BIRDS IN ASIA: ARGUSES, IBISES, EAGLES, RARE SPECIES

RARE BIRD SPECIES IN ASIA

Storm's stork

Storm's stork live in the lowland forests of Borneo, Sumatra, southern Thailand and Malaysia. They build their nests on platforms erected on tree branches near a river or swamp. These medium-sized storks weigh four-pounds, are 2½ feet tall birds, have a red bill and feed on fish. They considered to be the rarest of all storks, with an estimated population being less than 500 wild individuals throughout their geographic range. Their population has long been in decline. with deforestation of their native habitat regarded as the biggest threat. [Wikipedia, Canon advertisement in the April 1993 National Geographic].

The Bengal Florican is a critically endangered large grassland bird. Small populations can be found from India to Vietnam with the largest population breeding in the Florican Grassplains (around the Tonle Sap Great lake) in Cambodia. Its population decline is mainly the result of habitat loss due to agricultural intensification. Today, The global population is fewer than 800. [Source: Sam Veasna Conservation Tours]

The Chinese crested tern is one of the world’s rarest birds. It is seen in Fujian Province. Another gull, the Saunder’s gull is one of the rarest birds in China. An NGO called the Saunder’s Gull Protection Association, founded by Liu Detian, has proposed setting up the world’s largest breeding wetland in the 3,149-square-kilometer Panjin wetland in Liaoning Province wetland.

Websites and Resources on Birds: ; Essays on Various Topics Related to Birds stanford.edu/group/stanfordbird ; Avibase avibase.bsc-eoc.org ; Avian Web avianweb.com/birdspecies ; Bird.com birds.com ; Birdlife International birdlife.org ; National Audubon Society birds.audubon.org ; Cornell Lab of Ornithology birds.cornell.edu ; Ornithology ornithology.com ; Websites and Resources on Animals: Animal Diversity Web animaldiversity.org ; BBC Earth bbcearth.com; A-Z-Animals.com a-z-animals.com; Live Science Animals livescience.com; Animal Info animalinfo.org ; World Wildlife Fund (WWF) worldwildlife.org the world’s largest independent conservation body; National Geographic National Geographic ; Endangered Animals (IUCN Red List of Threatened Species) iucnredlist.org

Ibises in Asia

The giant ibis lives in the lowland forests of northern Cambodia and southern Laos. It stands about 100 centimeters tall and weighs between two and four kilograms. The bird feeds in seasonal wetlands and sleeps in roosting trees at night. It was once thought the birds were extinct but a small population was found in the plains of northern Cambodia after the Khmer Rouge lost control of the area. [Canon advertisement in National Geographic].

giant ibis

The giant ibis is one of the largest ibis species in the world and it is Cambodia’s National bird. Around 99 percent of the recorded population is in Cambodia. There are less than 300 of them globally. They can be seen at Tmat Boey in Preah Vihear Province, Prey Veng Village, Okoki and Boeng Toal Vulture Restaurant. They start to breed in the rainy season, so the best time to see them is from November to May. Populations of the giant ibises used to be spread over much of mainland Southeast Asia before their populations rapidly declined as a result of hunting, deforestation and human disturbance. It was believed to be extinct as it went unrecorded for more than 50 years until it was rediscovered by the Wildlife Conservation Society in 1993. [Source: Sam Veasna Conservation Tours]

White-shouldered ibis isare also critically endangered. Like the giant ibis, the white-shouldered ibis it has suffered from habitat loss, hunting and human disturbance and are now found almost exclusively in Cambodia. There are around 670 globally with 85-95 percent in Cambodia. They they can be seen in Tmat Boey in Preah Vihear Province, Bengal Florican Grasslands in Siem Reap Province, and Kratie Province. The best time to see them is during the dry season, from November to May when they breed.

The rare crested ibis was thought to be extinct in the 1970s. In 1981, seven of the birds were found living in the mountains of Yang Prefecture in Shaanxi province. In 1990, the Shaanxi Crested Ibis Rescuing and Breeding Center was set up. Through protection and artificial insemination, scientists have been able to raise the number of crested ibises to 300 through captive breeding and have released some into the wild. The crested ibis is a beautiful bird with white feathers, a red face and a black downward curving bill. Indigenous to Japan, Korea, eastern China and eastern Russia, it is a wading bird that makes its home in rice paddies and marshes. The crested ibis is stockier and have shorter legs that the egrets and herons. In the autumn and winter their plumage turns a pinkish-peach "ibis color." They feed on a large variety of mud-dwelling creatures, particularly loaches.

Asia's Bird Habitats Under Threat

In November 2004, AFP reported: “More than 300 bird species in Asia — about 12 percent of the region's feathered species — are under threat of extinction, with nearly half of their habitats left unprotected, a report warned. The report by conservation group Birdlife International also stressed that Asia's vast ornithological diversity would take a punishing hit in the next decade if governments did not move to formally protect the habitats of the threatened species, some 100 of which are listed as critically endangered. [Source: Agence France-Presse, November 18, 2004]

"If we do not take action we are going to lose 100 species or so in the next 10 years," Birdlife's Asia director Richard Grimmett told AFP at a briefing to launch the report, "Important Bird Areas in Asia". Some 332 bird species in Asia are under threat of extinction, mainly from the destruction of forest habitat, Grimmett said at a forum of the World Conservation Union (IUCN) gathering in Bangkok.

“Covering 28 countries from India to Japan, the report pinpointed 2,293 "important bird areas", many of them of global significance. Forty-three percent of the sites are not formally protected by governments, with another 14 percent only partially protected, said Grimmett. Indonesia is of particular concern, conservationists said, as it is host to 117 of the threatened species — the highest number of endangered birds of any country on earth — and has suffered massive deforestation.

“Huge tracts of Indonesian forests have been clear-cut in recent years to make way for oil palm or pulp plantations and crops such as coffee or bananas. Forest degradation was also cited as a key factor affecting bird species in the Philippines, while conversion of wetlands and grasslands, as well as pollution, invasive species and to a lesser degree the exotic pet trade, have impacted bird populations across the region.

Arguses — Pheasants with Really Long Feathers

Most pheasants originated from Southeast Asia, including ones that are found in Europe and North America today. The male crested argus pheasant of Southeast Asia has the longest feathers of any bird. The tail feathers average around one meter in length and can be as long as two meters. The wing feathers are also very long. Thus bird has an elaborate pattern of eyespots on its tail feathers. Because of this feather pattern, the bird was named after “Argus, a hundred-eyed giant in Greek mythology.” The crested argus is found in only a few places, including: the Tuong San area of Vietnam and Laos and the montane areas of Malaysia.

The male crested argus uses its feathers in a bizarre courtship ritual in which he arranges the long feathers in a fan and then peer at the female through the middle with one eye. Before the courtship ritual the male clears an area in the forest about six meters or so across. He is so thorough that seedling on the space are picked and uprooted. Females are summoned to the “arena” with loud calls. When a female arrives the male dances. As he dances he becomes more exited. Suddenly he erects his enormous tail feather and unfurls his wings so that he looks like a wall of feathers covered in eyes. The hope is that the female will be so blown away by the display that she will let him mount here.

Great arguses also have eyespots on their feathers and very rare. but are a different species.After one was photographed with a trail camera at Kathun Wildlife Sanctuary in Nakhon Si Thammarat, Thailand, Aspen Pflughoeft wrote in the Miami Herald: Trail camera photos show the bird stepping into a clearing. The creature has a bright, royal blue head with a white beak and white mohawk-like hair. Its body has a darker brown coloring with speckles of white throughout, extending into long tail feathers. Male great arguses display their elaborate tail feathers in a “remarkable” ritual, according to Thai National Parks. The bird “clears a spot in the forest,” calls loudly “to attract females” then shows off by spreading his feathers and dancing for her, park officials said. [Source: Aspen Pflughoeft, Miami Herald, April 27, 2023]

Photos shared by wildlife officials show the great argus as he spreads his feathers dramatically. The feathers fan out, almost like a cape, around the creature. Fully extended, the pheasant’s feathers have blue, yellow and brown tones, photos show. Some of its countless “eyes” are visible, small brown circles with a white patch. The wildlife sanctuary’s director, Teerawut Noonsung, estimated “there are about 20 great argus birds left in the sanctuary,” Thai PBS World reported. A survey will verify the exact population size. Nakhon Si Thammarat is a province about 445 miles south of Bangkok.

White-Bellied Sea Eagles

White-bellied sea eagle

White-bellied sea eagles (Haliaeetus leucogaster) are also called white-breasted sea eagles and white-bellied fish eagles. They are found in coastal areas throughout south southeast Asia and Oceania. They range from southern China in the north to Australia and Tasmania, in the south and as far west as India and as far east as New Guinea, and many islands in Southeast Asia, Indonesia, and the Philippines. [Source: Stephen Zahm, Animal Diversity Web (ADW) /=]

White-bellied sea eagles live primarily in forests and rainforests in terrestrial habitats near the ocean, especially coasts, islands, and estuaries, but also live in marshes, other wetlands and forested areas with access to smaller bodies of water, such as lakes, ponds, and rivers. Most white-bellied sea eagles live at elevations between sea level and 900 meters (2953 feet) but some have been spotted as high as 1,700 meters (5577 feet).

White-bellied sea eagles are not considered “true” eagles because they lack the feathered legs characteristic of eagles. The genus name comes from the Greek hali — meaning “at sea” — and aetos — meaning “eagle”. The specific name comes from the Greek leuko — meaning “white” — and gaster — meaning “belly”. In the wild, if white-bellied sea eagles survive to adulthood, they have an expected lifespan of about 30 years. White-bellied sea eagles is closely related to Sanford's sea eagle of the Solomon Islands; the two are considered a superspecies

White-bellied sea eagles are not endangered. The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List classifies them as a species of “Least Concern”. In CITES (Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild) they have no special status. The global population number of white-bellied sea eagles is difficult to estimate, but believed to be between 10,000 and 100,000 individuals. There seems to be a decline in numbers. They have become rare in Thailand and some other parts of southeast Asia and are protected in Tasmania. Deforestation and damage to the forests, wetlands and coastal areas the birds inhabit are probably their greatest threats.

White-Bellied Sea Eagle Characteristics and Diet

White-bellied sea eagles range in weight from 2.2 to 3.0 kilograms (4.8 to 6.6 pounds) and /=\ range in length from 75 to 84 centimeters (29.5 to 33 inches). Their wingspan ranges from 1.8 to 2.2 meters (5.8 to 7.2 feet). They are endothermic (use their metabolism to generate heat and regulate body temperature independent of the temperatures around them) and homoiothermic (warm-blooded, having a constant body temperature, usually higher than the temperature of their surroundings). Sexual Dimorphism (differences between males and females) is present: Females are larger than males. The average female is 80 to 90 centimeters long, has a 2.0 to 2.3 meters wingspan, and weighs 2.5 to 3.9 kilograms, while the average male eagle is 66 to 80 centimeters long, has a wingspan of 1.6 to 2.1 meters, and weighs 1.8 to 2.9 kilograms. [Source: Stephen Zahm, Animal Diversity Web (ADW) /=]

White-bellied sea eagle range

The head, neck, belly, thighs and distal tail-feathers of white-bellied sea eagles are white, while the back, wing coverts, primary wing, and proximal tail-feathers can be dark gray to black. They have dark-brown to black eyes and large, gray, hooked beaks, which originate from a gray cere and end with a black hook. White-bellied sea eagle tails are short and wedge-shaped. Their relatively short legs and feet are covered in scales rather than feathers, which is the case with most eagles, and are generally light-gray to cream in color with large black talons. Juveniles have different coloration than adults, with the head having cream-colored feathers, except for a brown streak behind the eyes. The rest of the feathers are dark-brown in color with cream at the tip, except for the white feathers at the base of the tail. Adult plumage develops at about five years of age. White-bellied sea eagles can sometimes be confused with the brahminy kites or Egyptian vultures. However, they can easily be distinguished because these species are much smaller than white-bellied sea eagles. Wedge-tailed eagles can also be mistaken for white-bellied sea eagles, but wedge-tailed eagles have feathered legs and more dark coloration than these sea eagles. /=\

White-bellied sea eagles are piscivores (eat fish) and carnivores (eat meat or animal parts). They primarily prey on aquatic animals, especially fish, eels, and crustaceans, but also turtles, sea-snakes, and birds, including gulls, waterfowl, and young herons. They have also been observed preying on mammals, such as grey-headed flying-foxes and short-eared rock-wallabies. Their large, powerful talons allow them to grasp large prey items. White-bellied sea eagles are opportunistic feeders. They have been seen feeding on carrion and stealing food items from other birds of prey. White-bellied sea eagles attack their prey by either swooping down from a perch or swooping in after circling it from above. Smaller prey items (less than half of white-bellied sea eagle mass) are consumed in-flight, whereas larger sized prey are carried back to a perch to be consumed, except in the case of carrion, which is consumed on the ground.

White-Bellied Sea Eagle Behavior and Reproduction

White-bellied sea eagles are arboreal (live mainly in trees), good fliers and gliders, diurnal (active during the daytime), motile (move around as opposed to being stationary), sedentary (remain in the same area) and territorial (defend an area within the home range). White-bellied sea eagles live exclusively in breeding pairs, with nests about two to three kilometers apart but up to seven pairs have been recorded living in the same territory. Adults are mostly sedentary in their home territory. Juveniles emigrate to find their own territory once they are independent. Pairs defend a territory of approximately three square kilometers around the nest. The flight of these eagles consists of slow flaps, followed by periods of gliding with the wings in a shallow V-shape. [Source: Stephen Zahm, Animal Diversity Web (ADW) /=]

White-bellied sea eagle take off composite

White-bellied sea eagles hunt in pairs (usually breeding pairs) and are most active between 9:00 a.m. and 3:00 p.m. They communicate with vision and sound and sense using vision, touch, sound and chemicals usually detected with smell. Their primary form of communication are vocalizations, which consist of loud, goose-like honks and duck-like cries. White-bellied sea eagles have also been known to make croaking sounds when alarmed. Vocalizations are a key part of attracting mates and courtship behavior. Like most birds of prey, white-bellied sea eagles have sharp senses of sight, allowing them to spot prey from large distances.

White-bellied sea eagles engage in seasonal breeding. They breed once a year, with the breeding season varying between regions, but is typically during the spring and summer months. The number of eggs laid each season ranges from one to three. The time to hatching ranges from 35 to 44 days, with the fledging age ranging from 100 to 139 days and the age in which they become independent ranging from three to six months. Females and males reach sexual or reproductive maturity at three to seven years. [Source: Stephen Zahm, Animal Diversity Web (ADW) /=]

White-bellied sea eagles are monogamous. According to Animal Diversity Web: Courtship for white-bellied sea eagles begins with the male and female vocalizing in a duet. This is followed by aerial displays — including circling, chasing, diving, somersaulting, and cartwheeling with the talons locked. This behavior occurs throughout the year, but increases in frequency once breeding season arrives. Once white-bellied sea eagles have found a mate, they stay with that mate for life. However, if that mate dies, another is found.

White-bellied sea eagles invest significantly in their offspring. Eggs are incubated by both the male and female parent. After hatching, both parents will brood over the nestlings for the first two weeks, and then will transition to guarding the nest from nearby. By the time nestlings become fledglings, parents will no longer guard the nest. As part of brooding, the eagles spread their wings to shield the nestlings from the sun. The large nest of the species ranges in size from an average 1.2 to 1.5 meters wide and 0.5 to 1.8 meters deep, and is composed of sticks, leaves, grass, and seaweed. Males do most of the nest-building. Nests are reused and added onto every year, so some nests can be as large as 2.5 meters wide and 4.5 meters deep. White-bellied sea eagle nests are found in tall trees, high on cliffs, or in low bushes.

The parents take brooding in shifts. While one parent is attending the nest, the other parent will hunt for prey to return to the nest. The parents will feed the nestlings bill to bill, but only for the first six weeks of life. After this time, the chicks are able to feed themselves on anything the parents bring to the nest. White-bellied sea eagle parents have different feeding styles. The female parent tends to feed all nestlings at the same time, while the male parent tends to feed the older or stronger chick first before feeding the other(s).

Philippine Eagle

Philippine eagle

With a wing span of over two meters, the Philippine eagle is the second largest eagle in world, and one of the rarest. The Harpy eagle of South America is the largest. The Philippine eagle used be called the "monkey eating eagle" but Ferdinand Marcos found the term "monkey eating" to be denigrating so he proclaimed in 1978 that from then on the bird would to be known as the Philippine Eagle in part to promote national pride. In 1995, it replaced the maya, a sparrow, as the national bird. The eagle is found on only three islands, with the largest number on Mindanao.

The great birds of prey of the rain forest—the Harpy eagle, the crowned eagle of Africa and the Philippine eagle— are remarkably similar. All have large crests, and broad relatively short wings with long tails, which allow them to maneuver through the trees. They build a large, platform nest of twigs which they reuse season after season and usually raise a single offspring that stays with the parents for about a year. One unique feature of the Philippine eagle is its blue eyes, a rarity among raptors. Both sexes raise their crests. Their large size is due in part to they fact they evolved without competition from big cats and other large predators.

Mel White wrote in National Geographic, “Exactly how big a hole would be left by the loss of the Philippine eagle? The loss of this glorious bird would steal some of the world's wonder. It glides through its sole habitat, the rain forests of the Philippines, powerful wings spread to seven feet, navigating the tangled canopy with unexpected precision. It is possible that no one has ever described this rare raptor, one of the world's largest, without using the word "magnificent." If there are those who did, then heaven heal their souls. [Source: Mel White, National Geographic, February 2008]

Jungle Fowl

Chickens were first domesticated from the red jungle cock, a bird native to Thailand, Burma, Laos, eastern India and Sumatra, about 5,000 years ago, apparently as much for the production of fighting cocks as meat and eggs. Male jungle cocks look just like conventional roosters. Jungle fowl chicks sometimes have coloring similar to chipmunks, which is ideal camouflage.

Red jungle fowl (Gallus gallus) live in mountain forests, bamboo woods, bushes and grass slopes. The length of male birds is 70 centimeters; females, 40 centimeters. They weigh 600 grams to one kilograms. They get food with their bill or peck after scratching with claws and eat seeds of vegetation, fruits, ants, termites and locusts. Resident bird that tend to stick to a particular area, red jungle fowls often spend their time in small groups. During mating the season, they utters sounds roosters but the sound at the end of their call stops suddenly. When competing for females during the mating season, male red jungle fowls often fight with one another. Wild jungle fowls are good at running and are extremely vigil. Red jungle fowls are the ancestors of modern chicken fowls. All species of domesticated chickens come from them.

range of White throated Kingfisher

The jungle fowl adapted easily to domestication. They became a dual-purpose bird. They produced eggs. When the bird grew to old to lay they could be killed for their meat. And of course they also provided cocks for fighting. Some have speculated that people may have first kept chickens for this symbolic connection with the dawn. In ancient India priests sacrificed chickens to the god of the sun. Other early Asian societies bred the birds for cockfighting.

Jungle fowl and chickens belong to the same family of birds as quails, partridges and pheasants. They are the only birds with combs, the fleshy growth on their heads; they generally eat seeds, insects and worms; and can fly several meters to make an escape. An average rooster weighs around 7 pounds, an average hen, 5 pounds.

Kingfishers

Kingfishers are especially well represented in Southeast Asia. Kingfishers are birds with a long, straights beaks that hunt for fish and other small creature by dive bombing into shallow water. They often have bright iridescent feathers. Cobalt blue with a touch red are common colors. Some species have a slightly hooked beak. Straight beaks are suited mainly for striking and grasping prey while slightly hooked ones are designed for holding and crushing.

Kingfishers are usually monogamous. They make their nests in burrows in river banks or hollows of trees or rotted logs. Courtship displays often involve loud calls and flights over the treetops. Both sexes participate in digging a burrow. A male courting a female, brings her one or two fish, carry them crossways in his bill. Chicks are fed regurgitated pellets.

Kingfishers live primarily on small fish, frogs and crawfish they catch by diving into the surface of a lake or river. They like to perch on branches overlooking prime hunting spots and often sit on one spot patiently, without moving for long periods of time, waiting for an unsuspecting fish to come within range. Kingfishers especially like ponds or lakes with trees that they can use as perches overhanging the water. They ideally like to be near shaded areas, where fish often congregate.

White throated Kingfisher

Kingfishers rarely dive deeper than 30 centimeters and catch most of their prey near lake shores or river banks. They do not pursue their prey underwater like cormorant or grebes. If they don’t have any success in their initial plunge they return to their perch and try again later. If they catch a fish they do not tear it to pieces rather they maneuver it around into the right position inside their bill and swallow it head first. Sometimes they slam their prey against a branch to kill it or stun it and make it easier to swallow.

Kingfishers can hoover above the water, They can't do it as long as hummingbirds and most species need some wind to do it. Even their hoovering ability is quite extraordinary and required a radical alteration of the basic bird skeleton to achieve. Some kingfishers hunt over land rather water.

Describing a kingfisher capturing a small fish, David Attenborough, wrote in The Life of Birds, "the turquoise blue kingfisher sits on a perch above a stream, short of tail but armed with a long dagger of a beak. At the sight of a small fish in the water below, it will flash into action. If its perch is a low one, only a few feet above the surface of the water, it will fly upwards to gain height to give itself room to gain speed on its dive."

"Then down it comes increasing its momentum with a few flickering wing-beats. With its wings extended but folded back tightly against its body, it plunges into the river. Its target may be minnow or a stickleback, Even if it is as much as three feet below the surface, the kingfisher will be able to reach it. Beating its wings below water to help it rise, the little bird shoots through the surface and flies off to a perch. There is kills its victim by thrashing its head against some hard object, and with one gulp, swallows it."

Peacocks

Peafowl are ground-dwelling forest birds that are native to Asia. They are members of the pheasant family and related to chickens and jungle fowl. There are three species. The blue peafowl have been adapted to humans and share parks with them in India and Europe. The green peafowl is regarded as endangered in its native Southeast Asia, mainly through destruction of its forest habitat.

There are all together three species of peafowl: the green peafowl, the blue peafowl and the Congo peafowl. Blue peafowl are quite similar with green peafowl; only that the color of their tails are mainly blue and the feather crest of blue peafowl are like a bat. The Congo peafowl was only discovered in 1936 in the rain forests of the eastern Congo.

Javan green peafowl

The blue peafowl (peacocks) are native to Southeast Asia, India and Sri Lanka, where they are still common in the wild. They are also known as the common peafowl and the Indian peafowl. Males are called peacocks. Females are called peahens. A group of peacocks is called an "ostentation" or a "flock." In the wild this usually consist of one cock and three of hour hens.

Green Peafowl (Pavo muticus) are the largest pheasant bird. The body and tail length of males, is 2.3 meters; of females, about one meter. Adults weigh seven to eight kilograms. They live in mountain forests and in low latitude tropical and sub-tropical forests, bamboo woods and bush lands. They get food with their bill or peck after scratching with claws and eat leaves, flowers, fruit of vegetation of various kinds and insects. They can be found South and Southeast Asia.

Green Peafowl like to hang around at ground level and get most of their food there. They don’t fly much except to escape when threatened The rest on trees during the night. The build their nests and lay their eggs in hiding places in the bush. During the mating season, males display their tails to show their beautiful feathers while making "ah, wu, ah, wu" noises. The tail feathers of green peacocks can number more than 100 pieces.

Image Sources: Wikimedia Commons

Text Sources: Animal Diversity Web animaldiversity.org ; National Geographic, Live Science, Natural History magazine, David Attenborough books, New York Times, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, Smithsonian magazine, Discover magazine, The New Yorker, Time, Reuters, Associated Press, AFP, Lonely Planet Guides, Wikipedia, The Guardian, Top Secret Animal Attack Files website and various books and other publications.

Last updated February 2025