Sri Lanka blue magpie
Sri Lanka blue magpie | |
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At Sinharaja Forest Reserve, Sri Lanka | |
Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Class: | Aves |
Order: | Passeriformes |
Family: | Corvidae |
Genus: | Urocissa |
Species: | U. ornata
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Binomial name | |
Urocissa ornata (Wagler, 1829)
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Distribution map for Sri Lanka Blue Magpie[1] |
The Sri Lanka blue magpie or Ceylon magpie (Urocissa ornata) is a brightly coloured member of the family
Description
The Sri Lanka blue magpie measures 42–47 cm in length,
Taxonomy
The Sri Lanka blue magpie is a member of the order
This species belongs to
Habitat and distribution
This species is endemic to Sri Lanka, where it is found in tall, undisturbed forest in the mountains, foothills, and adjoining lowlands of the wet zone.[3] It is found from elevations of below 150 to 2150 m. It is not often seen in disturbed habitat such as gardens or plantations.[4]
Surveys conducted from 2004 to 2006 found individuals of this species in 38 separate forest patches contained within six forest complexes within its range in the wet zone of southern Sri Lanka.[3]
Behaviour
In spite of their avoidance of human-disturbed habitats, the Sri Lanka blue magpie tolerates and is even attracted to the presence of humans.[5] In response to low and moderate levels of recreational disturbance, and small to medium-sized groups of human visitors, numbers of Sri Lanka blue magpies increased, unlike other birds.[5] A group of individuals was often observed waiting near trails, expecting to be fed by groups of human visitors.[5]
Vocalizations
The Sri Lanka blue magpie produces a great variety of vocalizations, including a jingle, a chink-chink, crakrakrakrak, and a whee-whee[3].
Thirteen different common call types have been identified for the Sri Lanka blue magpie, including mimicry calls.[9] Individuals have been recorded using two raptor calls quite frequently, usually while mobbing a predator (the Accipiter high-pitched call and the mountain hawk-eagle (Nisaetus nipalensis kelaarti) call)[9] These raptor calls are mimicked by another species that occupies the same region, the greater racket-tailed drongo (Dicrurus paradiseus), implying that these imitated predator calls can act as alarm signals for multiple species.[9]
Sri Lanka blue magpies do not just imitate the calls of predators, however. They have been observed mimicking the calls and songs of other birds in their prolonged and elaborate subsong.[9]
Diet
These birds use their strong legs and feet to forage, and have been observed hanging upside down and holding down their prey with ease.[4]
Their diet is mainly carnivorous, featuring insects, frogs, and small lizards, but they have been known to consume fruit, as well,[4] and some observations suggest that they also prey on eggs or young of other bird species.[10] Sri Lanka blue magpies have been observed rubbing hairy caterpillars against mossy branches to remove irritating hairs prior to consuming them.[4]
Reproduction
Sri Lanka blue magpies are
The generation length of Sri Lanka blue magpies is 6.7 years.[1] Breeding season is from January through March, and three to five eggs, which are white covered with brown spots, are laid in a clutch.[4] Cup-shaped nests are built atop small, slender trees[10] and lined with soft materials like lichen.[4]
Both sexes build the nest and feed offspring, with only the female incubating them.
Conservation status
The Sri Lanka blue magpie is listed as vulnerable, due to the fragmentation and ongoing decline of the population.[3] Surveys performed in 2004-2006 estimate the population at 10,181-19,765 individuals, although their breeding strategy of monogamy and co-operative breeding has led to that estimate being reduced to 9,500-19,500 individuals total to reflect their effective population size.[3]
The main threat to the survival of the Sri Lanka blue magpie is habitat loss due to forest being cleared for agricultural land, mines, logging, and human settlement.
One of the factors preventing the Sri Lanka blue magpie from moving into disturbed habitat has been suggested to be the presence of another bird, the
In culture
In Sri Lanka, this bird is known as කැහිබෙල්ලා (kehibella) in Sinhala.[11] The blue magpie appears on a 10c Sri Lankan postal stamp,[12] which was in wide usage in the 1980s through 1990s.
References
- ^ . Retrieved 19 November 2021.
- ^ a b Cook K. 1993. Sri Lanka Magpie (Urocissa ornata). In: Endangered Wildlife of the World. 5: 697-698. New York (NY): Marshall Cavendish Corporation.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o BirdLife International (2019) Species factsheet: Urocissa ornata. Downloaded from http://www.birdlife.org on 13/10/2019
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Henry GM. 1971. A guide to the birds of Ceylon. London (UK)/New York (NY): Oxford University Press.
- ^
- ^ Harrison J. 2011. A Field Guide to the Birds of Sri Lanka. 2nd ed. New York (NY): Oxford University Press.
- ^ a b c d Ericson PGP, Jansén A-L, Johansson US, Ekman J. 2005. Inter-generic relationships of the crows, jays, magpies and allied groups. (Aves: Corvidae) based on nucleotide sequence data. Journal of Avian Biology. 36(3): 222-234. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/230307138_Molecular_analysis_of_the_phylogeny_of_11_genera_of_the_Corvidae
- ^ IOC World Bird List v 9.2 by Frank Gill & David Donsker (Eds). Updated 22-June-2019
- ^
- ^ a b Sri Lanka magpie (Urocissa ornata). 2007. ARKive. Images of Life on Earth. Published by Wildscreen, Bristol (UK). Retrieved on 16-09-2019. https://web.archive.org/web/20070623220552/http://www.arkive.org/species/GES/birds/Urocissa_ornata/
- ^ Anonymous (1998). "Vernacular Names of the Birds of the Indian Subcontinent" (PDF). Buceros. 3 (1): 53–109. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2010-04-01.
- ^ "Sri Lanka Blue Magpie stamps - mainly images - gallery format".
Further reading
- Birds of India by Grimmett, Inskipp and Inskipp, ISBN 0-691-04910-6
- Crows and Jays by Madge and Burn, ISBN 0-7136-3999-7
External links
Media related to Urocissa ornata at Wikimedia Commons