Javan Whistling-Thrush

Myophonus glaucinus

Chunky dark blue bird. Brightest blue on the nape and shoulder. Readily distinguished from similar species by shape, uniform plumage, and dark bill. Often spreads its short tail in a rather unimpressive gesture. Endemic to Java and Bali, where it inhabits foothill and montane forests at 800-2400 meters. Typically encountered close to or on the ground, but will also perch up on branches at mid-height. Favors areas with rocky outcrops, sometimes (but not always) near water. Can be quite tame, especially in areas frequented by people. Gives a sharp, resonant “tsee-chk-chk!”

Taxonomy

Scientific name
Myophonus glaucinus
Authority
(Temminck, 1823)
Order
Passeriformes
Family
Turdidae
Genus
Myophonus

Range and habitat

Migration
Resident species

Conservation

Population trend
declining

Photos

Distribution

Bird Calls

Other Birds

Blood Pheasant

Blood Pheasant

Ithaginis cruentus

A chunky partridgelike pheasant of montane scrub. Males are silvery gray with extensive pale streaking all over the body and crimson-tinged face, tail, breast, and tail - the namesake “blood” of this species. Female is warm brown with an orange face. Both sexes have a small head with an occasionally raised weak crest. Usually seen in small flocks in the winter and in pairs or singly in the summer.

Brown-throated Wattle-eye

Brown-throated Wattle-eye

Platysteira cyanea

Small black-and-white bird with a bright red patch of bare skin above the eye. Males have a black breast band, and females a brown throat. Found in thick woodland, gallery forest, and mangroves. The song is usually given as a duet: a descending series of melancholy whistles from the male, and lower rasping notes from the female. Similar to Black-throated Wattle-eye, but shows a white slash on the wing, and the female has a brown rather than white throat. Separated from batises by the red wattle and, in females, by the brown throat.

Red-billed Oxpecker

Red-billed Oxpecker

Buphagus erythroryncha

A bulbul-sized olive-brown bird that sports a diagnostic all-red bill and a red eye surrounded by a fleshy yellow wattle. The juvenile lacks the bright bill and eye coloration. Small groups occur in savanna and farmland, where they require large wild ungulates and domestic stock to forage on; they clamber agilely over host mammals, gleaning ticks, mites, and other ectoparasites, and occasionally drinking host blood. As they fly between large mammals, they give a distinctive “tsik-tsik” call. The similar Yellow-billed Oxpecker differs from Red-billed Oxpecker by having a yellow bill base and pale rump and lacking an eye-wattle.

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