| Flamecrest | |
|---|---|
 | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Aves |
| Order: | Passeriformes |
| Family: | Regulidae |
| Genus: | Regulus |
| Species: | R. goodfellowi |
| Binomial name | |
| Regulus goodfellowi Ogilvie-Grant, 1906 | |
The flamecrest (Regulus goodfellowi), also known as Taiwan firecrest, is a species of bird in the kinglet family, Regulidae. It is endemic to the mountains of Taiwan.
The flamecrest is a small perching bird, resembling a warbler. Its length is only 9 cm (3.5 in) and weight about 7 g, [2] making it the smallest of all Taiwan's endemic bird species, and the smallest and most colourful member of its family in the world.
The top of its head is yellow and orange, with black crown stripes. White feathers encircling the black eye-patches give it the appearance of having two black eyes. The most distinguishing characteristic is the orange-yellow crest on top of the head, for which it is named. [3] Females have the crown stripe pure yellow while males have an orange centre to it. When excited the male erects the crest. The supercilium is very broad and the lores and forehead are whitish. There is a narrow short black malar stripe. The chin is whitish and the throat, ear-coverts and sides of neck are grey. The mantle is green while the rump and flanks are yellow. The centre of the belly is buff. The wings have broad white covert tips forming a wing bar. The tarsi are pinkish. They have a high-pitched see-see-see call and the song consists of a series of high notes. [4]
The kinglets are a small group of birds sometimes included in the Old World warblers, but frequently given family status, [5] especially as recent research showed that, despite superficial similarities, the crests are taxonomically remote from the warblers. [6] [7] The names of the family Regulidae, and the genus Regulus, are derived from the Latin regulus, a diminutive of rex, "a king", [8] and refer to the characteristic orange or yellow crests of adult kinglets. The Taiwan Firecrest was formally described by Scottish ornithologist William Ogilvie-Grant in 1906 from the writings of English explorer and ornithologist, Walter Goodfellow, who is commemorated in the binomial name. [9]
The flamecrest has sometimes been viewed as a race of firecrest, but its territorial song resembles those of the Himalayan races of goldcrest, and genetic data shows that it is closely related to that species, and only distantly to the firecrest. [10] The flamecrest lineage diverged from that of the goldcrest 3.0–3.1 mya. [11]
It usually inhabits evergreen trees in coniferous forests over 2,000 m above sea level, though it is commonest above 2,500 m and ranges upward to 3,700 m. Mountains it inhabits include Alishan, Da Yu Ling, Hehuanshan, Yu Shan, and the higher areas of Anmashan. They prefer conifers in which to forage, and are usually found in the forest canopy, but will sometimes venture into lower vegetation.
An analysis of the distribution of Taiwan's 17 endemic bird species, using data from bird surveys conducted from 1993 to 2004, classified the firecrest as uncommon (along with the Formosan magpie, Taiwan bush warbler, yellow tit and Taiwan barwing). It found that the flamecrest occurred in high- and mid-altitude coniferous forests, and in high-altitude broad-leaved mixed forests, mainly at 2000–3600 m above sea level. The sites where it was recorded had an average altitude of about 2550 m, the highest of all the endemic birds. Its habitats had the coldest mean temperature and lowest warmth index of all 17 endemics, as well as the highest annual rainfall for the five uncommon species, though its distribution regarding vegetation and human disturbance was similar to those of the others. [12]
Flamecrests are active and restless birds, hopping and fluttering about in the canopy. These lively songbirds are mainly solitary but will move around actively in small, loose flocks of their own species as well as with coal tits and Eurasian nuthatches. The flight is weak and whirring. Their breeding biology is poorly known.
The flamecrest is primarily an insectivore. The birds may be seen feeding on insects and their larvae on the branches and leaf sheathes of trees in coniferous forests, hovering and gleaning from leaf to stem. Weeds and berries may be taken occasionally. A study of the foraging ecology of alpine forest birds on conifers in the Taroko National Park found that, when compared with Eurasian nuthatches, coal tits, green-backed tits and black-throated tits, flamecrests were the most generalised foragers, utilising almost all of the crown of a tree, rather than specialising in parts of it as with the other species, with which it associates in mixed-species foraging flocks during the non-breeding season. [13]
Flamecrests have fine, shrill and high-pitched calls, zi zi yi. Although noisy at close range, the voice is soft and does not carry far.
The Old World warblers are a large group of birds formerly grouped together in the bird family Sylviidae. They are not closely related to the New World warblers. The family held over 400 species in over 70 genera, and were the source of much taxonomic confusion. Two families were split out initially, the cisticolas into Cisticolidae and the kinglets into Regulidae. In the past 20–30 years they have been the subject of much research and many species are now placed into other families, including the Acrocephalidae, Cettiidae, Phylloscopidae, and Megaluridae. In addition some species have been moved into existing families or have not yet had their placement fully resolved. Only a small number of warblers, in just two genera, are now retained in the family Sylviidae.
The bushtits or long-tailed tits are small passerine birds from the family Aegithalidae, containing 13 species in three genera, all but one of which (Psaltriparus) are found in Eurasia. Bushtits are active birds with long tails compared to their size, moving almost constantly while they forage for insects in shrubs and trees. During non-breeding season, birds live in flocks of up to 50 individuals. Several bushtit species display cooperative breeding behavior, also called helpers at the nest.
A kinglet is a small bird in the family Regulidae. Species in this family were formerly classified with the Old World warblers. "Regulidae" is derived from the Latin word regulus for "petty king" or prince, and refers to the coloured crowns of adult birds. This family has representatives in North America and Eurasia. There are six species in this family; one, the Madeira firecrest, Regulus madeirensis, was only recently split from common firecrest as a separate species. One species, the ruby-crowned kinglet, differs sufficiently in its voice and plumage to be afforded its own genus, Corthylio.
Pallas's leaf warbler or Pallas's warbler, is a bird that breeds in mountain forests from southern Siberia east to northern Mongolia and northeast China. It is named after the German zoologist Peter Simon Pallas, who first formally described it. This leaf warbler is strongly migratory, wintering mainly in south China and adjacent areas of southeast Asia, although in recent decades increasing numbers have been found in Europe in autumn.
The goldcrest is a very small passerine bird in the kinglet family. Its colourful golden crest feathers, as well as being called the "king of the birds" in European folklore, gives rise to its English and scientific names. The scientific name, R. regulus, means 'petty king' or prince. Several subspecies are recognised across the very large distribution range that includes much of the Palearctic and the islands of Macaronesia and Iceland. Birds from the north and east of its breeding range migrate to winter further south.
The common firecrest, also known as the firecrest, is a very small passerine bird in the kinglet family. It breeds in most of temperate Europe and northwestern Africa, and is partially migratory, with birds from central Europe wintering to the south and west of their breeding range. Firecrests in the Balearic Islands and north Africa are widely recognised as a separate subspecies, but the population on Madeira, previously also treated as a subspecies, is now treated as a distinct species, the Madeira firecrest, Regulus madeirensis. A fossil ancestor of the firecrest has been identified from a single wing bone.
The golden-crowned kinglet is a very small songbird in the family Regulidae that lives throughout much of North America.
The ruby-crowned kinglet is a very small passerine bird found throughout North America. It is a member of the kinglet family. The bird has olive-green plumage with two white wing bars and a white eye-ring. Males have a red crown patch, which is often concealed. The sexes are identical apart from the crown, and juveniles are similar in plumage to adult females. It is one of the smallest songbirds in North America. The ruby-crowned kinglet is not closely related to other kinglets and was moved from Regulus to its own genus, Corthylio in 2021. Three subspecies are currently recognized.
The Tenerife goldcrest, Regulus regulus teneriffae, is a very small passerine bird in the kinglet family, closely resembling the goldcrest but with a broader black band across the forehead, slightly darker underparts and a longer bill. It breeds in the Canary Islands of Tenerife and La Gomera, where it is a non-migratory resident. It prefers Canary Island Pine forests, but also occurs in laurisilva forests.
The Madeira firecrest, Madeira kinglet, or Madeiracrest is a very small passerine bird endemic to the island of Madeira. It is a member of the kinglet family. Before it was recognised as a separate species in 2003, it was classified as a subspecies of the common firecrest. It differs in appearance and vocalisations from its relative, and genetic analysis has confirmed it as a different species. The Madeiran bird has green upperparts, whitish underparts and two white wingbars, and a distinctive head pattern with a black eye stripe, short white supercilium, and a crest that is mainly orange in the male and yellow in the female.
Passerida is, under the Sibley-Ahlquist taxonomy, one of two parvorders contained within the suborder Passeri. While more recent research suggests that its sister parvorder, Corvida, is not a monophyletic grouping, the Passerida as a distinct clade are widely accepted.
Gleaning is a feeding strategy by birds and bats in which they catch invertebrate prey, mainly arthropods, by plucking them from foliage or the ground, from crevices such as rock faces and under the eaves of houses, or even, as in the case of ticks and lice, from living animals. This behavior is contrasted with hawking insects from the air or chasing after moving insects such as ants. Gleaning, in birds, does not refer to foraging for seeds or fruit.
Sylvioidea is a superfamily of passerine birds, one of at least three major clades within the Passerida along with the Muscicapoidea and Passeroidea. It contains about 1300 species including the Old World warblers, Old World babblers, swallows, larks and bulbuls. Members of the clade are found worldwide, but fewer species are present in the Americas.
Walter Goodfellow (1866–1953) was a British zoological collector and ornithologist.
Regulus is a genus of bird in the family Regulidae.
Naina Devi Himalayan Bird Conservation Reserve is a wildlife reserve in the Nainital district of the state of Uttarakhand in India. This reserve forest is located in Kumaon region of Uttarakhand and placed inside Nainital forest division. Nainital forest division at present has several birding trails and forest patches consisting of temperate broad-leaf forests to alpine grasslands to rhododendron shrubberies. Wide altitudinal variation supports a very large segment of avian fauna to inhibit in this forest range.
{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)