| There are two species of hill mynahs in the world, Gracula religiosa and G. ptilogenys. Ten subspecies of Gracula religiosa distribute all over Asia from India, China, Burma,Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam, Malaysia, Indonesia and Philippines.Two of these are found in Thailand (latitude 5°37'N - 20°27'N, longitude 97°22'E - 105°37'E) , one of which is the northern race, Gracula religiosa intermedia inhabiting from north India, China, Burma, Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam and the northern through central part of Thailand and the other is the southern race,G. r. religiosa spreading from the southern part of Thailand to Malaysia and Indonesia. |
Gracula religiosa religiosa |
| From morphology study, the differences between the northern and the southern races of Thai hill mynahs are obvious. The northern birds have smaller sizes of bill, head and body than the southern ones. Moreover, the wattle shape of the former comprises a yellow connection line between front and rear parts which does not appear in the latter. | |
| Both
of them have glossy black feathers which turn purple blue when exposed
to the sunshine with white patches at the tips of both wings, orange big
bills with yellow tips and yellow legs. Males and females are alike, i.e.
they are monomorphic birds. Breeding season is January through July. Being monogamous birds , both male and female make nest, incubate and feed their young. Between August and December we find them living in flock about 7-50 birds. They forage, perch, sun bathe and fly together in group. Eight years of field study (1991-1998) revealed that, on average, out of every 100 eggs there were only 12 independent fledglings which could survive. Most of the rest were caught for caged pets. Thus, breeding in captivity is undoubtedly urgent for the conservation of wild species. |
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