Jerdon's Baza - Birdpoints

Jerdon's Baza

Aviceda jerdoni

26 July, 2008

Possible regional races (polytypic)
	-A. j. ceylonensis; Legge, 1876
	-A. j. jerdoni; Blyth, 1842

Aviceda jerdoni jerdoni

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Historical
1252. Baza jerdoni. Blyth's Baza.

?Falco lathami, apud Tickell, J.A.S.B. ii, p. 569 (1833), nec Gray; Walden, Ibis, 1876, p. 340.
Lophastur jerdoni, Blyth, J.A.S.B. xi, p. 464 (1842); xv, p. 4.
Aviceda sumatrensis, Lafr. Rev. Zool. 1848, p. 210.
Baza jerdoni, Blyth, Cat. p. 18; Sharpe, Ibis, 1893, p. 557.
Baza sumatrensis, Sharpe, Cat. B. M. i, p. 357, pl. xi, fig. 1; Hume, S.F. iii, p. 313; vii, p. 198 note; Hume & Dav. S.F. vi, p. 25; Hume, Cat. no. 58 bis; Gurney, S.F. viii, p. 444; id. Ibis, 1880, p. 471; Oates, B.B. ii, p. 209.
Baza incognita, Hume, S.F. iii, p. 314 (1875).

Coloration. Adult. Middle of crown and the long Spizaetus-like crest black; forehead, supercilia, sides of neck, and hind-neck deep rufous with black streaks; lores grey with black bristles; upper parts from the neck dark brown; scapulars and upper tailcoverts with broad dark ends; quills and tail-feathers lighter brown, with broad blackish subterminal bands and narrower bands further up 4 or 5 altogether, including the last, on the quills, and 3 on the tail; lower surface of quills and tail-feathers whitish, and the dark bands, except the last two on the quills and the last on the tail, indistinct; chin, throat, and middle of breast white, with a narrow median black line on the throat; sides of throat and of upper breast rufous; lower breast and abdomen with broad alternating cross-bars of dark rufous and white.

Younger birds are paler throughout and have four distinct tailbands; the head and neck are pale rufous above with black shaftstripes, the dorsal feathers and upper wing- coverts have pale rufous edges; the crest-feathers have a long white tip. Tinmedian dark band to the throat is often wanting; the throat and breast are pale rufous with white edges to the feathers, and the lower breast and abdomen are banded with pale rufous. There is probably also a still younger (nestling) plumage, described by Blyth as resembling beneath that of a young Accipiter, and the "mesial dark streak, flanked with whitish, may be traced almost to the vent."

Bill and cere blackish; irides bright yellow; legs and feet white slightly tinged with blue (Hume).

Distribution. Sikhim, Tenasserim, Malay Peninsula, and Sumatra. If Tickell's Falco lathami was this bird, as is very probable, a specimen was once obtained in South-western Bengal (Manbhoom). This is a very rare species, only one specimen has been recorded from Sikhim and one from Tenasserim.

Blanford, W.T. 1895-98. The Fauna of British India, Including Ceylon and Burma. Birds.- Vol. III-IV.

Current status
The nomminate has been sighted very rarely as is evident from a very few images at Oriental Bird Images

However in the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species it is classified as Least Concern. Click for details here.

External Articles
Observations made on breeding Jerdon's Baza by S. SIVAKUMAR and VIBHU PRAKASH, published by the Oriental Bird Club in their Journal 'Forktail', (and much more) can be found here under short notes.

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