The white-eared sibia (''Heterophasia auricularis'') is a

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 laughingthrush family

Leiothrichidae The laughingthrushes are a family, Leiothrichidae, of Old World passerine birds. They are diverse in size and coloration. These are birds of tropical areas, with the greatest variety in Southeast Asia and the Indian subcontinent. The entire fami ...

. The species is sometimes placed in the monotypic genus ''Malacias''. It was first described by

Robert Swinhoe Robert Swinhoe FRS (1 September 1836 – 28 October 1877) was an English diplomat and naturalist who worked as a Consul in Formosa. He catalogued many Southeast Asian birds, and several, such as Swinhoe's pheasant, are named after him. Bio ...

in 1864. There are no subspecies.

Distribution

It is endemic to the island of

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the nort ...

, where it occupies a range of forest and woodland habitats. The species is a partial altitudinal migrant, breeding at above sea-level during the summer (or in the north of Taiwan), but with some individuals descending down to in winter, sometimes as low as in a particularly harsh spell. In the summer it inhabits evergreen forests, including mixed broadleaf coniferous forests, but will use deciduous forests in the winter.Collar, N. & Robson, C. (2017). White-eared Sibia (''Malacias auricularis''). 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 http://www.hbw.com/node/59665 on 4 March 2017).

Description

The white-eared sibia is an elegant, long-tailed babbler, long and weighing an average of . The head is black with a conspicuous white stripe through the eye, and the stripe ends in long white filamentous plumes. The wings and tail are deep blue-black, with a noticeable white wingbar. The upper back and breast is dark grey, and the belly and rump are deep rufous chestnut. The bill is black and the legs brown-flesh coloured. Both the sexes are alike, and the plumage of juvenile birds hasn't been described.

Behaviour

The white-eared sibia is an active feeder, taking a wide range of prey and food items. It feeds on insects taken from flowers, and will also take nectar, acorns, berries, fruit and seeds. The white-eared sibia has a brushy tongue adapted to taking nectar, but is not wholly dependent on that food source. It will join flocks of

Taiwan yuhina The Taiwan yuhina (''Yuhina brunneiceps''), also known as Formosan yuhina, is a small songbird endemic to the island of Taiwan. Taxonomy and systematics Like other yuhinas, it is closely related to the white-eyes and if these were considered a ...

in flowering trees to take advantage of it when the chance arises. It will also take eggs and nestlings, such as those of the Taiwan yuhina. It feeds from the canopy of trees to the forest floor, but more commonly feeds higher up, either individually, in pairs or in small flocks. Very little is known about its breeding behaviour; while the species is not shy, all that is known is that it nests in the canopy of tall trees.

References

{{Taxonbar , from=Q2669765 white-eared sibia Endemic birds of Taiwan white-eared sibia Taxonomy articles created by Polbot