Bornean Peacock-Pheasant Polyplectron schleiermacheri Scientific name definitions

Male c. 50 cm (tail c. 19–20 cm) (1 Madge, S., and P. McGowan (2002). Pheasants, Partridges and Grouse, including Buttonquails, Sandgrouse and Allies. Christopher Helm, London, UK. Close ); female c. 35·5 cm (tail 15·5–18 cm) (1 Madge, S., and P. McGowan (2002). Pheasants, Partridges and Grouse, including Buttonquails, Sandgrouse and Allies. Christopher Helm, London, UK. Close ). Rather small, relatively short-tailed peacock-pheasant (1 Madge, S., and P. McGowan (2002). Pheasants, Partridges and Grouse, including Buttonquails, Sandgrouse and Allies. Christopher Helm, London, UK. Close ). Male has throat and centre of breast pure white, and metallic blue-green sides of breast; upperparts more rufous than in P. malacense, with smaller ocelli and somewhat hair-like feathers on crown which can be elevated to form small, bushy, forward-leaning crest, while nape feathers can be fanned into short ruff (1 Madge, S., and P. McGowan (2002). Pheasants, Partridges and Grouse, including Buttonquails, Sandgrouse and Allies. Christopher Helm, London, UK. Close ). Female lacks spurs (two in male) (1 Madge, S., and P. McGowan (2002). Pheasants, Partridges and Grouse, including Buttonquails, Sandgrouse and Allies. Christopher Helm, London, UK. Close ) and distinctive head markings, apart from white throat; more reddish than female P. malacense, with shorter tail; lacks ocelli on uppertail-coverts, and has smaller, ill-defined ocelli on rectrices. Bill and legs dark grey, bare skin around eye reddish, and irides pale bluish (male) or brown (female) (1 Madge, S., and P. McGowan (2002). Pheasants, Partridges and Grouse, including Buttonquails, Sandgrouse and Allies. Christopher Helm, London, UK. Close ). First-year male is like adult female, but larger and brighter, with outer webs to flight feathers mottled and barred rufous and buff, and has vermiculated underparts (1 Madge, S., and P. McGowan (2002). Pheasants, Partridges and Grouse, including Buttonquails, Sandgrouse and Allies. Christopher Helm, London, UK. Close ). Juvenile apparently undescribed, although is presumably much like adult female (1 Madge, S., and P. McGowan (2002). Pheasants, Partridges and Grouse, including Buttonquails, Sandgrouse and Allies. Christopher Helm, London, UK. Close ).

Borneo. Exact distribution uncertain (4 O’Brien, T.G., Winarni, N.L., Saanin, F.M., Kinnaird, M.F. and Jepson, P. (1998). Distribution and conservation status of Bornean Peacock-pheasant Polyplectron schleiermacheri in Central Kalimantan, Indonesia. Bird Conserv. Int. 8(4): 373–385. Close , 5 Sözer, R., Setiawan, I. and Setiadi, A.P. (2000). Local knowledge of the Bornean Peacock-pheasant Polyplectron schleiermacheri: a critique of O’Brien et al. (1998a). Bird Conserv. Int. 10(4): 311–316. Close , 6 Kinnaird, M. and O’Brien, T. (2000). Local knowledge of the Bornean Peacock-pheasant, a reply to Sozer et al. (2000). Bird Conserv. Int. 10(4): 317–318. Close ).

Principally occurs in primary lowland forest, including areas regenerating after fires, lowland dipterocarp and alluvial forests, but probably avoids wettest areas, preferring forested ridges, rather than flat ground or slopes (7 Mann, C. F. (2008). The Birds of Borneo: An Annotated Checklist. B.O.U. Checklist 23. British Ornithologists’ Union, and British Ornithologists’ Club, Peterborough. Close ); reported at elevations between sea-level and 1070 m (7 Mann, C. F. (2008). The Birds of Borneo: An Annotated Checklist. B.O.U. Checklist 23. British Ornithologists’ Union, and British Ornithologists’ Club, Peterborough. Close ). In E Kalimantan, however, there appears to be no clear preference between different forest types (8 Fredriksson, G.M. and Nijman, V. (2004). Habitat use and conservation status of two elusive ground birds (Carpococcyx radiatus and Polyplectron schleiermacheri) in the Sungai Wain Protection Forest, East Kalimantan, Indonesian Borneo. Oryx. 38(3): 297–303. Close ).

No information available.

No information available.

Unknown until recently (1 Madge, S., and P. McGowan (2002). Pheasants, Partridges and Grouse, including Buttonquails, Sandgrouse and Allies. Christopher Helm, London, UK. Close ), but song  is a series of increasingly loud, harsh cackles, typical of Polyplectron, as well as a loud disyllabic crowing “kank kank”, with an almost quacking quality to it.

Season suggested to be late Oct–mid Mar (1 Madge, S., and P. McGowan (2002). Pheasants, Partridges and Grouse, including Buttonquails, Sandgrouse and Allies. Christopher Helm, London, UK. Close ). No information available from the wild, but mating system is presumed to be polygamous (1 Madge, S., and P. McGowan (2002). Pheasants, Partridges and Grouse, including Buttonquails, Sandgrouse and Allies. Christopher Helm, London, UK. Close ). In captivity: one female laid three single-egg clutches; incubation 20–22 days.

ENDANGERED. Mace-Lande: critical. CITES II. Very poorly known, and just three recent records from N Borneo, all from Kuamut Forest Reserve (83,000 ha of somewhat degraded forest), in Sabah, and all in May–Jun 2016 (9 Mohamed, A., Brickle, N. and Witling, A. (2017). A new record of Bornean Peacock-pheasant Polyplectron schleiermacheri from Sabah, Malaysia. Forktail. 33: 53–55. Close ); believed to have been eliminated throughout most of original range, e.g. no recent evidence from Muara Teweh in C Kalimantan, Balikpapan in E Kalimantan, or Paitan in Sabah, and the only evidence of the species during 2000–2006 surveys of 13 sites in C & E Kalimantan was the witness of a local hunter (10 Woxvold, I. A., and R. A. Noske (2011). Birds of kerangas, converted lands, mixed dipterocarp and riparian forests in Central and East Kalimantan, Indonesia. Forktail 27:39–54. Close ). In contrast, a 1996 questionnaire survey of 97 villages across C Kalimantan found that two-thirds of these communities described it as rare or very rare, whilst one-third considered the species fairly common (11 O’Brien, T.G., Winarni, N.L., Saanin, F.M., Kinnaird, M.F. and Jepson, P. (1998). Distribution and conservation status of Bornean Peacock-pheasant Polyplectron schleiermacheri in Central Kalimantan, Indonesia. Bird Conservation International. 8(4): 373–385. Close ); however, some aspects of the methodology and interpretation of the results have been criticized (12 Sözer, R., Setiawan, I. and Setiadi, A.P. (2000). Local knowledge of the Bornean Peacock-pheasant Polyplectron schleiermacheri: a critique of O’Brien et al. (1998a). Bird Conservation International. 10(4): 311–316. Close ). Much lowland forest remains in Kalimantan, although if species is dependent on alluvial forest then it has probably been eliminated from most of the major river systems in Kalimantan. Species is presumed always to have been very difficult to detect, possibly reflecting very low densities. Based on this, lost sites and habitat remaining, population is tentatively estimated to number 600–1700 mature individuals within an overall range of 189,000 km². Known from several protected areas, among them Sungai Wain and Gunung Lumut Protection Forests (E Kalimantan), Gunung Palung National Park (W Kalimantan), Deramakot Forest Reserve (Sabah) and Gunung Mulu National Park (Sarawak). Extensive and continuous habitat loss and degradation (due to logging, plantation development and forest fires) (7 Mann, C. F. (2008). The Birds of Borneo: An Annotated Checklist. B.O.U. Checklist 23. British Ornithologists’ Union, and British Ornithologists’ Club, Peterborough. Close ) are major problems facing the species, which is also snared by local people (7 Mann, C. F. (2008). The Birds of Borneo: An Annotated Checklist. B.O.U. Checklist 23. British Ornithologists’ Union, and British Ornithologists’ Club, Peterborough. Close ). Surveys and research urgently required. Protected by Indonesian law.