Whistling thrush
| Whistling thrush | |
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| Taiwan whistling thrush Myophonus insularis | |
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| Genus: | Myophonus Temminck, 1822
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The whistling thrushes comprise a genus Myophonus (Myiophoneus[1]) of the family Muscicapidae.
They are all medium-sized mostly insectivorous or omnivorous birds. They are all brightly coloured species found in India and southeast Asia. The male is usually blue, and the females are either similar to the male or brown.
The brighter blue patches found on the shoulders and sometimes the head, of whistling thrushes, uniquely for a passerine, reflect strongly in the ultraviolet.[2]
Many of the species are confined to single islands or countries.
Species:
- Sri Lanka whistling thrush, Myophonus blighi, found on Sri Lanka
- Shiny whistling thrush, Myophonus melanurus, Sumatra
- Brown-winged whistling thrush, Myophonus castaneus, Sumatra
- Javan whistling thrush, Myophonus glaucinus, Java
- Bornean whistling thrush, Myophonus borneensis, Borneo
- Malayan whistling thrush, Myophonus robinsoni, peninsular Malaysia
- Malabar whistling thrush, Myophonus horsfieldii, peninsular India
- Taiwan whistling thrush or Taiwan whistling-thrush, Myophonus insularis, Taiwan
- Blue whistling thrush, Myophonus caeruleus, from Central Asia east to China and south to the Sundas
Javan, Bornean and brown-winged were formerly lumped as Sunda whistling thrush, but split by Collar (2004).
Habits
Whistling thrushes are mostly seen in hilly areas except during winter when they may descend to streams near the plains. They specialize in feeding on snails and their strong hooked bills are used to deal with them. They may choose a particular rock on which they crack the shells.[3]
The nests are usually in crevices of rocks and boulders close to water. The cup nests have moss and twigs and is lined with roots and leaves. The eggs are usually three and sometimes four, elongate with a gray ground colour and marked with speckles.[3]
Notes
- ^ Delacour 1942 (Auk 146-264) writes "the proper spelling is Myiophoneus Temminck and Laugier, 1822 Myophonus T. and L., 1822 is an orthographic error, as well as Myophoneus in their tables, x859, while Myiophonus Agassiz, 1846, is an unnecessary emendation."
- ^ Staffan Andersson (1996). "Bright Ultraviolet Colouration in the Asian Whistling-Thrushes (Myiophonus spp.)". Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences. 263 (1372): 843–848. doi:10.1098/rspb.1996.0124.
- ^ a b Delacour 1942
References
- Thrushes by Clement and Hathaway, ISBN 0-7136-3940-7
- Collar, N. J. (2004). "Species limits in some Indonesian thrushes". Forktail. 20: 71–87.
- Delacour, J. (1942). "THE WHISTLING THRUSHES (GENUS Myiophoneus)". Auk. 59: 246–264. doi:10.2307/4079555.
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