Yellow-billed Nuthatch Sitta solangiae Scientific name definitions

12·5–13·5 cm; 14–16 g (chienfengensis). A medium-small to medium-sized nuthatch  with yellow bill , iris and eyering, black forecrown and violet-blue upperparts. Male nominate race in fresh plumage has lores, forecrown and postocular stripe velvety black, crown pale lavender-blue or lilac-blue, nape and upper mantle slightly paler greyish-mauve, some whiter feather bases visible (especially in centre of upper mantle), remainder of upperparts dull greyish-blue, longer uppertail-coverts blackish-grey with violet-blue tips; lesser and median upperwing-coverts blackish-grey, broadly fringed violet-blue, greater coverts black, broadly fringed violet-blue (dark centres concealed), alula and primary coverts black with narrow violet-blue fringes, tertials dull violet-blue (greyish-black base of inner webs concealed), secondaries and inner primaries black with violet-blue fringes, P6-P7 narrowly fringed pale blue around emargination, P3-P5 broadly fringed pale blue inward of emargination; central tail feathers dull violet-blue to grey-blue with blackish shaft streak, other rectrices black, T2-T5 fringed violet-blue on outer web (fringes broadening towards base) and tipped dull blue-grey, T6 similarly fringed and tipped dark grey (tips progressively broader from inner feathers to outers), subterminal white spot on inner web tiny on T2 and moderately well marked on T6; cheek, ear-coverts and side of neck light greyish-mauve, chin and throat off-white, underparts drab pale greyish; axillaries pale greyish-beige, underwing-coverts sooty black, base of primaries whitish; iris pale yellow, yellow eyering; bill lemon-yellow or golden-yellow, small black tip on upper mandible; legs grey. Female as male, but lacks black postocular stripe (sometimes a faint black line visible behind eye). Juvenile is very poorly known; bill of recently fledged birds on Hainan (race chienfengensis) reported as being dull yellow, but change from blackish bill at fledging to adult coloration may be rapid. Races differ mainly in plumage tone and in size: <em>fortior</em> is rather bigger than nominate, darker above, crown to upper mantle light greyish-mauve (tips of crown feathers washed violet-blue, whiter feather bases often contrastingly visible on nape and upper mantle), upperparts dull violet-blue, underparts pale greyish-beige with faint violet cast (especially on flanks); <em>chienfengensis</em> is smaller than last, has upperparts  more greyish-blue than nominate (crown and nape washed purple, mantle tinged lilac-rufous, ear-coverts and side of neck lilac-rufous), white terminal spots on tail less prominent, much paler below (chin and throat white, underparts below breast fulvous-rufous, darkening somewhat posteriorly), also bill tip more extensively dark (distal third of upper mandible blackish-brown).

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.

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.

Hill evergreen forest, including relatively open, partially logged areas. In Vietnam, recorded at c. 1550–2500 m in NW Tonkin and at 1450–2100 m in S Annam (Da Lat Plateau); found at 800–1500 m on Hainan.

Resident.

Food insects. Found singly or in small groups on Hainan; in Vietnam in groups of up to five individuals, in mixed-species foraging flocks.

Calls include “chit”, often doubled or in series, “chit-it” or “chit-it-it-it-it-it-…”, also “sit”, all very similar to calls of S. frontalis. Song  a fast “sit-ti-ti-ti-ti-ti-…”, 1–2·5 seconds in duration, slower and slightly lower in pitch towards end; resembles song of S. frontalis but perhaps faster and more “whinnying”.

Adults feeding fledged young in C Annam on 5th Mar and on Hainan on 22nd Apr. No other information.

Not globally threatened. Currently considered Near-threatened. Restrictedrange species: present in Hainan EBA and in Da Lat Plateau EBA and in Fan Si-Pan and Northern Laos Secondary Area. Not recorded for many years in NW Vietnam, but recent records suggest species not as rare there as previously thought. Probably rather commoner on Da Lat Plateau, in S Annam (race fortior), where small numbers recorded since 1990 in surveys; records from Mt Bi Doup, Mt Lang Bian, Cong Troi and near Da Lat. Status of this species on Kon Tum Plateau, straddling Vietnam-SE Laos border, uncertain; fieldwork and further study required. Main threat throughout Indochina is deforestation, e.g. much of Da Lat forest being cleared by shifting cultivation, charcoal-burning activities and fuelwood collection, and these activities are increasing in intensity following government resettlement programmes. Discovered as recently as 1963 on Hainan I (race chienfengensis), and not uncommon in good forest; has been recorded from Diaoluoshan, Wuzhishan, Bawangling, Jiaxi and Jiangfengling. Remaining forests on Hainan, however, under threat, and in 1981 only 2420 km² of forest (7·2% of total land area) remained, although most of surviving forest likely to be at higher altitudes and thus suitable for present species. Despite this apparently large area, forest cover declined by 72% between 1949 and 1981, and the species’ future on Hainan is far from secure.