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Sichuan Treecreeper Certhia tianquanensis Scientific name definitions

Simon Harrap
Version: 1.0 — Published March 4, 2020
Text last updated January 1, 2008

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Originally Appeared in

HBW Alive

Field Identification

c. 14 cm. A relatively large and long-tailed treecreeper with strikingly short bill, and strong contrast between whitish throat and dark underparts. Crown, nape, mantle and scapulars are sooty brown, pale grey shaft streaks broadening towards feather tips (becoming broadest and palest on mantle and scapulars, which appear spotted); lores, cheek and ear-coverts blackish, supercilium pale buff (narrow and poorly marked in front of eye); back, rump and uppertail-coverts rich slightly warmer brown with diffuse, slightly paler shaft streaks; upperwing-coverts sooty brown, lessers and medians with pale grey spot near tip, greaters with dull grey-buff base and broad grey-white tip; alula and primary coverts sooty brown, former tipped grey-white; tertials grey-brown, becoming blackish-brown towards tips, with shaft and tip of outer web pale grey-buff; primaries and secondaries dark brown, all these except outermost primary with broad pale grey-buff band across centre of feather, dull grey-buff slot near tip of outer web and dull paler tip; tail medium grey-brown with dull buff shafts; chin and throat white, grading to light drab-buff on belly and upper flanks, and to drab-buff on remainder of underparts; bill dark brown, cutting edges and lower mandible pinkish-white; no other information on bare-part colours. Distinguished from C. himalayana by plain unmarked tail, from C. discolor by whitish throat, and from C. hodgsoni by dusky underparts with white restricted to throat. Sexes presumed to be similar. Juvenile undescribed.

Systematics History

Originally described as race of C. familiaris, but since found to be sympatric. Morphology, vocalizations and genetic studies (cytochrome b) support its treatment as a separate species, and further indicate that C. nipalensis is its closest relative. Various original spellings; present spelling was selected by First Revisers (1). Monotypic.

Subspecies

Monotypic.

Distribution

N & C Sichuan and SW Shaanxi (Qinling Mts (2) ), in China.

Habitat

High-altitude forest dominated by open, old-growth stands of Emei fir (Abies fabri) with dense bamboo understorey. Recorded at 2650–2830 m in Apr–May and 1600 m in Dec–Jan.

Movement

Poorly known. Presumably resident, with seasonal altitudinal movements.

Diet and Foraging

Little information. Has been noted as foraging in upper third of tall trees, on trunk and on underside of moss-covered branches.

Sounds and Vocal Behavior

Song a loud, rapid, high-pitched trill, starting explosively but tailing off and falling in pitch towards end (sometimes rising slightly in pitch again at end of phrase), and introduced by higher, sweeter note, "tsit-lililililililililuuuuuuuu", 1·1–1·3 seconds in duration, comprising 21–32 elements; much longer and more slurred than song of C. nipalensis.

Breeding

Five active nests found in May–Jun were in cracks and fissures of dead fir stems, 1·7–13 m above the ground; nest materials were mainly mosses, the hole being lined with a few hairs and feathers, the upper wall with a few dried bamboo leaves; clutch, 4 eggs (n = 1); eggs white with dense red spots, concentrated at the large pole, c. 13·0 mm × 16·9 mm; incubation only by female, being fed by the male; nestlings up to 2 days old are yellow with the body bare except for some fluffs on the head and blackish feather roots on the back and wings; both parents fed the nestlings (3). No further information.

Conservation Status

Conservation status on Birdlife LC Least Concern

Not globally threatened. Currently considered Near Threatened. ­Restricted-range species: present in West Sichuan Mountains EBA. Previously listed as Vulnerable. Generally rare; population estimated at fewer than 1000 individuals over hypothetical global range of 19,690 km2, within which considerable deforestation has taken place. Recorded from Jiuzhaigou National Park, in N Sichuan, and from a cluster of localities in S & W of the province, namely Wuyipeng, in Wolong Biosphere Reserve (in Wenchuan County), near Shaunghe (Dayi County), Longxi-Hongkou Reserve, near Dujiangyan, and Labahe Nature Reserve (Tianquan County), and Wawu Shan (Hongya County); an old specimen from around Ebian (Ebian County). The only significant population known is on Wawu Shan, where suitable forest covers the plateau at the top of a table mountain, but this is limited in extent; more­over, the area has recently been opened up for development by the construction of a cable car.

Distribution of the Sichuan Treecreeper - Range Map
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Distribution of the Sichuan Treecreeper

eBird and Macaulay Library

Recommended Citation

Harrap, S. (2020). Sichuan Treecreeper (Certhia tianquanensis), 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.sictre1.01
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