Himalayan bluetail

Himalayan bluetail
Male at the summit of Doi Inthanon, Thailand
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Passeriformes
Family: Muscicapidae
Genus: Tarsiger
Species: T. rufilatus
Binomial name
Tarsiger rufilatus
(Hodgson, 1845)
Synonyms[1]

Tarsiger cyanurus rufilatus
Luscinia cyanura rufilata

The Himalayan bluetail or Himalayan red-flanked bush-robin (Tarsiger rufilatus) is a small passerine bird that was formerly classed as a member of the thrush family Turdidae, but is now more generally considered to be an Old World flycatcher of Muscicapidae. While currently under review, this taxon is not current recognized as a species by BirdLife international.[2]

It is a short-distance altitudinal migrant species, breeding in mixed coniferous forest with undergrowth at 3,000–4,400 m altitude in the Himalaya and wintering at 1,500–2,500 m. It is insectivorous. It is closely related to the red-flanked bluetail and was generally treated as a subspecies of it in the past, but as well as differing in its migratory behaviour (the red-flanked bluetail is a long-distance migrant), it also differs in the more intense blue colour of the adult males and the greyer colour of the females and juveniles.[3][4]

References

  1. Tarsiger rufilatus on Avibase
  2. BirdLife species factsheet for Tarsiger rufilatus
  3. Hoyo, J. del, et al., eds. (2005). Handbook of the Birds of the World, vol. 10. Barcelona: Lynx Edicions. p. 754. ISBN 84-87334-72-5.
  4. Rasmussen, P. C., & Anderton, J. C. (2005). Birds of South Asia: the Ripley Guide. Barcelona, Spain: Lynx Edicions. ISBN 84-87334-67-9.
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