Taiwan Cupwing
Pnoepyga formosana
Minuscule endemic songbird. Short wings, very short tail, and rather long legs give it the appearance of a brown ping-pong ball set on tiny chopsticks. Dark brown above, black-and-white scaly pattern below. Constantly shakes its wings as if cold. Moves about on the ground and in low vegetation in montane forests, where very difficult to see. Song a loud, strident, high-pitched series of three whistled phrases, with a pause after the first.
Identification
The bird is 8 to 9 cm long. The bird seems to be tailless, is olive-brown from above and the plumage has the pattern of fish scales on the chest. The Taiwan wren-babbler is very similar to the scaly-breasted cupwing, with pale-colored scales on an almost black surface. The wings and legs are shorter and the bird is more reddish-brown in color.
Taxonomy
- Scientific name
- Pnoepyga formosana
- Authority
- Ingram, C, 1909
- Order
- Passeriformes
- Family
- Pnoepygidae
- Genus
- Pnoepyga
Range and habitat
- Migration
- Resident species
Conservation
- Population trend
- unknown
Photos
Distribution
Bird Calls
Other Birds
Black-crowned White-eye
Zosterops atrifrons
A small green songbird with a bold white eye-ring, a black forehead, and whitish underparts except for a yellow throat and undertail. Juveniles duller, with less black on forehead. Found in groups, often within mixed-species flocks, in forests, edges, and cultivated areas in lowlands and foothills. Separated from Lemon-bellied White-eye by whitish belly, and from Warbling and Sulawesi White-eyes by black forehead on Black-crowned White-eye. Song variable, comprising short, high-pitched warbles. Also gives chattering and twittering notes as well as “tzew” and repetitive “titititititit” trill calls.
Black-throated Coucal
Centropus leucogaster
A large forest coucal with a black throat and chest and a white belly. Western populations in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and extreme western Uganda are sometimes separated as Neumann’s Coucal based on their smaller size, but look very similar to eastern Black-throated Coucal populations. The similar Gabon Coucal, which has a rufous belly, replaces Black-throated in Central African forests. Black-throated typically gives a deep, bubbling, booming call series of up to 20 notes that fall and then rise in pitch. This call can be heard day or night.
Barau's Petrel
Pterodroma baraui
A pale, mid-sized petrel with white underparts, dark cap, white forehead, and black margins to the white underwing. In flight, also note the distinctive, dark “M” on the gray upperparts. Easy, buoyant flight in calm weather, often gaining height and gliding down towards the ocean surface. Wheels high and steeply in strong weather.
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