Tibetamsel

Bestimmung

The Tibetan blackbird is a relatively large thrush, being 23–28 centimetres (9–10 inches) in length. Males are brownish-black all over and darker on the head, breast, wings and tail, with dull orange-yellow bills. Females have blackish-brown upperparts and browner underparts, with faint streaking on the throat and a dull darkish yellow bill. Both sexes may appear slightly hooded. Juveniles are like females, but have greyish-buff on the back to wing-coverts and rump, greyish-buff streaking on the throat, and greyish-buff barring on the belly to vent. It differs from the common blackbird in its complete lack of an eye-ring and reduced song.<p>The song of the Tibetan blackbird is repetitious series of rapid grating notes, unpleasant squeaks, drongo-like wheezes, and guttural caws, with sporadic piew-piew whistles, given from a ridge top, rock, or trees. Unlike the song of the common blackbird, it does not have warbles or trills. Calls include a low-pitched chut-ut-ut, a staccato chak-chak-chak-chak given in flight, and a rattling chow-jow-jow-jow given as an alarm call.

Taxonomie

The Tibetan blackbird was originally described as Merula maxima by Henry Seebohm in 1881 on the basis of a specimen collected by Thomas Jerdon in Gulmarg, Kashmir. It was subsequently considered a subspecies of the common blackbird by Charles Richmond in 1896, and was moved to Turdus with that species. It was raised to species status again in 2008 on the basis of phylogenetic evidence. The generic name Turdus is from the Latin turdus, meaning thrush, while the specific name maximus is from the Latin maximus, meaning greatest. Tibetan blackbird is the official common name designated by the International Ornithologists' Union. It is also called the Central Asian blackbird.<p>The Tibetan blackbird is one of 65 species in the genus Turdus. It was previously treated as a subspecies of the common blackbird (Turdus merula). However, a 2008 phylogenetic study by Johan Nylander and colleagues showed the Tibetan blackbird to be only distantly related to the common blackbird, with the species instead being sister to the white-backed thrush. Richard and Annie Meinertzhagen described a proposed subspecies buddae on the basis of the smaller bills of birds from Sikkim and Gyangtse in 1925, but this character is not consistent throughout the population, and the species is consequently treated as being monotypic.

Wissenschaftlicher Name

Turdus maximus

Autorität

(Seebohm, 1881)

Ordnung

Passeriformes

Familie

Turdidae

Gattung

Turdus

Verbreitung und Lebensraum

The Tibetan blackbird is found locally in the Himalayas of India, Pakistan, Nepal, Bhutan, and China. During the breeding season, it inhabits steep grassy, rocky slopes and alpine meadows just above the tree line at elevations of 3,200–4,800 m (10,500–15,700 ft). In the winter, it descends to lower elevations, but rarely goes below 3,000 m (9,800 ft).

Zugverhalten

Vollzieher

Verhalten

Zugverhalten: Vollzieher.

Schutzstatus

Bestandstrend: stabil.

Bestandstrend

stabil