The Visayan shama (''Copsychus superciliaris'') is a species of

bird Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class (biology), class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the Oviparity, laying of Eggshell, hard-shelled eggs, a high Metabolism, metabolic rate, a fou ...

in the family

Muscicapidae The Old World flycatchers are a large family, the Muscicapidae, of small passerine birds restricted to the Old World (Europe, Africa and Asia), with the exception of several vagrants and two species, bluethroat (''Luscinia svecica'') and north ...

. It is

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found only 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 foun ...

to Ticao,

Masbate Masbate, officially the Province of Masbate (Masbateño language, Masbateño: ''Probinsya san Masbate''; ), is an island Provinces of the Philippines, province in the Philippines located near the midsection of the nation's archipelago. Its provi ...

Negros Negros (, , ) is the fourth largest and third most populous island in the Philippines, with a total land area of . The coastal zone of the southern part of Negros is identified as a site of highest marine biodiversity importance in the Coral Tr ...

, and

Panay Panay is the sixth-largest and fourth-most populous island in the Philippines, with a total land area of and a total population of 4,542,926, as of 2020 census. Panay comprises 4.4 percent of the entire population of the country. The City of Il ...

in the

Philippines The Philippines, officially the Republic of the Philippines, is an Archipelagic state, archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. Located in the western Pacific Ocean, it consists of List of islands of the Philippines, 7,641 islands, with a tot ...

. It formerly considered a subspecies of the white-browed shama (''Copsychus luzoniensis'').

Description and taxonomy

Described on ebird as "A medium-sized, long-tailed bird... Black on the upperparts and tail, with a white belly and pale pink legs. Male has a black throat and chest. Female has a rufous patch on the rump and lower back, and a white throat with a black breast band. Somewhat similar to Philippine magpie-robin, but has a long white eyebrow and no white wing patch. Heard more often than seen. Gives a very varied song, with loud melodic whistles, warbling trills, and repeated loud “chew chew chew!” notes." It was previously conspecific with the White-browed shama but it differs in molecular genetics, vocally, an all black rump, wings and tail, lacking the White-browed's white wingpatch, shorter tail and longer legs.

Ecology and behavior

Not much is known about the diet but also presumed to feed on a typical shama diet of insects. Usually seen in pairs foraging close to the forest floor or thickets with a lot of tangled vines. Nothing is known about its breeding habits.

Habitat and conservation

Its natural

habitat In ecology, habitat refers to the array of resources, biotic factors that are present in an area, such as to support the survival and reproduction of a particular species. A species' habitat can be seen as the physical manifestation of its ...

is moist tropical primary and secondary forest up to 1,000 meters above sea level.

International Union for Conservation of Nature The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) is an international organization working in the field of nature conservation and sustainable use of natural resources. Founded in 1948, IUCN has become the global authority on the stat ...

has assessed this bird as

least-concern species A least-concern species is a species that has been evaluated and categorized by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) as not being a focus of wildlife conservation because the specific species is still plentiful in the wil ...

but with a declining population. This species' main threat is

habitat loss Habitat destruction (also termed habitat loss or habitat reduction) occurs when a natural habitat is no longer able to support its native species. The organisms once living there have either moved elsewhere, or are dead, leading to a decrease ...

with wholesale clearance of forest habitats as a result of logging, agricultural conversion and mining activities occurring within the range.

Negros Island Negros (, , ) is the fourth largest and third most populous island in the Philippines, with a total land area of . The coastal zone of the southern part of Negros is identified as a site of highest marine biodiversity importance in the Coral T ...

is one of the most deforested areas in the country due to its sugar industry and logging with most of its forests being totally lost before the 21st century. Forest cover on

and

is just 3% and 6% respectively and these figures are still declining. It occurs in a few protected areas within Mt. Kanlaon Natural Park and

Northern Negros Natural Park The Northern Negros Natural Park is a protected area of the Philippines located in the northern mountainous forest region of the island of Negros in the Visayas. It is spread over five municipalities and six cities in the province of Negros Occide ...

; however, protection and enforcement against deforestation is lax. It also occurs in the proposed Central Panay Mountain Range Park which contains the largest block of remaining forest in the

Western Visayas Western Visayas (; ; ) is an Regions of the Philippines, administrative region in the Philippines, numerically designated as Region VI. The region comprises the islands of Panay and Guimaras Island, Guimaras. It consists of five Provinces of the ...

, and the tourist destination of Twin Lakes (Mount Talinis). Both sites benefit from conservation funding but are still under threat by deforestation.

References

Visayan shama Endemic birds of the Philippines Fauna of the Visayas Visayan shama Taxa named by Frank Swift Bourns Taxa named by Dean Conant Worcester {{Muscicapidae-stub