Al Qadrie, Abdurrahman

Udin, Jihad S

English

KUKILA

Kukila 16 (1) 2012 Short Communication 50 First Breeding Record of Buff-banded Rail Gallirallus philippensis for Borneo and First Record for West Kalimantan JIHAD S. UDIN1 & ABDURRAHMAN AL QADRIE2 1 Fauna & Flora International –Indonesia Programme, Ketapang. Email: biji.bio@gmail.com 2 Kawan Burung Ketapang. Email: sungaidungun@yahoo.com   Ringkasan: Mandar-padi Kalung-kuning Gallirallus philippensis merupakan jenis yang tersebar luas mulai dari Filipina, Sulawesi sampai Selandia Baru. Meskipun begitu, jenis ini baru tercatat di Kalimantan pada tahun 2004 dan di kategorikan sebagai pengunjung yang langka dan belum pernah tercatat di Kalimantan Barat sebelumnya. Satu individu tercatat pada Desember 2009, kemudian sebuah sarang dan satu individu yang sedang berbiak dengan empat ekor anak, teramati sedang mencari makan di lahan sawah pasca-panen di desa Pematang Gadung, Ketapang, Kalimantan Barat pada Juli 2010.  The Buff-banded Rail Gallirallus philippensis is found throughout much of Australasia and the south-west Pacific region, including the Philippines, Indonesia, New Guinea, Australia and New Zealand. As such it comprises possibly as many as 22 subspecies (see Taylor 1998).  Although this species is widespread on the neighbouring islands of the Philippines (Kennedy et al 2000) and Sulawesi (Coates & Bishop 1997), it is apparently a rare vagrant in Borneo where it first reported in 2004 (Myers 2009). Since that year there have been at least seven records, comprising two from West Sabah, two from Sarawak, one from Brunei, one unconfirmed report from Lake Jempang, East Kalimantan and more recently, at Pangkalan Bun, Central Kalimantan (Borneobirdimages.com) (Mann 2008; Myers 2009; Phillipps & Phillipps 2009; K.D. Bishop in litt; Q. Phillipps in litt.), suggesting that this species is either increasing in number or has been overlooked.  On 16 December 2009 at 17:40 hrs AAQ observed a Buff-banded Rail within a post-crop rice-field at Pematang Gadung village, Ketapang District, West Kalimantan     (1˚56’57”S; 110˚06’06”E; 3 m asl). The area was a flat, vast rice-field, which located not too far from the beach and peat swamp, occasionally influenced by flood and it only harvested twice a year, thus its occasionally been covered by marshes plant and grasses. Over the next few months one or two birds were often observed at the same location, especially during the early mornings and late afternoons, and photographs were taken (Plate 1).  On July 26 and July 30 2010, we observed a single adult being closely followed by four chicks whilst foraging between tall grasses. The chicks had almost entirely black downy plumage, with a greyish-white spot on the cheek, white spot in the wing, and greyish-brown legs. This is consistent with descriptions for the chick of the species, except that the cheek patch is described as grey and the legs as black (Taylor 1996). When the birds realized our presence the adult ran away, leaving the chicks behind. After some searching we found the chicks hiding in the grass, standing absolutely still, and as a result they were almost stepped upon by the authors (Plate 2). A nest was found nearby which we assumed to be belong to this 51 Short Communication Kukila 16 (1) 2012 species, possibly this individual. The nest was quite flat, rice bowl-shaped, + 20 cm in diameter and made from dried grasses and rice stems, and placed c. 10 cm above the ground (Plate 3). Taylor (1996) describes the nest of this species as being a cup of dry grass and stems, with an external diameter of up to 23 cm, placed on or above the ground in long grass, marsh vegetation or crops. A juvenile was seen and photographed at the same location about two weeks later (Plate 4).    Plate 1. A Buff-banded Rail foraging in a paddy field at Pematang Gadung, West Kalimantan. Plate 2. Chick of Buff-banded Rails foraging in paddy field c. 500 m from the location of Plate 1.    Plate 3. Old nest, presumably of Buff-banded Rails, at Pematang Gadung, West Kalimantan. Plate 4. Juvenile Buff-banded Rail at the same site as in Plate 1. This observation represents the first breeding record of Buff-banded Rail for Borneo, and indicates that the apparent expansion of its range is due to local breeding birds dispersing within Borneo rather than to migrants from the Asian continent. This is the first confirmed record of the Buff-banded Rail from West Kalimantan, but the species may have been previously overlooked by ornithologists in this province, because local people apparently know this bird quite well. They call it “Keruwak Babi” which means “rail that behaves like a pig”, referring to its behaviour of running straight forward with a bowed head. Clearly Buff-banded Rail should be looked for in suitable habitat in other parts of Kalimantan. It would be useful to determine their subspecific identity, as this may give some clues on the origin of the Borneo population. ABDURRAHMAN AL QADRIE JIHAD UDIN JIHAD UDIN ABDURRAHMAN AL QADRIE Kukila 16 (1) 2012 Short Communication 52 Acknowledgements We wish to thank Darmawan Liswanto, Andjar Rafiastanto and Happy Hendrawan (Fauna & Flora International – Indonesia Programme) for giving us the opportunity to conduct bird surveys in Ketapang. Pandam Prasetyo, Sephy noerfahmy, Angga Rachmansah, Mediyansyah, Aaf Afnan and Andhy P.S. (FFI-IP Biodiversity team) are also thanked for their support. Bas van Balen assisted us with identification and comments on an early draft, and Richard Noske, David Bishop and Quentin Phillipps improved subsequent drafts and helped us with the literature, for which we are grateful. Finally we thank the local people of Pematang Gadung village for their hospitality. References Coates, B.J. & Bishop, K.D. 1997. A Field Guide to the Birds of Wallacea. Dove Publications, Australia. Kennedy, R.S., Gonzales, P.C., Dickinson, E.C., Miranda, H.C. & Fisher, T.J. 2000. A Guide to the Birds of the Philippines. Oxford University Press, UK.  Mann, C.F. 2008. The Birds of Borneo. BOU Checklist Series 23. British Ornithologists’ Union, UK. Myers, S. 2009. A Field Guide to the Birds of Borneo. Talisman Publishing, Singapore.   Phillips, Q. & Phillipps, K. 2009. Phillipps’ Field Guide to the Birds of Borneo. Beaufoy Books, UK. Taylor, P.B. 1996. Family Rallidae (Rails). In: del Hoyo, J., Elliott, A. & Sargatal (eds.) Handbook of the Birds of the World. Vol 3. Hoatzin to Auks. Lynx Edicions, Spain.  

First Breeding Record of Buff-banded Rail Gallirallus philippensis for Borneo and First Record for West Kalimantan

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First Breeding Record of Buff-banded Rail Gallirallus philippensis for Borneo and First Record for West Kalimantan

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