Red spurfowl | Galloperdix spadicea | ചെമ്പൻ മുള്ളൻകോഴി | Wild Birds | Birding Kerala | Wildlife

Описание: Today we are familiarizing Red Spurfowl an endemic bird of India. In Malayalam vernacular, the bird is called as “ Chempan Mullankozhi”.
Scientific name is Galloperdix spadicea. Of the three sub species recordeed, G. spadicea stewarti occurs in Kerala.
The species is found in scrub, dry and moist-deciduous forests often in hilly areas. The bird prefers areas with good undergrowth including Lantana thickets and scrubby bamboos. Often close to cultivation and occurs mostly at 300–1250 m a.s.l. Mostly sedentary, remaining in same area for long periods. When alarmed, dodges from one piece of cover to another. They run very fast, flying only when alarmed. When flushed, they usually fly a short distance and stay in well-defined territories throughout the year. They roost on trees.
The bird is about 35 to 38 cm long and 280 to 450 g in weight and with relatively long dark tail. Bird has overall chestnut brown plumage including the head feathers. The upper parts are chestnut brown with dark barring while the face and neck are more gray in the male. Both sexes have long feathers on the crown that can be erected into a crest.
The underside is rufous with dark markings and both sexes have a red facial skin patch and red legs with one to four spurs while female birds have none.
Downy chicks have an unmarked cinnamon brown head, a dark brown band along the back bordered by creamy stripes edged with thin lines of dark brown.
Bill has reddish base and pinkish-horn tip, iris yellow-brown to brown, bare periocular skin brick red (male) or pinkish red (female), brighter during breeding season in both sexes. Legs are red. Juvenile male more richly and deeply coloured than similar adult female, sometimes with bolder black body barring.
Seeds, berries, fruits, especially figs, and various invertebrates. Mainly forages within vegetation, though will feed on paths and at field edges in early morning and evening; usually in small groups of two to five birds. The calls include a distinct ker-wick...kerwick... and harsh karr...karrr... notes.
Breeding is in most months except the wettest (Jun–Aug). Monogamous. Nest is a shallow scrape, sometimes lined with a few pieces of grass and some leaves, amid dense vegetation, e.g. bamboo. Usually, 2–5 buff-colored eggs; incubation is by female alone, but both parents tend chicks.
Not globally threatened (Least Concern).