The scaly-breasted cupwing or scaly-breasted wren-babbler (''Pnoepyga albiventer'') is a species of

bird Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the laying of hard-shelled eggs, a high metabolic rate, a four-chambered heart, and a strong yet lightweigh ...

in the Pnoepyga wren-babblers family, Pnoepygidae. It is found in southern and eastern Asia from the

Himalayas The Himalayas, or Himalaya (; ; ), is a mountain range in Asia, separating the plains of the Indian subcontinent from the Tibetan Plateau. The range has some of the planet's highest peaks, including the very highest, Mount Everest. Over 100 ...

Indochina Mainland Southeast Asia, also known as the Indochinese Peninsula or Indochina, is the continental portion of Southeast Asia. It lies east of the Indian subcontinent and south of Mainland China and is bordered by the Indian Ocean to the west an ...

Taxonomy and systematics

The

Taiwan cupwing The Taiwan cupwing or Taiwan wren-babbler (''Pnoepyga formosana'') is a species of passerine bird in the family Pnoepygidae. The species is endemic to the island of Taiwan. It was treated for a long time as a subspecies of the scaly-breasted cup ...

was once treated as a subspecies of the scaly-breasted cupwing. The Chinese cupwing has been merged into this species.

Description

The scaly-breasted cupwing is a very small babbler with almost no tail, around 9 cm long and weighing between 19 and 23 g. The

plumage Plumage ( "feather") is a layer of feathers that covers a bird and the pattern, colour, and arrangement of those feathers. The pattern and colours of plumage differ between species and subspecies and may vary with age classes. Within species, ...

is olive on the back and lightly scalloped on the chest.

Distribution and habitat

The natural

habitat In ecology, the term habitat summarises the array of resources, physical and biotic factors that are present in an area, such as to support the survival and reproduction of a particular species. A species habitat can be seen as the physical ...

of the scaly-breasted cupwing is subtropical moist

montane forest Montane ecosystems are found on the slopes of mountains. The alpine climate in these regions strongly affects the ecosystem because temperatures fall as elevation increases, causing the ecosystem to stratify. This stratification is a crucial f ...

. Within that habitat it is usually found near water. The species undertakes some

altitudinal migration Altitudinal migration is a short-distance animal migration from lower altitudes to higher altitudes and back. Altitudinal migrants change their elevation with the seasons making this form of animal migration seasonal. Altitudinal migration can be m ...

, moving closer to sea level during the winter over some of its range.

Gallery

Image:Scaly-breasted Wren Babbler I IMG 6870.jpg, in Kullu - Manali District of Himachal Pradesh, India Image:Scaly-breasted Wren Babbler I IMG 6868.jpg, in Kullu - Manali District of Himachal Pradesh, India Image:Scaly-breasted Wren Babbler I IMG 6872.jpg, in Kullu - Manali District of Himachal Pradesh, India

References

*Collar, N. J. & Robson, C. 2007. Family Timaliidae (Babblers) pp. 70 – 291 in; del Hoyo, J., Elliott, A. & Christie, D.A. eds. ''

Handbook of the Birds of the World The ''Handbook of the Birds of the World'' (HBW) is a multi-volume series produced by the Spanish publishing house Lynx Edicions in partnership with BirdLife International. It is the first handbook to cover every known living species of bird. T ...

'', Vol. 12. Picathartes to Tits and Chickadees. Lynx Edicions, Barcelona.

scaly-breasted cupwing The scaly-breasted cupwing or scaly-breasted wren-babbler (''Pnoepyga albiventer'') is a species of bird in the Pnoepyga wren-babblers family, Pnoepygidae. It is found in southern and eastern Asia from the Himalayas to Indochina. Taxonomy and s ...

Birds of North India Birds of Nepal Birds of Eastern Himalaya Birds of Central China Birds of Yunnan Birds of Vietnam

Taxonomy articles created by Polbot {{timaliidae-stub