Bird Series 19 - Taiwan Yuhina | 冠羽畫眉

one of the most beautiful bird I ever see so far... a friendly bird and endemic for Taiwan too.. found from highland >2000meter from sea level

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The Taiwan Yuhina (Yuhina brunneiceps), formerly known as "Formosan Yuhina", is a small songbird endemic to the island of Taiwan. The Taiwan Yuhina is 13 cm in length with a deep brown chestnut-coloured crest and a black beard stripe descending from its beak. The bird's back, wings and tail are olive brown, and its lower breast is lighter in colour. Agreeing with other typical yuhinas in habitus, its colouration pattern is rather uncommon among the genus (Cibois et al. 2002).

Like other yuhinas, it is closely related to the white-eyes and if these were considered a distinct family Zosteropidae, it would be placed there. Otherwise, it would belong together with the white-eyes into the Old World babbler family Timaliidae (Jønsson & Fjeldså 2006). The closest living relative of this species appears to be the Black-chinned Yuhina, which occurs on the Asian mainland (Cibois et al. 2002).

This species is found in temperate forests, 1000–3300 m in altitude in its native habitat. It is gregarious, active and quite tame. It keeps to lower forest and often joins other species, especially tits in mixed flocks. The flocks, while feeding, make a constant soft chatter. The call of the Taiwan Yuhina is a sound somewhat like twi-MI-chiu, which resembles the phrase "We MEET you". The Yuhina's diet consists of mainly nectar, berries, flowers and small insects. Taiwan Yuhina may sometimes be observed hanging upside down on cherry trees. These songbirds are particularly fond of the flowers of the Chinese tulip tree and the fruits of trees of the family Elaeagnaceae and the genus Idesia (Salicaceae).

Breeding season for the Taiwan Yuhina is from May to June.
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Chinese :

俗名：尖頭仔

特有狀況(種)：留鳥(特有種)

命名者：Ogilvie-Grant

原始文獻：Ogilvie-Grant. 1906. Bull. Brit. Ornit. Cl. 16:121-122.

分類：雀形目畫眉科

學名：Yuhina brunneiceps

保育等級：無

命名年代：1906

外型特徵：身長12公分。頭頂具明顯上翹的冠羽，冠羽上方暗褐色、下方灰白色。臉部灰白色，略帶黃色，嘴黑色。頸側有一弧形線斑與過眼線、顎線相連，使臉部成為明顯的一黑圈。背部大致為橄灰色。胸腹部黃白色。腳黃褐色。

分布及棲地：台灣特有種，棲息於海拔700~3000公尺間之森林中，對林相的要求不高，幾乎各種型態的森林皆可見。喜愛在森林中層或較低矮且細枝較多的樹冠層活動。冬季會降遷至低海拔。

生態習性：本種活潑好動，不畏人，適應力強，是台灣最常見的山鳥之一。叫聲婉轉似「吐米酒－」。雖然常見成群活動，但並不常和其他山鳥混群。以昆蟲、果實、花蜜、花粉為食，花期常可見其倒掛在枝頭吸食花蜜。具有「合作繁殖」的特性，也就是數對親鳥共用一巢，且所有親鳥都幫忙養育所有的幼鳥。繁殖期為4~9月，研究者發現冠羽畫眉的合作繁殖以2對親鳥共同繁殖的例子最多，產卵數為4~6顆，且同一群親鳥可繁殖多達3窩。



畫眉亞科的冠羽畫眉，為台灣特有種。在台灣常見於海拔2,000 - 2,500公尺附近溫帶林，亦出現於海拔3,000公尺附近，冬季降遷至海
拔數百公尺處避寒。本屬在台灣之外，亦廣泛分布於雲南、四川、西藏、喜馬拉雅、緬甸北部、中南半島、婆羅州高地和蘇門答臘山
區。冠羽畫眉以昆蟲、果實、花蜜為食。有三、四對共同營巢、育雛的習性。營巢於樹叢裡，以草莖、蕨類、蘚苔為材，築碗形巢