The long-legged thicketbird (''Cincloramphus rufus'') is a small bird

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found els ...

to Fiji. The species is sometimes known as the long-legged warbler. It was formerly classified as the sole representative of the

genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus comes above species and below family. In binomial n ...

''Trichocichla''. The long-legged thicketbird is a large thin warbler (19 cm) with a long tail and long legs. The species' plumage is reddish brown, the throat, breast and belly being white and the face being marked with a distinctive eye-stripe. The long-legged thicketbird is a shy bird and easily overlooked as it forages on the ground in pairs or small family groups. It has a distinctive alarm

call Call or Calls may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Games * Call, a type of betting in poker * Call, in the game of contract bridge, a bid, pass, double, or redouble in the bidding stage Music and dance * Call (band), from Lahore, Pak ...

, and a variable and loud

song A song is a musical composition intended to be performed by the human voice. This is often done at distinct and fixed pitches (melodies) using patterns of sound and silence. Songs contain various forms, such as those including the repetiti ...

somewhat similar to that of the Fiji bush warbler. The species inhabits

old-growth forest An old-growth forestalso termed primary forest, virgin forest, late seral forest, primeval forest, or first-growth forestis a forest that has attained great age without significant disturbance, and thereby exhibits unique ecological featur ...

in mountainous areas on Viti Levu, usually in habitat adjacent to streams. The long-legged thicketbird was first collected in 1890 and four specimens were collected between then and 1894, after which the species was not seen again until 1974 (though there were a few unconfirmed sightings). In 1974 the Vanua Levu subspecies ''Megalurulus rufus cluniei'' was discovered (although it has not been seen since). In 2003 scientists from

BirdLife International BirdLife International is a global partnership of non-governmental organizations that strives to conserve birds and their habitats. BirdLife International's priorities include preventing extinction of bird species, identifying and safeguarding ...

working in Wabu Forest Reserve in Viti Levu discovered a small population of ''M. rufus''. Twelve pairs, along with two recently

fledge Fledging is the stage in a flying animal's life between hatching or birth and becoming capable of flight. This term is most frequently applied to birds, but is also used for bats. For altricial birds, those that spend more time in vulnera ...

d chicks, were observed by the team. Other populations were subsequently found to occur in various locations in old-growth

montane forest Montane ecosystems are found on the slopes of mountains. The alpine climate in these regions strongly affects the ecosystem because temperatures fall as elevation increases, causing the ecosystem to stratify. This stratification is a crucia ...

between 300 and 800 meters

AMSL Height above mean sea level is a measure of the vertical distance (height, elevation or altitude) of a location in reference to a historic mean sea level taken as a vertical datum. In geodesy, it is formalized as '' orthometric heights''. The c ...

. The population is assessed to be stable or at least not declining rapidly, if very small (between 50 and 249 mature birds) but protection of sufficient habitat is necessary to keep it that way. Threats include some logging and the impact of introduced predators (the

small Asian mongoose Small Asian mongoose is a common name applied to two mammals which were formerly considered to be a single species: *Javan mongoose *Small Indian mongoose The small Indian mongoose (''Urva auropunctata'') is a mongoose species native to Iraq and ...

and the

black rat The black rat (''Rattus rattus''), also known as the roof rat, ship rat, or house rat, is a common long-tailed rodent of the stereotypical rat genus ''Rattus'', in the subfamily Murinae. It likely originated in the Indian subcontinent, but is n ...

). Neither has been quantified, but they appear not to be very serious at present.

References

*Pratt, H.; Bruner, P & Berrett, D. (1987) ''The Birds of Hawaii and the Tropical Pacific'' Princeton University Press, Princeton. {{Taxonbar, from=Q902738 long-legged thicketbird Endemic birds of Fiji long-legged thicketbird Taxobox binomials not recognized by IUCN