Asian Stubtail
Urosphena squameiceps
A well-named tiny songbird, “a head with wings,” with rather long bill, long legs, and very short tail. Long buffy supercilium is conspicuous even in the gloomy leaf litter and dense shrubbery where this minute bird lurks. Other brown, skulking warblers such as Dusky and Radde's have much longer tails and lack the strongly contrasting buffy supercilium. Song an insect-like, throbbing buzz recalling a katydid or cicada.
Identification
It is a small bird with a short tail. Males and females are similar in color, as well as juveniles after fledging; they are brown all over with a paler underpart and a darker brown crest and eyeline.
Taxonomy
- Scientific name
- Urosphena squameiceps
- Authority
- (Swinhoe, 1863)
- Order
- Passeriformes
- Family
- Troglodytidae
- Genus
- Urosphena
Range and habitat
Breeding Asian stubtails reside in portions of northeastern Asia; non-breeding in parts of southeast Asia including Taiwan, southeastern China, Nepal and Philippines, preferring a habitat of undergrowth in evergreen broadleaf or lowland coniferous forest.
- Breeding range
- PAL : se Russia, ne China, North and South Korea and Japan
- Non-breeding range
- se Asia
- Migration
- Complete migrants
Behavior
Breeding males produce a high-pitched shee-shee-shee-shee or cee-cee-cee, while both males and females make a call similar to chott-chott-chott.
Conservation
- Population trend
- stable
Photos
Distribution
Bird Calls
Other Birds
Lanceolated Monklet
Micromonacha lanceolata
Small puffbird, always rare in the middle levels of lowland and foothill forest. Typical puffbird shape: rotund with a large flat head and thick hooked bill. Brown above and white below with heavy blackish streaking. Unlikely to be mistaken. Easy to overlook as it perches quietly, often around a clearing or edge within forest. Usually single or in pairs, occasionally associating with a mixed-species flock. Listen for rising whistled calls.
Emei Shan Liocichla
Liocichla omeiensis
A diminutive but stout and large-headed relative of the laughingthrushes. Brownish-gray with bright orange highlights on its wing feathers and a faint yellow eyebrow which curves down into a weak crescent behind the ear. Like a laughingthrush, tends to stick to the understory in thickets, dense bamboo clusters, and thick secondary growth in mid-elevational areas. Not extremely social; often seen singly, occasionally in small flocks.
Northern Rough-winged Swallow
Stelgidopteryx serripennis
Plainest swallow in North America. Plain brown above with indistinct brown wash across throat and breast. Wings are relatively broad; tail is short and square (or slightly notched). Juveniles have rusty wingbars. “Ridgway’s” subspecies, mainly found on the Yucatan peninsula, is larger and lankier, almost recalling a martin. Look for the deeper notch in the tail and dark-tipped undertail coverts. Often seen near water, sometimes in mixed flocks with other swallows. Breeds in holes and crevices, often along riverbanks or under a bridge. Not a colonial nester like Bank Swallow. Call is a low, grating buzz that rises slightly in pitch. Compare with Bank Swallow, which has a contrasting dark chest band. Also very similar to Southern Rough-winged Swallow, which overlaps in Central America. Southern Rough-winged has a brighter tawny throat and paler rump.
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