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ABSTRACT
Indian Treepie Dendrocitta vagabunda parvula (Latham, 1790) (Passeriformes: Corvidae), is a widespread resident bird commonly found in coconut and areca palm plantation belts. Food and feeding habits of Indian Treepie were studied by direct focal observation method gut content analysis and faecal matter analysis in an agricultural belt in south Malabar, North Kerala. Indian Treepie prefers coconut and areca palm plantations for foraging activities, and is an omnivore feeding on animal and plant items ranging from invertebrate to vertebrate species, with insects forming the main group. Its unique prey catching methods namely, hang feeding and shake and wait catch methods enable the bird to consume the hiding insects from the lengthy fronds of coconut and areca palms, which are inaccessible to other insectivorous birds. Capacity of Indian Treepie to feed on the lower side of the fronds is the reason for its higher incidence in coconut and areca palm plantations. This feature makes it as a natural enemy of the insects living on the fronds of palm trees. As it feeds up on many pests of agricultural crops like grasshopper, red palm weevil, banana stem weevil, cockroaches, nestlings of house rat and squirrel, Indian Treepie is an important biocontrol agent in the agro ecosystem of the region. Areca nut harvesting practices and predation by Jungle Crow are the major causes of egg loss and nestling loss of Indian Treepie in the region.
Key words: Dendrocitta vagabunda, palm fronds, hang feeding, natural enemy
INTRODUCTION
Indian Treepie, Dendrocitta vagabunda parvula (Latham, 1790) (Passeriformes: Corvidae), is a wide spread arboreal noisy bird seen in coconut and areca palm plantation belts in south India. People in the region treat Indian Treepie as a bad omen and drive away, kill and destroy the nestlings and nest (Basheer, 2010). There is no record about it as a pest of crops and predator on domestic animals. Other than the brief notes on its feeding preference on flowers of red silk cotton (Bombax ceiba), Indian coral tree (Erythrina indica) and fruits of jackal jujube (Zacharias and Gaston, 1983) and cashew apple (Thirumurthy and Balashanmugam, 1987), predation of red palm weevil Rhychophorus ferrugineus (Krishnakumar and Sudha, 2002), cannibalism (Chhangani, 2004) and role in pollinating Bombax ceiba (Raju et al., 2005) nothing...