Rough-crested Malkoha
Also known as: Luzon malkoha (descriptive name among birders)
Definition
The rough-crested malkoha is a long-tailed cuckoo of the family Cuculidae endemic to Luzon in the Philippines, where it inhabits tropical moist lowland forest. Named for the spiky crown feathers it can raise, it is declining because of habitat loss and hunting, and it is a close relative of the scale-feathered malkoha, which replaces it on other islands.
Identities (Wikipedia/Wikidata/DBpedia)
- Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rough-crested_malkoha
- Wikidata: Q1110879
- DBpedia: N/A
Also Known As
- Luzon malkoha (descriptive name among birders)
Examples and Analogies
Malkohas are the non-parasitic branch of the cuckoo family: instead of laying eggs in other birds’ nests, the rough-crested malkoha builds its own nest and raises its young, moving through the canopy like a slender, long-tailed squirrel in search of insects and small fruits.
Usage Scenarios
As a Luzon lowland forest endemic it appears in bird survey reports, ecotourism site checklists, and environmental impact assessments, serving as one of the indicator species by which the health of remaining Sierra Madre and Luzon forest patches is judged.
Strategies
Conservation follows the general path for Luzon lowland birds: protection of remaining forest through the national integrated protected areas system, tighter enforcement against hunting with air guns and snares, and reforestation using native tree species.
Security and Safety Measures
Philippine wildlife protections classify migratory and resident wild birds as generally protected from hunting and trade, and local anti-hunting ordinances supplement national law in municipalities bordering key forest areas.
Historical Context
The species was described during the nineteenth-century wave of natural history collecting in the Philippines, when Luzon’s distinctive birds began reaching European museums, and it has long been illustrated in field guides as one of the island’s signature endemics.
Challenges and Controversies
Lowland forest is the most human-pressured elevation in Luzon, and the combined pressure of land conversion and subsistence hunting continues to thin populations, with no island-wide monitoring program in place to track its decline precisely.
Related Topic
Scale-feathered Malkoha