Profile
In flight
Songbirds
Silver-eared Mesia
Leiothrix argentauris
- rare
- 42 km/h
- Least Concern
Jewel of Asian broadleaf forests, bounding through understorey in noisy flocks and singing constantly en route.
- Population
- Not numerically quantified; described as generally common (locally rare in Nepal), with a suspected declining trend of 1-19% over three generations driven by forest habitat loss (~9.7% within range) and cage-bird trapping
- Habitat
- Subtropical/tropical moist montane forest (primary habitat), also lowland forest, high-altitude shrubland, and plantations/secondary growth, from 25 m up to about 3,050 m elevation; forages mostly near the ground but ranges up to ~5 m into the canopy
- Fun fact
- Silver-eared Mesias forage in noisy flocks of up to 30 birds and show subtle sexual dimorphism: males sport a red rump patch while females' rumps are orange.
- Range
- Himalayan foothills through mainland Southeast Asia and southern China: Nepal, Bhutan, northeastern India, Bangladesh (now extirpated there), Myanmar, southern China, Thailand, Laos, Vietnam, Cambodia, and Peninsular Malaysia (also an introduced population in Hong Kong); resident/non-migratory, with some populations shifting altitude seasonally. Extremely large range (~5,770,000 km²). Note: Wikipedia additionally lists Sumatra, uncorroborated by BirdLife DataZone.
- Diet
- Omnivorous forager taking mostly insects and their larvae along with fruit; one faecal-sample study found insect remains in 87% of samples and fruit remains in 97%
- Size
- 0.17 m
- Lifespan
- 5.2 years
