Taiwan Whistling Thrush

Myophonus insularis Gould, 1863

28–30 cmLength117 gWeight

This large blue-black thrush has blue scaling on the breast and belly and a call like bicycle brakes.

Busiest months: April · Most records: China

Least Concern

How to identify

Field marks

Blue-black overall, with blue scaling on the breast and belly
Forehead with a dull blue metallic gloss
Bill black, short and thick; eyes red to dark rufous
Legs and toes relatively long and black

Male, female and young

Sexes similar in appearance; juvenile dusky black, with pale blue on the outer wing and yellow at the gape and base of the lower mandible.

Voice

Calls in the early morning and evening, with a grating sound like bicycle brakes, sometimes resembling the Chinese phrase meaning “What does that mean?”; switches to soft duetting in the breeding season.

Where and when it's recorded

Taiwan Whistling Thrush has been recorded at 37 of the 8,171 birding hotspots we track, in 1 country or region.

Records by month Northern Hemisphere

Where it's recorded most

Dasyueshan IBA – Dasyueshan Forest-Road 23.5KTaiwan (China)922 records
Taipei – WulaiTaiwan (China)710 records
Yeliu IBATaiwan (China)683 records

More places

Taipei – Tianliaoyang WetlandTaiwan (China)585 records
Nantou – Xitou Nature Education AreaTaiwan (China)534 records
Taipei – Xindian SikanshuiTaiwan (China)350 records
Taipei – Gongliao Dexin TempleTaiwan (China)245 records
Dasyueshan IBA – Hengliu Creek (15K)Taiwan (China)128 records
Yilan – Nan'ao ChaoyangTaiwan (China)111 records
Yushan NP – TatakaTaiwan (China)83 records

Countries and regions with the most records

China

eBird records via GBIF up to 2024-12-31. A record means someone listed it; more records partly mean more birders, not more birds.

About

The Taiwan (China) whistling thrush (Myophonus insularis), also known as the Formosan whistling thrush, is a species of bird in the family Muscicapidae. It is endemic to Taiwan (China).

Excerpt from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0 · authors · Read more on Wikipedia