Cambodian Tailorbird

Description:

The Cambodian Tailorbird has been classified as Near Threatened and is endemic to Cambodia. I fully realise the bad quality of this image but wanted to share anyway due to the plight of this bird. This lovely little bird is grey down its back and wings, and down the tail. The chest is also grey but the underbelly is white. It has a distinctive orange colour on the top of its head.

Habitat:

Dense shrubland off the highway, in the floodplains and farmland of the Mekong River. Location is not exact in order to protect the 2 sites this bird has been found in. These sites are incredibly important as no other sites have been found thus far. And even more because the declining of the birds' habitat is due to the constant encroachment of urbanisation.

Notes:

We were treated to seeing 3 different individuals! It was quite warm at the time of day we were there but they still showed themselves. According to our guide from the Sam Veasna Center: The Cambodian Tailorbird was actually first seen in 2009 but mistakenly identified as an Ashy Tailorbird - which is not in Cambodia. In 2012 a new person arrived to work at the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) and came to the conclusion that it was in fact definitely not an Ashy Tailorbird. During the same year, DNA was taken from the bird and sent to the US when it was then found that a brand new species had been discovered! T Our guide from the Sam Veasna Center identified the bird and also confirmed the status.