Species

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Justification
This laughingthrush has a very small and severely fragmented range which is declining rapidly as a result of the conversion of forest habitats to plantations, agriculture and settlements. It therefore qualifies as Endangered.

Taxonomic note
Garrulax jerdoni jerdoni (Sibley and Monroe 1990, 1993) has been moved from G. jerdoni into G. cachinnans, elevating G. j. fairbanki to species rank (including G. j. meridionalis), following Rasmussen and Anderton (2005). All taxa concerned are transferred into the genus Strophocincla, resulting in two recognised species S. fairbanki (including meridionalis) and S. cachinnans (including jerdoni).

Identification
20.5 cm. Small, rather uniform laughingthrush with white supercilium and black upper throat. Upper breast and ear-coverts bright rufous (cachinnans) or greyish (jerdoni). Similar spp. Kerala Laughingthrush S. fairbanki has grey or whitish throat, breast and ear-coverts. Voice Song is of several types including a long, rising crescendoing series of short, worried-sounding, nasal aingk notes, falling away after several seconds then rising again and ending suddenly; a comical-sounding cackling, rising, nasal onk-ur-whur-wheenk (first notes hoasrse, last two whistled and successively longer and stressed), followed by low hoarse laughing urg-urg-urg; third a curious halting very nasal whur-whaink, whur-whaink which may be followed by rising, rapid sequence of short nasal aingk notes. Also said to give a rather nasal u wi-yu wi-yu wi, accompanied antiphonally by low dhu-dhu-dhu. Calls include harsh jho notes, intermingled with high-pitched pititit notes (del Hoyo et al. 2007).

Distribution and population
Strophocincla cachinnans is endemic to the north-west Tamil Nadu, north-east Kerala and south-west Karnataka in southern India. S. c. cachinnans is predominantly found in the Nilgiri Hills, and a smaller disjunct population (200-250 individuals) was recently discovered in the Elival-Muthikkulam-Palamala range of Palakkad-Siruvani Hills, Kerala (del Hoyo et al. 2007, Nameer et al. 2007). S. c. jerdoni is restricted to high elevations in the districts of Wayanad (Kerala) and Coorg (Karnataka), possibly being found at only six fragmented locations (J. Praveen in litt. 2007, 2010). It was generally common or abundant across its range at the start of the 20th century, while recent observations clearly indicate it to be locally common, but otherwise uncommon or rare. One record from Munnar (south of the Palghat Gap) is now considered erroneous (J. Praveen in litt. 2007, 2010).

Population justification
The population is estimated to number 2,500-9,999 mature individuals based on an assessment of known records, descriptions of abundance and range size. This is consistent with recorded population density estimates for congeners or close relatives with a similar body size, and the fact that only a proportion of the estimated Extent of Occurrence is likely to be occupied. This estimate is equivalent to 3,750-14,999 individuals, rounded here to 3,500-15,000 individuals.

Trend justification
Populations are suspected to be in moderate decline owing to the degradation and loss of habitat across the species's range, although recent quantitative data on its population status are lacking. The overall rate of decline is expected to be slow in the next ten years.

Ecology
Behaviour Nesting occurs between January and July with a clutch of two or three eggs (del Hoyo et al. 2007). Habitat It is a sedentary resident, inhabiting dense undergrowth and moist, shady lower storey vegetation of evergreen and semi-evergreen forest, especially densely wooded ravines and hollows ("sholas") and forest edge, always above 1,200 m, but generally higher than 1,600 m. It also occurs in gardens, patches of natural scrub, and hill guava trees Rhodomyrtus tomentosa in Kerala, and is absent or uncommon in Eucalyptus, tea and Acacia plantations. Population densities are high in intact forest, but are roughly halved in disturbed forest (del Hoyo et al. 2007). Diet It feeds on invertebrates, nectar, flowers, fruits and berries (del Hoyo et al. 2007).

Threats
Large-scale conversion of forest into plantations, reservoirs, crops and human settlements are the main threats. Commercial plantations of tea, Eucalyptus and Acacia have been increasing in area across its range. Between 1961 and 1988, 47% of evergreen/semi-evergreen forest was lost in the Kerala portion of the Western Ghats, whilst there were increases in plantation and deciduous forest cover of 6% and 7.5% respectively (del Hoyo et al. 2007). The indiscriminate use of inorganic pesticides may also be a problem (Zarri 2005). Having a montane distribution that is close to the maximum altitude within its range, this species is potentially susceptible to climate change (BirdLife International unpublished data).

Conservation actions underway
It occurs in Mukurti National Park in Tamil Nadu and a rather small part of its range is encompassed by the upper reaches of the Silent Valley National Park, Kerala. Some sholas in the Upper Nilgiris are afforded partial protection as reserve forests and are included in the Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve, although these receive considerably less protection than national parks (del Hoyo et al. 2007). There have been some moves to stop further conversion of natural forests and grasslands into plantations in Tamil Nadu. A new protected area in the Muthikulam-Elival-Palamala Range, Muthikkulam Wildlife Sanctuary, has been proposed.

Conservation actions proposed
Regularly monitor populations at selected sites and develop a database of information for formulating conservation management strategies for different areas. Support extension of the boundaries of Mukurti National Park. Campaign for a moratorium on conversion of remaining natural forests to plantations in the Nilgiris. Promote community-based conservation initiatives focusing on restoration of natural habitats in the Nilgiris, including protection of undergrowth and shrubs in existing old plantations. Initiate conservation awareness programmes in the Nilgiris. Designate suitable parts of the Muthikulam-Elival-Palamala Range as protected areas.

References
BirdLife International. 2001. Threatened birds of Asia: the BirdLife International Red Data Book. BirdLife International, Cambridge, U.K.

del Hoyo, J.; Elliott, A.; Christie, D. 2007. Handbook of the Birds of the World, vol. 12: Picathartes to Tits and Chickadees. Lynx Edicions, Barcelona, Spain.

Nameer, P. O., Praveen, J.; Uthaman, K. V. 2007. Bird diversity of Siruvani and Muthikulam Hills, southern Western Ghats.

Zarri, A. A. 2005. Ecology of Nilgiri Laughingthrush (Garrulax cachinnans) in Nilgiris, Western Ghats. Ph.D. Thesis. University of Mumbai.

Further web sources of information
View photos and videos, and hear sounds of this species from the Internet Bird Collection

Text account compilers
Allinson, T, Benstead, P., Calvert, R., Gilroy, J., Taylor, J.

Contributors
Praveen, J., Rahmani, A.

IUCN Red List evaluators
Butchart, S., Symes, A.

Recommended citation
BirdLife International (2013) Species factsheet: Strophocincla cachinnans. Downloaded from http://www.birdlife.org on 24/05/2013. Recommended citation for factsheets for more than one species: BirdLife International (2013) IUCN Red List for birds. Downloaded from http://www.birdlife.org on 24/05/2013.

This information is based upon, and updates, the information published in BirdLife International (2000) Threatened birds of the world. Barcelona and Cambridge, UK: Lynx Edicions and BirdLife International, BirdLife International (2004) Threatened birds of the world 2004 CD-ROM and BirdLife International (2008) Threatened birds of the world 2008 CD-ROM. These sources provide the information for species accounts for the birds on the IUCN Red List.

To provide new information to update this factsheet or to correct any errors, please email BirdLife

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Additional resources for this species

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