Family Laughingthrushes and allies (Leiotrichidae)

Least Concern

Eastern Moustached Laughingthrush (Garrulax cinereiceps)

figure, drawing, illustration of Eastern Moustached Laughingthrush (Garrulax cinereiceps)

Taxonomy

French: Garrulaxe de Styan German: Grauscheitelhäherling Spanish: Charlatán ceniciento oriental
Taxonomy:

Trochalopteron cinereiceps

Styan

, 1887,

Yunnan

.

Hitherto treated as conspecific with G. cineraceus, but differs in its dull grey-brown vs black crown (3); warmer, darker upperparts (1); dull chestnut supercilium and ear-coverts with no postocular black streak (3); and pale vinous vs buffy-whitish throat, submoustachial area and breast (ns[1]). Width of zone of hybridization with strenuus unknown (score at least 1), and taxonomic status of SC & SW Sichuan populations (and perhaps elsewhere) awaiting clarification (presumed here to belong with present species). Monotypic.

What do (1) and (2) mean? Learn more about the scoring system.
Distribution:

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#R).

Introduced in Japan (Shikoku I#R).

Descriptive notes

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... read more

Voice

Poorly documented. Calls include repeated upslurred short churrs, “pr’r’r’r’ip”, sometimes mixed... read more

Habitat

Thickets and scrub at edges of forest and second growth, also abandoned cultivation, bamboo,... read more

Food and feeding

Insects, including small beetles (Coleoptera); also seeds, berries and small fruits. Forages singly and in pairs in breeding season, but... read more

Breeding

Season early Mar to early Aug in Sichuan (C China). Study in Sichuan found that the species is a cooperative breeder (although no evidence... read more

Movements

Resident.

Status and conservation

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... read more

Recommended citation

del Hoyo, J., Collar, N., Christie, D.A. & Kirwan, G.M. (2020). Eastern Moustached Laughingthrush (Garrulax cinereiceps). In: del Hoyo, J., Elliott, A., Sargatal, J., Christie, D.A. & de Juana, E. (eds.). Handbook of the Birds of the World Alive. Lynx Edicions, Barcelona. (retrieved from https://www.hbw.com/node/1343980 on 22 February 2020).