ''Eurya stigmosa'' have been described from Middle Miocene strata of the Fasterholt area near Silkeborg in centra ...
'', ''Rubus
''Rubus'' is a large and diverse genus of flowering plants in the rose family, Rosaceae, subfamily Rosoideae, with over 1,350 species.
Raspberries, blackberries, and dewberries are common, widely distributed members of the genus. Most of these ...
'' and ''Rhodomyrtus tomentosa
''Rhodomyrtus tomentosa'' also known as rose myrtle, is a flowering plant in the family Myrtaceae, native to southern and southeastern Asia, from India, east to southern China, Hong Kong, Taiwan and the Philippines, and south to Malaysia and S ...
''.
The breeding season is December to June but peaking in April and May. The nest is a cup of grass with moss and lined with fine fibre placed in a low fork hidden in dense vegetation. The usual clutch is two blue eggs with reddish markings and indistinguishable from those of the black-chinned laughingthrush.[ When the nest is predated or after the young fledge, the nest is destroyed. The nests of other birds in the vicinity may also be torn up by the parent birds. Unhatched eggs may also be eaten by the parent birds.]
The contact calls are very loud series of steeply ascending notes ' followed by more abrupt notes. Numerous other vocalizations such as a low ' calls are produced in other behavioural contexts. Some calls appear to be antiphonal duets.
Distribution
This species is restricted south of the Palghat Gap with the main distribution range in the higher regions (above ) of the Palani Hills
The Palani Hills are a mountain range in the southern Indian states of Kerala and Tamil Nadu. The Palani Hills are an eastward extension of the Western Ghats ranges, which run parallel to the west coast of India. The Palani Hills adjoin the hi ...
extending into the Annamalai Hills
Arunachala ( IAST: , 'Red Mountain') is a hill in Tiruvannamalai, Tamil Nadu, and one of the five main Shaiva holy places in South India. The Arunachalesvara Temple to Shiva is located at the base of the hill. The hill is also known by the na ...
in western Tamil Nadu
Tamil Nadu (; , TN) is a States and union territories of India, state in southern India. It is the List of states and union territories of India by area, tenth largest Indian state by area and the List of states and union territories of India ...
and Munnar in Kerala. The nominate subspecies is found north of the Achankovil gap while ''meridionale'' is found in the hills to the south of it.[ In the Palni Hills, their densities varied across locations ranging from 1.4 birds per hectare at Kukkal, 0.5/ha at Poombarai, 0.33/ha at Kodaikanal Botanical gardens, 0.16/ha on the golf course and 0.22/ha at Paricombai.]
Gallery
File:Grey breasted laughing thrush- Asambu Hill Race.jpg, ''Montecincla meridionalis'' from the Kalakkad Mundanthurai Tiger Reserve
File:Kerala Laughingthrush by N.A. Nazeer.jpg, Feeding on a berry
References
External links
Photographs and videos on the Internet Bird Collection
Bird calls
{{Taxonbar, from=Q499845
Trochalopteron
Birds of South India
Fauna of Kerala
Birds described in 1869
Taxonomy articles created by Polbot