Preliminary observations of the home range size and behaviour of the Sumatran Laughingthrush Garrulax bicolor

Indonesia ranks second to Brazil in the number of globally threatened bird species. The Sumatran Laughingthrush Garrulax bicolor was formerly abundant but has suffered population declines due to trapping for the pet trade, and now considered endangered. Despite knowledge gained from in-situ and ex-situ captive rearing programs, little is known about the biology and ecology of the species. Our study sought to redress this by undertaking a field study of its home range size and behaviour. One group of five individuals was located in North Sumatra province and observed from strategically positioned hides over three weeks to estimate the size of its home range using Minimum Convex Polygons (MCP). In total, we collected 70 GPS points representing either sight or call records. The inhabited area covered 1.07 km2 with the most remote edge points being 1.9 km apart. The group occasionally joined mixed species feeding flocks which included Chestnut-capped Laughingthrush Rhinocichla mitrata and Black Laughingthrush Melanocichla lugubris