A CASE STUDY ON BREEDING BEHAVIOUR OF MALABAR WHISTLING THRUSH (MYOPHONUS HORSFIELDII; VIGORS 1831) IN PANVAL VILLAGE, RATNAGIRI, M.S., INDIAArchita A. Khanvilkar and M.N. JambleAbstract Malabar Whistling Thrush (Myophonus horsfieldii; Vigors, 1831) is a very common endemic bird of Western Ghats, peninsular India as well as in parts of Central India (Grimmett et al., 2011). It belongs to the family Muscicapidae of order Passeriformes. Its breeding behaviour was observed as a case study in the Panval village near Hatkhamba, Ratnagiri district for consecutive three years 2020, 2021 and 2022. It was observed that the pairing in the bird starts in early June, right from the onset of monsoon. After a successful courtship, the birds were found to build a nest in a big crevice in the side wall of a domestic well in Panval village. It has been recorded that they are using the same nesting site for the last three consecutive years. The breeding season in Panval was found to be restricted between June to September during the study period. The time required for nest construction was observed to be 5-6 days. Clutch size was either three or four. Mean incubation period was 15 days. The mean parenting period was 18 days till the first flight of chicks. Both the parents perform the parenting duties. Surprisingly, two successive breeding cycles were observed during the years 2020 and 2021 by using the same nest. Success rate of live chicks leaving the nest was 100%. |