Bhutan Laughingthrush
Bhutan Laughingthrush Trochalopteron imbricatum
Etymology:
- Garrulax : Latin word garrulous –babbling, chattering; ax – inclining towards
- Imbricatum : Latin word imbricatusformed like gutter-tiles derived from imbricis – tile
Distribution in India: Resident of Arunachal Pradesh in India.
Description: Size of 20-21 cm.It is a small laughingthrush, streaky warm brown with grey ear-coverts. It has a mid-brown crown to mantle with long glossy shafts, these becoming white on back but all fading to plain dirty greyish-brown on rump and uppertail-coverts. The wing fringes are warm mid-brown, fringes pale grey on outermost primaries and pale olive on adjacent ones. The tail is dull rufescent brown with narrow dull buffy-white tips. The face,lores, submoustachial area, cheek, ear-coverts and superciliary area and neck side are pale greyish-brown with narrow white shaft streaks. Its chin to belly is slightly pinkish-tinged greyish-brown with whitish shafts, shading to plainer and darker, dirtier rufous-brown on flanks, thighs and vent. The iris is bright reddish-brown to brown, upper mandible is dark horn, lower mandible is pale horn and legs are horn-brown to brownish-black. Both the sexes are similar.
Habitat: It is found in bushes and long grass, thick scrub bordering cultivation, scrub and thickets in open and secondary forest, including in areas opened up by tree-felling. It is found from 1400 to 3800 m.
Food habits: It eats small invertebrates and some vegetable matter. It occurs in pairs or in small flocks. It forages primarily on ground.
Breeding habits: They breed in Apr–Jun in Himalayas. The nest is reportedly an outwardly loose, untidy, thick-walled, deep cup , made of coarse dry grasses, fine plant stems, dead leaves, fibrous plant bark, creepers, dry twigs, ferns and moss, lined with fine grass roots, fine grasses, rootlets, pine needles and hair, placed in thick bush, on low tree branch, thick grass or on bank among overhanging grass. They lay a clutch of 2–4 eggs. The incubation is done by both sexes.