Chinese Hwamei Life History

Habitat

Chinese Hwamei inhabit shrubby areas, thickets, bamboo, reeds, and other dense vegetation in woodlands and forest. They also occur in parks, gardens, and farmland. In Hawaii, Chinese Hwamei use native ohia and mamane forests as well as thickets of introduced vegetation.

Food

Chinese Hwamei feed mainly on insects and also eat fruit, seeds, and cultivated grains. They forage on the ground, singly, in pairs, or in small groups.

Nesting

Nest Placement

Placed on or within 2 meters (7 feet) of the ground, in grasses, a bush, or a small tree.

Nest Description

A large cup constructed with leaves, grasses, stems, roots, and tendrils, and lined with rootlets, grasses, leaves, twigs, tendrils, vines, and mosses.

Nesting Facts

Behavior

Chinese Hwamei are skulking birds that typically remain concealed in dense vegetation. They forage on the ground, noisily hopping in the leaf litter and turning over leaves in search of insects.

Conservation

The International Union for Conservation of Nature lists Chinese Hwamei’s conservation status as Least Concern. The population size is unknown, but this species has an extremely large range, suggesting that the population exceeds the Vulnerable threshold of 10,000 mature individuals. Nevertheless, the population may be declining, according to the IUCN. The Chinese Hwamei is often kept as a cage bird, and trapping wild birds for this trade can be high in parts of its range.

Credits

BirdLife International. 2018. Garrulax canorus. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2018: e.T22735076A132036519. https://dx.doi.org/10.2305/IUCN.UK.2018-2.RLTS.T22735076A132036519.en.

Brazil, M. (2009). Birds of East Asia: China, Taiwan, Korea, Japan, and Russia. Christopher Helm, London, UK.

Collar, N. and C. Robson (2020). Chinese Hwamei (Garrulax canorus), 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.melthr.01

Hsiao, M. C., C. L. Li, and J. L. Wu (2017). A Field Guide to the Birds of Taiwan. Wild Bird Society Of Taipei, Taipei, Taiwan.

Pratt, H.D., Bruner, P.L. and Berrett, D.G. (1987). A Field Guide to the Birds of Hawaii and the Tropical Pacific. Princeton Univ. Press, Princeton, New Jersey.

Raine, H. and A. F. Raine (2020). American Birding Association Field Guide to Birds of Hawai'i. Scott & Nix, Inc. New York, NY, USA.

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