rishika_wild's Identifications

The Highly Endangered Nilgiri Sholakili, Male

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  @ Coonoor, Nilgiris Dist
  Tamil Nadu, India
  10 Sep 2022

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Description Credit – Birds of the World (The Cornnel Lab), Oiseaux-birds & Wiki

The Nilgiri Sholakili is a dumpy little slaty-blue with a tan belly chat-like bird. It is long-legged and appears chunky with its short tail and wing. It is also called the Nilgiri Blue Robin (Sholicola major), also known as Nilgiri Shortwing or Rufous-Bellied Shortwing. The Nilgiri Sholakili has black lores and the upperside, the throat, breast are dark slaty blue but the lower plumage is rufous. The centre of the belly is buffy white. The brow is not as well-marked as in the other species and is diffuse bluish.

Its a Highly Endangered Bird with a very small population since its found highly restricted and has a scattered range in the Nilgiri Hills, where it is found at 900-2100 meters of elevation in sholas (patches of stunted montane forest separated by open grassy areas). Shy and retiring, foraging primarily on the ground and in dense undergrowth. Song is surprisingly long-winded for such a small bird and is composed of high warbling notes and buzzy whistles.

With a very restricted range in the hills of Nilgiris, it is found mainly in found to occur only above 1200 m altitude in the higher hill ranges and the higher altitude Shola Forests of the Western Ghats and the Nilgiris which provide ideal oscillating climate and unique floral structure in the montane ecosystems provide special microclimatic conditions and habitat for the species, and such montane ecosystems are known as ‘sky islands’. These forest patches are highly restricted in size and the species is thus threatened by habitat loss. Climate change induced by human activities, restricted range and increased environmental degradation has put this beautiful bird at risk and is making it more and more vulnerable.

Two greyish green and brown-marked eggs are laid during the breeding season that varies from April to June, after the rains. The nest is placed in a tree hole or placed on a bank and is made of moss and fibrous roots and placed low over the ground.

The Endangered Nilgiri Laughing Thrush (Male)

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  @ Coonoor, Nilgiris Dist
  Tamil Nadu, India
  26 Aug 2022

Description Credit – Birds of the World (The Cornnel Lab) & Wiki

The Nilgiri Laughing Thrush is a small bird with a very pronounced white eye-stripe, and a conspicuous white supercilium or eyebrow. The upper parts are olive-brown, while breast and belly are bright rufous. The chin is black, which is where it gets its second name “black-chinned laughingthrush”. The male and the female look similar as there is no difference in plumage. This Laughing Thrush is a species of laughingthrush endemic to and found in dense forest patches on the Nilgiri and Wayanad ranges above 1,200 mtrs and adjoining hill ranges in Peninsular India.

The bird has mostly rufous underparts, olive brown upperparts, a prominent white eyebrow and a black throat make it unmistakable. It is easily detected by its loud series of nasal call notes and can be hard to spot when it is hidden away inside a patch of dense vegetation. It forages along the forest edge singly or in small groups low in the trees and sometimes on the ground. They are active in the early morning and late afternoon and are extremely vocal. They feed on invertebrates and nectar, mostly within 3 metres off the ground in dense forests. It is a sedentary resident, inhabiting dense undergrowth and moist, shady lower story vegetation of evergreen and semi-evergreen forests, especially densely wooded ravines and forest edges, generally higher than 1,900 mtrs. Occasionally, it may occur in thick gardens, patches of natural scrub, but is absent or uncommon in Eucalyptus, tea and Acacia plantations as it mostly prefers natural forests.

The Nilgiri Laughing Thrush is a bird confined to shola forests that are a characteristic feature of the southern Western Ghats. During the last 200 years, the shola forests have seen various threats such as clear felling to convert them in to tea gardens or plantations. Invasive plant species and overgrazing are other major threats. The distribution of the species is restricted to a small area which is prone to habitat destruction and ongoing threats, IUCN has listed it as Endangered in the Red List.