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HOW TO USE THIS BOOK

Area covered

For the purpose of this book we have adopted the generally accepted system of dividing the world into 6 zoo geographical or faunal regions. Modified from Viney, Phillipps and Lam (1994) the regions are as follows:

Figure 1; Faunal regions of the world

Regions	Subregions
Australasian	Australia, New Zealand, New Guinea and Oceanic Islands
African	Africa and Madagascar
Neotropical	Central and South America
Nearctic	North American and Greenland
Oriental	South and Southeast Asia
Palearctic	Europe, North Africa and temperate Asia

In the text, different sections of the Asian continent are referred to as in Figure 2 (opposite, top). The faunal region of special interest here is the Oriental region. This region is usually defined to include South and Southeast Asia from Pakistan east to Borneo and Bali. The northern limit is the Himalayan mountain range and south China. Inskipp, Lindsey and Duckworth (1996) use the Yangtze river as the northern boundary and include the transitional subregion of Wallaces, i.e. Eastern Indonesia between Bali and Irian Jaya. Thus defined, the Oriental region has the extension as shown in Figure 3 (previous page, bottom).

Figure 2: Subregions of the Asian continent

Figure 3: The Oriental region

Birding is a social activity.

Within the Oriental region, the book covers Southeast Asia, an area defined for this purpose to include the following countries and territories shown on the map on pages 2-3.

The term Southeast Asia usually includes the country of Indonesia, Indonesia however straddles two very different faunal regions and is treated separately in another volume.

Nomenclature, taxonomy and sequence

For nomenclature, taxonomy and sequence our main reference was King, Dickinson and Woodcock (1975). Since this book does not include the latest taxonomic changes, small adjustments have been introduced, mainly following Lekagul and Round (1991) and MacKinnon and Phillipps (1993). Therefore we have placed fantails and monarch flycatchers in their own families, Rhipiduridae and Monarchidae respectively, a practice long ago accepted as standard. Darters, barn owls, Asian barbets, fairy bluebirds, weavers, munias and buntings have also been allocated their own families.

We are aware of the considerably more radical taxonomic changes inspired by new DNA-based research into the relationships between birds. This information has led to a very different taxonomic system published in Sibley, G. and Monroe Jr. B. (1990), Distribution and Taxonomy of Birds of the World. This system was also adopted by Inskipp, Lindsey and Duckworth (1996), by Lim and Gardner (1997) and by Robson (2000). However, this taxonomy is by others deemed to be provisional and full of uncertainties' (Jürgen Haffer, Handbook of the Birds of the World: Vol. 4 p. 22), so until the experts agree we believe it will be most reader-friendly to follow the established system.

Where names differ significantly between the different systems, the alternative name has been mentioned in brackets for easy reference. Efforts have been made to provide correct, brief and user-friendly information, but it is not necessarily complete. Therefore, this list of alternative names does not include names no longer in use or mainly used outside this area (e.g. in India). Please refer to the titles listed in Selected Bibliography for this information.

Regarding the order in which the bird species are listed, it is important to note that all our main reference sources for Southeast Asia uses the 'buntings-last' sequence, as is adopted here. Contrary to that, Andrew, P. (1992) The Birds of Indonesia: A checklist (Peters' Sequence) Indonesian Ornithological Society, Jakarta, which is re-printed in Jepson and Ounsted (1997), provides our main source of reference for our twin volume, A Photographic Guide to the Birds of Indonesia. This book therefore lists birds according to the somewhat different 'crows-last' sequence.

Family and genus

The letter F: is short for family, and all Latin families end in '-idea'. The Latin family of the bird is rarely referred to during casual birdwatching. A birdwatcher would not say 'a member of the Apodidae family just flew over', he would use the term 'swift'. Nevertheless, the family of the bird is an important piece of information for the field observer and is therefore included. While almost all Pycnonotidae are labelled bulbuls in their common names, it might not be clear to readers that robins, shortwings, shamas, chats and forktails all belong to the Turdidae or thrush family. So only by looking at the Latin family name does their relationship become clearer.

Notice that mynas are part of the Sturnidae family, named after the starlings; these two groups are in fact closely related. Eagles, hawks, buzzards, kites, harriers and vultures are not different families, but all part of the large Accipitridae family.

Birds are divided into genera within each family. There is no English word for this subdivision, which can only be determined by studying the first of the Latin names. Only a few birds such as cochoas (F: Turdidae) and prinias (F: Sylviidae) use their genus name as their common name also, for example, the Green Cochoa, or Cochoa viridis.

It is useful to pay attention to at least the genus (the first part of the Latin name) as this establishes the relationship with other, often similar species. Note how Merops bee-eaters have so much in common in terms of build and habits, while Nyctyornis bee-eaters, within the same family Meropidae, differ from Merops bee-eaters, but are similar to each other.

Curlews, godwits, dowitchers, turnstones, sandpipers, stints and snipe all belong to the same large family Scolopacidae. But within this family notice how the Broad-billed Sandpiper, Limicola faltinellus, has a different genus name to the similar Calidris stints. Closer study reveals that it is in fact quite distinctive, just like the Ruff, Philomachus pugnax, is in many ways unlike the many similarly built Tringa sandpipers.

Some birds are unique, with no close relatives. They are monotypic, some form their own genus; this will usually be mentioned under the description of the bird. Very few birds are monotypic to the family level (in this book only the Osprey and the Hoopoe fall into this category), while others such as Oriental Darter, Masked Finfoot and Greater Painted-snipe are sole regional representatives of very small families.

The second part of the Latin name determines the species. Many birds occur in different distinct forms and are divided by taxonomists into separate subspecies or races designated by a third addition to the Latin name. In the Philippines, the resident subspecies Little Heron, Butorides striatus carcinophilus, is augmented by a migratory subspecies B. s. amurensis during winter. For this purpose only B. striatus is referred to. Only in a few instances, where differences are clearly noticeable in the field, are subspecies' characteristics mentioned here.

When birds are classified, families are split into subfamilies, and then grouped into suborders and orders, which together form the class Aves containing all birds. However fascinating the topic, we have deemed it outside the scope of this book, but the subject is thoroughly covered in some of the works listed in the Bibliography. We have, however, for the information of the readers, marked the beginning of the order Passeriformes—by far the largest order containing all the passerine (perching bird) families. These are regarded as the fastest evolving groups of birds. While some non-passerines have remained unchanged for millions of years, dating back almost to the dinosaurs, passerines are constantly developing; they are strong fliers, many males have bright colours or complex voices, and the young stay for longer in the nest, thus these birds are regarded as evolutionarily more advanced.

Each bird name is followed by the length of the species in centimetres. Within some species, notably many raptors in the Accipitridae family, the females are considerably larger than the males, but for brevity, an average size has been given for comparison. Only within the Phasianidae, where the male pheasant can sometimes be more than double the size of the female, have both sizes been included. Where extremely elongated tail feathers distort measurements, this has also been mentioned.

Photographs

Each species is illustrated with a photograph, sometimes two. If the sex of the bird is not mentioned, the photograph shows an adult bird that cannot be identified with regard to sex. Where sexes differ, this is mentioned in the first paragraph of each entry (Description). The term 'sexes similar' is only used on occasions where most other species within the family are sexually dimorphic—for instance some flowerpeckers.

Unless otherwise mentioned, resident birds are shown in breeding plumage and migrants are shown in non-breeding or winter plumage. An additional photograph might show the other sex of the species or a bird in flight.

Most photographs are taken on location in Southeast Asia and show wild individuals. Where no authentic photograph was available, one showing a captive bird might be used, in which case it is mentioned in the description. We have done this consistently as we felt it was important for the reader to know that habitat, perch and surroundings might not appear as they would in the field. Only one species is shown held in the hand—the Coral-billed Ground-cuckoo.

Description: bird topography

The description has been kept to a minimum. We have preferred to let the pictures do the talking and have only described what is not obvious, such as parts of the bird not visible in that particular pose or the appearance of the opposite sex. Efforts have been made, however, to point out so-called diagnostic features where appropriate. In the field there is often one single feature that distinguishes one species from all others. The Common Kingfisher has a tiny rufous dot behind the ear— once you spot that one all your worries are over! This technique enables trained birdwatchers to quickly put a name to most of the birds they see, leaving them more time to concentrate on the really tough groups with no (or very faint) diagnostic features.

Some species have no relatives that resemble them closely. These are easy to identify on all occasions, so have simply been labelled 'unmistakable'. Please bear in mind that this term and the diagnostic label only apply within the region covered. While the short bill of the Little Curlew is diagnostic in Southeast Asia, it is not enough as a single identification feature when compared with the Slender-billed Curlew of Eurasia or the Eskimo Curlew of the Americas, which both have fairly small bills. Parts of the bird are mentioned using the standard norm in bird books, but slightly modified for this specific purpose.

The upper surface of the entire body including the mantle, wings, back and rump are often referred to collectively as upperparts, and likewise the entire under surface of the bird including the throat, breast, belly, flanks and vent is labelled collectively as underparts. Taxonomic variations and similar species not illustrated are also covered in this section.

Figure 4: The different parts of a bird

Voice

Calls follow our main references, especially Lekagul and Round (1991) and Lim and Gardner (1997), authors who have vast personal experiences studying bird vocalisation. Only in a few instances are descriptions modified slightly in accordance with our experiences.

Even using these authoritative sources for reference, verbalisation of bird calls is a tricky business. The frequently heard call by a common and noisy species like the Wood Sandpiper is variously described: King, Woodcock and Dickinson (1975): fi-fi-fi or ziss, iss-iss

Lekagul and Round (1991): chiff-chiff-chiff

Lim and Gardner (1997): si-si-si

MacKinnon and Phillipps: chee-chee-chee

From our own experience we chose wee-wee-wee as the best verbalisation.

The less often heard Changeable Hawk-eagle is thus described:

King, Woodcock and Dickinson (1975): yeep-yip-yip-yip

Lekagul and Round (1991): kri-kri-kri-kri-kree-ah

Lim and Gardner (1997): hwee-hwee-hwee

MacKinnon and Phillipps: kwip-kwip-kwip-kwee-ah

Here we chose to follow Lim and Gardner (1997), partly from personal experience, partly from certainty that the author is very familiar with the call.

Despite these discrepancies in verbalisation, we felt it was important to include a voice description. Combining the call with observations can sometimes be crucial for identification. And while many families have similar calls within members—most bulbuls produce a similar soft chatter—other families are very diverse. The Bushy-crested Hornbill screams, the Rhinoceros Hornbill honks and the White-crowned Hornbill hoots. At least knowing that much is a help for the beginner

However, in our experience, calls cannot be learned from a book. Audio tapes may help, but the best method is to go out there off the trails and find the bird making the call—often time and time again until the connection stays with you.

Habits

This section includes an account of where the bird can be found and how it is likely to behave. Terms describing habitat are mainly self-explanatory except for forest birds. Since the exact distribution of different forest types in this region is a very complex subject, we have made a simple distinction between wet evergreen tropical rainforest and deciduous forests. Rainforest comprising mainly tall dipterocarp trees is the predominant vegetation type in the Philippines and in the Sunda subregion, including the Malay Peninsula and Borneo. It also grows with a slightly different tree composition in wet tropical parts of continental Thailand, Myanmar and Indochina where the term evergreen forest is often applied—please see Lekagul and Round (1991) for a more detailed explanation. In deciduous forest a majority of the trees shed their leaves during the dry winter months; this habitat type prevails in the northern drier and more seasonal subtropical areas. Although some species occur in both habitats there are also great differences in the respective avifaunas.

The terms primary and secondary forest have been used as defined in the Glossary. Secondary forest varies from low regrowth with few large trees remaining, to areas selectively logged decades back with many large trees remaining, or regrown forest, labelled mature secondary growth in this volume. Where canopies meet and form a continuous cover, even though some disturbance may have taken place, the term closed forest is sometimes applied. At the other end of the scale, where no large trees are left standing, the habitat is labelled scrub.

Forest changes composition with elevation, likewise does the associated avifauna. In the tropics this change is both profound and amazing. In the East Malaysian state of Sabah on Borneo it is possible to travel from the lowlands at Poring Hot Springs to the summit of Mount Kinabalu at 4,101 metres within a couple of days—a journey that has been compared to travelling overland from the Equator to the Arctic.

Very few birds occur across the whole altitudinal range. In fact most birds occur only in the lowland forest. A few are restricted to the extreme lowlands below 300 metres but many also move into the foothills or submontane elevations. At 900 metres elevation the composition of birds changes significantly as many different species can only be found in the lower and upper montane elevations. A few occur only in alpine habitats near the tree limit, which in the tropics is around 3,600 metres.

Therefore the altitudinal range of the bird is an important item of information. Where numbers are given, these are taken from our main sources of reference, sometimes rounded off to nearest the 100 metres. For a definition of the vocabulary used, please see Figure 5 (page 36).

Within the vast region covered by this book we have not found it appropriate to give specific directions to where a particular species can best be found. Only in a few special cases has this been done for species that in our experience are mainly reported from certain often-visited protected areas such as Khao Yai National Park in Thailand or Mount Kinabalu National Park in Sabah.

After a description of the habitat and preferred elevation, there follows a brief mention of where within the habitat the bird is likely to be spotted. Especially in the lowland tropical rainforest, birds are typically specialists and occupy narrow niches within the forest. A few families like flowerpeckers, sunbirds and leafbirds may have members that frequently move across all levels of the forest, but this is the exception. It is true to say that a barbet will never be found on the ground or a pheasant in the top of a tree.

We have followed Strange and Jeyarajasingam (1993) using terms describing the levels of the forest that are best illustrated as in Figure 6 (page 37).

Any relevant notes on feeding and breeding behavior follow at the end of this paragraph.

Distribution and status

The distribution paragraph gives the extralimital range of the bird using the terms defined under 'Area Covered' in this chapter. Only a few species occur worldwide and most are restricted to the Oriental region. A few do not fit into the faunal regions as defined here, but this is explained. For instance, the Red-wattled Lapwing extends outside the Oriental region, without really spreading into the main Palearctic region, so the generally recognised area Middle East has been used.

Where nothing else is mentioned the bird is sedentary. For some groups with many migratory species, such as shorebirds, raptors and warblers, sedentary status is sometimes mentioned for clarification to emphasise that the species is an exception to the rule. But usually this is not the case, since large families like babblers and pheasants simply have no migratory members at all. The status of migratory species is, however, always explained. The term 'nomadic' refers to a species that moves outside its breeding range when not breeding, but not in the predictable north—south route followed by migratory birds.

For a few species their extralimital range falls within the area defined. This region does not have many restricted range or endemic species, but there are some and these are labelled 'Southeast Asia only' for clarification. They include small distribution species such as the Puff-throated, Stripe-throated and Grey-eyed Bulbul, Black-headed Sibia, Green-eared Barbet and Bar-bellied Pitta.

Most other small distribution range species also occur in Indonesia, as is the case for almost all the Sunda subregion endemic species. Even those endemic to Borneo usually extend into Indonesian Kalimantan. Since the rest of the Sunda subregion (Kalimantan, Sumatra, Java and Bali) is covered in A Photographic Guide to the Birds of Indonesia, the reader is advised to consult these two volumes together to get the larger picture of the distribution of most Southeast Asian birds.

Sometimes for clarification the term 'Eastern Indonesia' is used. This collectively refers to that part of Indonesia, which lies east of Borneo and Bali, i.e. east of Wallace's Line, an area that may or may not be regarded as part of the Oriental region. Please see A Photographic Guide to the Birds of Indonesia for further information.

Some species, such as the Green Peafowl and Pied Bushchat, have a discontinuous distribution and occur only in northern Southeast Asia and again on some Indonesia islands, in effect 'jumping over' the humid Sunda subregion. Here maps do not provide the full picture and again it has been necessary to explain further in the text.

After the full stop this paragraph covers the bird's local distribution and status. Where part of the bird's distribution falls outside the area covered—in other words the large majority of species—this has been clarified by the expression 'in region... '. Region refers to the map on pages 2-3.

In general the wording is only meant as a supplement to the maps which are aimed at being self-explanatory. They have been drawn up using our references for source, but have been updated in a few instances according to the latest information published in Oriental Bird Club publications, please see Bibliography for details.

Figure 5: The tropical rainforest at various altitudes

A simple colour-code has been applied to the maps:

blue indicating migratory/non-breeding visitor status only red indicating breeding range.

Where breeding populations are augmented by migratory birds during the winter, this is explained in the text. Winter here refers to the northern hemisphere winter months December, January and February, the actual migratory season for most birds lasts from September to April. A few migrants can in fact be met with in winter quarters almost all months of the year.

Most migratory birds in Southeast Asia arrive on the so-called East Asian Flyway, following either the Malay Peninsula or the Philippine archipelago south, as illustrated in Figure 7 (page 40), which has been modified after Sonobe and Usui (1993).

We are aware that other authors, such as Lekagul and Round (1991) use a more elaborate system of four colour codes to distinguish between migratory and sedentary residents, and between passage migrants and winter visitors. This was deemed impractical in our case as it would only lead to a false sense of accuracy if applied here.

Figure 6: Vertical levels of the rainforest

Since the maps are quite small it is not possible to accurately pick out Singapore, Hong Kong and Brunei. These areas are therefore mentioned specially in the text where appropriate, except for montane species which by definition will not occur in these lowlands.

Although not a country, Hong Kong has been singled out because of a long tradition of birdwatching in and around this territory. Otherwise the southern provinces of China are collectively referred to as south China except for Yunnan province, which is the only location in China for some Oriental region birds. The islands of Taiwan and Hainan can be identified on the map. Please see de Schauensee (1984) for a more detailed account of Chinese avifauna.

In Southeast Asia, there is a prolific trade in captive birds, and some individuals inevitably escape from their cages. Others are deliberately released during religious festivals, Lim and Gardner (1997) lists 58 species spotted in the wild in Singapore which are totally alien to that nation. In general these so-called escapees are not included in ornithological literature and are also not covered here. A few species, however, establish viable breeding populations in this way outside their natural range. These are referred to here as introduced species.

Abundance code

We have tried to provide the reader with some idea of how common the bird is and how likely it is to be found in the field. It must be said that this is a highly subjective exercise and any label attached can only serve as a rough guideline.

The usual reference books are not very reliable for this purpose. Note that MacKinnon & Phillipps (1993) describe the Bushy-crested Hornbill as an 'Abundant hornbill... in Borneo', Legagul & Round (1991) has it as a 'Fairly common resident' in Thailand. Contrary to that, Poonswad and Kemp (1993) list this species as rare in Indonesia and endangered with local extinction in Thailand.

For this purpose I have relied as much on published trip reports and personal comments by fellow birdwatchers as my own experiences. Since I have never seen a Bushy-crested Hornbill, despite travelling through prime habitat in both Thailand and East Malaysia for days and weeks, I simply labelled it as 'generally scarce', although it must be said that it appears to be locally fairly numerous in parts of Peninsular Malaysia. Lekagul and Round (1991) describe the Plain-backed Sparrow as Very common resident' in Thailand, yet birdwatchers have commented to me that they have travelled for weeks through that country working hard to find one or two individuals. Therefore it is listed here as 'uncommon'.

It could be that field guides are either written by very capable ornithologists who easily locate scarce birds, or that they tend to copy from other outdated references. Newer publications like Sun et al, (1998) tend to provide a more realistic picture on status. At any rate, it has been my experience that resident rainforest birds especially are few in number and are usually infrequently encountered, therefore many of those have been 'down-graded' to uncommon status here, which I hope will give the reader a more realistic expectation of birdwatching conditions in the region. In montane forest habitat, the diversity is lower, but the density tends to be higher, and more montane residents thus have been labelled fairly common or even common.

Where there appears to be a great discrepancy in status within range, this has been differentiated between the countries. Please note that references to status do not apply to Myanmar, where very little current information is available.

Some terms used:

Widespread means that the bird occurs over a wide geographical area and in a variety of habitat types.

Local is the antonym for widespread and is used where a species is restricted to a special habitat within a small geographical area.

The term scarce indicates that a bird occurs in low numbers (while an uncommon bird although uncommonly encountered could be locally and seasonally numerous or might be numerous elsewhere in extralimital range).

Numerous is the antonym of scarce, a species occurring in large numbers.

Abundant is very numerous, occurring in very large numbers, sometimes dense flocks.

Figure 7: Southeast Asia migration routes

Modified from Viney, Phillipps and Lam (1994) and Lim and Gardner (1997) we have used the following colour codes to indicate abundance of birds.

Common, Encountered with at least 90 percent certainty in preferred habitat.

Fairly common. Encountered with between 50 percent and 90 percent certainty in preferred habitat.

Uncommon. Encountered with less than 50 percent certainty in preferred habitat.

Rare. Encountered once a year or less in preferred habitat.

Globally threatened status

We have included a code for globally threatened status. It follows the important BirdLife International study, which was published in Collar et al. (1994), please consult this book for more detailed information. Briefly, this survey operates with four main categories, which have been adopted unchanged here:

Critically endangered; 50 percent chance of becoming extinct in five years.

Endangered; 20 percent chance of becoming extinct in 20 years.

Vulnerable; 10 percent chance of becoming extinct in 100 years.

Near-threatened; close to qualifying for the categories above.

The author in freshwater wetlands.