Black-chinned Laughingthrush

Appearance

This laughingthrush is about 24 cm long with a rufous underside and a dark olive grey upper body. The crown is slaty brown and there is a jagged and broad white supercilium margined with black. The throat, lores and a streak behind the eye are black. The tail is olive brown. The iris is reddish brown and the legs and bill are black. The upper breast is grey in the subspecies ''jerdoni'' and can appear somewhat like ''fairbanki'' although the throat of the latter is grey and the two do not overlap in range. It is unmistakable in plumage although at a quick glance it can be mistaken for an Indian Scimitar Babbler.

Behavior

This species is found in dense forest patches on the Nilgiri and Wayanad ranges above 1,200 metres above sea level. 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. While one bird calls in a series of loud ascending and descending nasal notes, another in a nearby bush produces series of sharp ''kek'' notes. They feed on the nectar of ''Lobelia excelsa'' and ''Rhododendron'' in winter. When ''Strobilanthes'' is in bloom, the birds feed on its nectar as well as its petals. The feed on the fruits of ''Ilex'' spp., ''Solanum auriculatum'', ''Eurya japonica'', ''Rhamnus wightii'', ''Pyrus baccata'', ''Rubus'' spp., ''Mahonia leschenaultii'' and ''Rhodomyrtus tomentosa'' . Insects are crushed before swallowing and sometimes battered against a hard substrate. Small tree frogs are sometimes taken. Large fruits are sometimes held under their foot and torn apart. They tend to forage on the open ground at dawn and dusk and mostly gleaning from vegetation during the rest of the day.

The Black-chinned Laughingthrush nests from February to the beginning of June. The nest is a cup placed low in a clump of dense undergrowth, often close to a stream or marsh in the edge of a shola. The male as well as the female build the nest. The inside of the cup nest is lined with hair and fine material and nearly 50% of the nest weight is made up of mosses. The eggs are laid within a few days of completing the nest construction, which can take from 5 to 18 days . Nests built later in the season tend to be constructed more rapidly. The clutch consists of 2 greenish blue eggs with brown blotches and streaks. The adults tear up and destroy the nest after the young birds fledge or if the nest is predated. The eggs are about 0.92 to 1.08 inches long and 0.74 to 0.8 inches wide. Incubation begins after the second egg is laid and both parents take turns until the chick hatches on the 16th or 17th day. If one of the eggs fails to hatch, the egg is left alone and not removed as in some bird species. The young are fed with insects during their early stages and berries such as ''Rubus'' at a later stage. The faecal sacs produced by the young are swallowed by the parents. The young fledge after 15–18 days but continue to remain nearby for about three weeks. Predators of the eggs and young include the Indian Jungle Crow and the Greater Coucal.

The distribution of the species is restricted to a small area which is prone to habitat destruction leading to its status being considered as endangered.

Habitat

This species is found in dense forest patches on the Nilgiri and Wayanad ranges above 1,200 metres above sea level. 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. While one bird calls in a series of loud ascending and descending nasal notes, another in a nearby bush produces series of sharp ''kek'' notes. They feed on the nectar of ''Lobelia excelsa'' and ''Rhododendron'' in winter. When ''Strobilanthes'' is in bloom, the birds feed on its nectar as well as its petals. The feed on the fruits of ''Ilex'' spp., ''Solanum auriculatum'', ''Eurya japonica'', ''Rhamnus wightii'', ''Pyrus baccata'', ''Rubus'' spp., ''Mahonia leschenaultii'' and ''Rhodomyrtus tomentosa'' . Insects are crushed before swallowing and sometimes battered against a hard substrate. Small tree frogs are sometimes taken. Large fruits are sometimes held under their foot and torn apart. They tend to forage on the open ground at dawn and dusk and mostly gleaning from vegetation during the rest of the day.

The Black-chinned Laughingthrush nests from February to the beginning of June. The nest is a cup placed low in a clump of dense undergrowth, often close to a stream or marsh in the edge of a shola. The male as well as the female build the nest. The inside of the cup nest is lined with hair and fine material and nearly 50% of the nest weight is made up of mosses. The eggs are laid within a few days of completing the nest construction, which can take from 5 to 18 days . Nests built later in the season tend to be constructed more rapidly. The clutch consists of 2 greenish blue eggs with brown blotches and streaks. The adults tear up and destroy the nest after the young birds fledge or if the nest is predated. The eggs are about 0.92 to 1.08 inches long and 0.74 to 0.8 inches wide. Incubation begins after the second egg is laid and both parents take turns until the chick hatches on the 16th or 17th day. If one of the eggs fails to hatch, the egg is left alone and not removed as in some bird species. The young are fed with insects during their early stages and berries such as ''Rubus'' at a later stage. The faecal sacs produced by the young are swallowed by the parents. The young fledge after 15–18 days but continue to remain nearby for about three weeks. Predators of the eggs and young include the Indian Jungle Crow and the Greater Coucal.

The distribution of the species is restricted to a small area which is prone to habitat destruction leading to its status being considered as endangered.