The Black shama (Copsychus cebuensis) is a species of bird in the family Muscicapidae.
It is endemic to the island of Cebu, Philippines where it is known locally as "Siloy".
EBird describes the bird as "A medium-sized, long-tailed bird of lowland forest, bamboo, and scrub on Cebu, where it has a preference for valley bottoms. Male is entirely black with a glossy sheen, where the female is sooty gray with a rusty belly. Catches insects on the ground, in the undergrowth, or even on the wing. There are no other species of similar shape and size on Cebu. Song is a series of long, slightly out of tune, often quavering whistles."[2]
Ecology and behavior
Stomach contents of species contained beetles. This species is believed to be an insectivore. Usually seen in pairs foraging close to the forest floor or thickets with a lot of tangled vines.
Breeding season is February to September. Nest is cup shaped and typically found in bamboo. Lays to 2 to 3 eggs.[3]
Habitat and conservation status
A Black shama featured on the 1992 Philippine stamp.
Its natural habitats are tropical moist lowland primary forest and secondaryforests . It is also seen in clearings and plantations as long as there is dense undergrowth.[4] An ongoing radio-tracking study found that the breeding territory in forest-edge habitats was 0.2-0.5 km2.
The IUCN Red List formerly classified this bird as an endangered species with population estimates of 670 to 3,300 mature individuals with the belief that its population is near the lower estimate of that range. This species' main threat is habitat loss with wholesale clearance of forest habitats as a result of legal and illegal logging, mining and conversion into farmlands through Slash-and-burn and urbanization. Cebu underwent severe deforestation in the 1890s and now just 0.03% or 15 km2 (5.8 sq mi) of forest cover remains. Up until today, the forests of Cebu still receive hunting pressure and deforestation — further reducing what little there is remaining.
In 2023, this species was downlisted to a least-concern species based on a new estimate of 10,000 to 16,500 birds and an apparent tolerance for secondary habitat. However, this estimate assumes as many as 350 birds per square kilometer in Alcoy. These figures are in urgent need of more study
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