Francolin

Presented by:Aleem khanMsc.(Bdm)

Scientific classification of francolinsKingdom: Animalia

Phylum: Chordata

Class: Aves

Order: Galliformes

Family: Phasianidae

Subfamily: Perdicinae

What is francolin• Francolins are birds that traditionally have

been placed in the genus francolinus.• But now commonly are divided into

multiple genera. • Although some of the major taxonomic

listing sources have yet to divided them. The francolins are closest relatives of the jungle fowl long billed partridge, Alectoris and Coturnix.

Species :

• There are approximately  40 extant   species, in the world.• The natural range of five

(comprising the genus Francolinus) are restricted to Asia,

• The worlds 40 species is divided into 5 genera.  

5 Genera of francolins:

1. Francolinus:

1. Black francolin , Francolinus francolinus 2. Painted francolin , Francolinus pictus 3.Chinese francolin, Francolinus pintadeanus 4.Grey francolin, Francolinus pondicerianus 5.Swamp francolin , Francolinus gularis

2.Peliperdix:

•Coqui francolin : Peliperdix coqui•White-throated francolin: Peliperdi albogularis•Schlegel's francolin: Peliperdix schlegelii•Latham's francolin: Peliperdix lathami

3.Dendroperdix:Crested francolin: Dendroper dixsephaena

4.Scleroptila:

•Ring-necked francolin:Scleroptila streptophorus•Finsch's francolin:Scleroptila finschi•Red-winged francolin:Scleroptila levaillantii•Grey-winged francolin:Scleroptila africanus•Moorland francolin:Scleroptila psilolaemus•Shelley's francolin:Scleroptila shelleyi•Orange River francolin:Scleroptila gutturalis

 5. Pternistis ("Spurfowl")•Scaly francolin: Pternistis squamatus•Ahanta francolin: Pternistis ahantensis•Grey-striped francolin: Pternistis griseostriatus•Hartlaub's francolin: Pternistis hartlaubi•Double-spurred francolin: Pternistis bicalcaratus•Heuglin's francolin: Pternistis icterorhynchus•Clapperton's francolin: Pternistis clappertoni•Harwood's francolin: Pternistis harwoodi•Hildebrandt's francolin: Pternistis hildebrandti•Jackson's francolin: Pternistis jacksoni•Handsome francolin: Pternistis nobilis•Mount Cameroon francolin: Pternistis camerunensis

Swierstra's francolin: Pternistis swierstraiChestnut-naped francolin: Pternistis castaneicollisErckel's francolin: Pternistis erckeliiDjibouti francolin: Pternistis ochropectusRed-billed spurfowl: Pternistis adspersusCape spurfowl: Pternistis capensisNatal spurfowl: Pternistis natalensisYellow-necked spurfowl: Pternistis leucoscepusGrey-breasted spurfowl: Pternistis rufopictusRed-necked spurfowl: Pternistis aferSwainson's spurfowl: Pternistis swainsonii

Genus- francolinus Genus francolinus is divided into five species which is distributed in Asia.

•Black francolin: Francolinus francolinus•Painted francolin: Francolinus pictus•Chinese francolin: Francolinus pintadeanus•Grey francolin: Francolinus pondicerianus•Swamp francolin: Francolinus gularis

Black francolin: Francolinus francolinus

Distribution of Black francolin:

Painted francolin: Francolinus pictus

Distribution of painted francolin:

Swamp francolin: Francolinus gularis

Distribution of swamp francolin:

Chinese francolin:francolinus pintadeanus

Distribution of chinese francolin:

Grey francolin:Francolinus pondicerianus

Distribution of grey francolin

Description of francolins: Size of female francolin is 10.2-11.9 inches Weight of male 260-340gm and female 200-300gm Size of francolin male is 11.6-13.4 inches The francolin is barred throughout and the face is

pale with a thin black border to the pale throat. The male can have up to two spurs on the legs

while females usually lack them. They are weak fliers and fly short distances,

escaping into undergrowth. In flight it shows a chestnut tail and dark primaries. They have wide tails with fourteen retrice feathers.

Habitat Grey francolin is normally found foraging on bare or

low grass covered ground in scrub on paddy fields. Black francolin appear to be found in scrubby

habitats with plenty of cultivated crops tall enough to offer shelter.

Painted francolin is found in patchily distributed in semi dry undulating grasslands with scrub or cultivation land.

Chinese francolin natural habitats are sun tropical or tropical moist low land forest

Swamp francolins habitat quite different from other species, affecting high grass and cane-brakes near the edges of rivers and jheels, though it will come into cultivated ground only to feed.

Behavior ecology of francolin The loud calls of the birds are commonly heard early in the mornings. Pairs of birds will sometimes engage in a duet.  The female call is a tee...tee...tee repeated and sometimes

a kila.kila.kila and the challenge call kateela..kateela..kateela is a duet. Painted francolin are not easy to spot but become vocal during the

breeding season after the Monsoons, The call is made in the early morning and has been described as guttural

broken crow "chee -kee- Kerrey- Chee-kee- kerray" which is answered by other birds in the vicinity. A preliminary click may be heard when at close range. 

Black francolin Male sings a mechanical "kik-kik-kik", his territorial call is a loud and grating "kwee-kweeeee-kwee".

The male may be seen standing on a rock or low tree attracting attention with its extraordinary creaking call.

Male francolin  appear to be perennially territorial, with variable numbers of boundary call sites demarking each territory. Call-sites are used by territorial pairs on a regular basis, for daily bouts of antiphonal duets. 

Social behavior Preening Mud bathing

Roosting of grey francolin

Roosting: Mostly francolin roost on small higher trees. Grey francolin roost in small groups. that grey francolin mostly roosts on Acacia modesta

tree which indicates the association of this species with this tree.

Acacia nilotica, Delbergia sisso as tree species and a shrub Zizypus jujuba.

It usually roosts before the sunset and departure take place before sun rise.

The time spent in roosting observed was lied between 6-10 hours depending upon sunset or sunrise.

It was also observed that female grey francolin with chicks prefer low height tree for roosting as compared to female without chicks.

Feeding : Food includes seeds, grains as well as insects, particularly

termites and beetles (especially Tenebrionidae and Carabidae).  They may occasionally take larger prey such as snakes. Painted francolin feed on grass seeds as well as grains of

cultivated rice. Beetles and other insects are also eaten. Black francolin a wide variety of seeds and insects. May also eat small mealworms and wax worms, but be careful

when feeding to chicks as they are prone to toe-picking. Food consists mainly of grain, grass seeds, fallen berries,

shoots, tubers, termites, ants and insects. Chinese francolin feed on Seeds, shoots and insects. Most

active early morning and evening. Swamp francolin feed on seeds, insects, cereals, grains, bulbs

and tubers.

Breeding & Nesting Breeding season of grey francolin is April to September and the nest is

a hidden scrape on the ground. The nest may sometimes be made above ground level in a niche in a

wall or rock. Breeding season of painted francolin after the Monsoons, from June to

October.  The nest is a scrape in the ground. Breeding season of black francolin  normally nests in a tall grasslands

from late March to May.  The most likely breeding locations Savannah, Grasslands, Scrub

vegetation areas under the cultivated crops. The breeding season of Chinese francolin Lays March–Sept. Breeding season of swamp francolin  Very little is known about its

breeding, nesting time march to April which is unknown .

Clutch size of francolins:

Grey francolin eggs Black francolin eggs

Incubation period of eggs and parental care

Mostly the incubation period of francolins is 18-20 days Clutch size generally ranges from 6 to 8 eggs. Chicks are highly mobile at hatching. they follow parents shortly after hatching and are capable of finding

food on their own. The young do not depend on their parents for very long The chicks leave the nest with their parents after emerging from the

shell and follow them. They start flying within two or three weeks. Young move around a lot while their parents prefer to stay near the

nest.

Parental care :

Grey francolin incubating eggs:

Chicks of grey francolin:

Female francolin feeding her chicks:

Methodology:

Introduction: Birds are perhaps the easiest of animals to census. They are often brightly coloured relatively easy to

see and highly vocal. They are also very popular to study with the result

that there area high quality field guides available and many professional and amateurs with high level of identification skills.

Because of this popularity they are un doubtly the most frequently censused of all taxa .

Birds are best detected by their call and song.

Types of method : Counting nest in colonies. Counting roost. Counting flocks Territory mapping. point counts . Line transect. MacKinnon's species richness Vantage point survey

1.Counting nest in colonies: Colony counts based on direct nest counts provide

more accurate information than counting total number of adults, as the latter number may contain both breeding and non-breeding birds.

Every individual in a flock can be counted directly. If flocks number no more than a few hundred birds. Direct counting is easy with large birds at close

range, but becomes progressively more difficult with larger

numbers, smaller species, and greater distances

Counting roost:

Many species of birds roost communally either during the night or among coastal species at high tide.

Birds are highly clump at roost and thus can be efficiently censused at this time.

Mostly birds roost in non breeding season. Advantages: This is one of the easiest way of counting many species that are

widely dispersed at other time and is particularly useful outside the breeding season .

Counting flocks :

Flock is of no more than a few hundred birds can be counted directly from a suitable vantage point through binocular or telescope .

Quickly photograph this flock and record the number of the photo for later.

. Begin at one end of the flock and count off a block of 50 birds.

If the flock is large you might count off 100 birds, and for very large flocks scale up to blocks of 1000 birds. 

Territory mapping: The breeding territory can thus readily be used as census unit and

territory mapping . in which all the signs of territory occupancy are marked on a larger

scale . Male sings to defend their territory nest are build with them and

boundaries between territories are often clearly defined by disputes with neighbouring birds.

singing birds are is confounded by sources of error that may be grouped into two categories:

(1) unknown rates of sound attention with increasing distance from the observer,

(2) unknown and varying rates of singing by the bird.

Point count: Point count is a count undertaken from a fixed location for a fixed

time period . It can be taken at any time of year and is not restricted to the

breeding . Point count can be used to provide relative abundances of each

species . A sensible minimum distance should be taken is 100m,- 200m. Point count should be performed in the morning. Beginning with increasing activity of birds finishing around 3 hours. The time in sampling for each point should be 15-20mints. We avoided performing point count in days with rain.

  Precaution

Points should not overlap. When we walk from one point to another point

then time should not be more than 5 minutes. Points are selected randomly or systematically. Points should be well dispersed in the area. If we encounter a new species while moving from

one point to another it is not recorded.

Line transect: Line transect are be taken by observer moving along a fixed route and recording the birds from the either side of the route.

Transect can be walked on land the observer needs to be able to move freely through the land .

Line transect are most suitable for larger areas of continuous open habitat.

The philosophy of line transect is that, line transect always used randomly.

In this method just go to the area and start walking on the transect which we select randomly.

While moving on transect we record all the birds which we encounter.

We can do some modification also depending upon the visibility of the area means.

we can use either open width or close width.

Open Width If the visibility is good then we can

use open width while moving on transect i.e., we record all the birds which we encounter.

Close Width If the visibility is poor in the area

then we can use close width means we can fix the radius such as 50 m, means we record all the birds which come under 50 meter distance.

MACKINNON’S Species Richness

This method was given by MacKinnon and Phillips in 1992 in Indonesia on birds found in all habitat.

This method is generally used in forest area. By this method we can compare bird abundance of

different areas. In this method there is no equipment required

except binocular.

MacKinnon's species richness In a area where we want to know the abundance then

we have to generate the check list of birds of that particular area.

The area which are rich in biodiversity then we have to prepare atleast 20 check list and in each check list number of species should be 20.

On the other hand if the area is poor in biodiversity then we have to make atleast 10 checklist in which the number of species should be 10.

After completion of 1st check list (20 species) we walk 50-100 meter without recording. This is done for reducing overlapping in data.

This is continued and check list prepared. Record both species in check lists which are new and which are recorded in previous check list.

New species and previous species also recorded in each list. So that it may chance that there is a new addition in species or previous addition.

The number of species depends upon diversity. Where diversity is more then more number of species will be recorded and vice-versa.

• If we want to compare the richness of birds in two different area, three different area or more, then number of check list is constant in each area.

Vantage point survey These surveys comprise a series of watches from a

fixed location to count the birds. The vantage point may be watch tower or raised

land area.

In culture

The species has long been domesticated in areas of northern India and Pakistan where it is used for fighting.

 The domesticated birds can be large at around 500-600g, compared to 250g for wild birds. 

 They are usually carefully reared by hand and become as tame and confiding as a pet dog.

The creature follows its master with a rapid and pretty gait that suggests a graceful girl tripping along with a full skirt well held up.

In decoy or domestication of francolin

Black francolin in cage : Grey francolin in cage:

Gaming of francolin:

Game or quarry is any animal hunted for sport or for food.

mostly the people of India and Pakistan domesticate this bird for gaming & fighting for betting money.

It is usually banned and illegal. Since males attract challengers for a fight . decoys

are often used to trap these birds. Decoys are also hunt the birds with gun to kill them

for food.

The IUCN Red List Categories and Criteria EXTINCT (EX) 

A taxon is Extinct when there is no reasonable doubt that the last individual has died. A taxon is presumed Extinct.

EXTINCT IN THE WILD (EW) A taxon is presume Extinct in the Wild when it is known only to survive in cultivation, in captivity or as a naturalized population (or populations) well outside the past range.

CRITICALLY ENDANGERED (CR) A taxon is Critically Endangered when the best available evidence indicates that it meets any of the criteria A to E for Critically Endangered and it is therefore considered to be facing an extremely high risk of extinction in the wild.

ENDANGERED (EN) A taxon is Endangered when the best available evidence indicates that it meets any of the criteria A to E for Endangered and it is therefore considered to be facing a very high risk of extinction in the wild.

VULNERABLE (VU) A taxon is Vulnerable when the best available evidence indicates that it meets any of the criteria extinction in the wild

NEAR THREATENED (NT) A taxon is Near Threatened when it has been evaluated against the criteria but does not qualify for Critically Endangered, Endangered or Vulnerable now, but is close to qualifying for or is likely to qualify for a threatened category in the near future

. LEAST CONCERN (LC) A taxon is Least Concern when it has been evaluated against the criteria and does not qualify for Critically Endangered, Endangered, Vulnerable or Near Threatened. Widespread and abundant taxa are included in this category.

DATA DEFICIENT (DD) A taxon is Data Deficient when there is inadequate information to make a direct, or indirect, assessment of its risk of extinction based on its distribution and/or population status. A taxon in this category may be well studied, and its biology well known, but appropriate data on abundance and/or distribution are lacking.

NOT EVALUATED (NE) A taxon is Not Evaluated when it is has not yet been evaluated against the criteria

Iucn categories :

Conservation status: According to IUCN status is least concerned

assessed in 2012.  species has an extremely large range, and hence

does not approach the thresholds for Vulnerable under the range size criterion.

The population size has not been quantified, but it is not believed to approach the thresholds for Vulnerable under the population size criterion .

For these reasons the species is evaluated as Least Concern.

Threats  Major threat reported in . 38% by illegal hunting , 18 % by agriculture activities, 18% by land

clearing, 06% by trade, 06% by habitat destruction, 04% by  predation, 04 % by live stock pressure, 04% by fuel wood collection, and 02% by stone crushing.

Similarly major threat reported in DDGR were; 46% by illegal hunting , 18 % by agriculture, 16% by fuel wood collection, 04% by trade, 04% by  predation, 04 % by live stock pressure, 04% land clearing, 02% by habitat destruction, and 2% by stone crushing.

Among all these threats, illegal hunting was found to be major threat in both study sites, followed by agriculture practices, fuel wood collection and predation.

Results would help in conservation of Grey francolin, ultimately helping in sustaining its population in the Salt Range.

References: www.google .com Wikipedia.com Encyclopedia.com Britannica .com Birds of India by Dr. Salim Ali.

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