Jerdon's Leafbird Chloropsis jerdoni Scientific name definitions

16·7–18·4 cm. Male has black mask from lores back to eye and entire throat , enclosing large, long, intensely violet-blue jawline flash; rim around part of eye free of mask clear yellow, and yellow continues narrowly round margin of bib; cap and broad collar around bib brassy greenish-yellow; plumage otherwise bright grass-green, lighter below, relieved only by glossy turquoise lesser upper­wing-coverts and straw-yellow distal outer webs of emarginated primaries; iris brown; bill black, or with grey base of lower mandible; feet slaty grey. Distinguished from C. cochinchinensis mainly by lack of blue on flight-feathers and tail, longer jawline flash. Female is like male but lacks mask, has anterior cap olive-yellow and meeting viridian-tinged green at hindcrown level, entire eyelid rim yellow, clean-cut bib turquoise (only slightly duller than jawline flash) and with same yellow border as male; otherwise as male. Juvenile is like female, but cap green (rather than yellowish), bib indistinct, no jawline flash.

Long treated as a race of a broadly defined C. cochinchinensis (which see), but differs in bill morphology and plumage details (1 Wells, D. R., E. C. Dickinson, and R. W. R. J. Dekker (2003). Systematic notes on Asian birds. 36. A preliminary review of the Chloropseidae and Irenidae. Zoologische Verhandelingen Leiden 344: 25–42. Close ). Wing length in N (male 92–93 mm, two females 86 and 88) larger than in S (male down to 85 mm in Sri Lanka), but differences insufficient for subspecific distinction. Monotypic.

India S from S Gujarat (Gulf of Cambay), C Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and West Bengal, and Sri Lanka.

Open forest, secondary growth, orchards, wooded gardens, coconut gardens, and wooded edges of roads, rivers, paddyland, and coffee, pepper vine etc. plantations; including deciduous vegetation. Favours relatively dry conditions, decreasing in numbers with rising general humidity. At plains level and on slopes to not above 1200 m, usually lower. Some habitat and range overlap with C. aurifrons, but prefers drier, more open sites.

Resident.

Generalist; diet arthropods and fruit , also nectar. Arthropods include caterpillars, crickets (Tettigoniidae), ants (Hymenoptera) and mantids, gleaned acrobatically in canopy foliage. Fruit part of diet includes figs (Ficus) and various berries. Also a regular flower-visitor, evidently seeking nectar; recorded as visiting Helicteres, Loranthus, Salmalia, Erythrina, Cocos and others. Forages singly or as pair, and joins mixed-species hunting parties. Individuals may defend a nectar source pugnaciously, but at other times apparent non-breeders attend flower crops in parties, and trap-line socially between sources; parties have also been recorded as eating the ripe flower buds of Anthocephalus cadamba.

Song with random, varied combinations of loud, clear whistles, buzzing notes and rich, sharp notes, said to be similar to that of C. aurifrons but slightly deeper, richer and slower; includes much mimicry, especially of drongos (Dicrurus), also of Oriental Magpie-robin (Copsychus saularis), jungle babblers (Turdoides), tailorbirds (Orthotomus) and Shikra (Accipiter badius). Calls include a jarring rattle, and non-breeders in small parties communicate with a sharp “click”.

Some breeding occurs in all months, but main season in N of range Mar–Sept and in S (including Sri Lanka) Nov–May. Variable-depth open cup-nest, compactly woven, materials include dry grass and soft fibres, with leaf and bark fragments added externally, and felted with cobweb, some silk running through the structure on to its support, with rudimentary lining; suspended at rim from prongs of thin outer fork at canopy level, 5–10 m above ground, typically in shade of overhanging foliage. Clutch 2 eggs, rarely 3 (but perhaps more regularly so in N of range); no information on incubation and fledging periods.

Not globally threatened. Uncommon to fairly common; apparently more common on slopes than at plains level. Many populations are held below potential density by effects of trapping for the wildlife trade.