The Shama

Once again we saw the White-rumped Shama. Perhaps there is a healthy and stable population of these delightful birds at Sebana? Unfortunately we did not get a chance to get a good shot of the bird on our previous visit. We've done a little better this time :) Enjoy the video.

Note: The "bird call" in the video is actually that of a primate! It's Grant's bird song :) He was trying to encourage the bird to sing, though it refused to do so while this video was being taken. Stubborn little brat. Oh well... there will be other opportunities.

Male white-rumped Shama taken at Sebana (Copsychus malabaricus)

There was another White-rumped shama seen together with this one, possibly a female. Trying to impress the chicks* with his melodious voice eh?

The white-rumped shama has a very large range: it is found from Northern India all the way down to Indonesia! [Sounds familiar? It should- the range of the Oriental Pied Hornbill(Anthracoceros albirostris) is similar]. When animals and plants have very large ranges, this could be because they are highly adaptable. It is those organisms that are very specialized, in that they can only survive within a very limited set of environmental conditions, that are usually more likely to become endangered and go the way of the dodo*. The slightest itty-bitty change in the environment can drastically affect these organisms. 

Animals we usually consider pests, on the other hand, are able to withstand the changes that we 2-legged, upright walking apes have made to this little planet of blue and green. Whilst the shama is not considered a pest(probably because we find it attractive... shallow individuals that we are), it is also adaptable and this has enabled it to conquer a large land area. 

White-rumped Shama (Copsychus malabaricus)

Unfortunately, their beautiful voices mean that they are often captured for the bird trade causing them to become locally extinct in some areas. (The Star: Illegal bird trafficking) All to feed Man's greed for all things pleasing to the senses. One of those places is Singapore, where this bird is on the red list. However, there is some good news in all of this: globally, they are not endangered. IUCN* states the conservation status of this bird as being of "Least Concern". But with increasing deforestation depriving these birds, as well as many others such as hornbills, of homes, this bird too may one day cease to exist.

The highly territorial nature of these birds has helped trappers catch this bird by setting up a "decoy shama" in a chosen area and spreading a glue-like substance around this bird. When it calls, other white-rumped shamas in the vicinity come to chase the intruder away but end up being caught in the process. These beautiful birds are then doomed to a life of cage-dom*   

Interestingly, Singapore's former $50 note features the White-rumped Shama! This note was from the bird series of notes that is no longer in circulation today, though some still hold on to it hoping to make a small fortune from it in the future.

Singapore currency with White-rumped Shama

[Image adapted from this website on 14 March 2010]

Zebutionary

Cage-dom: Cage + "dom" as in "freedom" or any other "dom"s you can think of 

Chicks: Here it refers to other female birds rather than juvenile birds

Dodo: A now extinct bird

IUCN: International Union for Conservation of Nature

References
BirdLife International (2009) Species factsheet: Copsychus malabaricus. Downloaded from http://www.birdlife.org on 17/3/2010


Chris R. Shepherd, Jeet Sukumaran, Serge A. Wich (2004) Open Season:An analysis of the pet trade in Medan, Sumatra 1997 - 2001 TRAFFIC Southeast Asia