Bugun Liocichla Liocichla bugunorum Scientific name definitions

22 cm. Greyish-olive liocichla with black crown, yellow lores and broken supercilium, broad yellow wing patch and red drop-like tips on secondaries and tertials, red tips on undertail-coverts and tail. Presumed male has crown glossy black with slightly elongate feathers, shading on upper­parts to greyish-olive; upperwing with greater coverts golden-yellow, golden-yellow on fringes of outer primaries and on basal half of rest of flight-feathers (forming broad wing­panel), distal half of other remiges black with white tips, edges of secondaries narrowly white and more broadly (because fringes frayed) red, forming “drops” just before feather tip; graduated tail blackish above with obsolete barring and “frayed” orange-red tips, outer feathers subterminally washed olive, below blackish centrally and then olive, becoming flame-coloured on outermost pair; lores and frontal superciliary area orange-yellow (in bold triangle) and postocular superciliary streak yellow, these separated by black rectangle from eye to crown; cheek olive-tinged grey, chin and upper submoustachial area yellow-olive, ear-coverts, lower submoustachial area and throat grey; underparts yellow-olive, shading to dull olive-grey on lower belly, thighs and vent, and undertail-coverts black with red tips and yellow edges; iris dark reddish-brown; bill blackish at base, shading to pale horn at tip; legs grayish-pink. Presumed female is duller yellow-olive on wings, with duller, copper-red colour on undertail, no red in undertail-coverts, and yellow tail tips. Reddish wing patch seen on one or more individuals (sex unknown) in Jan, but not noted in May (perhaps owing to abrasion). Juvenile undescribed.

Heavily disturbed hillsides and ravines with dense shrubbery and small to medium-sized trees left after timber extraction, with one sighting at edge of primary forest; at 2060–2340 m.

Presumed resident; individuals seen in Jan and again in Mar–May in same general area.

Small berries seen taken. Forages on ground, working through low undergrowth, creeping in tangled vines and even clambering on trunks in manner of Cutia nipalensis; observed in all levels in vegetation, from ground to canopy of tallest trees. In pairs or, in Jan, in small flocks; seen to forage in monospecific flocks of up to six individuals, or in company with small, otherwise apparently monospecific flocks of Cutia nipalensis, Trochalopteron erythrocephalum and Trochalopteron squamatum; once with single individuals of Trochalopteron erythrocephalum and Chrysominla strigula.

Songs , all fluty and in all of which the initial consonant barely audible, include descending “wieu’u-wee’i-tuu’i-tuu’uw-tu’oow”, slightly slurred and inflected at end, and similar but higher “weei’u-tuuu’i-tuu’uw-tu’oow”, with shortened versions including “weee-keew” and “yu-weee-keew”; presumed female may give accompanying dry “trrrr-trii-trii”.

Apparently mated and territorial in May, when all those seen have been in twos and responded to playback. Two pairs in one ravine were separated by c. 400 m. No other information.

CRITICALLY ENDANGERED. Described from feathers and photographs in 2006, when fears about its tiny known population led to decision to release alive the bird designated as type specimen (3 Athreya, R. (2006). A new species of Liocichla (Aves: Timaliidae) from Eaglenest Wildlife Sanctuary, Arunachal Pradesh, India. Indian Birds 2: 82-94. Close ). Currently known from three sites: majority of records from Lama Camp, within Bugun community, just outside Eaglenest Wildlife Sanctuary; one record from Bompu, inside the sanctuary; and a recent sighting from Bomdila, some 20 km to the north BirdLife International (2014) Species factsheet: Liocichla bugunorum. Downloaded from http://www.birdlife.org on 29/08/2014. . Based on these data, its range is estimated to be 140 km² BirdLife International (2014) Species factsheet: Liocichla bugunorum. Downloaded from http://www.birdlife.org on 29/08/2014. . Known population tiny; in searches since 2005, best total on one day was ten, and no more than 14 individuals confidently known (3 Athreya, R. (2006). A new species of Liocichla (Aves: Timaliidae) from Eaglenest Wildlife Sanctuary, Arunachal Pradesh, India. Indian Birds 2: 82-94. Close ). In 2012–2013, habitat at Lama Camp was fragmented by the construction of a new road, which destroyed two territories and which is expected to lead to more habitat degradation in the immediate vicinity BirdLife International (2014) Species factsheet: Liocichla bugunorum. Downloaded from http://www.birdlife.org on 29/08/2014. . Originally listed as Vulnerable, the tiny known population (conjectured on the basis of 14 known birds to be fewer than 250 mature individuals) and inferred population decline triggered uplisting to Critically Endangered in 2014 BirdLife International (2014) Species factsheet: Liocichla bugunorum. Downloaded from http://www.birdlife.org on 29/08/2014. . Eaglenest Wildlife Sanctuary itself has remained largely untouched despite lack of conservation effort (3 Athreya, R. (2006). A new species of Liocichla (Aves: Timaliidae) from Eaglenest Wildlife Sanctuary, Arunachal Pradesh, India. Indian Birds 2: 82-94. Close ). Modelling of potential distribution suggests that it may occur over a wider area (4 Peterson, A.T. and Pape, M. (2006). Potential geographic distribution of the Bugun Liocichla Liocichla bugunorum, a poorly-known species from north-eastern India Indian Birds. 2(6): 146-149. Close ), and there is hope that the species may eventually be discovered in adjacent Bhutan and also further east in central and eastern Arunachal Pradesh (3 Athreya, R. (2006). A new species of Liocichla (Aves: Timaliidae) from Eaglenest Wildlife Sanctuary, Arunachal Pradesh, India. Indian Birds 2: 82-94. Close ).