Scaly-throated Honeyguide

A rather drab, medium-sized bird of wooded habitats on small islands. Gray head, white throat, brown back and very pale brown underparts with slightly darker brown smudges on the sides of the chest. Very similar to Brown-backed Whistler but does not co-occur. No similar species in range. Gives a jumbled, whistled song, interspersed with repeated, typical whistler “whip!” notes. Call, a sharp descending “jip!”.

Male is slaty-blue with a white eyebrow, dark face, and orange underparts. Female is matte brown with buffy underparts; females in the Chin Hills have a slate-gray back. Furtive and skulky; male sings from deep cover, giving a series of sharp whistles devolving into a burst of trilling and chattering notes. Prefers dense, damp undergrowth in wet forests, often in proximity to streams and gullies.

This dark, medium-sized bird would be fairly unremarkable were it not for the exceptionally long crest sticking vertically out of its head. Sumatran and Bornean birds are brown, while birds on Java and the Malay Peninsula are black. Blocky white crescent behind the eye flashes as the bird moves through dense foliage in lowland and foothill broadleaf forests. Raucous; most commonly gives noisy rattles, also whistles and chips.