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Gould's Shortwing Heteroxenicus stellatus Scientific name definitions

Nigel Collar
Version: 1.0 — Published March 4, 2020
Text last updated January 1, 2005

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Originally Appeared in

HBW Alive

Field Identification

12–13 cm; 19–23 g. Small and dark, with long legs, narrow tail. Nominate race is chestnut above, slaty below (very fine grey-and-black scaling), with black face, small white arrows or stars on belly, flanks and rump; bill blackish; legs brown. Sexes similar. Juvenile is duller, with buffy-streaked rufous-tinged breast, rufous-tinged belly. Race fuscus is darker than nominate, slightly weaker chestnut above.

Systematics History

Editor's Note: This article requires further editing work to merge existing content into the appropriate Subspecies sections. Please bear with us while this update takes place.

Two subspecies recognized.

Subspecies

SUBSPECIES

Heteroxenicus stellatus stellatus Scientific name definitions

Distribution

C and E Himalayas from N India (Uttarakhand) and C Nepal E, discontinuously, to NE Myanmar, and SE Tibet, W Yunnan (China); recently recorded in C and N Sichuan (1).

SUBSPECIES

Heteroxenicus stellatus fuscus Scientific name definitions

Distribution

NW Vietnam (W Tonkin); possibly also adjacent S China (Jinping area, SE Yunnan) (2), but no specimens or recent records (1).

Distribution

Editor's Note: Additional distribution information for this taxon can be found in the 'Subspecies' article above. In the future we will develop a range-wide distribution article.

Habitat

Breeds above tree-line in screes often far from bushes, at 3300–4200 m in Himalayas (2100–4200 m in China); winters in wooded valleys, boulder-strewn gullies and dank ravines with dense dwarf rhododendron, bamboo, fir and juniper, and with moss and fern undergrowth, down to 1800 m or lower; 1500 m in Vietnam.

Movement

Subject to vertical movements, descending to lower elevations in winter.

Diet and Foraging

Insects and seeds. Largely terrestrial.

Sounds and Vocal Behavior

Song a series of phrases consisting of very high-pitched notes, gradually increasing in volume and speed to become undulating chittering, “tssiu, tssiu, tssiu, tssiu-tssiu-tsitsitssiutssiutssiu-tsitsitssiutssiutssiu”. Alarm call “tik-tik”.

Breeding

Reported May–Jul, with no details. No other information.

Conservation Status

Conservation status on Birdlife LC Least Concern
Not globally threatened (Least Concern). Scarce and local; rare in China; possibly under-recorded. Habitat relatively secure, so species unlikely to be in decline.
Distribution of the Gould's Shortwing - Range Map
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Distribution of the Gould's Shortwing

eBird and Macaulay Library

Recommended Citation

Collar, N. (2020). Gould's Shortwing (Heteroxenicus stellatus), version 1.0. In Birds of the World (J. del Hoyo, A. Elliott, J. Sargatal, D. A. Christie, and E. de Juana, Editors). Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, NY, USA. https://doi.org/10.2173/bow.gousho1.01
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