Anytime you take a hike, you know it's just as much a sound experience as a visual one. Today's post highlights a bird that gives us both: striking plumage and a song to beat the band. The White-Rumped Shama Thrush, Copsychus malabaricus, loves a dense understory, and will flit among his territory following you as you trek on through. You'll hear him before you see him: a flute-like melody that is throaty and, well, loud. Then you spot him: the deep blue-black feathers that are so glossy, contrasted beautifully by a rufus chest and belly. They have a white rump, and undertail feathers. Females are similar but drabber. The tail itself is crazy long, and this helps the shama maneuver through the thick understory. |
Whenever I see a shama, they are in the lower branches, or rummaging among the leaves strewn on the forest floor, searching for insects and worms. The shama is native to Southeast Asia, and was introduced on Kauai in the 1931. About a decade later it was brought to Oahu, and is now well established. Nests are built in tree cavities, where the shama mama lays three to five pale blue eggs splotched with red. Around two weeks later they hatch, and in another few weeks they fledge to fill our forests walks with song.
9 Comments
Aidan
6/24/2013 04:53:19 am
It's awesome!
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1/21/2020 04:57:25 pm
Dear Jeanne Lindgren,
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Sue White
6/23/2020 10:14:08 pm
Lovely write up on the Shamas. Thanks for sharing! For anyone interested in Shamas, they might enjoy taking a peek at our blog on the Shama family that lives in our yard on Oahu. http://Shamadrama.blogspot.com
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Judith evelyn gardner
5/28/2021 12:47:07 pm
shama thrush nesting in our pua keni keni for the second year . layed eggs in a small birdhouse we had hanging in the tree. the chicks fledged yesterday. we are wondering how we can keep track of them. where do they go once they fledge. we have too many neighborhood cats perusing the yard, do they stay with mom and dad or on their own. any info you can give us about fledgings behaviors is appreciated
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Judith, I just saw your comment. If you are still curious please email me for details on what we observed in our yard over 3 years of a pair of Shamas raising their chicks. We also had a cat come into the yard that killed all 3 chicks of one clutch. It was a feral cat that we trapped and he was adopted by the vet when he was taken in to be scanned for a chip. As for the fledgling behavior, briefly, the parents continue to feed them, the chicks sometimes stick together but often separate and fly about the yard and the parents have to go find them to feed them. In our case the chicks would stick around usually until the next clutch was ready to fledge in which case the father would attack them until they flew off to seek their own territory. We know of at least one case in which we are pretty sure it was the father that killed one of the chicks who refused to leave. (as you will read below this same father attacked his mate and (we believe) killed her. The fledgilngs also do a lot of sparring among each other to prepare for the real battles of fighting for and defending their own territories. One of the female chicks was the most aggressive of her clutch and she and her brothers would end up in aerial fights in which they flew up into the air, pushing off from our balcony, fighting and then falling to the ground only to do it again. We named her "Hawkie". She went off to start her own life and came back one day worse for the wear. She apparently was cocky and took on a Shama that was bigger and more experienced than she and it did not go in her favor. She stayed around a few hours for snacks and then she was gone, never to return. (and yes we can often tell the difference between the Shamas we have known by subtle behaviors. )
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A few more details: the fledglings also follow the parents around, learning how to catch prey. We had one" Cheepie" who had mental and slight physical developmental issues. I showed him how to catch bugs by laying in the yard and pushing bugs towards him until he figured out that they were food. He spent a lot of time in our house and we were very fond of him. He refused to leave and we were very lucky to watch one day the fight between him and his father which resulted in Cheepie claiming the front yard (starting at a particular section of the driveway next to our car) and his father finally conceding that to him. Cheepie later moved out but he was content to have that area until he was ready to fly away to start his own dynasty.
Carson Axtell
6/5/2022 08:10:47 pm
A little more than a month ago a male shama and his mate started visiting our yard, perching in nearby trees, and even approaching within a few feet of me to peck at bugs in the grass next to our lanai. My brother and his family came to visit and his wife was so thrilled at the shama's beautiful song, and she said it even answered her when she spoke to it. A day later I saw him being attacked by red-vented bulbuls after I heard him making a rukus. I chased the bulbuls away, but the next morning my sister-in-law found him dead in the middle of the backyard, surrounded by some his feathers, likely the victim of those vicious bulbuls. I used to be indifferent to bulbuls, though I knew they were invasive, but I don't feel indifferent towards them anymore...
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Carson- so sorry to read of the demise of "your" male shama. We live in Maunawili and have had a different experience, some of which we have written up on our blog. For three wonderful years we had a pair of Shamas and their annual offspring come to us for mealworm snacks and the adults and often their kids would come inside. We also have a pair of Red-vented Bulbuls and several Red-Whiskered Bulbuls which would also come for snacks. The Red-vented male would try to threaten the Shama male if both were on the balcony at the same time but never made physical contact (the bulbuls never come inside). Over time my husband taught the male Bulbul to wait patiently while the Shamas were fed and then he would get his treats. The Red-Whiskered bulbuls are smaller than Shamas and they would occasionally dive bomb the Shamas to intimidate them (it didn't) but never made contact. This year we were looking forward to new clutches of Shamas (our pair usually raised 4 per year). Three chicks were hatched with two surviving. While they were still in the next several adult male Shamas moved into our territory and they harassed the male of our pair. Instead of helping to feed his chicks as he normally did, he went into a frenzy of defending the territory. This went on for days and then my husband observed him turning on the female who was feeding the chicks at the nest and he viscously attacked her. The next day she was never seen again and is presumed killed or she would have, we believe, have returned to her babies. She was a very attentive mother. The day after that one of the prior clutch, who we were very fond of flew into the house for a visit. His father spied him, flew in to the house to attack him and chased him out. The young adult left flying up towards Maunawili Estates. His father stayed around a few days but did not feed the chicks. We tried to save the chicks and one survived for 2 weeks as he let my husband feed him by hand while he sat in a tree. Sadly, he grew weaker which may have been an avian virus as he has seemed to be vigorous until he got weaker and weaker and then died. The father come in for one last time to get a snack. He was very nervous and would not settle down until my husband shut the door so other Shamas could not attack him. Then he ate and when the door was reopened he flew straight out never to return. During this time and for several days after the group of bachelor Shamas hung around singing - apparently vying for who got the territory. The one who won sings every day - perhaps trying to lure in a female as well as defend the territory. He is occasionally seen but makes no contact with us yet. So in our case apparently the stress of having challengers drove our patriarch to commit murder of his spouse and neglect of his chicks and then he left to an uncertain fate. Life is tough for Shamas.
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Carson, I forgot to click on "notify me of new comments to this post" so if you have more observations or any comments on mine I would love to read them. You can also reach me at : [email protected]
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