Black Shama

The Cebuschama ( Copsychus cebuensis ), also known as Cebu Dajal, is a Singvogelart from the family of flycatchers ( Muscicapidae ). Previously she was in the thrush family ( Turdidae ) provided and considered at times as a subspecies of Mohrendajals ( Copsychus niger). It is endemic to the Philippines island of Cebu.

Features

The Cebuschama reaches a length of 20 cm. The plumage of the male is predominantly black with a dark blue sheen. The wings are colored matt and may have a slight brown tint. The female is smaller than the male and has a blackish - gray plumage coloration. The long tail is stepped, the beak is black and the eyes are dark brown. Juvenile birds are greyish with brownish- black wings.

Vocalizations

The vocals are varied and melodic. Occasionally mimics the Cebuschama the singing of other birds.

Habitat and behavior

The Cebuschama is a state bird. Their way of life is inconspicuous - often you can hear them before you see them. The habitat are primary forests and the dense undergrowth of secondary habitats, including forests, bush, forests with logging, plantations and bamboo groves.

The breeding season extends from February to September. Brooding females a female laying eggs in April, a juvenile females in June, a male with enlarged testes in July and a male immatures were observed in October in June. The cup-shaped nest is often built at the ends of sawed or broken bamboo trees. The nest consists of two to three eggs.

The species feeds on insects, including beetles.

Inventory and risk

At the beginning of the 20th century Cebuschama was described as very rare. In the 1930s, she described the Japanese ornithologist Masauji Hachisuka as rarest of all Philippine Schama. Although the Philippine zoologist Dioscoro S. Rabor 1959 noticed that the Cebuschama of the ten local Vogeltaxa Cebus is the only surviving, but remained as from July 1956, when a male was caught, and November 1981 confirmed evidence of this kind. BirdLife International classifies the Cebuschama in the category of " high risk " ( endangered ), and estimates the backlog at 1,000 to 5,000 adult birds. Intensive field work since the 1990s has shown that the Cebuschama occurs in at least 15 locations on Cebu, where a 700 -acre wooded area near Nug -as with probably 2500 copies, has the largest population. The main hazard is due to the destruction of forests. Today, only 15 km ² Cebus covered with forest, which is threatened by illegal deforestation.