Broad-tailed Grassbird

Taxobox
name = Broad-Tailed Grassbird
status = VU | status_system = IUCN3.1
status_ref = BirdLife International 2004. [http://www.iucnredlist.org/search/details.php/19994/all Schoenicola platyurus] . [http://www.iucnredlist.org 2006 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. ] Downloaded on 10 July 2007.]

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regnum = Animalia
phylum = Chordata
classis = Aves
ordo = Passeriformes
familia = Sylviidae
genus = "Schoenicola"
species = "S. platyurus"
binomial = "Schoenicola platyurus"
binomial_authority = Jerdon, 1844
synonyms = The Broad-Tailed Grassbird ("Schoenicola platyurus") is a species of Old World warbler in the Sylviidae family. It is found only in India.

Description

The uniform brown upperparts, broad and long tail of the bird is distinctive. The species has a buff supercilium and the tail has thin dark bars on the brown. The call of the male during breeding is a lark like and repeated trill that is accompanied by a fluttering flight. [Raman ,T. R. S. (1998) Observations on the vocalizations and display of the Broadtailed Grass Warbler ("Schoenicola platyura") (Jerdon). Newsl. for Birdwatchers. 38(1):6.] Other calls include a "chack" and a "zink" note. In the non-breeding season, it is a skulker.

Distribution

The species is restricted to grassy highlands highlands, principally in the Western Ghats of southern India. A specimen has been collected at Point Calimere and suggests that the bird may be involved in local movements or migrations. [Hussain,SA (1976) Occurrence of the Broadtailed Grass Warbler "ISchoenicola platyura" (Jerdon)] on the Coromandel coast. J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc. 73(2):400-401.] Suggestions that it may occur in Sri Lanka are as yet not supported.

Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical moist shrubland, subtropical or tropical seasonally wet or flooded lowland grassland, and swamps. It is threatened by habitat loss.

References