thumb|A. t. multicolor: female in [[Satchari National Park, Bangladesh]]

The common iora (Aegithina tiphia) is a small passerine bird found across the tropical Indian subcontinent and Southeast Asia, with populations showing plumage variations, some of which are designated as subspecies. A species found in scrub and forest, it is easily detected from its loud whistles and the bright colours. During the breeding season, males display by fluffing up their feathers and spiral in the air appearing like a green, black, yellow, and white ball.

Taxonomy

In 1747 the English naturalist George Edwards included an illustration and a description of the common iora in the second volume of his A Natural History of Uncommon Birds. He used the English name "The Green Indian Fly-Catcher". Edwards based his hand-coloured etching on a specimen that had been sent from Bengal to the silk-pattern designer and naturalist Joseph Dandridge in London. When in 1758 the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus updated his Systema Naturae for the tenth edition, he placed the common iora in the genus Motacilla. Linnaeus included a brief description, coined the binomial name Motacilla tiphia and cited Edwards' work. The common iora is now placed in the genus Aegithina that was introduced in 1816 by the French ornithologist Louis Pierre Vieillot. The genus name Aegithina is from Ancient Greek aigithos or aiginthos, a mythical bird mentioned by Aristotle and other classical authors. The etymology of specific epithet tiphia is uncertain. It may be from the Ancient Greek tuphē, tiara, from Tiphys who in Greek mythology was the helmsman of the Argonauts.

Eleven subspecies are recognised: The nominate subspecies is found along the Himalayas and males of this population are very similar to females or have only a small amount of black on the crown. In northwestern India, septentrionalis is brighter yellow than others and in the northern plains of India humei males in breeding plumage have a black cap and olive on the upper mantle. In southwestern India and Sri Lanka multicolor has the breeding males with a jet black cap and mantle. The forms in the rest of southern India are intermediate between multicolor and humei with more grey-green on the rump (formerly considered as deignani but now used for the Burmese population).

thumb|Common Iora, Male, Pune

Several other populations across Southeast Asia are designated as subspecies including philipi of southern China and northern Thailand/Laos, deignani of Myanmar, horizoptera of southern Myanmar and the island chain of Sumatra, cambodiana of Cambodia, aeqanimis of Palawan and northern Borneo, viridis of Borneo and scapularis of Java and Bali.

Behaviour and ecology

Ioras forage in trees in small groups, gleaning among the branches for insects. They sometimes join mixed species feeding flocks. The call is a mixture of churrs, chattering and whistles, and the song is a trilled wheeeee-tee. They may sometimes imitate the calls of other birds such as drongos.

thumb|left|A. t. multicolor: male in [[Hyderabad, India]]

During the breeding season, mainly after the monsoons, the male performs an acrobatic courtship display, darting up into the air fluffing up all his feathers, especially those on the pale green rump, then spiralling down to the original perch. Once he lands, he spreads his tail and droops his wings. and eggs hatch after about 14 days. Nests predators include snakes, lizards, crow-pheasant and crows. Nests may also be brood-parasitized by the banded bay cuckoo.

Ioras moult twice in a year and the plumage variation makes them somewhat complicated for plumage based separation of the populations.

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File:Common Iora (Aegithina tiphia) in Hyderabad W IMG 8862.jpg|A. t. multicolor: male calling in Hyderabad, India.

File:Common Iora (Aegithina tiphia) in Hyderabad W IMG 5622.jpg|A. t. multicolor: female in Hyderabad

File:Common Iora (Aegithina tiphia) in Hyderabad W IMG 5618.jpg|A. t. multicolor: female in Hyderabad

File:Common Iora (Aegithina tiphia) in Narshapur, AP W IMG 1144.jpg|A. t. multicolor: female in Narsapur, Medak district, India

Image:Common Iora (Aegithina tiphia) in Hyderabad, AP W2 IMG 9809.jpg|A. t. multicolor: male in Hyderabad

File:Common Iora (Aegithina tiphia) in Kawal, AP W IMG 1517.jpg|A. t. multicolor: female in Narsapur

File:Common Iora (Aegithina tiphia) calling W IMG_7709.jpg|A. t. multicolor: male calling in Shamirpet, Rangareddy district, Andhra Pradesh, India

Image:Aegithina tiphia-20080910.jpg|Adult breeding male, Singapore

Image:Aegithina tiphia-20080910B.jpg|Adult breeding male, Singapore

Image:Common Iora scientific name Aegithina tiphia by Sumita Roy Dutta at Sajnekhali Bird Sanctuary IMG 8289.jpg|Common Iora: female at Sajnakhali Wildlife Sanctuary

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<gallery perrow="4" widths="180" heights="170" caption="Museum specimens for subspecies at Naturalis">

File:Naturalis Biodiversity Center - RMNH.AVES.92893 1 - Aegithina tiphia aequanimis Bangs, 1922 - Irenidae - bird skin specimen.jpeg|Aegithina tiphia aequanimis Bangs, 1922, male

File:Naturalis Biodiversity Center - RMNH.AVES.92894 1 - Aegithina tiphia aequanimis Bangs, 1922 - Irenidae - bird skin specimen.jpeg|Aegithina tiphia aequanimis Bangs, 1922, female

File:Naturalis Biodiversity Center - RMNH.AVES.126754 1 - Aegithina tiphia multicolor (Gmelin, 1789) - Irenidae - bird skin specimen.jpeg|Aegithina tiphia multicolor (Gmelin, 1789), male

File:Naturalis Biodiversity Center - RMNH.AVES.126760 1 - Aegithina tiphia multicolor (Gmelin, 1789) - Irenidae - bird skin specimen.jpeg|Aegithina tiphia multicolor (Gmelin, 1789), female

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Hall,BP (1957): The taxonomic importance of variation in non-breeding

plumage in Aegithina tiphia and A. nigrolutea. Ibis 99, 143-156.

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References

  • BirdLife Species Factsheet
  • Common Iora videos, photos & sounds on the Internet Bird Collection
  • , describing Aegithina tiphia singapurensis, now considered a synonym of Aegithina tiphia horizoptera