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
