Yellow-rumped honeyguide

Description

Behaviour and ecology

A chipping call is produced in flight and when agitated. The flight is straight (may sometimes be undulating They have been observed to make use of the attacks of Vespa mandarinia on Apis laboriosa colonies.thumb|right|220px|Adult photographed in [[West Sikkim]], [[India]]A display of a male involved fluffing its feathers, holding the bill high and flicking wings while swaying from side to side. A female was observed flicking its tail and pressing it down with wings drooped before being mounted by a male. They are brood parasites, laying their eggs in the nest of host species. The host species for the yellow-rumped honeyguide are as yet unknown and undocumented. Young birds of honeyguide species have bill-hooks with which they destroy the eggs and chicks of the host.

Adult males of this species defend exclusive, 3-dimensional territories around a bee nest or nests that hang from cliff faces. Males are polygynous, and they allow only the females with whom they had mated and their young to forge on the defended bee nests; other males and non-mate females are excluded from territories. This mating system is termed "resource-based, non-harem polygyny".

Unlike other honeyguides, this species has not been observed to lead humans and bears to bee hives.

Distribution and habitat

The species has been recorded from northern Pakistan (Hazara and Murree Hills) but the population here may have been extirpated and then in the Himalayan regions of India from western Uttar Pradesh and Himachal Pradesh extending into Nepal, Sikkim, Arunachal Pradesh and Bhutan (where it is relatively common). It is also found in southeastern Tibet and northern Myanmar. It is found in coniferous and dry-deciduous forest with rocky boulders and cliffs. May make altitudinal movements seasonally.

References

References

1. BirdLife International. (2016). "''Indicator xanthonotus''".
2. Jerdon, TC. (1872). "Supplementary notes to "The Birds of India"". Ibis.
3. Ripley, SD. (1951). "Notes on Indian birds: IV". Postilla.
4. (2005). "Birds of South Asia: The Ripley Guide. Volume 2". Smithsonian Institution & Lynx Edicions.
5. (1983). "Handbook of the Birds of India and Pakistan. Volume 4". Oxford University Press.
6. Blanford WT. (1895). "The Fauna of British India, Including Ceylon and Burma. Birds. Volume 3". Taylor and Francis, London.
7. (1983). "Some notes on the ecology and the status of the Orangerumped Honeyguide ''Indicator xanthonotus'' in the Himalayas". J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc..
8. (1979). "Beehive predation by Wasps (Genus ''Vespa'') and its possible benefit to Honeyguides (Indicatoridae) in Bhutan". J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc..
9. (1976). "A resource-based mating system: the Orange-rumped Honeyguide". Living Bird.
10. Magrath, HAF. (1909). "Bird notes from Murree and the Galis". J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc..