Birdfinding.info ⇒ Thailand’s national bird is mostly limited to protected areas, where it remains locally common. It can be found consistently at a few sites in Thailand, including Khao Yai and Pang Sida National Parks, Sakaerat Biosphere Reserve, Phu Khieo and Khao Ang Rue Nai Wildlife Sanctuaries, and at Cát Tiên National Park in southern Vietnam.
Siamese Fireback
Lophura diardi
Endemic to Indochina, where it occurs in humid evergreen forests of lowlands and foothills.
Historical range of Siamese Fireback. © BirdLife International 2016
Current distribution is disjunct: north-central Thailand; central Vietnam and southern Laos; and southeastern Thailand patchily across Cambodia to bordering areas of southern Vietnam.
Formerly more widespread: west to eastern Myanmar and north into central Laos and northern Vietnam. It may still persist in some of these areas.
Identification
A dark pheasant with bright-red facial skin and coral-red legs. Male is large (about 80 cm long, including 30 cm tail) and robust (up to 1 kg). Female is about three-quarters of the length and less than half the bulk of the male.
Siamese Fireback, male and female—note scaled patterns on male’s rump and belly. (Khao Yai National Park, Thailand; February 11, 2017.) © Benjamin Naden
Male has mostly lead-gray upperparts and breast, dark underparts, broad, arching glossy blue or greenish tail plumes, scarlet wattles that resemble a helmet when seen from the side, and a cluster of blue feathers that form a thin crest or topknot.
Siamese Fireback, male showing mostly gray plumage. (Cát Tiên National Park, Dong Nai, Vietnam; March 14, 2017.) © Janos Olah
Siamese Fireback, male in bright light. (Cát Tiên National Park, Dong Nai, Vietnam; February 23, 2019.) © Ly Lan Le Do
Siamese Fireback, male in direct sunlight, with red wattles fully illuminated. (Khao Yai National Park, Thailand; February 11, 2017.) © Benjamin Naden
Siamese Fireback, male, frontal view showing structure of face wattles. (Cát Tiên National Park, Dong Nai, Vietnam; February 27, 2017.) © Benjamin Naden
Siamese Fireback, male showing scaled patterns on rump and belly. (Khao Yai National Park, Thailand; November 25, 2018.) © Mustafa Sozen
Both the rump and the belly show a scaled pattern in good light: purple, blue, and black on the rump; blue and black on the belly.
Siamese Fireback, male showing scaled patterns on rump and belly. (Cát Tiên National Park, Dong Nai, Vietnam; February 27, 2017.) © Benjamin Naden
Siamese Fireback, male showing scaled patterns on rump and belly. (Cát Tiên National Park, Dong Nai, Vietnam; February 28, 2018.) © Lars Petersson
Siamese Fireback, male showing mostly gray plumage, with orange-yellow patch on lower back slightly exposed. (Khao Yai National Park, Thailand; February 11, 2017.) © Benjamin Naden
The male has a small orange-yellow patch on the lower back that is usually concealed—but which gives the species its English name.
Siamese Fireback, male showing orange-yellow patch on lower back and purple, blue, and black scaled pattern on rump. (Cát Tiên National Park, Dong Nai, Vietnam; March 14, 2017.) © Janos Olah
Siamese Fireback, male showing orange-yellow patch on lower back and purple, blue, and black scaled pattern on rump. (Sakaerat Biosphere Reserve, Nakhon Ratchasima, Thailand; January 11, 2017.) © Santi Xayyasith
Siamese Fireback, female showing rusty-brown body and undertail and varied black-and-white barring on wings, rump, and tail. (Sakaerat Biosphere Reserve, Nakhon Ratchasima, Thailand; November 25, 2018.) © Mark Hogarth
Female has rusty-brown to chestnut underparts, back, and undertail, bold black-and-white barring on the wings and uppertail, and fine black-and-white barring on the rump.
Siamese Fireback, female showing rusty-brown body and undertail and varied black-and-white barring on wings, rump, and tail. (Khao Yai National Park, Thailand; December 22, 2018.) © Liu JimFood
Siamese Fireback, female showing rusty-brown body and undertail and varied black-and-white barring on wings, rump, and tail. (Phu Khieo Wildlife Sanctuary, Chaiyaphum, Thailand; April 19, 2016.) © Mark Hogarth
Siamese Fireback, female showing rusty-brown body and varied black-and-white barring on wings, rump, and tail. (Sakaerat Biosphere Reserve, Nakhon Ratchasima, Thailand; January 11, 2017.) © Santi Xayyasith
Siamese Fireback, female showing chestnut body coloration in this lighting. (Cát Tiên National Park, Dong Nai, Vietnam; February 10, 2019.) © Simple Birder
Siamese Fireback, female showing rusty-brown body and varied black-and-white barring on wings, rump, and tail. (Phu Khieo Wildlife Sanctuary, Chaiyaphum, Thailand; February 21, 2013.) © bird.soong
Notes
Monotypic species.
The national bird of Thailand.
References
BirdLife International. 2016. Lophura diardi. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2016: e.T22679274A92808547. https://dx.doi.org/10.2305/IUCN.UK.2016-3.RLTS.T22679274A92808547.en. (Accessed February 9, 2020.)
eBird. 2020. eBird: An online database of bird distribution and abundance. Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, N.Y. http://www.ebird.org. (Accessed February 9, 2020.)
McGowan, P.J.K., and G.M. Kirwan. 2020. Siamese Fireback (Lophura diardi). In Handbook of the Birds of the World Alive (J. del Hoyo, A. Elliott, J. Sargatal, D.A. Christie, and E. de Juana, eds.). Lynx Edicions, Barcelona. https://www.hbw.com/node/53497. (Accessed February 9, 2020.)
Robson, C. 2002. Birds of Thailand. Princeton University Press, Princeton, N.J.