Alternative name: Blyth's Parrotbill
- Suthora verreauxi
Identification
11.5cm. A small parrotbill.
- Rufous crown, nape, ear-coverts and mantle
- Mostly orange-rufous wings and tail with silvery and black wing-shlashes
- Black throat-patch (differs in size with subspecies, morrisonianus with biggest)
- Area around eye blackish on whitish ground, cheek, moustachial and malar areas whitish
- Central underparts white with broad warm chestnut-ochre flanks
Sexes similar, juveniles undescribed.
Distribution
Found in south-central and east China, Taiwan and adjacent Burma, Laos and Vietnam.
Widespread and locally common in suitable habitat.
Taxonomy
This species was formerly placed in the genus Paradoxornis.
Subspecies
Four subspecies accepted:
- S. v. verreauxi in central China (Sichuan and Shaanxi to Hubei)
- S. v. craddocki in extreme east Burma to north Laos and extreme north Vietnam and southern China (disjunctly in Yunnan, Guangxi, Huanan and Guangdong)
- S. v. pallida in Fujian, east China
- S. v. morrisoniana in Taiwan
Has been treated as conspecific with Black-throated Parrotbill.
Habitat
Bamboo and edge of broadleaf evergreen forest. In China at 1000 - 2200m, in southeast Asia at 1500 - 3000m, 2000 - 3050m in Taiwan.
Behaviour
Usually seen in pairs or small groups of up to 10 birds, often together with other species like babblers.
Diet
Feeds on small larvae, small beetles and seeds.
Breeding
Breeding season in Taiwan in July. The nest is a rough, egg-shaped structure made of green moss and placed 1.5m above the ground in bamboo. Lays 3 eggs. No information about breeding of other subspecies.
Resident species.
Vocalisation
Flock calls
Recording by china guy, Sichuan, China, August 2011
References
- Clements, J. F., T. S. Schulenberg, M. J. Iliff, B.L. Sullivan, C. L. Wood, and D. Roberson. 2013. The eBird/Clements checklist of birds of the world: Version 6.8., with updates to August 2013. Downloaded from http://www.birds.cornell.edu/clementschecklist/download/
- Del Hoyo, J, A Elliott, and D Christie, eds. 2008. Handbook of the Birds of the World. Volume 13: Penduline-tits to Shrikes. Barcelona: Lynx Edicions. ISBN 978-8496553453
Recommended Citation
- BirdForum Opus contributors. (2024) Golden Parrotbill. In: BirdForum, the forum for wild birds and birding. Retrieved 3 May 2024 from https://www.birdforum.net/opus/Golden_Parrotbill
