Red-Billed Leiothrix
Place to admire: Tropical Paradise
Scientific name: Leiothrix lutea
IUCN-status: Least concern
Habitat
The Red-Billed Leiothrix is native to Bhutan, China, India, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan and Vietnam. This bird species has been introduced in France, Italy, Japan, Reunion and in Hawaii (United States).
This bird species prefers open woodlands with a berry-bearing shrub border, forest edges, abandoned fields and bamboo forests. Depending on the area, the Red-Billed Leiothrix has local preferences. For example, this bird species prefers hemlock spruce forests, silver forests and deciduous forests in Japan, where the undergrowth should be dense and dominated by Bamboo.
Appearance
The Red-Billed Leiothrix has a size of 14 to 15 centimeters. This gray-olive-green Songbird has a forked tail. This bird species is notable for its yellow-orange throat, breast and flight feathers. The bill is red in color. A female is slightly smaller than a male and has less pronounced plumage.
Diet
The Red-Billed Leiothrix is known as an omnivore. This means that this bird species eats both plant and animal foods.
The plant-based diet consists of native and cultivated fruits and seeds. This bird species additionally feeds on Butterflies, Snails, Spiders, Millipedes, Hymenoptera and Dicotyledons.
In the wild, the Red-Billed Leiothrix mainly drinks water from pools of leaves.
Natuurlijk gedrag
The Red-Billed Leiothrix forages in pairs during the breeding season. Outside the breeding season, this bird species forages for food in small groups of 4 to 6 individuals. The bird is almost always in the lower vegetation layers. While groping twigs and dead wood, the bird makes numerous short flights and jumps from branch to branch in a tangle motion. The bird searches for invertebrates or will eventually take fruit from the foliage to feed on.
The sleeping, called “roosting” in birding terms, of the Red-Billed Leiothrix is very special. This species of bird presses itself as close as possible to its mate, making it appear to be 1 bird, when it is actually 2 birds. The ruffled body feathers form 1 fluffy ball while sleeping.