The Malabar trogon (Harpactes fasciatus) is a species of bird in the trogon family. It is found in the forests of India and Sri Lanka. In India it is mainly found in the Western Ghats, hill forests of central India and in parts of the Eastern Ghats. They are insectivorous and although not migratory, may move seasonally in response to rain in hill forest regions. Like in other trogons, males and females vary in plumage. The birds utter low guttural calls that can be heard only at close quarters and the birds perch still on a branch under the forest canopy, often facing away from the viewer making them easy to miss despite their colourful plumage.
Like most other trogons, these birds are brightly coloured and sexually dimorphic. The male has a slaty black head and breast with a white border to the black bib separating it from the crimson on the underside. The back is olive-brown to chestnut. The wing coverts are black with fine white vermiculations. They have 12 tail feathers that are graduated.[2] The central tail-feathers are chestnut with a black tip, with the second and third pairs from the middle having more black than chestnut. The outer three pairs have long white tips. The female lacks the contrasting black and crimson and has only a slightly darker head and breast that shades into the olive brown on the back while the crimson of the underside of the male is replaced by ochre. In both sexes, the beak is bluish as is the skin around the eye. The iris is dark brown and the feet are pale bluish.[3][4] The nostrils are covered by tufts of filoplumes. The feet are heterodactyl, a feature unique to the trogons, with the digits I and II facing back and digits III and IV pointing forward.[5] In most birds I, II and III face forward while IV faces back and in zygodactyly II and III face forward while I and IV face backwards.[6]
Several populations have been named. The central Indian subspecies legerli, named by Walter Norman Koelz on the basis of a single specimen obtained from the foot of Mahendra Giri in Orissa is not always recognized,[7] but said to be slightly larger, longer winged and brighter than malabaricus of the Western Ghats.[8] The nominate race found in the central wet zone of Sri Lanka is smaller and the upperparts are brighter.[3]
Behaviour and ecologyedit
These birds usually perch still, especially when alarmed[9] and will sometimes clinging laterally to branches. When calling they sometimes raise and lower their tail. The call is a series of guttural or purring notes. The song of the male is a series of percussive kyau calls. The breeding season in India is mainly February to May (before the Monsoons) while it is March to June in Sri Lanka.[3]
An immature male with scaly orange underparts
When they sit still, the appear hunched. The Hindi name used by hunters is kafni churi and refers to the hunched neckless appearance as if dressed in a fakir'skafni (robe). The Marathi name is karna while it is called kakarne hakki in Kannada.[2] In Kerala it is known as theekakka (literally "fire-crow").[10][11] In Sri Lanka, it is known as loha wannichcha.[what language is this?][citation needed]
Malabar trogons feed exclusively on insects and fruits have not been noted in their diet unlike in the New World trogons.[4] Seeds have however been reported in the diet of Sri Lankan specimens.[11] In the forests of Sri Lanka, they are often found in mixed-species foraging flocks[12] where they may sometimes be subject to kleptoparasitism by drongos.[13] A study in Kerala found that they foraged mainly at 5 to 10 m with females tending to forage lower within the canopy. When foraging on bark, they propped themselves using their tail like woodpeckers, especially on decaying tree stumps. They sometimes descend to the ground and search for insects under leaf litter. They will sometimes fly and try to flush prey and then hover to pick up prey. They may also hang upside down to reach prey on vertical tree surfaces. Prey are often mashed or struck on a branch between the mandibles before feeding on them or prior to feeding young. The contact call is a series of about five low intensity que while these were of higher intensity in territorial fights. The alarm call is a churrrr and a similar call is also delivered prior to roosting.[10] Although their flight is fast, they are reluctant to fly. In the Nilgiri hills they are altitudinal migrants and are found in the higher reaches only during summer.[14]
The nest is made in rotting trees or stumps that are easy to carve and pulverize using their bills. The male and female take turns to excavate the nest using their bills. It may take about a month to excavate the nest. The floor is made out of the wood powder and no extra lining is added. Two eggs were seen to be the normal clutch in a study in Kerala although older works suggest that the typical clutch is of three eggs.[15] The eggs are laid with a gap of two days and incubated by both males and females with the females usually incubating at night. The incubation period is about 19 days. The hatchlings are fed mainly caterpillars for the initial period and later provided bugs, flies and orthopterans. The parents do not remove the excreta of the nestlings from the nest. The adults continue to feed the fledged juveniles for nearly 5 to 6 months. They are socially monogamous with pair bonds lasting more than a season.[10]
Sri Lankan birds have been seen to plunge into water from an overhanging branch to bathe.[16]
A species of endoparasitic cestode, Triaenorhina burti has been described from the species.[17]
Statusedit
The species is becoming rarer in many parts of India and it is thought to be sensitive to forest fragmentation.[18]Salim Ali noted it as being common in some areas of the Surat Dangs where it is now rare. One of his records is from Ajwa in Vadodara district which is believed to be a typographical error for Ahwa further south.[19] Tickell collected specimens from Dampara in Dholbhum.[20]
Referencesedit
^BirdLife International (2016). "Harpactes fasciatus". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2016: e.T22682830A92962515. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2016-3.RLTS.T22682830A92962515.en. Retrieved 12 November 2021.
^ abJerdon, TC (1862). The Birds of India. Volume 1. Military Orphan Press, Calcuttabook. pp. 201–202.
^ abcRasmussen, PC & JC Anderton (2005). Birds of South Asia: The Ripley Guide. Volume 2. Smithsonian Institution and Lynx Edicions. p. 261.
^ abBlanford, WT (1895). The Fauna of British India. Birds. Volume 3. Taylor and Francis, London. pp. 199–200.
^Mayr, Gerald (2003). "On the phylogenetic relationships of trogons (Aves, Trogonidae)" (PDF). J. Avian Biol. 34: 81–88. doi:10.1034/j.1600-048X.2003.03042.x.
^Botelho, João Francisco; Smith-Paredes, Daniel; Nuñez-Leon, Daniel; Soto-Acuña, Sergio; Vargas, Alexander O. (7 August 2014). "The developmental origin of zygodactyl feet and its possible loss in the evolution of Passeriformes". Proceedings of the Royal Society of London B: Biological Sciences. 281 (1788): 20140765. doi:10.1098/rspb.2014.0765. ISSN 0962-8452. PMC4083792. PMID 24966313.
^Ali, Salim (1949). "The validity of Harpactes fasciatus legerli (Koelz)". J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc. 48 (4): 806–808.
^Koelz, Walter (1939). "New birds from Asia, chiefly from India". Proceedings of the Biological Society of Washington. 52: 61–82.
^Goodale, Eben & Sarath W. Kotagama (2008). "Response to conspecific and heterospecific alarm calls in mixed-species bird flocks of a Sri Lankan rainforest". Behavioral Ecology. 19 (4): 1–8. doi:10.1093/beheco/arn045. hdl:10.1093/beheco/arn045.
^ abcVarghese, AP (2002). Ecology and behaviour of Malabar Trogon Harpactes fasciatus malabaricus. Doctor of Philosophy Thesis, Mahatma Gandhi University, Kottayam.
^ abLayard, EL (1853). "Notes on the Ornithology of Ceylon, collected during an eight years' residence on the Island". The Annals and Magazine of Natural History. 12 (69): 165–176. doi:10.1080/03745485709495020.
^Kotagama, Sarath W & Eben Goodale (2004). "The composition and spatial organisation of mixed-species flocks in a Sri Lankan rainforest" (PDF). Forktail. 20: 63–70.
^Sathischandra, SHK; E.P. Kudavidanage; E. Goodale & S.W. Kotagama (2009). "Foraging ecology of Crested Drongos (Dicrurus paradiseus lophorhinus) in the Sinharaja Reserve" (PDF). Siyoth. 2 (1): 9–11.
^Zarri, A.A. & A.R.Rahmani (2005). "Malabar Trogon in the Nilgiris Upper Plateau, Tamil Nadu". J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc. 102 (1): 116.
^Waite, WE (1920). "The Picarian Birds and Parrots of Ceylon". Spolia Zeylanica: 197–272.
^Ali S, Ripley SD (1983). Handbook of the birds of India and Pakistan. Vol. 4 (2nd ed.). Oxford University Press. pp. 61–63.
^Georgiev BB, Gibson DI (2006). "Description of Triaenorhina burti n. sp. (Cestoda: Paruterinidae) from the Malabar trogon Harpactes fasciatus (Pennant) (Aves: Trogoniformes: Trogonidae) in Sri Lanka". Systematic Parasitology. 63 (1): 53–60. doi:10.1007/s11230-005-9002-x. PMID 16699928. S2CID 1330540.
^Raman TR (2006). "Effects of Habitat Structure and Adjacent Habitats on Birds in Tropical Rainforest Fragments and Shaded Plantations in the Western Ghats, India". Biodiversity and Conservation. 15 (4): 1577–1607. doi:10.1007/s10531-005-2352-5. S2CID 44028059.
^Trivedi, Pranav & VC Soni (2006). (PDF). Forktail. 22: 39–48. Archived from the original (PDF) on 26 February 2012.
^Beavan, R. C (1869). "Additional Notes on various Indian Birds". Ibis. 11 (4): 403–426. doi:10.1111/j.1474-919X.1869.tb06894.x.
Other sourcesedit
Inglis, CM (1944) The nesting of the Malabar Trogon. Jour. Bengal Nat. Hist. Soc. 18:101.
External linksedit
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Harpactes fasciatus.
Wikispecies has information related to Harpactes fasciatus.
Photographs, sounds and video
Encyclopedia of Life
January 01, 1970
malabar, trogon, harpactes, fasciatus, species, bird, trogon, family, found, forests, india, lanka, india, mainly, found, western, ghats, hill, forests, central, india, parts, eastern, ghats, they, insectivorous, although, migratory, move, seasonally, response. The Malabar trogon Harpactes fasciatus is a species of bird in the trogon family It is found in the forests of India and Sri Lanka In India it is mainly found in the Western Ghats hill forests of central India and in parts of the Eastern Ghats They are insectivorous and although not migratory may move seasonally in response to rain in hill forest regions Like in other trogons males and females vary in plumage The birds utter low guttural calls that can be heard only at close quarters and the birds perch still on a branch under the forest canopy often facing away from the viewer making them easy to miss despite their colourful plumage Malabar trogon Male H f malabaricus Conservation status Least Concern IUCN 3 1 1 Scientific classification Domain Eukaryota Kingdom Animalia Phylum Chordata Class Aves Order Trogoniformes Family Trogonidae Genus Harpactes Species H fasciatus Binomial name Harpactes fasciatus Pennant 1769 Synonyms Harpactes malabaricus Contents 1 Description 2 Behaviour and ecology 3 Status 4 References 5 Other sources 6 External linksDescription edit nbsp Female Like most other trogons these birds are brightly coloured and sexually dimorphic The male has a slaty black head and breast with a white border to the black bib separating it from the crimson on the underside The back is olive brown to chestnut The wing coverts are black with fine white vermiculations They have 12 tail feathers that are graduated 2 The central tail feathers are chestnut with a black tip with the second and third pairs from the middle having more black than chestnut The outer three pairs have long white tips The female lacks the contrasting black and crimson and has only a slightly darker head and breast that shades into the olive brown on the back while the crimson of the underside of the male is replaced by ochre In both sexes the beak is bluish as is the skin around the eye The iris is dark brown and the feet are pale bluish 3 4 The nostrils are covered by tufts of filoplumes The feet are heterodactyl a feature unique to the trogons with the digits I and II facing back and digits III and IV pointing forward 5 In most birds I II and III face forward while IV faces back and in zygodactyly II and III face forward while I and IV face backwards 6 Several populations have been named The central Indian subspecies legerli named by Walter Norman Koelz on the basis of a single specimen obtained from the foot of Mahendra Giri in Orissa is not always recognized 7 but said to be slightly larger longer winged and brighter than malabaricus of the Western Ghats 8 The nominate race found in the central wet zone of Sri Lanka is smaller and the upperparts are brighter 3 Behaviour and ecology editThese birds usually perch still especially when alarmed 9 and will sometimes clinging laterally to branches When calling they sometimes raise and lower their tail The call is a series of guttural or purring notes The song of the male is a series of percussive kyau calls The breeding season in India is mainly February to May before the Monsoons while it is March to June in Sri Lanka 3 nbsp An immature male with scaly orange underparts When they sit still the appear hunched The Hindi name used by hunters is kafni churi and refers to the hunched neckless appearance as if dressed in a fakir s kafni robe The Marathi name is karna while it is called kakarne hakki in Kannada 2 In Kerala it is known as theekakka literally fire crow 10 11 In Sri Lanka it is known as loha wannichcha what language is this citation needed Malabar trogons feed exclusively on insects and fruits have not been noted in their diet unlike in the New World trogons 4 Seeds have however been reported in the diet of Sri Lankan specimens 11 In the forests of Sri Lanka they are often found in mixed species foraging flocks 12 where they may sometimes be subject to kleptoparasitism by drongos 13 A study in Kerala found that they foraged mainly at 5 to 10 m with females tending to forage lower within the canopy When foraging on bark they propped themselves using their tail like woodpeckers especially on decaying tree stumps They sometimes descend to the ground and search for insects under leaf litter They will sometimes fly and try to flush prey and then hover to pick up prey They may also hang upside down to reach prey on vertical tree surfaces Prey are often mashed or struck on a branch between the mandibles before feeding on them or prior to feeding young The contact call is a series of about five low intensity que while these were of higher intensity in territorial fights The alarm call is a churrrr and a similar call is also delivered prior to roosting 10 Although their flight is fast they are reluctant to fly In the Nilgiri hills they are altitudinal migrants and are found in the higher reaches only during summer 14 nbsp Illustration by John Gould 1854 The nest is made in rotting trees or stumps that are easy to carve and pulverize using their bills The male and female take turns to excavate the nest using their bills It may take about a month to excavate the nest The floor is made out of the wood powder and no extra lining is added Two eggs were seen to be the normal clutch in a study in Kerala although older works suggest that the typical clutch is of three eggs 15 The eggs are laid with a gap of two days and incubated by both males and females with the females usually incubating at night The incubation period is about 19 days The hatchlings are fed mainly caterpillars for the initial period and later provided bugs flies and orthopterans The parents do not remove the excreta of the nestlings from the nest The adults continue to feed the fledged juveniles for nearly 5 to 6 months They are socially monogamous with pair bonds lasting more than a season 10 Sri Lankan birds have been seen to plunge into water from an overhanging branch to bathe 16 A species of endoparasitic cestode Triaenorhina burti has been described from the species 17 Status editThe species is becoming rarer in many parts of India and it is thought to be sensitive to forest fragmentation 18 Salim Ali noted it as being common in some areas of the Surat Dangs where it is now rare One of his records is from Ajwa in Vadodara district which is believed to be a typographical error for Ahwa further south 19 Tickell collected specimens from Dampara in Dholbhum 20 References edit BirdLife International 2016 Harpactes fasciatus IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2016 e T22682830A92962515 doi 10 2305 IUCN UK 2016 3 RLTS T22682830A92962515 en Retrieved 12 November 2021 a b Jerdon TC 1862 The Birds of India Volume 1 Military Orphan Press Calcuttabook pp 201 202 a b c Rasmussen PC amp JC Anderton 2005 Birds of South Asia The Ripley Guide Volume 2 Smithsonian Institution and Lynx Edicions p 261 a b Blanford WT 1895 The Fauna of British India Birds Volume 3 Taylor and Francis London pp 199 200 Mayr Gerald 2003 On the phylogenetic relationships of trogons Aves Trogonidae PDF J Avian Biol 34 81 88 doi 10 1034 j 1600 048X 2003 03042 x Botelho Joao Francisco Smith Paredes Daniel Nunez Leon Daniel Soto Acuna Sergio Vargas Alexander O 7 August 2014 The developmental origin of zygodactyl feet and its possible loss in the evolution of Passeriformes Proceedings of the Royal Society of London B Biological Sciences 281 1788 20140765 doi 10 1098 rspb 2014 0765 ISSN 0962 8452 PMC 4083792 PMID 24966313 Ali Salim 1949 The validity of Harpactes fasciatus legerli Koelz J Bombay Nat Hist Soc 48 4 806 808 Koelz Walter 1939 New birds from Asia chiefly from India Proceedings of the Biological Society of Washington 52 61 82 Goodale Eben amp Sarath W Kotagama 2008 Response to conspecific and heterospecific alarm calls in mixed species bird flocks of a Sri Lankan rainforest Behavioral Ecology 19 4 1 8 doi 10 1093 beheco arn045 hdl 10 1093 beheco arn045 a b c Varghese AP 2002 Ecology and behaviour of Malabar TrogonHarpactes fasciatus malabaricus Doctor of Philosophy Thesis Mahatma Gandhi University Kottayam a b Layard EL 1853 Notes on the Ornithology of Ceylon collected during an eight years residence on the Island The Annals and Magazine of Natural History 12 69 165 176 doi 10 1080 03745485709495020 Kotagama Sarath W amp Eben Goodale 2004 The composition and spatial organisation of mixed species flocks in a Sri Lankan rainforest PDF Forktail 20 63 70 Sathischandra SHK E P Kudavidanage E Goodale amp S W Kotagama 2009 Foraging ecology of Crested Drongos Dicrurus paradiseus lophorhinus in the Sinharaja Reserve PDF Siyoth 2 1 9 11 Zarri A A amp A R Rahmani 2005 Malabar Trogon in the Nilgiris Upper Plateau Tamil Nadu J Bombay Nat Hist Soc 102 1 116 Waite WE 1920 The Picarian Birds and Parrots of Ceylon Spolia Zeylanica 197 272 Ali S Ripley SD 1983 Handbook of the birds of India and Pakistan Vol 4 2nd ed Oxford University Press pp 61 63 Georgiev BB Gibson DI 2006 Description of Triaenorhina burti n sp Cestoda Paruterinidae from the Malabar trogon Harpactes fasciatus Pennant Aves Trogoniformes Trogonidae in Sri Lanka Systematic Parasitology 63 1 53 60 doi 10 1007 s11230 005 9002 x PMID 16699928 S2CID 1330540 Raman TR 2006 Effects of Habitat Structure and Adjacent Habitats on Birds in Tropical Rainforest Fragments and Shaded Plantations in the Western Ghats India Biodiversity and Conservation 15 4 1577 1607 doi 10 1007 s10531 005 2352 5 S2CID 44028059 Trivedi Pranav amp VC Soni 2006 Significant bird records and local extinctions in Purna and Ratanmahal Wildlife Sanctuaries Gujarat India PDF Forktail 22 39 48 Archived from the original PDF on 26 February 2012 Beavan R C 1869 Additional Notes on various Indian Birds Ibis 11 4 403 426 doi 10 1111 j 1474 919X 1869 tb06894 x Other sources editInglis CM 1944 The nesting of the Malabar Trogon Jour Bengal Nat Hist Soc 18 101 External links edit nbsp Wikimedia Commons has media related to Harpactes fasciatus nbsp Wikispecies has information related to Harpactes fasciatus Photographs sounds and video Encyclopedia of Life Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Malabar trogon amp oldid 1170746603, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,
