Blue-winged Leafbird - BirdForum Opus

Male
Photo © by SeeToh
Jelutong Tower, Singapore, 21 Jan 2017

Includes Javan Leafbird

Chloropsis cochinchinensis

Identification

Female
Photo by robby thai
Thai Rom Yen National Park, Thailand, June 2016

Male - green-bodied, yellow head, black face and throat, blue moustachial line, wing patch and tail sides.
Female - green head, blue throat.
Young - like female but without the blue throat patch.
They were earlier classified along with the bulbuls, but unlike the bulbuls, the sexes differ.

Similar Species

Three types of similar looking leafbirds occur in Thailand, Peninsula Malaysia and Singapore - Blue-winged, Greater Green and Lesser Green Leafbirds - making them difficult to identify in the field. Greater Green and Lesser Green can be distinguished from the Blue-winged Leafbird by the lack of bluish wing patch and tail sides. Male Greater Green can distinguished from the male Lesser Green Leafbird by bigger size and stronger bill. Besides size and bill differences, female Greater Green Leafbird has yellow eye-ring and throat patch which is lacking in female Lesser Green Leafbird.

Distribution

Subspecies C. c. Moluccensis
Photo © by See Toh
Panti Bird Sanctuary, Malaysia, 21 March 2015

The Blue-winged Leafbird is a common resident breeder in southern southeast Asia and Indonesia.

Taxonomy

Bornean Leafbird and Jerdon's Leafbird have been considered subspecies of this species.

Subspecies

Clements recognizes these subspecies[1]:

C. c. chlorocephala:

Extreme eastern Bangladesh and northeastern India east to western Thailand

C. c. kinneari:

South-western China (southern Yunnan) to eastern Thailand and northern Indochina

C. c. auropectus:

South-eastern Thailand and southern Indochina

C. c. serithai:

Peninsular Thailand south to Isthmus of Kra

C. c. moluccensis:

Southern peninsular Thailand and Malaysia, Sumatra and associated islands Bangka and Belitung, and the Natuna Islands

C. c. viridinucha:

Borneo

C. c. cochinchinensis:

Java

Subspecies cochinchinensis is recognized as a full species, Javan Leafbird by some authorities^[2]. This taxon was seemingly formerly known as nigricollis but a note in the IOC spreadsheet states the name nigricollis has no taxonomic standing^[2].

Subspecies icterocephala, natunensis and billitonis are now considered synonyms of moluccensis[1].

Habitat

Its habitat is broad-leaved evergreen forest, forest edges and more open woodland at 1500 meters.

Behaviour

Breeding

It builds its nest in a tree, laying 2-3 eggs. This species eats insects, fruit and nectar.

Vocalisation

Call: consists of a rich mixture of imitations of the calls of various other species of bird.

References

Clements, J. F., T. S. Schulenberg, M. J. Iliff, T. A. Fredericks, J. A. Gerbracht, D. Lepage, S. M. Billerman, B. L. Sullivan, and C. L. Wood. 2022. The eBird/Clements checklist of Birds of the World: v2022. Downloaded from https://www.birds.cornell.edu/clementschecklist/download/
Gill, F, D Donsker, and P Rasmussen (Eds). 2023. IOC World Bird List (v 13.2). Doi 10.14344/IOC.ML.13.2. http://www.worldbirdnames.org/
Birdforum Member observations

List of references

Recommended Citation

BirdForum Opus contributors. (2024) Blue-winged Leafbird. In: BirdForum, the forum for wild birds and birding. Retrieved 20 April 2024 from https://www.birdforum.net/opus/Blue-winged_Leafbird

External Links

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