An international team of ornithologists has discovered the breeding area for the extremely rare bird Black-throated blue robin (Luscinia obscura) in Shaanxi province, north central China, stated in a press release from the Swedish Research Council.
Male Black-throated blue robin (He Yi)
The Swedish and Chinese researchers observed 14 singing males in Foping and Changqing National Nature Reserves. Nearly all of the birds were seen in dense expanses of bamboo in open coniferous and mixed coniferous-broadleaved forests on slopes of the Qinling Mountains at 2400 m above sea level.
This species has been known since 1891 from about a dozen of scattered records from Sichuan, Gansu and Shaanxi provinces of China, together with two records from Thailand. Until now, its breeding ground has remained unknown.
The Black-throated blue robin is 12 – 15 cm in length. The male has black throat and breast, and white rest of underparts, dull dark blue upperparts. The female is considered to have a pale brownish throat and breast.
The song of this bird is rather shrill phrases whr’ri-whr’ri and chu’ti-chu’ti alternated with purring trills, hdrriiii-ju’ju and uu ji’uu.
