The orange-winged laughingthrush is also known as Elliot's Laughingthrush in English. It has two subspecies.
In 2016, the Orange-winged Laughingthrush (Trochalopteron elliotii) was included in the Laughingthrush family and the "Colored-winged Laughingthrush" (Trochalopteron) from the Garrulaxi genus.
Orange-winged Laughingthrush moves in pairs during the breeding period, and mostly in groups in other seasons. It often jumps, shuttles, or flies in and out among the branches and leaves in the lower part of the bushes. Sometimes it is also seen moving and foraging among the fallen leaves on the ground under the forest, and constantly makes "Guer, Guer" calls, especially in the early morning and evening. The calls are loud and beautiful. After being frightened, it either quickly falls into the depths of the bushes, or flies from one bush to another, and generally does not fly far.
The breeding season of the Orange-winged Laughingthrush is from April to July. It usually nests in the bushes under the forest, and the nests are mostly built on the low branches of bushes or young trees, 0.5-0.7 meters above the ground. The nest is bowl-shaped, and the outer layer is mainly composed of twigs, bark, grass stems, dead leaves and other materials, and the inner pad is made of thin grass stems and grass roots, and sometimes thin vines. The size of the nest is 13.8-20 cm in outer diameter, 8-9 cm in inner diameter, and 5-7 cm deep. Each nest lays 2-3 eggs, which are sky blue or bright blue-green, with sparse dark brown spots on the blunt end. The eggs are oval, 27.5-30 mm × 20-21.4 mm in size, 28.5 mm × 20.8 mm on average, and weigh 5.5-6 grams.
The Orange-winged Laughingthrush is a bird endemic to China, with a relatively abundant population. It is a common type of laughingthrush in southwest China. The species has a wide distribution range and is not close to the critical value of vulnerable and endangered species survival (distribution area or fluctuation range less than 20,000 square kilometers, habitat quality, population size, and fragmented distribution area). The population trend is stable, so it is evaluated as a species without survival crisis.
Listed in the "Red List of Threatened Species of the World Conservation Union" (IUCN) 2016 ver3.1-Least Concern (LC).
Listed in the second level of China's "National Key Protected Wildlife List" (February 5, 2021).
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