Songbird Remix's Product Preview Thread

[Ken Gilliland]

Extinct? Himalayan Quail have not been seen with certainty since 1876, despite a number of searches. Thorough surveys are still required. It has been severely impacted by hunting and habitat degradation. While it hasn’t been seen (officially recorded) in about 150 years, it is believed that it probably remains extant. This is because the species is difficult to detect (favoring dense grass and being reluctant to fly). In addition, there is a recent set of possible sightings around Naini Tal in 2003. But any remaining population is likely to be tiny, and for these reasons, it is treated as Critically Endangered.

The species was last seen 60 years before independence, indicating that hunting levels during the colonial period contributed significantly to its decline. Widespread land-use changes thereafter, particularly open cast mining for limestone and related disturbance, are other likely contributory factors to its decline. Its contact call was apparently heard frequently in November and appears to have aided hunters to locate them. It is also hypothesized that habitat changes at lower elevations during the post-Pleistocene glaciation might have pushed sub-populations to sub-optimal higher elevations, causing local extinctions.

There have been a number of official and unofficial attempts to rediscover the species, covering some of the most suitable areas around Mussoorie and Naini Tal. However, none has yet been successful. In 2002 and 2010, surveys used posters, interviews with locals and habitat analyses to direct field searches, but failed to find definitive evidence of the species. Further surveys involving local communities are planned. The potential distribution of the species has been mapped, based on the habitat requirements of two similar species: Cheer Pheasant (Catreus wallechi) and Himalayan Monal (Lophophorus impejanus). This work identified five large areas of potentially suitable habitat in Uttarakhand, India which should be surveyed. The same study suggested that the species could still be extant, with an estimated year of extinction of 2023.
It has only been recorded in 2 locations (and 12 specimens) in the western Himalayas in Uttarakhand, north-west India.

 

[Sunfire]

Those are some handsome birds.

 

[Ken Gilliland]

See what animal wouldn't stop ringing someone's doorbell - CNN Video

 

[Ken Gilliland]

More bird species from TEEv4... The Boa Nova Tapaculo and the Buff-throated Purpletuft (along with some Kinglet Calypturas)

David Attenborough said "Everyone likes birds. What wild creature is more accessible to our eyes and ears, as close to us and everyone in the world, as universal as a bird?"

About the birds...

The endangered Boa Nova Tapaculo is endemic to eastern Brazil in southeastern Bahía and is found in the undergrowth of humid montane evergreen forests, specifically in dark and densely vegetated ravines often with bamboo. It is mainly insectivorous.

There are 1,000-2,499 mature individuals with a decreasing population trend. It is generally uncommon. It was discovered as recently as 1993, and formerly described in 2014. It is a restricted-range species, confined to just 4600 km², in two disjunct ranges of mountains, with an overall population of perhaps fewer than 2,500 individuals estimated at the time of the species’ description, and which is believed to be declining. It has been recorded in both Boa Nova and Serra das Lontras National Parks, but more than 40% of the species’ potential Area of Occupancy is unprotected and suffering ongoing pressure from deforestation and logging. The secondary areas are being converted to pasture through burning, and the species’ apparently highly specialized habitat requirements render it potentially vulnerable to environmental change caused by future climate alteration.

The endangered Buff-throated Purpletuft is found Brazil in humid forests, secondary woodlands and cacao plantations. It loves Mistletoe berries.

There are about 250-2,500 mature individuals with a decreasing population trend. It is considered rare and local, and range highly fragmented. It has been recorded from only a few sites; only in recent years found to be surviving in some areas in south-eastern Brazil, and small population discovered in northeastern Brazil. The existence of the northern race leucopygia was for long been obscured by mislabeling of the two specimens on which it was based as having originated from Guyana. The global population estimate was revised downwards in 2014, and now thought to number 250–2500 mature individuals with fewer than 250 in each subpopulation.

The future survival of both races threatened by extensive destruction of lowland Atlantic Forest; the fact that it occurs in mainly lowland coastal forest renders it even more at risk than was previously thought, as this habitat is being cleared at a rapid rate. It may undertake altitudinal migration or local movements, which require further investigation in order to better plan conservation measures. It occurs in Serra dos Órgãos National Park and Desengano and Serra do Mar State Parks and Ubatuba Experimental Station (São Paulo). Ongoing deforestation in extreme northeastern of its range. The protection of forest at Murici (Alagoas) would greatly benefit this and other globally threatened species. It has been assigned a variety of threat categories; previously considered ‘Near Threatened’. Since 2016, it has been assessed as globally ‘Endangered’ once again, a status maintained at the national level in Brazil.

The two birds flying in the background are Kinglet Calypturas. They are endemic to a very restricted range to the north of Rio de Janeiro city in Brazil.

They are considered Critically Endangered-possibly Extinct with less than 50 thought to exist.

Its tiny population, known from just one locality in the 1990s (following over 100 years without a confirmed record), is likely to be continuing to decline owing to extensive habitat loss and fragmentation within its tiny range. Deforestation appears to have brought this species to the brink of extinction - historically driven by gold and diamond mining and the creation of coffee plantations in areas where the species was initially collected. If it is an altitudinal migrant, the lack of remaining forest below 1,000 m is likely to be a particular threat. Development within forest around the edges of the Serra dos Órgãos National Park, particularly at the site of the 1996 rediscovery, is concerning. The harvesting of bromeliads, mistletoes and orchids from the forest of the region may further threaten the species by reducing food supply, but also by altering habitat structure and microclimate. Climate change could also have an impact on the species, particularly through habitat shifting.

Although there have been several rumors and unverified reports, the species was unrecorded during the 20th century until two birds were observed in the Serra dos Órgãos on several days in October 1996. There have been no reliable records of the species since 1996, despite searches in the Reserva Ecologica Guapiaçu, the Teresopolis area, the foothills of the Serra do Mar, Ubatuba and between Nova Friburgo and Soumidoura in September to November 2006, which investigated several unconfirmed reports (F. Olmos in 2003; Lambert in 2007, Lambert and Kirwan in 2010). A specimen of this species, purported to have been collected somewhere in the state of São Paulo between May 1819 and April 1820, was discovered in the Museum für Naturkunde, Berlin, in 2007 and could potentially extend the area over which the species is known to have at least formerly occurred; however, its true provenance has not been satisfactorily established.