Prunella koslowi

The Helan Mountain Rock Pipit, also known as the Mongolian Accentor, is a small bird of the family Pyroptidae and the genus Pyroptera, with no subspecies.

It is said that in 1893, a Russian biologist rode a camel from Ulaanbaatar to investigate southwestwards. When he arrived in the Alxa region, he discovered a "new" rock pipit. Because the only geographical landmark nearby was the Helan Mountains, he named it "Helan Mountain Rock Pipit". Unexpectedly, this name misled later scholars. They searched hard in the Helan Mountains, but never found any trace of the Helan Mountain Rock Pipit. Since then, the Helan Mountain Rock Pipit has disappeared from people's sight for nearly 100 years. In the late 1980s, Mr. Wang Zhaoding, an expert in the Helan Mountain Nature Reserve, and his mentor, Professor Chang Jiachuan of Northeast Forestry University, began to search for and study the Helan Mountain Rock Pipit. They found it in the desert shrubs on the west side of the Helan Mountains and collected specimens. This marked the return of the Helan Mountain Rock Pipit to people's sight and attracted widespread attention. Later, some researchers discovered and collected specimens, but no clear image records were seen.

Regarding the differentiation of Helan Mountain Rock Pipit subspecies, some scholars divide Helan Mountain Rock Pipit into two subspecies, namely the nominate subspecies (Prunella koslowi koslowi) and the Mongolian subspecies (Prunella koslowi tenella). It is believed that the Mongolian subspecies has a grayer upper body than the nominate subspecies, a pure white abdomen, a smaller throat spot, shorter wings, and a male bird with a wing length of 64-70 mm; while the nominate subspecies has a wing length of 68.7-73.7 mm. Vaurie (1959) and De Sehauensee (1984) basically support this view and believe that the nominate subspecies (Prunella koslowi koslowi) is distributed in China. However, some scholars do not recognize that the Helan Mountain Rock Pipit has subspecies differentiation, and believe that the Helan Mountain Rock Pipit is a monotypic species (Zheng Zuoxin 1976, 1987; Howard and Moore 1980, 1991).

The Helan Mountain Rock Pipit often moves alone or in small groups. It is good at walking and hiding in bushes such as Elaeagnus angustifolia. When startled, it will take off vertically and flee in all directions. It often flies in a straight line and in a wave-like manner. It generally does not fly high, but flies close to the ground. The flying height is mostly below 1 meter or within 1-3 meters. Sometimes it is seen to fly in place after rising into the air. The call is sharp and weak, mostly two tones and one time, and sometimes the call is also very pleasant.

The Helan Mountain Rock Pipit mainly feeds on insects and fruits and seeds of sandy plants. According to the dissection of the bird's stomach by Chang Jiachuan, Hang Fulan, et al. (1991) in Inner Mongolia and Ningxia, China, the insects eaten mainly include Aphididae, Psyllidae, Cicadidae, Hemiptera, Coleoptera, Chrysomelidae, Hymenoptera bees, and Lepidoptera moths and their larvae. Plant food mainly includes seeds of Artemisia ordosica, Artemisia argyi, Artemisia ordosica, Sand sedge, Stipa, Ice grass, Setaria officinalis, and alfalfa.

The Helan Mountain Rock Pipit is a winter migratory bird in China. It migrates to China to overwinter in mid-to-late October every year and leaves in early April of the following year.

The nest of the Helan Mountain Rock Pipit is usually placed at a height close to the ground. Each nest lays 4-5 eggs.

Listed in the "Red List of Threatened Species of the World Conservation Union" (IUCN 2016 ver 3.1) - Least Concern (LC).

Listed in the "National List of Terrestrial Wildlife with Important Economic and Scientific Research Value" (item 430) issued by the State Forestry Administration of China on August 1, 2000.

Listed in the second level of China's "National Key Protected Wildlife List" (February 5, 2021).

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Distributed in China and Mongolia. In China, it is distributed in the Tengger Desert, Alxa Left Banner, Ulan Buh Desert, Maowusu Desert, Ordos Plateau, Ningxia Zhongwei and the desert shrubland at the foot of Helan Mountain. It is also found in Minqin, Gansu and Nanping in northern Sichuan (Li Guiyuan et al. 1993).
Helan Mountain Rock Pipit mainly inhabits plateau deserts, Gobi deserts and semi-desert areas where desert plants are distributed, especially in Gobi, sand dune shrubs and artificial shelter forests on the edge of the desert. It also inhabits deserts, Gobi shrubs and artificial Elaeagnus angustifolia forests with large tracts of sandy plants such as Elaeagnus angustifolia, Elaeagnus angustifolia and Artemisia ordosica. It is the most preferred habitat and is sometimes found in wilderness, farmland and forest edge areas at the foot of the mountain.

Male and female plumage is similar. The forehead, top of the head, nape, sides of the head, cheeks, and ear feathers are brown. The upper coverts of the back, shoulders, waist and tail are light yellow-brown or sandy brown with obvious dark vertical stripes. The vertical stripes on the head and back of the neck are not obvious or there are no vertical stripes. The vertical stripes on the waist and tail are also not obvious. The wings are dark brown with yellow feather edges. The upper and middle coverts on the wings have white end spots, forming two obvious white wing spots on the wings. The tail feathers are brown, and the central pair of tail feathers have brown feather edges. The chin and throat are smoke-gray, and the fresh feathers have narrow white feather edges, forming scaly spots on the chin and throat. The chest is brown, and the fresh feathers that have just molted also have white feather edges to form scaly spots. The rest of the lower body is yellowish white or dirty white