Moustached Laughingthrush Ianthocincla cineracea Scientific name definitions

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Moustached Laughingthrush (Western)

21–24 cm; 43–55 g. Sandy-brown laughingthrush with black crown, moustache and tail tips, and greyish-white headside. Nominate race has black on crown to nape extending in point onto mantle, upperparts buffy grey-brown, becoming slightly paler on rump and uppertail-coverts; upperwing with black primary-coverts and grey wingpanel, flight-feathers mostly with broad black tips, tertials with black subterminal marks and narrow white tips, tail rufescent grey-brown with broad blackish subterminal and whitish tips; face (lores, broad supercilium, cheek and ear-coverts) grey-tinged buffy whitish and bisected by narrow blackish postocular eyestripe; moustachial stripe blackish, submoustachial area pinkish buff, both breaking into blackish streaks adjoining buffy-white chin and upper throat; lower throat and breast pinkish buff, belly buff, lower flanks, thighs and vent dull ochre; iris creamy yellow to pale orange-buff, orbital skin dusky; bill blackish to dull yellowish brown, paler on mandible; legs pale fleshy or greyish brown. Sexes similar. Juvenile is much more rufescent overall than nominate, lacks head pattern except for postocular stripe. Race strenuus is like nominate, but has supercilium darker and more buff brown, deeper vinous-pinkish wash on breast.

Moustached Laughingthrush (Eastern)

21–24 cm. A chestnut-and rufous laughingthrush with dark crown and long moustache. Adult has dull dark grey forehead and crown to nape, whitish lores and broad area beneath eye, broad black moustachial stripe from bill continuing short distance beneath ear-coverts; chestnut of supercilium and ear-coverts extends to hindneck, there merging into warm darker chestnut of upperparts; tertials chestnut with black subterminal marks and narrow white tips, primary-coverts black, flight-feathers mostly dark with pale grey edges (creating prominent grey wingpanel) and broad black tips ; tail rufescent, rectrices with broad blackish subterminal band and whitish tips; chin white, throat to breast pale vinous, submoustachial region and throat with variable dark streaking, belly ochreish, becoming darker on undertail-coverts; iris whitish to creamy, orbital skin dusky; bill greyish to dull yellow-brown, paler on mandible; legs pale fleshy or greyish yellow. Sexes similar. Juvenile is more rufescent than nominate, and has subdued head pattern.

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Moustached Laughingthrush (Western)

Moustached Laughingthrush (Eastern)

Moustached Laughingthrush (Eastern)

C & E China from S Gansu and S Shaanxi E to S Jiangsu, W Shanghai, Fujian and N Guangdong, and S to S & SE Yunnan, Guizhou and Guangxi; also recorded in adjacent N Vietnam (Trung Khanh district (1 Chan, B.P.L. and Lee, K.S. (2006). Birds of an unexplored forest along the Sino-Vietnam border in Jingxi county, south-west Guangxi province, China. BirdingASIA 6: 36–43. Close ) ).

Moustached Laughingthrush (Eastern)

Introduced in Japan (Shikoku I (2 Hamada, T., Sato, S. and Okai, Y. (2006). Records and evidence of breeding of Ashy Laughing Thrush Garrulax cineraceus in Shikoku Island. Jap. J. Orn. 55(2): 105–109. Close ) ).

Moustached Laughingthrush (Western)

Thickets and brambles at edges of broadleaf evergreen forest and mixed broadleaf-coniferous forest, second growth, abandoned cultivation, scrub and grass, bamboo, sometimes close to villages; avoids primary forest. At 1280–1830 m in India, 1220–2500 m in Myanmar; said to occur at 2135–2745 m in NW Yunnan.

Moustached Laughingthrush (Eastern)

Moustached Laughingthrush (Western)

Moustached Laughingthrush (Eastern)

Moustached Laughingthrush (Western)

Small beetles (Coleoptera) and other insects, also seeds, berries and small fruits. Keeps in pairs in breeding season; otherwise in small parties. Forages mostly on ground. Observed to turn over heaps of buffalo dung in search of food.

Moustached Laughingthrush (Eastern)

Insects, including small beetles (Coleoptera); also seeds, berries and small fruits. Forages singly and in pairs in breeding season, but see Breeding; at other times in larger parties, associating with G. canorus in S China. Forages mostly on ground.

Moustached Laughingthrush (Western)

Moustached Laughingthrush (Eastern)

Moustached Laughingthrush (Western)

Season Mar–Oct. Nest reportedly a compact but often flimsy cup, made of moss, leaves, rootlets, grasses and fine twigs, lined with rootlets or fine black and brown stems, tendrils, grasses and moss roots, placed 1–2 m above ground in thick bush or fork of bamboo. Clutch 2–4 eggs (often two in Myanmar), blue or plain greenish turquoise blue; in captivity (this species or G. cinereiceps?), incubation by both sexes, period 14 days, chicks left nest at 13–17 days. Brood parasitism by Common Hawk-cuckoo (Hierococcyx varius) reported in India.

Moustached Laughingthrush (Eastern)

Season early Mar to early Aug in Sichuan (C China). Study in Sichuan found that the species is a cooperative breeder (although no evidence of this in captivity), nesting in groups of 3–6 individuals, comprising adults and offspring from previous breeding attempts; helpers participate in nestbuilding, incubation and provisioning. Nest a compact but flimsy cup made from moss, leaves, rootlets, grasses and fine twigs, lined with finer stems and other material, placed 1–2 m above ground in thick bush or bamboo fork. Clutch 2–5 eggs, blue or plain greenish turquoise; incubation period c. 12–13 days; nestlings fledge at 12 days; groups may produce 2–3 broods per season. In Sichuan study, 82·8% of 58 breeding attempts resulted in fledged offspring and the size of breeding groups was significantly related to both overall frequency of feeding trips to the nest and brood size at fledging, with a higher frequency of feeding trips and more fledglings for larger groups, meaning that both breeders and helpers may potentially derive fitness benefits from helping at the nest.

Moustached Laughingthrush (Western)

Not globally threatened (Least Concern). Status uncertain in India, where few recent records, suggesting scarcity. Uncommon in Myanmar. Fairly common in Yunnan (S China). This laughingthrush’s global population size is not known, but it is thought to be suffering a slow decline in its numbers as a result of continuing habitat loss and degradation.

Moustached Laughingthrush (Eastern)

Not globally threatened (Least Concern). Appears to be fairly common across its very large range in China, including at Emei Shan Protected Scenic Area, in Sichuan. In Vietnam, recently recorded in Trung Khanh Nature Reserve, Cao Bang Province, where found in karst limestone forest; single record from Hanoi, in Jan 2013, presumably involved a wandering bird. The size of this species’ global population is not known. It is suspected to be in decline owing to ongoing habitat destruction and fragmentation.