Malayan forktail
| Malayan forktail | |
|---|---|
 | |
| In Sabah, Malaysia | |
 | |
| In Nakhon Si Thammarat, Thailand | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Aves |
| Order: | Passeriformes |
| Family: | Muscicapidae |
| Genus: | Enicurus |
| Species: | E. frontalis |
| Binomial name | |
| Enicurus frontalis Blyth, 1847 | |
 | |
| Synonyms | |
|
Enicurus leschenaulti frontalis | |
The Malayan forktail (Enicurus frontalis) is a species of bird in the family Muscicapidae. It is found from extreme southern Myanmar and the Malay Peninsula to Sumatra and Borneo. It was described by John Gould in 1866. It has two subspecies.
Taxonomy and systematics
This species was considered as conspecific with the Javan forktail and the northern forktail under the common name "white-crowned forktail". The three species were split based on differences in morphometrics, plumage, vocalizations and mitochondrial DNA. This species is similar to the two related species, but differs in having a much smaller size, shorter tail, having a different number of white bands on the tail, and the extent of white on the crown, which extends past the midpoint in this species.
This species was formally described by Edward Blyth in 1847 in the article Notices and Descriptions of various New or Little Known Species of Birds, published in the The Asiatic Society. The holotype was collected from Malacca.
There are two recognized subspecies —
- Enicurus frontalis frontalis Blyth, 1847
This subspecies is the more widely distributed subspecies, found in the central Malay Peninsula, lowland Borneo, Sumatra and Nias. This subspecies is similar to the Javan forktail, but it is smaller and has less white on the crown.
- Enicurus frontalis chaseni de Schauensee, 1940
This subspecies is restricted to the Batu Islands off northern Sumatra. The holotype was collected on 7 September 1896 by Jan Zacharias Kannegieter from Tanahmasa. This subspecies is much larger than subspecies frontalis and has a longer tail.
Etymology
The genus name Enicurus is a combination of two Greek words: henikos (ἑνικος) "singular" and oura (ουρα) "tail". The specific epithet frontalis refers to the distinctively colored brow or white crown of this species. The subspecies name chaseni commemorates the British ornithologist Frederick Nutter Chasen.
Description
This species is one of the largest forktails, similar in size to the northern forktail and the Javan forktail. It is a black-and-white colored bird, with a deeply forked tail, which is evenly graduated with white tips. The head and the breast are black, and the crown has a white patch which extends to the midcrown. The back and scapulars are black, with a white wing-patch. The lower back, rump and lower underparts are also black, while the belly is white.
The bill is black and the legs are pinkish in color. The male and female are similar in plumage.
The juvenile coloration is black, not brown like the juveniles of the northern forktail. This species may also come into contact with the northern forktail in the Malay Peninsula, however, this species has a different alarm and contact call. It is similar to the Bornean forktail, which occurs in the highlands of Borneo, but the Bornean forktail has a shorter crown patch and a thinner wing patch; and is smaller with a longer tail.
Vocalizations
The song is uncommonly heard, and is a musical song consisting of high-pitched whistles and clacking notes with short whistles.
The tsee call of this species is similar to the northern forktail and may be repeated several times with intervals of a few seconds or in a series of 3-10 whistles with no pause between them. The gzweet call, uttered by the northern forktail, is absent in this species.
Behaviour and ecology
Behaviour
This species occurs on streams and rivers near the chestnut-naped forktail in Malaysia and is a shy and cautious bird. It holds its tail slanted upwards and may open and close it rapidly in a scissor like motion. It flies at the first sight of disturbance and when alarmed, raises the feathers of the crown.
Diet and foraging
Its diet includes earthworms, springtails, beetles and water crickets. It forages in water, on the water's edge, or on rocks; with a quick pecking and walking motion, or rarely submerging itself in the water, in the manner of dippers.
Habitat
This species occurs near fast-flowing rivers, streams and brooks; and is occasionally seen in areas of dry forest and even roadsides in central Borneo. It occurs at an elevation of about 1400 m in Sumatra and Borneo.
Breeding
The breeding habits of this species are poorly known. Nests are built in a shallow recess in the dry bed of gully 50 m away from a river, in limestone 1.5 m from the ground. The nest is made of mud and moss, and lined with leaf skeletons.
References
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Collar, Nigel; Kirwan, Guy M.; Boesman, Peter F. D. (2026-10-27), Billerman, Shawn M.; Keeney, Brooke K.; Rodewald, Paul G.; Schulenberg, Thomas S. (eds.), "Malayan Forktail (Enicurus frontalis)", Birds of the World, Cornell Lab of Ornithology, doi:10.2173/bow.whcfor10.01, retrieved 2026-11-04
- ↑ Christidis, Les; Rheindt, Frank E.; Iliff, Marshall J.; Lepage, Denis; J., Praveen; Donald, Paul; Rasmussen, Pamela C.; Schulenberg, Tom; Areta, Juan Ignacio (2026-10-21). AviList v2026 (Report). Cornell Lab of Ornithology. doi:10.2173/avilist.v2026.
- ↑ E Blyth (1847). Notices and Descriptions of various New or Little Known Species of Birds.
- ↑ Sakthivel, R. (2011). Catalogue of type specimens (Aves) in the national zoological collection of the Zoological Survey of India. Kolkata : Zoological Survey of India. ISBN 978-81-8171-294-3.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: publisher location (link) - ↑ de Schauensee, Rodolphe Meyer (1940). "The Birds of the Batu Islands". Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia. 92. Academy of Natural Sciences: 23–42. ISSN 0097-3157.
- ↑ Jobling, James A. (2010). The Helm dictionary of scientific bird names: from aalge to zusii. London: Christopher Helm. ISBN 978-1-4081-3326-2.
- 1 2 3 4 5 Clement, Peter; Rose, Chris (2015). Robins and chats. Helm identification guides. London ; New York: Christopher Helm. ISBN 978-0-7136-3963-6.
- ↑ Forestry, ForestBiology. "A CHECKLIST OF THE BIRDS IN THAILAND".
{{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires|journal=(help) - 1 2 3 Wells, David (2010). The Birds of the Thai-Malay Peninsula: covering Burma and Thailand south of the eleventh parallel, Peninsular Malaysia and Singapore. Philip D. Round, Uthai Treesucon. London: Christopher Helm. ISBN 978-1-4081-3313-2.