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Chinese Blackbird Turdus mandarinus Scientific name definitions

Josep del Hoyo, Nigel Collar, and David Christie
Version: 1.0 — Published March 4, 2020
Text last updated June 20, 2018

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Field Identification

28–29 cm. A large, all-dark thrush. Male nominate race is all sooty black above and brownish-black below, with narrow orange-yellow eyering; iris dark; bill orange to bright yellow; legs blackish to dark brown. Female is only slightly browner than male, has paler chin and throat with broad darker streaks, less distinct eyering; bill brownish, some dull yellow at base (mainly on lower mandible). Juvenile is dark brown with variable paler buff mottling and streaking. Race sowerbyi is smaller and is darker below than nominate.

Systematics History

Editor's Note: This article requires further editing work to merge existing content into the appropriate Subspecies sections. Please bear with us while this update takes place.

Until recently considered conspecific with T. merula and formerly with T. maximus and T. simillimus, but in fact belongs in a separate clade (1) and differs (including from race intermedius, which was said in HBW to belong with present species but aligns vocally and genetically with T. merula) in its shade paler plumage in male (1); shade darker plumage in female (1); much broader streaks on throat in female (2); distinctly deeper bill (at least 1); and strikingly different voice including, in song, much larger number of repeated notes per phrase (at least 2) and lack of high-pitched ending (at least 2) (2). Two subspecies recognized.

Subspecies


SUBSPECIES

Turdus mandarinus sowerbyi Scientific name definitions

Distribution

C China (Gansu S to W Sichuan); non-breeding also S China and N Indochina.

SUBSPECIES

Turdus mandarinus mandarinus Scientific name definitions

Distribution

E China (E from C Shaanxi, E Sichuan and Yunnan, and N to Beijing); non-breeding also S China, Hainan and N Indochina.

Distribution

Editor's Note: Additional distribution information for this taxon can be found in the 'Subspecies' article above. In the future we will develop a range-wide distribution article.

Habitat

Open woodland of all types, especially deciduous, also edge habitats, parks, gardens, plantations and orchards; occurs also in grassland areas with plenty of shrubs and other cover. To 4000 m.

Migration Overview

Partially migratory. Some N breeders winter S of breeding range; present around Hong Kong in winter mainly mid-Nov to Mar, with peak numbers mid-Nov to early Dec. A scarce to common winter visitor to N Laos and N Vietnam, also Hainan I, singly or in small groups. Scarce to rare passage migrant in Taiwan. Has occurred as a vagrant in Japan (including Ryukyu Is) and Korea, and recently in W Philippines (Palawan) (3).

Diet and Foraging

Invertebrates, especially earthworms and adult and larval insects; also seeds, berries and fruits; occasionally catches and eats small vertebrates. Stomachs of 94 birds taken over a year in Fujian always held 50–80% invertebrates, very largely insects, with a few snails and worms; insect food mainly larvae of flies, beetles and lepidopterans, also adult beetles and ants, with plant material mainly fruits of Cinnamomum camphora and Ficus wightiana but also other fruits and grass seeds; mulberries (Morus) and banyan berries (Ficus) also reported. In Hunan, autumn and winter, primary food plants, e.g. fruits of Rubus and Cinnamomum, with animal food mainly fly larvae, mole-crickets and earthworms, along with grasshoppers, dragonflies, lepidopterans, hymenopterans, snails and small frogs. Forages mostly on ground , where it turns and tosses leaf litter and uproots moss by flipping bill sideways; on grass it makes short runs with frequent pauses, listening and watching for prey, then stabbing at ground to secure it. Commonly feeds also in trees and bushes, primarily when seeking fruits and berries.

Sounds and Vocal Behavior

Male's Song , delivered from elevated perch, is a melodious series of repetitive fluted whistles, e.g. “piew-piew” and “tiew-quoit”, each strophe maintaining a single pitch and without the high-pitched ending typical of T. merula. Calls include short “sri” in flight and perched, and longer “s’r’r’r’r” in flight; persistent loud nasal “twink twink twink twink…” during territorial disputes; very high-pitched, long-drawn, slightly descending “siiiiiiiiii”, frequently repeated in breeding season as warning of aerial predator and when ground predator near nest; also various other calls, all much as those of T. merula.

Breeding

Season Mar–Jul; up to two or three broods per year. Nest a large cup of dry grass and twigs packed together wth mud, lined with finer vegetable material (grass, stems), placed 0·5 m or more off ground in bush or tree, sometimes in or on wall. Clutch 2–6 eggs, pale greenish-blue with pale red-brown spots; incubation period variable, 10–19 days; nestling period 13–14 days; chicks dependent on parents for a further c. 20 days.

Not globally threatened (Least Concern). Generally common in most of its range; also a common winter visitor and passage migrant in Hong Kong. This species has a very large range, within which its population, although not yet quantified, appears to be increasing.

Distribution of the Chinese Blackbird - Range Map
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  • Year-round
  • Migration
  • Breeding
  • Non-Breeding
Distribution of the Chinese Blackbird

Recommended Citation

del Hoyo, J., N. Collar, and D. A. Christie (2020). Chinese Blackbird (Turdus mandarinus), version 1.0. In Birds of the World (J. del Hoyo, A. Elliott, J. Sargatal, D. A. Christie, and E. de Juana, Editors). Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, NY, USA. https://doi.org/10.2173/bow.chibla1.01
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