Domestic Chicken versus Red Junglefowl : How do We Differentiate them?

Chickens have co-existed with human beings since the early age of human civilisation. From archaeological findings in Neolithic sites, it was hypothesized that domestic chickens in South East Asia were originated from junglefowls (Hiromi sawai et al, 2010). We (the nutty birders) are very well informed that Red Junglefowl (Gallus gallus) is the wild replica of Gallus gallus domestica but how do we differentiate them when we see one in nature especially when there are also free-ranging ferals and free-ranging village chickens in the mix. In local terms how do we know whether it was an Ayam Kampung or an Ayam Hutan ?

Since the early 20th century thru the writings of Beebe (1918 to 1921) until todate, many literature have written on Gallus gallus. Topics ranging from embryonic development, social and sexual behaviors, vocalisation, habitat preference, roosting behavior to genetic variation have all been covered extensively. Unfortunately many literature until today still can't seem to agree on the actual traits of a Gallus gallus. Before you start pulling your hair or depleting your gray matter further, have a look here at what current researchers have to say on the characteristics of its conspecific domesticated descendants.

Thru the various phenotypic characters identified as signals of genetically "pure" Red Junglefowl (Gallus gallus) genomes, Brisbin & Peterson, 2007 identified a few phenotypic markers of a seemingly pure Gallus gallus. Here are the field markers mentioned:

i) the presence of red or yellow neck hackles are replaced with spatulate black feathers on an eclipse male plumage.

ii) slender, darker legs

iii) horizontal body posture 

iv) simpler and shorter calls.

The above description was also concurred by Steven Platt et al (2009) whereby an eclipse male Red Junglefowl free from domesticated influence has been described as typically having black hackles in mid-back which are not elongated in contrast to the elongated red-orange plumes of the main plumage.

From the above description and the many photos of Gallus gallus reviewed, i believed that the photos below here belongs to a Gallus gallus or locally called Ayam Hutan.

All the above photos were taken from a mangrove area (at a river estuary) near a town called Merbok, in the state of Kedah, February 2019. There were actually 3 of them and all were males. The above photos only showed two of them. The third one was hiding further away at a distance. Despite moving further away from them, they did not alight from their mangrove perch and despite that it was also near some human settlements where food should be abundant. Duration of observation was around 15 minutes.

Although all the above photos showed most of the features of a Gallus gallus in general sense but until a DNA test is done, i cannot conclude that they were all free of any domestic genes.

According to Hoa Nguyen- Phuc and Mark E. Berres (2018), wild junglefowls (adult males, females, juveniles) that hatched by domestic chickens usually do not tolerate captivity. Brisbin and Peterson (2007) have earlier explained that hybrid offspring would be expected to move far away from human settlements into the forest. Its only after 3 or 4 generations of cross breeding will the offsprings eventually tolerate a continued human presence. This findings were also supported by Rebecca Kavajamaa et al, (2018) whereby it was reported that there were some correlated effect of tameness on young Red Junglefowl when been raised by human beings.

It is also pertinent to note that Hoa Nguyen- Phuc and Mark E. Berres (2018) research also found no strong correlation between geographic distances and genetic dissimilarities among their samples collected. By using a Bayesian clustering method to establish the distribution between samples, Hoa Nguyen- Phuc and Mark E. Berres (2018) finding means that Gallus gallus found in Thailand, Vietnam, India or Indonesia for example should have the same genetic code. Meanwhile according to HBW Alive, currently there are 5 subspecies been recognised and those in Malaysia are reckoned from the Ssp G.g spadiceus.

Most researchers nevertheless agreed that hybridisation and introgression are phenomena that can threaten the genetic integrity of many wildlife.

"Genetic contamination of wild populations via hybridisation (natural or human induced) with domesticated stocks represents a serious but underappreciated concern in the conservation of biodiversity" (Brisbin, 1995; Rhymer & Simberloff, 1996 in Brisbin and Peterson, 2007)

For comparison purposes, here are photos of what i believe were some hybrid Gallus gallus:

The above photo was taken at a forest edge in Selangor in 2018.

The above photo was taken at a forest edge in Pahang in 2018

CONCLUSION

From the above photos and references adduced, all i can say here is that

"All Gallus gallus are chickens but not all chickens are Gallus gallus"

References

Brisbin and Peterson, 2007. Playing Chicken with Red Junglefowl: Identifying Phenotypic Markers of Genetic Purity in Gallus gallus. In Animal Conservation. 10 (4): 429 - 435, Nov 2007.

Hiromi Sawai et al, 2010. The Origin and Genetic Variation of Domestic Chickens with Special Reference to Junglefowl G.Gallus gallus and G. varius.  In Plosone, 2010, 5 (5),

Hoa Ngyuyen - Phuc and Mark E. Berres, 2018. Genetic Structure in Red Junglefowl (Gallus gallus) Populations: Strong spatial patterns in the wild ancestors of domestic chickens in a core distribution range. In Ecology and Evolution, 2018, July, 8 (13): 6575 - 6588.

Rebecca Katajamaa, Lovisa H. Larson, Paulina Lundberg, Ida Sorensen, Per Jensen, 2018. Activity, Social and Sexual Behavior in Red Junglefowl selected for divergent levels of fear of humans. In journal.plos.org. September, 2018.

Steven G. Platt, Tomas P. Condon, Johny S. Tasirin, Iwan Hunowu, Stephan Siwu, Richard A. Jones and Thomas R. Rainwater, 2009. Notes on red junglefowl (Gallus gallus) in Northern Sulawesi, Indonesia, with an emphasis on genetic introgression with domestic chickens. In Malayan Nature Journal 2009, (61(1), 23 - 33.

The Essence of Bird Watching - 2018

What makes a birder to drive almost 400km from Penang to Malim Nawar just to record a pipit moulting, not once but a few times ? This is what we called "PASSION" ! pronounced as "Peh-See-Ion" if you may. What makes a person to drive on the opposite direction of the traffic? This is what we called "insanity" ! With passion, we can achieve many things in life. It is also the very essence of bird watching. I hope to continue this bird watching passion of mine as long as i can.

Based on my experience, i have noticed that you will gain more responses from bird photography rather than the narration of the bird plumage or identification but if we can achieve both goals - it will be so much better. 2018 has been an incredible year ! 9 lifers and some rare ones, i couldn't asked for more. Here are some additional photos of the birds taken through out the year.  

Greater Coucal

Got this bird at point blank range - just about 10 feet away. 

Not too far from the earlier bird, i got the above Greater Coucal. This one is larger. Could it be a female ?

Mountain Peacock-Pheasant (male)

Mountain Peacock-Pheasant

Watching these wild pheasants going about their business without fear was like going to Galapagos or the Antarctica to watch penguins walking casually around you. Occasionally the male would flap its wings which would startled the Ferruginous Partridge. Some lucky birders even saw their fledglings which certainly augers well for this rare birds. 

Ferruginous Partridge

Most partridges are illusive and shy and to see one in the open and walking right in front of you, its magical.

Mangrove Pitta

Mangrove Pittas are habitat restricted birds, meaning they are highly dependent on the habitat for food, shelter and to breed. Once the mangroves are gone so are these birds.

As i know, there were two of them but most of the time, one will appear while the other will be calling somewhere nearby. Some lucky birders have managed to see their fledglings. Somehow this bird knew exactly when to appear whenever human is present because i did not use any meal worms to draw them out. Sorry mate next time i will try to bring something for you. 

The way they moved around the mangrove its like watching a road runner (Geococcyx californianus). They would lower their head and then run quickly back for cover.

I believe a lot of illustrators out there will find it hard to replicate the exact green colors of these birds.

Forest Wagtail

The way it walks will surely make Cindy Crawford envy. This time i saw two of them.

With the help of photo technology i was able to differentiate them as pointed out by the markers in their photos.

White-breasted Waterhen

Sometimes common birds will look nice on photos too.


The same goes with this bulbul.

Stripped-throated Bulbul

Olive-Winged Bulbul

Here are some raptors seen lately.

Black Kite

Have you ever seen a smiling raptor before? This one does after spooking some house crows.



Raptors can be as beautiful and as intriguing as they are.

Changeable Hawk Eagle.

This was the first time i have seen this raptor with such body streaks.

Jungle Mynah

This mynah population is still quite stable up north of Peninsular Malaysia. Hopefully it won't be taken over by the marauding Javan Mynah.

Many people would like the sight of a shining gold color.

Blue-tailed Bee Eater

Oriental Magpie Robin

I have never seen them taking any fruits before. Most of the time they will hunt for insects.

Pacific Reef Ergret (Dark Morph)

This dimorphic egret can be found through out Australasia.

Here is a typical flying posture of this egret - yellow sole extending beyond tail and gliding just above the water with its neck coiled back.

Arctic Warbler versus Eastern Crowned Warbler

Although both of these warblers are from the "Old World" but their identification have continued to baffle many people especially if birders were trying to identify them from other leaf warblers. This time i was a bit lucky to see them both foraging high up on the canopy.

Arctic Warbler

The recognised subtle field marks for an Arctic Warbler would be the "white vent" and the appearance of a "dark spot" on the tip of its bill.

Eastern-crowned Warbler

As for the Eastern-crowned Warbler, the appearance of a tinge of yellow at its vent and the lack of dark tip on its bill are the identifiable field marks that you should be looking for.

Another distinguishable field mark which you should be looking at for an Eastern-Crowned Warbler is the coronal median stripe which unfortunately is not visible in the above photo. The other feature which i have learnt from the literature is that the color of the crown of an Eastern-Crowned Warbler is much darker than an Arctic Warbler.

Eastern-Crowned Warbler

In Science, we need to be bold and convincing in our answers !

We raised our children with the hope that one day they can be successful or least better than us. Should neither happened we should NOT blame them or ourselves. Its just that the people in power did not "noticed" them. The current government has proven themselves as good debt collectors but they should also compliment it with good salesmanship or promoters. We can't depend on certain revenue alone or recycle people wages (micro economy) to sustain or move forward the nation's economy.

Here is another rare bird which most likely can only be found in an undisturbed forest.

White-bellied woodpecker (male)

White-bellied Woodpecker (female)

The white on its body is not really white per se but its more like a creamy white as i have observed.

Red Turtle Dove - male (left) and female (right)

Hello ! Anybody home?

Actually there is a possibility that something is inside the hole as can be seen from the object held between its mandibles - a food pellet perhaps ? - see photo below.

The above bird is a Grey-Capped and not a Sunda as clearly shown from the color of its crown (see black arrow). It is also a female as it lacks the red patch on the side of its head.

At this time of the year (Nov to Dec) in this region, it would be quite difficult to identify the above heron.

Large Cuckooshrike

From the noticeable barrings in the above photos, this bird is most likely a female. It appears much bigger than a common rock pigeon.

Nature provides us with many spectacular scenes and sculptures like the ones below:

I could roughly figure out 3 human-like faces from the above rock formation. With a little more imagination you can perhaps find more.

According to a Chinese Taoist, the appearance of birds is a good sign especially the yellow ones !

If you are a believer this could be a sign from the heavens above. If he is Chinese, he will most likely be running to the nearest 4D shop. If you are a birder, could it be the rise of a phoenix perhaps?

History does not happen by itself. We create our own history !

Happy New Year 2019 and Happy Bird Watching ahead !

My Borneo Birding Adventure - Manukan Island, Kundasang & Tg Aru - Nov 2018

There are so many things you can actually see and do in Borneo. Its a land with multi layered culture and ethnicity, vast landscape with virgin forest and plenty of wildlife - birds included !  A visit to Mantanani Island would be ideal but i landed on an island called Manukan instead.

How to get there?

From KK International Airport (KKIA), request the taxi to take you to Jesselton ferry terminal. The fare would be around RM30.00. Alternatively you can get a metered cab or a Grab car if you do not like to bargain. You can also take a local bus which should be much cheaper but it might take you longer than the 10 minutes trip by a car. From the jetty, the boat fare will be around RM23.00 and another RM7.00 when you reached the island. You can actually see the island from the jetty itself. Powered by a twin 150 HP Mercury outboard motors you will reach the island within 15 minutes. In this trip my entire family followed and they did bring some good luck to me actually. 

We reached the island at around 10.30am which is actually a bit late in birding terms. While my family enjoyed the sun and the clear sea water, i ran straight to the trails like a man possessed by some bird spirits. My target bird was none other than a bird which look like a small chicken. At the beginning of the trail which is just behind the registration counter, it was pretty quiet with occasionally a few olive-winged bulbuls foraging in the foliage. As i reached the 1000 meter stone mark, my eyes nearly pop out from its sockets! Right in front was my major lifer for year 2018 -  a 1st winter male Narcissus Flycatcher ! My hands were trembling not because of the fear that the bird would eat me but more of hoping that the bird would stay put so that i could take some decent photos of it.

Narcissus Flycatcher (Male) - Ficedula narcissina

This old world flycatcher has no representative (i.e monotypic) and it is a long distance migrant bird. Reported to be abundant in Sakhalin and from the literature's description, this bird is closely related with F. elisae. This sighting is the first on this island as far as eBird Malaysia record is concerned. I will probably wont get any medal for this sighting but its more like a case of "shiok sendiri" (self satisfaction).

The bird was obviously in the hunt for his breakfast as it was observed looking for some insects as it flew deeper into the island forest.

As i walk further up and reaching the 1300 meters mark, my spectacles nearly cracked into pieces. There it was the chicken like bird which i was looking for. Two Tabon Scrubfowl / Tabon Megapode were seen scuttling down the ravine trying to conceal themselves as much as possible. I stayed quietly for 30 minutes hoping that they would move to some open space in the thick foliage but alas they refuse to bulge from their hideout. Hence no photos were taken but the satisfaction to see them with my own eyes was good enough despite that it was nearly noon at the time. From the record of sightings in this location, the usual times to see them in the open are between 7.30am to 9.30am. 

As my heartbeat went back to normal, i continued my bird watching session. 

Other birds seen later on this island were rather common though. 

Zebra dove

Plain-throated Sunbird (female)

Olive-winged Bulbul

Rufous-tailed Tailorbird

Oriental Magpie Robin (female)

i have often been looked at this way (the side ways) by birds - not sure why?

Pacific Reef Egret (Dark Morph)

Mangrove Whistler (juvenile)

Common Sandpiper

This was the only wader seen on this island.

Since there were no cats or dogs around, i guess this lizard is the primary land-based predator on this island.

Next location is a much cooler place called Kundasang.

Kundasang at dawn.

Chestnut-hooded Laughingthrush.

Despite its common presence and bubbly calls, this was the first time i was able to get a decent shot of this bird.

Hair-crested Drongo

This Drongo was previously called Sprangled Drongo.

Ashy Drongo (Dicrunus leucophaeus)

This should be a resident drongo. Note: its white eye patch which can be clearly seen here.

Asian Brown Flycatcher

Another migrant bird has landed.

Oriental Magpie Robin (male)

Note its all black underbelly as compared to its cousins in Peninsular Malaysia / nearby regions. A US Professor in a literature was quoted saying that birds from Sabah is closely related to those from Java while the ones from Sarawak are more a less the same as the ones in Peninsular Malaysia.

Striated Grassbird (Megalurus palustris palustris)

Lifer # 3 ! 

A mystery bird with an almost all white plumage. Could it be a Snowy Owl - no?

(note: the bird is larger than a rock pigeon, has rounded wings and flapping slowly down to the valley from Mount KK foothill. It was seen on my way up to dairy farm, Kundasang)

My last stop was at another famous location i.e Tanjung Aru. 

Blue-naped Parrot

I told the taxi driver that i will not go back until i see this parrot. Miraculously he has waited for me in his cab.

The main attraction for birders to visit this beach front was likely due to the presence of this parrot. Despite its feral status, it was simply fascinating to see it flying freely. Hope the state government will protect the tree trunk in the middle of the park for this precious and vulnerable parrot !

Lifer # 4.

An Oriental Pied Hornbill been mobbed by a White-breasted Woodswallow.

White-breasted Woodswallow

Despite its small size and possibly been eaten by the hornbill, it has continuously harassed the hornbill (kamikazi style) until it gave up and flew away.

Oriental Pied Hornbill - flying away

These two Asian Dollar birds were sharing the same tree trunk as the Blue-naped parrot.

Like how i started this trip, i have ended it with another lifer.

Green Imperial Pigeon

I have no time to adjust any settings and just gave it a shot. My hunch was correct. As soon as i shot this photo it flew off.

Lifer #: 5


I have enjoyed this trip thoroughly.


Amazing Borneo/Sabah indeed !