Ashy-headed Laughingthrush Argya cinereifrons Scientific name definitions

24–25 cm; 70 g. Rather featureless medium-sized laughingthrush, dull chestnut-brown above and buffy brown below, with dull grey head and pale eye. Lores, crown and neck side are slightly bluish mid-grey , shading on nape to dull chestnut-brown of upperparts, upperwing and tail, wing with paler brown fringes; ear-coverts slightly paler and shinier grey than crown; chin and mid-throat pale buff, shading on lower throat to warm buff, underparts buffy chestnut-brown, slight grey wash on breast, mid-belly paler; iris white, sometimes with greyish, yellowish or reddish tinge; bill black, lower mandible sometimes paler; legs lead-brown. Sexes similar. Juvenile is warmer overall than adult, with less extensive grey on crown, dull grey iris with dark outer ring.

SC & SW Sri Lanka.

Shaded understorey of undisturbed broadleaf evergreen forest , bamboo; usually keeps to interior and away from forest edge, although at one site a few were seen in abandoned “chena” cultivation. Found at up to 1200 m, locally 1525 m.

Caterpillars, bugs (Hemiptera), beetles (Coleoptera), grubs, small snails, fruit and seeds. Food delivered to nest mostly insects, including small caterpillars, moths (Lepidoptera) and grasshoppers (Orthoptera). Forages in monospecific flocks of 4–20 individuals or in bird waves, which often include A. rufescens. Foraging flocks often fan out to feed on or near ground in low vegetation and among leaf litter, but also explore mossy fallen tree trunks; main technique is gleaning from leaves.

Continuous, rather high-pitched squeaky notes and harsher churring sounds , harsh “chrerrr”, “chraaaar” or “cheererrrr”, interspersed with sharper “chit” notes and occasionally a higher-pitched “pieu pieu”. Calls described also as very low, loose, snuffling “búr’r’r’r”, like the snorting of a horse, which may be combined with selection of hoarse, comical, short slurred squeaks, guffaws, short titters, chuckles, whinnies, sharp metallic notes, and harsh nasal or wheezy mews. Flocks call almost constantly while on the move.

Probably mainly Mar–Aug, but male gonadal development recorded in Sept and Nov, and three nests found Nov–Dec, so that all-year breeding likely. Partly social breeder. Nest a large, outwardly untidy mass of twigs and leaves with neat internal cup, externally made of dead leaves and twigs, internally of pliable twigs, rootlets and horsehair lichen, placed up to 5 m above ground in bush or fork of small tree. Clutch 3–4 eggs, turquoise-blue; incubation period 14–15 days; at one nest, full clutch (3 eggs) was laid within 24 hours, suggesting that more than one female was responsible, at least two birds incubated while other five group-members remained within a radius of c. 100 m (smaller than usual ranging area) and, at hatching, at least three attended nest, and all group-members fed chicks in sequence, the last one then brooding them; no information available on nestling period. Nest predation evidently frequent; Sri Lanka Blue Magpie (Urocissa ornata) is one suspected culprit.

VULNERABLE. Restricted-range species: present in Sri Lanka EBA. Global population estimated at 2500–9999 individuals (probably at lower end of this range) and decreasing; occupied range estimated at 15,800 km². Always judged a low-density species; even so, monospecific flocks in 19th century reported to hold 10–20 individuals, whereas in 1997 none was seen to contain more than six (although later study found mean group size of 7·2). Moreover, of 38 recorded localities, only twelve known to be occupied since 1980, in C & S of range; during survey of more than 200 forest sites in 1991–1996, recorded in only six forests. Nevertheless, still a common member of mixed-species flocks, with 91% of records from such flocks and present in 47% of these flocks. Main threat is extensive clearance and degradation of forests, particularly in wet zone, through logging, fuelwood-gathering, conversion to agriculture and tree plantations, gem-mining, settlement and fires. May be particularly vulnerable to habitat loss and fragmentation, as it is confined to interior of forest blocks and is probably unable to move between isolated patches. Some protected forests continue to be degraded and suffer further fragmentation. A moratorium was passed in 1990 to protect wet-zone forests from logging. The species is legally protected in Sri Lanka. It occurs in several national parks and forest reserves, most notably Sinharaja Forest Reserve.