Conservation status: NEAR THREATENED
Common name: crested partridge, crested wood partridge, roul-roul, red-crowned wood partridge, green wood quail or green wood partridge
Scientific name: Rollulus rouloul
Type: bird
Diet: fruit, seeds and invertebrates
Length: 25 cm
Weight: 220 g
This small partridge is a resident breeder in Sundaic lowland rainforests in south Burma, south Thailand, Malaysia, Sumatra and Borneo. However, due to intense logging in the region, it is believed that the specie has undergone rather rapid population reduction.
Crested partridge is a rotund short-tailed bird, 25 cm in length, with the male marginally larger than the female. Both sexes have a scarlet patch of bare skin around the eye and red legs without a spur or hind toe.
The male is metallic green above with glossy dark blue underparts and a brownish wing panel. The head is adorned with a tall red crest, a white forehead spot and black frontal bristles. The female has pea-green body plumage apart from the brown wing coverts. She has a slate-grey head with the bristles but no spot or crest. The bill is all-dark. Young birds are duller versions of the adult of the same sex. The song is a mournful whistled si-ul.
The crested partridge is usually seen singly or in pairs as it uses its feet to probe the forest floor for fruit, seeds and invertebrates. When disturbed, it prefers to run but if necessary it flies a short distance on its rounded wings.
There is some concern about the effect of habitat destruction on this bird, especially with regard to logging. However, it seems to be somewhat more adaptable than other southeast Asian pheasants.
Video:
References
- BirdLife International (2012). “Rollulus rouloul“. IUCN Red List of Threatened Species
- Crested Wood Partridge Fact Sheet, Lincoln Park Zoo
- http://datazone.birdlife.org/species/factsheet/Crested-Partridge
Animals in South-East Asia 