• Summary
• Text account
• Data table and detailed info
• Distribution map
• Reference and further resources

Taxonomic note

Trochalopteron fairbanki, T. meridionale, T. jerdoni and T. cachinnans have been moved to the new genus Montecincla after they were found to be sister to a clade composed of Heterophasia, Minla, Actinodura, Leiothrix, Liocichla and Crocias (Robin et al. 2017). They have also received new common names, and are listed as Palani Chilappan Montecincla fairbanki, Ashambu Chilappan M. meridionalis, Banasura Chilappan M. jerdoni and Nilgiri Chilappan M. cachinnans.

T. fairbanki and T. meridionale (del Hoyo and Collar 2016) were previously lumped as Strophocincla fairbanki following Rasmussen and Anderton (2005).

Taxonomic source(s)
del Hoyo, J., Collar, N.J., Christie, D.A., Elliott, A., Fishpool, L.D.C., Boesman, P. and Kirwan, G.M. 2016. HBW and BirdLife International Illustrated Checklist of the Birds of the World. Volume 2: Passerines. Lynx Edicions and BirdLife International, Barcelona, Spain and Cambridge, UK.
Handbook of the Birds of the World and BirdLife International. 2019. Handbook of the Birds of the World and BirdLife International digital checklist of the birds of the world. Version 4. Available at: https://datazone.birdlife.org/userfiles/file/Species/Taxonomy/HBW-BirdLife_Checklist_v4_Dec19.zip.
Robin, V. V., Vishnudas, C. K., Gupta, P., Rheindt, F. E., Hooper, D. M., Ramakrishnan, U., & Reddy, S. 2017. Two new genera of songbirds represent endemic radiations from the Shola Sky Islands of the Western Ghats, India. BMC evolutionary biology, 17(1): 31.

Red List criteria met

Critically Endangered	Endangered	Vulnerable
-	-	-

Red List history

Year	Category	Criteria
2024	Near Threatened	B1ab(iii)+2ab(iii)
2016	Endangered	B1ab(ii,iii,v)
2012	Not Recognised
2008	Not Recognised
2004	Not Recognised
2000	Not Recognised
1994	Not Recognised
1988	Not Recognised

Migratory status	not a migrant	Forest dependency	medium
Land-mass type		Average mass	-

	Estimate	Data quality
Area of Occupancy (breeding/resident)	1,600 km2
Number of locations	11-100	-
Severely fragmented?	no	-

	Estimate	Data quality	Derivation	Year of estimate
Population size	unknown	-	-	-
Population trend	decreasing	poor	suspected	-
Generation length	6.05 years	-	-	-

Population justification: The global population size of this species has not been quantified. Although it has a localised and scattered distribution in the Western Ghats, occurring only on the upper plateau of the Nilgiri Hills in north-west Tamil Nadu and the western cliffs of adjacent Kerala (Zarri et al. 2008, Collar et al. 2020, eBird 2023, SoIB 2023), within this it is evidently common and among the most frequently encountered species within its range (eBird 2023).

Trend justification: Presumably much declined from historical baselines given the significant removal of habitat from within its range (see Reddy et al. [2016] for summary of forest cover changes in the Western Ghats between 1920 and 2013). There are no monitoring data from which to derive a current trend for this species, although it is precautionarily suspected to be declining, albeit at a slow rate. Habitat loss and degradation has been slow over the past decade (2013–2023) according to remote sensing data (Global Forest Watch 2023, based on data from Hansen et al. [2013] and methods disclosed therein), and this species is evidently tolerant of relatively severe habitat modifications, occurring also in heavily degraded forests and wooded gardens (Collar et al. 2020, eBird 2023).

Country/Territory	Presence	Origin	Resident	Breeding visitor	Non-breeding visitor	Passage migrant
India	extant	native	yes

Country/Territory	IBA Name
India	Avalanche (Nilgiri)
India	Bison Swamp (Nilgiri)
India	Cairn Hill Reserve Forest (Nilgiri)
India	Governor's Shola (Nilgiri)
India	Kemmangundi and Bababudan Hills
India	Kudremukh National Park
India	Longwood Shola - Kothagiri
India	Mukurthi National Park (Nilgiris)
India	Muthikulam-Siruvani Reserve Forest
India	Naduvattam
India	Silent Valley National Park
India	Thaishola

Habitat (level 1)	Habitat (level 2)	Importance	Occurrence
Artificial/Terrestrial	Plantations	marginal	resident
Artificial/Terrestrial	Rural Gardens	marginal	resident
Forest	Subtropical/Tropical Moist Montane	major	resident
Shrubland	Subtropical/Tropical High Altitude	suitable	resident
Altitude	1600 - 2600 m	Occasional altitudinal limits	(min) 1400 m

Threat (level 1)	Threat (level 2)	Impact and Stresses
Agriculture & aquaculture	Annual & perennial non-timber crops - Agro-industry farming	Timing		Scope		Severity		Impact
		Ongoing		Majority (50-90%)		Slow, Significant Declines		Medium Impact: 6
		Stresses Ecosystem degradation, Ecosystem conversion
Agriculture & aquaculture	Annual & perennial non-timber crops - Small-holder farming	Timing		Scope		Severity		Impact
		Ongoing		Minority (<50%)		Slow, Significant Declines		Low Impact: 5
		Stresses Ecosystem degradation, Ecosystem conversion
Agriculture & aquaculture	Wood & pulp plantations - Agro-industry plantations	Timing		Scope		Severity		Impact
		Ongoing		Minority (<50%)		Slow, Significant Declines		Low Impact: 5
		Stresses Ecosystem degradation, Ecosystem conversion
Climate change & severe weather	Habitat shifting & alteration	Timing		Scope		Severity		Impact
		Future		Majority (50-90%)		Unknown		Unknown
		Stresses Indirect ecosystem effects, Ecosystem degradation
Natural system modifications	Dams & water management/use - Large dams	Timing		Scope		Severity		Impact
		Ongoing		Minority (<50%)		Negligible declines		Low Impact: 4
		Stresses Ecosystem degradation
Pollution	Agricultural & forestry effluents - Herbicides and pesticides	Timing		Scope		Severity		Impact
		Ongoing		Minority (<50%)		Unknown		Unknown
		Stresses Species mortality
Residential & commercial development	Housing & urban areas	Timing		Scope		Severity		Impact
		Ongoing		Minority (<50%)		Slow, Significant Declines		Low Impact: 5
		Stresses Ecosystem degradation, Ecosystem conversion

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Recommended citation
BirdLife International (2024) Species factsheet: Nilgiri Chilappan Montecincla cachinnans. Downloaded from https://datazone.birdlife.org/species/factsheet/nilgiri-chilappan-montecincla-cachinnans on 18/12/2024.
Recommended citation for factsheets for more than one species: BirdLife International (2024) IUCN Red List for birds. Downloaded from https://datazone.birdlife.org/species/search on 18/12/2024.