Boulder chat

Pinarornis plumosus

Photo by Adam Riley (Internet Bird Collection)

Common name:
boulder chat (en); chasco-das-rochas (pt); rochassier des éboulis (fr); zorzal roquero (es); steindroßling (de)

Taxonomy:
Order Passeriformes
Family Muscicapidae

Range:
This species is found in eastern Botswana, Zimbabwe, marginally into western Mozambique and north to south-eastern Zambia and southern Malawi.

Size:
These birds are 23-27 cm long and weigh around 65 g.

Habitat:
The boulder chat is found in well-wooded granite outcrops, and hills with scattered granite boulders mixed with open savanna.

Diet:
They feed on insects and small lizards, which are mainly taken from the ground. They can also hawk termite alates using aerial sallies.

Breeding:
Boulder chats breed in September-January. The nest is a cup made of bark, leaves and twigs, set into a foundation of earth clods and lined with leaf petioles. It is typically placed underneath a boulder, in a cavity between two rocks or next to a log. The female lays 2-4 greenish-white eggs with reddish-brown speckles, which are incubated for 13-14 days. The chicks are fed by both parents and leave the nest 16-20 days after hatching, before they can fly, after which they hide under boulders until they fledge. They may still remain dependent on their parents until the following breeding season.

Conservation:
IUCN status - LC (Least Concern)
This species has a large breeding range and is described as generally frequent to common. The population is suspected to be stable in the absence of evidence for any declines or substantial threats.

Crested bunting

Melophus lathami

Photo by Sharad Agrawal (India Nature Watch)

Common name:
crested bunting (en); escrevedeira-de-poupa (pt); bruant huppé (fr); escribano crestado (es); haubenammer (de)

Taxonomy:
Order Passeriformes
Family Emberizidae

Range:
This species is found from southern China, northern Vietnam, northern Laos and north-western Thailand, west to Nepal, central and north-western India, and northern Pakistan.

Size:
These birds are 16 cm long and weigh 20-26 g.

Habitat:
The crested bunting is found in dry grasslands, rocky outcrops and hillsides, terraced arable land, and dry scrublands.

Diet:
They feed mainly on small grass seeds of various kinds, including fallen grains and some weed seeds, but also hunt some insects.

Breeding:
Crested buntings breed in April-August, usually coinciding with the local rainy season. The nest is a shallow cup made of grass roots, grasses and moss, either unlined or lined with fine grasses, plant fibres, rootlets, moss and hair. The female lays 3-4 pale greenish-white to greyish eggs with red, brown and purple spots and blotches. There is no available information regarding the incubation and fledgling periods.

Conservation:
IUCN status - LC (Least Concern)
This species has a very large breeding range and is described as generally fairly common. The population is suspected to be stable in the absence of evidence for any declines or substantial threats.

Northern pygmy-owl

Glaucidium gnoma

Photo by Anne Elliott (Flickr)

Common name:
northern pygmy-owl (en); coruja-anã-nortenha (pt); chevêchette naine (fr); mochuelo gnomo (es); gnomenkauz (de)

Taxonomy:
Order Strigiformes
Family Strigidae

Range:
This species is found in western North America, from south-eastern Alaska, British Columbia and Alberta south to Utah and southern California.

Size:
These bird are 17-19 cm long and weigh 60-75 g.

Habitat:
The northern pygmy-owl is mostly found in open coniferous and mixed forests, also using dry savannas and occasionally freshwater lakes and the edges of meadows. They occur from sea level up to an altitude of 4.000 m.

Diet:
They feed on small mammals, particularly voles, as well as shrews, mice, chipmunks, bats, moles, young rabbits, and weasels, and also small birds, small lizards, snakes, frogs, and also insects when in season.

Breeding:
Northern pygmy-owl breed in April-August. They nest almost exclusively on old woodpecker nest, 3-23 m above the ground in coniferous tree. The female lays 3-7 eggs, which she incubates alone for 29 days while the male brings her food. The chicks fledge about 30 days after hatching, but continue to be fed by the parents for another 20-30 days. Each pair raises a single brood per year.

Conservation:
IUCN status - LC (Least Concern)
This species has a very large breeding range and the global population is estimated at 100.000 individuals. The population has undergone a small increase over the last 4 decades, but it is susceptible to habitat loss due to logging and burning of forests.

Yellow-browed bulbul

Iole indica

(Photo from Canopy)

Common name:
yellow-browed bulbul (en); tuta-de-sobrolho-dourado (pt); bulbul à sourcils d'or (fr); bulbul cejiamarillo (es); goldbrauenbülbül (de)

Taxonomy:
Order Passeriformes
Family Pycnonotidae

Range:
This species is found along the south-western coast of India, from Maharashtra to Kerala, and also further east in Andhra Pradesh, and in Sri Lanka.

Size:
These birds are 20 cm long and weigh 27-34 g.

Habitat:
The yellow-browed bulbul is moist tropical forests, particularly along forest edges and rivers, but also uses secondary forests, shade coffee plantations and rural gardens.

Diet:
They feed mainly on fruits, berries, seeds and flowers, but also take invertebrates such as spiders, caterpillars and various winged insects.

Breeding:
Yellow-browed bulbuls breed mainly in January-May. The nest is a cup made of moss and spider webs and lined with fine rootlets, which is usually placed in a fork located low in a tree or scrub. The female lays 2-3 pale pink or white eggs with reddish-brown speckles, which are incubated for about 13 days. The chicks are fed insects and berries and fledge about 13 days after hatching.

Conservation:
IUCN status - LC (Least Concern)
This species has a large breeding range and is is described as common or very common throughout the Western Ghats and Sri Lanka and abundant in Goa. The population is suspected to be stable in the absence of evidence for any declines or substantial threats.

Mayotte drongo

Dicrurus waldenii

Photo by Roger le Guen (Flickr)

Common name:
Mayotte drongo (en); drongo-de-Mayotte (pt); drongo de Mayotte (fr); drongo de la Mayotte (es); Mayottedrongo (de)

Taxonomy:
Order Passeriformes
Family Dicruridae

Range:
This species is endemic to the island of Mayotte in the Comoro island group, noth of Madagascar. There it occurs sparsely and locally, especially in the northern and western parts of the island.

Size:
These birds are 28-38 cm long.

Habitat:
The Mayotte drongo is mostly found along the edges of rainforests, also using mixed secondary forests, moist scrublands, mangroves, plantations and orchards. They occur from sea level up to an altitude of 200 m.

Diet:
They sally out from a perch to take to hunt insects, particularly cicadas, but also bugs, butter flies, caterpillars, and possibly also small vertebrates.

Breeding:
The Mayotte drongo breeds in September-February. The nest is a solid cup made of intertwined plant fibres, and placed in a fork in a tree. The female lays 1-3 eggs, which are incubated for 19-21 days. The chicks fledge 17-25 days after hatching but only become fully independent 1 month later and remain with the parents until the next breeding season. Each pair raises a single brood per season.

Consevation:
IUCN status - VU (Vulnerable)
This species has a small breeding range and the global population is estimated at 5.000 individuals. Although they are able to survive in degraded habitats, these support lower densities than the natural rainforests, so the population is suspected to be declining due to deforestation. In the second half of the 20th century roughly 25% of Mayotte's forests were cleared for agriculture and timber, while the growing human population is increasingly encroaching the existing forests. A network of reserves now covers all remaining natural forests, but these do not have formal protection under French law. Other threats include the loss of mangroves due to the heavy sediment loads from the deforested interior, frequent devastating cyclones, and the potential introduction of new nest predators.

Green pygmy-goose

Nettapus pulchellus

Photo by Tony Ashton (Tyto Tony)

Common name:
green pygmy-goose (en); ganso-anão-australiano (pt); anserelle élégante (fr); gansito-australiano (es); Australische zwergente (de)

Taxonomy:
Order Anseriformes
Family Anatidae

Range:
This species is found in northern and eastern Australia and in southern New Guinea. Also in the Lesser Sundas, Moluccas and Sulawesi, but possibly only outside the breeding season.

Size:
These birds are 30-36 cm long and have a wingspan of 48-60 cm. Males tend to be larger, weighing 300-430 g while the females weigh 245-340 g.

Habitat:
The green pygmy-goose is mostly found in coastal freshwater lakes with abundant emergent vegetation, also using both permanent and seasonal inland lakes, marshes, saline lagoons and reservoirs.

Diet:
They feed mainly on the seeds, leaves, flowers, buds and stems of water lilies and other aquatic plants, such as Nymphaea gigantea and Nymphaea capensis.

Breeding:
Green pygmy-geese breed in November-April, coinciding with the local wet season. They are monogamous and nest in a tree hollow or on the ground, always near water. The female lays 8-12 cream-coloured eggs, which she incubates alone for about 23-24 days while the male guards the nest aggressively. The chicks leave the nest soon after hatching and are able to feed themselves, but are only able to fly about 8 weeks after hatching.

Conservation:
IUCN status - LC (Least Concern)
This species has a very large breeding range and is described as rather common to locally abundant, but highly dependent on seeds and flowers of water lilies, and the overall population might be below 10.000 individuals. The population is currently stable throughout most of this range, but local declines in Western Australia have been attributed to destruction of aquatic vegetation by cattle.

Puvel's illadopsis

Illadopsis puveli

Photo by Krzysztof Blachowiak (Internet Bird Collection)

Common name:
Puvel's illadopsis (en); falso-tordo-de-Cacine (pt); akalat de Puvel (fr); tordina de Puvel (es); großfuß-buschdrossling (de)

Taxonomy:
Order Passeriformes
Family Timaliidae

Range:
This African species is patchily distributed, with two disjunct subspecies. I.p. puveli is found is West Africa, from Senegal to Togo, while I.p. strenuipes occurs in a few patches in southern Nigeria and Cameroon, and in north-eastern D.R. Congo, southern South Sudan and western Uganda.

Size:
These birds are 17-18 cm long and weigh 38-52 g.

Habitat:
The Puvel's illadopsis is mostly found in the undergrowth of moist tropical forests, particularly gallery forests, but also use moist scrublands, dry savannas, dry tropical forests and second growths.

Diet:
They mainly forage on the ground, among the leaf litter, taking various invertebrates such as ants and spiders.

Breeding:
These birds breed in August-March. The nest is a mossy cup paced about 2 m above the ground. There is no further information regarding the reproduction of this species.

Conservation:
IUCN status - LC (Least Concern)
This species has a large breeding range. The global population size is yet to be quantified, but it is reported to be probably overlooked and therefore under-recorded. The population is suspected to be stable in the absence of evidence for any current declines or substantial threats.