Prinia de Hodgson

Identificación

These 11-to-13-centimetre (4 to 5 in) long warblers have a longish grey tail with graduated feathers that are tipped in white, they have strong pinkish legs and a short black bill. The eye ring is orange. The sexes look alike in most populations except in P .h. pectoralis of Sri Lanka where the female can be told apart by the incomplete breast band. The underparts are buff white and the grey breast band contrasts with the white throat in the breeding season. They have a rufous wing panel and the upperparts are smoky grey during the breeding season and olive brown in the non-breeding period. Non-breeding birds have a short indistinct white supercilium and often lack the breast band. Young birds are like non-breeding adults but more rufous above. The distinctive greyer endemic race in Sri Lanka, P. h. pectoralis, retains the summer-type plumage all year round. Young birds have a pale lower mandible. The tail feathers are shorter in summer than in the non-breeding winter plumage.

Taxonomía

This species was named by James Franklin as Prinia gracilis in 1831 based on a specimen that he obtained on the Ganges between Calcutta and Benares. It was renamed as Prinia hodgsonii by Edward Blyth in 1844 since the name Sylvia gracilis had been in use for the graceful prinia (described earlier in 1823 by Martin Lichtenstein) clashed when treated in the same genus Prinia. It was also described as Prinia adamsi by Jerdon and as Prinia humilis by Hume. This was placed in a separate genus Franklinia by Blyth and this treatment was followed by Jerdon and by others including Hugh Whistler who separated this species from the genus Prinia and placed it in the genus Franklinia which he considered distinct on the basis of having twelve tail feathers rather than ten and in having distinct breeding and non-breeding plumages. The merging of Prinia and Franklinia was supported by H. G. Deignan. The species has a widespread distribution and populations that show distinct plumages have been described as subspecies:

Nombre científico

Prinia hodgsonii

Autoridad

Blyth, 1844

Orden

Passeriformes

Familia

Cisticolidae

Género

Prinia

Distribución y hábitat

This skulking passerine bird is typically found in open woodland, scrub jungle, bushes and hedgerows amidst cultivation. Also found in bamboo jungle, mangrove swamps and reeds. P. h. rufula has been observed in patches of sugarcane near Kathmandu valley.<p>It is a common resident of the Indian peninsula. It migrates slightly south during winter. The distribution extends from Himalayan foothills to Southern India and to eastern Indian states Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Manipur, Meghalaya and Assam. The species distribution extends to Pakistan, Burma, Vietnam, Sri Lanka and Yunnan province in southern China. Its altitude ranges from plains and goes up to 1000 meters (3280 ft) P. h. hodgsonii and up to 1800 meters (5900 ft) P. h. rufula in Meghalaya.

Migración

Migración vertical

Comportamiento

Patrón migratorio: Migración vertical.

Conservación

Tendencia poblacional: estable.

Tendencia poblacional

estable