Spotted Elachura
Elachura formosa
Tiny wrenlike skulker with a large-headed and short-tailed profile. Brown overall with galaxy-like white spotting across the body and thick brick-red barring on the wings and tail. Difficult to see; almost always detected by its song, a drawn-out series of high chinking notes; responsive to whistled imitations, but very shy regardless and only infrequently breaks cover. Typically found in hilly forests, particularly next to well-shaded small streams and other damp areas.
Identification
The spotted elachura measures 10 cm including its short tail. It is dark brown all over, with rufous wings and tail. It also has white speckles all over its body, shifting to black barring on its wings and tail.
Taxonomy
- Scientific name
- Elachura formosa
- Authority
- (Walden, 1874)
- Order
- Passeriformes
- Family
- Elachuridae
- Genus
- Elachura
Range and habitat
It is found in Bangladesh, Bhutan, China, India, Laos, Myanmar, Nepal, and Vietnam. Its natural habitat is subtropical or tropical moist montane forests. This species is found in undergrowth and dense thickets of this type of forest, with a preference for thick fern ground cover, mossy rocks and decaying trunks of fallen trees and brushwood (often near a stream or creek), long grass, and scrub.
- Migration
- Resident species
Conservation
- Population trend
- declining
Photos
Distribution
Bird Calls
Other Birds
Sumatran Green-Pigeon
Treron oxyurus
Relatively plain and unmarked green-pigeon with a long pointed tail. Males have a faint orange blush on the chest, though this can be hard to notice. Note blue-green bill and “goggles” in both sexes. Completely unmarked dark olive-green wings separate this species from other green-pigeons within its range; Wedge-tailed Green-Pigeon can be similar, but note that species’ much more thickset build and shorter tail. Endemic to the hill forests of Sumatra and western Java. Like other green-pigeons, gathers in fruiting trees. Gives rising and falling series of high-pitched coos, often with a hiccuping or sobbing quality.
Indian Pied Starling
Gracupica contra
This sharply attired black-and-white starling has a pointed yellowish bill with an orange base. Mainly black upperparts with white belly and white rump noticeable in flight. Note the bare, deep orange patch around its eye that contrasts with its white cheek. Easternmost birds have a white, streaked forehead. Seen in loose flocks close to human habitation feeding on human refuse. Garbage dumps, damp grazing lands, and well-watered parks are its favoured haunts. Noisy with a variety of calls that includes mimicked sounds of other birds.
Pearl-breasted Swallow
Hirundo dimidiata
A martin-like swallow with a bicolored plumage pattern of steel-blue upperparts and pale underparts. Pairs or small groups flit low over grassland, scrub, farmland, and open woodland, often near water. It is a migrant to the southern parts of South Africa, but it is resident elsewhere, with some poorly understood movements. The Pearl-breasted Swallow differs from House Martin and Gray-rumped Swallow by having a dark (not pale) rump and pale (not dark) underwings.
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