Gallus sonneratii

Endemic to the Indian Peninsula

I am sure those who have read stories of shikar, especially Jim Corbett or Kenneth Anderson, will wholeheartedly agree that this is a bird they have often come across as both shikaris sat down for their meals. Junglefowl are the only four living species of bird from the genus Gallus in the bird order Galliformes, and occur in parts of South and Southeast Asia. The Gray Junglefowl (Gallus sonneratii), also known as Sonnerat's Junglefowl, is one of the wild ancestors of the domestic chicken together with the red junglefowl and other junglefowls.

The species epithet commemorates the French explorer Pierre Sonnerat. Local names include Komri in Rajasthan, Geera kur or Parda komri in Gondi, Jangli Murghi in Hindi, Raan kombdi in Marathi, Kattu Kozhi in Tamil and Malayalam, Kaadu koli in Kannada and Tella adavi kodi in Telugu.

There are times, I remember from my childhood at my grandparents, when door to door vendors would sometimes arrive at our home with junglefowl in large cane baskets. This used to be a very special treat, like quail. For a brief period in time, during the 80s, these game birds were farmed & were available at speciality shops which stocked game birds. Fortunately or unfortunately with the increasing industrialisation of food, and the homogenisation of tastes that followed, these farms either shut down or turned to battery farming of chicken. As a result my memories of game birds has faded over the years.

But those times spent at my grandparents was a learning in shikar, tracking and behaviours of the multitude of birds and animals that inhabit our jungles. And when I started photography I fell right back into those stories of the jungles and finding and documenting the birds and animals I had heard and dreamt of.

I have encountered the endemic Gray Junglefowl at a number of different locations across India - from the dense forests of Kabini to the emerald wilds of the Tadoba Andhari Tiger Reserve.

Tadoba-Andhari Tiger Reserve

Almost at the heart of the nation lies the jewel of Vidarbh, “Tadoba National Park and Tiger Reserve”. Also known as the "Tadoba Andhari Tiger Reserve" it is the oldest and largest National Park in the state of Maharashtra and one of 47 Project Tiger reserves existing in India. 

Tadoba is a jungle where, early in the day, the sun follows one like a lodestar through the tangled heads of the trees and as the day progresses it burns with a blinding exquisiteness that makes us shield our eyes and bless our existence. The light is lustrous in the open spaces and seemed undistllled from heaven to earth seeming like a laser show at times as gem clear beams filter through the trees. The warmth of it settles over our faces like a silken mask and life is a golden joy. That is the thing about the seraph-light of this jungle; it can sweep down like the handloom of the gods one moment, pure and clear and long of line.

Tadoba lies in the Chandrapur district of Maharashtra state, once ruled by the Gond Kings in the vicinity of the Chimur Hills, and is approximately 150 km from the closest major city, Nagpur. The total area of the tiger reserve is 1,727 km², which includes the Tadoba National Park, created in the year 1955. The Andhari Wildlife Sanctuary was formed in the year 1986 and was amalgamated with the park in 1995 to establish the present Tadoba Andhari Tiger Reserve. The word 'Tadoba' is derived from the name of God "Tadoba" or "Taru," venerated by the local adivasi (tribal) people of this region and "Andhari" is derived from the name of the river Andhari flowing in this area. Legend holds that Taru was a village chief killed in a mythological encounter with a tiger. Taru was deified and a shrine now exists beneath a large tree on the banks of the Tadoba Lake. The temple is frequented by the adivasis between the months of December through January. 

Home to some of central India’s best native woodland bird species, about 181 including endangered and water birds, the park also boasts leopards, sloth bear, the Indian bison (Gaur), Nilgai, Dhole, Striped Hyena, small Indian Civet, numerous Jungle Cats, Chital (Axis Deer), Sambhar, Barking Deer, Four-horned antelope, Marsh Crocodiles, a profusion of Langurs and Rhesus Macaques and a good measure of reptiles like the Indian Python, Cobra and numerous other species. Tadoba, unfortunately, also has a high rate of man-tiger conflict. Several instances have also been reported of wildlife killing domestic livestock and there are villages still within the forest contrary to the efforts of the Forest department so we were told. Note it is man conflicting with nature and not the other way round.

As of May 2020, there were 115 royal bengal tigers, 151 leopards estimated in Tadoba and the surrounding buffer areas. A booming population supported by the incredible and diverse biodiversity making the reserve a paradise for tiger enthusiasts who have the choice of some of the best forest tracks in the country. 

This is not a reserve where one will say I saw a bengal tiger, here one will say I saw the Telia Sisters, I saw the huge Matkasur, I saw beautiful Maya, I saw the gorgeous Choti Tara. Tadoba today has probably the highest Sighting Rating Index (SRI) for the tigers in the country with SRI defined as the number of successful sighting safaris vs the total number of safaris undertaken in the prior 28 days.

Read more about Tadoba and its wildlife. 

Kabini

In the lush Nilgiri Biosphere, to the south of the famed Nagarhole Tiger Reserve & National Park, on the banks of the river Kasbani lies the area known as Kabini. A major tributary of the Cauvery, the Kasbani is also known as the Kapila River and Kabini River giving the area its name. Consisting mainly of moist deciduous forests, interspersed with teak and eucalyptus plantations, and at a lower altitude compared to Bandipur across the river, Kabini is sprinkled with open grasslands, making it easy to spot wildlife, and providing amazing photographic opportunities. Especially so in winter when the forests are a verdant green and the magnificent coats of the big cats pop. Together with the adjoining Bandipur National Park (870 km²), Mudumalai National Park (320 km²) & Wayanad Wildlife Sanctuary (344 km²), it forms the largest protected area in Southern India, totaling 2,183 km².

The erstwhile exclusive hunting grounds of the kings of Mysore, Kabini has lush forests, small rivulets, hills, valleys and waterfalls making it a veritable paradise for many species like the tiger, dhole, gaur, chital, sambhar, elephants and the leopard. One can also spot the critically endangered oriental white-backed vulture, various species of eagles and the Nilgiri wood pigeon. 

Kabini has three main tiger families:

• The Backwaters Family

• The Tiger Tank Family &

• The Russell Line Family

I had the good fortune to witness the two leading ladies of the families - the Backwaters female & the Tiger Tank female - in quick succession. I later discovered that while I was working the Backwaters female, her two cubs popped up in front of us but my eyes were riveted on the tigress and I missed seeing the cubs entirely.

Gray Junglefowl

Junglefowl are the only four living species of bird from the genus Gallus in the bird order Galliformes, and occur in parts of South and Southeast Asia. The Gray Junglefowl (Gallus sonneratii), also known as Sonnerat's Junglefowl, is one of the wild ancestors of the domestic chicken together with the Red Junglefowl and other junglefowls.

The species epithet commemorates the French explorer Pierre Sonnerat. Local names include Komri in Rajasthan, Geera kur or Parda komri in Gondi, Jangli Murghi in Hindi, Raan kombdi in Marathi, Kattu Kozhi in Tamil and Malayalam, Kaadu koli in Kannadaand Tella adavi kodi in Telugu.

The junglefowl are omnivorous, eating a variety of leaves, plant matter, invertebrates such as slugs and insects, and occasionally small mice and frogs. These are large birds, with colourful plumage in males, but are nevertheless difficult to see in the dense vegetation they inhabit.

As with many birds in the pheasant family, the male takes no part in the incubation of the egg or rearing of the precocial young. These duties are performed by the drab and well-camouflaged female. Females and males do not form pair bonds; instead, the species has a polygynandrous mating system in which each female will usually mate with several males. Aggressive social hierarchies exist among both females and males, from which the term "pecking order" originates.

The genus Gallus was erected by the French scientist Mathurin Jacques Brisson in his Ornithologie published in 1760. The type species is the Red Junglefowl (Gallus gallus). The Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus had introduced the genus Gallus in the 6th edition of his Systema Naturae published in 1748, but Linnaeus dropped the genus in the important tenth edition of 1758 and put the Red Junglefowl together with the common pheasant in the genus Phasianus. However, the red junglefowl and common pheasant are now known to have diverged about 18–23 million years ago, and belong to different subfamilies. This pairwise divergence time was also the same between the other three junglefowls and the pheasant. As the publication date of Linnaeus's sixth edition was before the 1758 starting point of the International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature, Brisson and not Linnaeus is considered as the authority for the genus.

The species Gallus has the following subspecies:

• Red Junglefowl - Gallus gallus (Linnaeus, 1758) with five subspecies (G. g. bankiva (Temminck, 1813), G. g. gallus (Linnaeus, 1758), G. g. jabouillei (Delacour & Kinnear, 1928), G. g. murghi (Robinson & Kloss, 1920), G. g. spadiceus (Bonnaterre, 1792)) is distributed in India, Pakistan, eastwards across Indochina and southern China and into Malaysia, Singapore, Philippines and Indonesia.

• Grey Junglefowl – Gallus sonneratii (Temminck, 1813) is distributed in the Indian Peninsula, but extends into Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, south Rajasthan, and Pakistani Punjab.

• Green Junglefowl – Gallus varius (Shaw, 1798) is distributed in Java, Bali, Lombok, Komodo, Flores, Rinca, and small islands linking Java with Flores, Indonesia.

• Sri Lankan Junglefowl – Gallus lafayettii (Lesson, 1831) can be found in Sri Lanka as their name suggests.

More recent phylogenetic evidence supports the closest relatives of Gallus being the bamboo partridges in the genus Bambusicola, from which they diverged about 15 million years ago.

The Gray Junglefowl is endemic to India, and even today it is found mainly in peninsular India and towards the northern boundary. They are found in thickets, on the forest floor and open scrub. The species occurs mainly in the Indian Peninsula, but extends into Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and southern Rajasthan. The Red Junglefowl is found more along the foothills of the Himalayas; a region of overlap occurs in the Aravalli range - although the ranges are largely non-overlapping.

The male Gray Junglefowl has a black cape with ochre spots and the body plumage on a grey ground colour is finely patterned. The elongated neck feathers are dark and end in a small, hard, yellowish plate; this peculiar structure making them popular for making high-grade artificial flies. The male has red wattles and combs but not as strongly developed as in the Red Junglefowl. Legs of males are red and have spurs while the yellow legs of females usually lack spurs. The central tail feathers are long and sickle shaped. Males have an eclipse plumage in which they moult their colourful neck feathers in summer during or after the breeding season.

The female is duller and has black and white streaking on the underparts and yellow legs.

The populations from the region of Mount Abu in Rajasthan named as the subspecies wangyeli is usually not recognized although it is said that the calls of the cock from this region differs from the call of birds from southern India and the plumage is much paler.

Their loud calls of Ku-kayak-kyuk-kyuk are loud and distinctive, and can be heard in the early mornings and at dusk. Unlike the Red Junglefowl, the male does not flap its wings before uttering the call. They breed from February to May and lay 4 to 7 eggs which are pale creamy in a scrape. Eggs hatch in about 21 days. Although mostly seen on the ground, the Grey Junglefowl fly into trees to escape predators and to roost. They forage in small mixed or single sex groups. They feed on grains including bamboo seeds, berries, insects and termites, and are hunted for meat and for the long neck hackle feathers that are sought after for making fishing lures. 

The male Gray Junglefowl is about 70–80 cm long and weighs between 790–1136 g. The female of the species is about 38 cm long and weighs between 705–790 g. The male is generally much greyer than congeners, with a rather small comb and hackles, and a very distinctive neck pattern; narrowly meets G. gallus in C India (in C Madyha Pradesh, NE Andhra Pradesh and at least formerly in N Western Ghats) but the male of the present species is darker and greyer-bodied, boldly spotted whitish, has blunt neck hackles, no whitish patch at the base of the tail, brighter legs and less obviously elongated scapulars. The non-breeding (eclipse) plumage of the male sheds the spotted neck hackles and elongated rectrices, while head and neck feathers are shorter and a dull black, and comb is reduced in size and paler. The female differs from those of other Gallus by combination of white streaks on breast and unbarred flight feathers. Bare parts: bill yellowish flesh with dark brown culmen, irides yellow to orange-brown, and legs yellow to red (brightest in breeding season); male has single, long spur, whereas female is usually unspurred. The juveniles are similar to the females, but darker especially on underparts; young males soon show the characteristic grey and rusty feathers of an adult male, and have a blacker tail  than the female; the first-year male has hackles, spurs and central rectrices shorter than an adult, is duller overall but retains female-like wing feathers.

Although molecular study of Asian Phasianidae found that genera Coturnix, Gallus & Bambusicola form a subclade, the present species was not sampled. directly. Closely related to G. gallus and G. lafayettii; hybridizes locally with G. gallus in areas of contact. Varies clinally, birds darkest in SW of range and becoming gradually paler to South East, North East & North; form wangyeli (described from Mt Abu, in S Rajasthan) thought to represent pale extreme of cline, although possible vocal difference between Mt Abu population and those in South West of range (Kerala) reported. The Gray Junglefowl are treated as monotypic.

The Gray Junglefowl affects the understorey, including bamboo, and scrubby parts of evergreen, mixed and deciduous forest, generally up to 1500 m, but to 1700 m in E & W Ghats and even to 2400 m in Nilgiris. They also frequent cultivation and abandoned plantations of rubber, coffee and tea, especially where overgrown with Lantana (Verbenaceae) and are often seen in clearings or along paths as I have indicated in the habitat photo above. In the Melghat Tiger Reserve, Maharashtra, the Gray Junglefowl affects mixed deciduous forest dominated by Tectona grandis (Lamiaceae) and Dendrocalamus strictus (Poaceae), with other species including Terminalia tomentosa, Anogeissus latifolia (Combretaceae), Butea monosperma (Fagaceae), Emblica officinalis (Phyllanthaceae), Boswelia serrata (Burseraceae), Ougeinia oojeinensis (Fagaceae), Lagerstromia parviflora (Lythraceae), Lantana camara & Ziziphus mauritiana (Rhamnaceae). They roost in trees up to 18m above ground. They generally do not move or migrate; some may occur in response to seasonal availability or abundance of local food sources. 

Gray Junglefowl have a diverse diet, including seeds of bamboo & Strobilanthes among others, shoots of grass and crops, tubers, figs and berries of Zizyphus (Rhamnaceae), Lantana, Streblus (Moraceae) etc. Animals eaten include insects (for example grasshoppers and termites) and even small reptiles. In Tamil Nadu, the diet constituted 55%, 31·1% and 13·9% of plant matter, animal matter and grit, respectively, based on analysis of droppings. They often peck at dung of cattle, elephants, etc. They appear to forage close to cover and in same area during successive days, presumably responding to local distribution of food supplies; sometimes recorded in groups of 5–6 birds, but large numbers congregate where food is seasonally abundant, e.g. seeding bamboo.

The Gray Junglefowl is not globally threatened and therefore classified as Least Concern. Mace Lande: vulnerable. CITES II. Formerly considered Near Threatened. There is preciously little information on the status despite extensive distribution. They are believed to be declining, with populations increasingly fragmented, in Kerala at least, where they are protected within the Periyar Tiger Reserve and Satpura National Park. The Gray Junglefowl is threatened by loss of forested habitats to agriculture, which has been ongoing since the 1870s, and also by overgrazing and burning of scrub, especially removal of understorey for fuelwood even within protected areas. They are hunted for food and their eggs are also collected in some areas, and formerly for sport they have apparently been persecuted almost to extinction in some areas, even within several protected areas, e.g. Jessore Sloth Bear Sanctuary. Their hackles are used in fly-fishing, but demand seems to be satisfied from captive birds. They occur in more than ten protected areas in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Kerala and Tamil Nadu, including Bori, Mount Abu and Anamalais Wildlife Sanctuaries, Vansda, Silent Valley and Eravikulam National Parks, and Kalakad-Mundandurai Tiger Reserve; and Pench and Melghat Tiger Reserves, Maharashtra. Some studies are underway; information required upon which to base management regime. Varied density estimates, e.g. 37·03 ± 2·81 birds/km² in Tamil Nadu, 25·45 ± 3·4 birds/km² in Kalakad-Mundandurai Tiger Reserve, 16·72 ± 4·7 birds/km² in Maharashtra, and 7·87 birds/km² in Deva Vetala National Park and 5·39 birds/ha in Rajaji National Park.

The following photographs are of the Gray Junglefowl taken across India in multiple reserves like Kabini & Tadoba Andhari Tiger Reserve.

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