Birding in Taiwan

 

 

Birds in Taiwan

Endemic Species

Collared Bush-Robin

Flamecrest

Formosan Magpie

Formosan Whistling-Thrush

Mikado Pheasant

Steere's Liocichla

Styan's Bulbul

Swinhoe's Pheasant

Taiwan Barwing

Taiwan Bush-Warbler

Taiwan Partridge

Taiwan Yuhina

White-eared Sibia

White-whiskered Laughingthrush

Yellow Tit

 

Endemic Sub-Species

Alpine Accentor

Besra

Black-browed Barbet

Black-naped Monarch

Black Bulbul

Black Drongo

Bronzed Drongo

Brown-eared Bulbul

Chinese Bamboo-Partridge

Collared Finchbill

Collared Scops-Owl

Crested Goshawk

Crested Serpent-Eagle

Eurasian Jay

Eurasian Nutcracker

Gray-cheeked Fulvetta

Gray Treepie

Hwamei

Island Thrush

Lanyu’ Scops-Owl

Oriental Skylark

Oriental Turtle-Dove

Pygmy Wren-Babbler

Ring-necked Pheasant

Streak-breasted Scimitar-Babbler

Vinaceous Rosefinch

Whistling Green-Pigeon

White-bellied Green-Pigeon

White-browed Bush-Robin

White-browed Shortwing

Winter Wren

 

More Birds in Taiwan

Black-faced Spoonbill

Black-naped Oriole

Black-throated Tit

Black-winged Stilt

Chinese Crested Tern

Common Kingfisher

Common Moorhen

Daurian Redstart

Fairy Pitta

Gray-chinned Minivet

Gray-faced Buzzard

Gray Heron

Greater Painted-Snipe

Japanese White-eye

Little Forktail

Malayan Night-heron

Red Collared-Dove

Spotted Dove

White-breasted Waterhen

 

White-browed Bush-Robin

Tarsiger indicus formosanus

Endemic subspecies

The male White-browed Bush-Robin is a small (15 cm) bird with a bluish-gray face and mantle, a yellowish-olive crown, a long white supercilium, a black bill and brownish legs.  The throat, breast and flanks are dull orange, and the belly is whitish.  The female is grayish-brown above, with a whitish eye-ring and supercilium, and orange-buff below with a whitish belly.  Compared to the mainland races, the male of the formosanus subspecies of Taiwan is duller overall, has a yellowish-olive rather than a slaty-blue crown and lacks the thin white malar stripe; the female is grayer above and yellower below.

 

The White-browed Bush-Robin feeds on insects, which it finds mainly on or near the ground.  It prefers dense undergrowth of heavy mixed broadleaf and conifer forest at high elevations.  The male sings from the ground or from a small tree.  The song consists of a series of rapidly repeated phrases, descending and ascending, which has been described as “shri-de-de-dew ... shri-de-de-dew”.  Calls include a click-like croaking churr, “trrr” or “kr kr kr”, and a sweet “tiut-tiut”.  The nest is a cup-shaped structure placed in a hollow bank, in which the female lays 3-4 eggs.  Little information is available on its detailed breeding habits.  The White-browed Bush-Robin is an uncommon resident of forests in Taiwan at high elevations, descending lower in winter.

 

 

References:  A Field Guide to the Birds of China (Mackinnon and Phillipps);  Handbook of Birds of the World Vol. 10; N. J. Collar, “Endemic subspecies of Taiwan birds—first impressions”, in Birding ASIA, Number 2, December 2004