• 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	B1b(ii,iii)
2016	Near Threatened	B1b(iii)
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	low
Land-mass type		Average mass	-

	Estimate	Data quality
Severely fragmented?	no	-

	Estimate	Data quality	Derivation	Year of estimate
Population size	unknown	-	-	-
Population trend	decreasing	poor	suspected	2016-2027
Rate of change over the past 10 years/3 generations (longer of the two periods)	1-9%	-	-	-
Rate of change over the future 10 years/3 generations (longer of the two periods)	1-9%	-	-	-
Rate of change over the past & future 10 years/3 generations (longer of the two periods)	1-9%	-	-	-
Generation length	3.61 years	-	-	-
Number of subpopulations	1-3	-	-	-

Population justification: The global population size of this species has not been estimated, but it is evidently locally quite common (Praveen J and Nameer 2021, eBird 2023).

Trend justification: Ongoing declines in this species are suspected to be occurring as a result of habitat loss and degradation occurring in parts of the range (Praveen J. in litt. 2010), especially at lower elevations. In the three generations to 2023 (10.8 years; 2012-2023), approximately 5% of forest cover was lost in this species' range (Global Forest Watch 2023, based on data from Hansen et al. [2013] and methods disclosed therein). This species is evidently tolerant of some forest degradation such that it's difficult to translate these data into related rates of population decline; however, at least some of it relates to larger-scale clearance from which the species is almost certainly absent. Accordingly, the species is suspected of declining at an ongoing rate of 1-9% over three generations.

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

Country/Territory	IBA Name
India	Achankovil Forest Division
India	Anamudi Shola National Park
India	Berijam (Kodaikanal)
India	Eravikulam National Park
India	Grass Hills
India	Indira Gandhi Wildlife Sanctuary and National Park
India	Kurinjimala Wildlife Sanctuary
India	Mankulam Forest Division
India	Mathikettan Shola National Park
India	Muthukuzhi
India	Pampadum Shola National Park
India	Poomparai and Kukkal
India	Shola around Kodaikanal
India	Srivilliputhur Wildlife Sanctuary

Habitat (level 1)	Habitat (level 2)	Importance	Occurrence
Artificial/Terrestrial	Rural Gardens	marginal	resident
Shrubland	Subtropical/Tropical High Altitude	major	resident
Altitude	800 - 2135 m	Occasional altitudinal limits

Threat (level 1)	Threat (level 2)	Impact and Stresses
Agriculture & aquaculture	Livestock farming & ranching - Small-holder grazing, ranching or farming	Timing		Scope		Severity		Impact
		Ongoing		Majority (50-90%)		Negligible declines		Low Impact: 5
		Stresses Ecosystem degradation, Ecosystem conversion
Biological resource use	Gathering terrestrial plants - Unintentional effects (species is not the target)	Timing		Scope		Severity		Impact
		Ongoing		Majority (50-90%)		Slow, Significant Declines		Medium Impact: 6
		Stresses Ecosystem degradation
Biological resource use	Logging & wood harvesting - Unintentional effects: (subsistence/small scale) [harvest]	Timing		Scope		Severity		Impact
		Ongoing		Majority (50-90%)		Slow, Significant Declines		Medium Impact: 6
		Stresses Ecosystem degradation
Climate change & severe weather	Habitat shifting & alteration	Timing		Scope		Severity		Impact
		Future		Whole (>90%)		Unknown		Unknown
		Stresses Indirect ecosystem effects, Ecosystem degradation

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Recommended citation
BirdLife International (2024) Species factsheet: Palani Chilappan Montecincla fairbanki. Downloaded from https://datazone.birdlife.org/species/factsheet/palani-chilappan-montecincla-fairbanki on 22/12/2024.
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 22/12/2024.