Long-tailed Minivet Pericrocotus ethologus ranges Afghanistan to Vietnam. Large breeding range in China, with laetus in southeast Tibet, yvettae in western Yunnan, and ethologus Yunnan to Hebei and Beijing. HABITAT & BEHAVIOR Variety of wooded habitats, from lowlands to mountains; also in well-wooded parks and on cultivated land. Keeps to canopy, making aerial sallies for flying insects; often in flocks, sometimes large. ID & COMPARISON Male closely resembles Scarlet Minivet P. speciosus and Short-billed Minivet P. brevirostris, having glossy, blue-black hood, mantle, wings, and (central) tail. Underparts scarlet, as are lower back, rump, uppertail coverts, and wing patches (wing bar in flight). Black of throat less extensive than Short-billed Minivet. Female has yellow forehead, grey ear coverts, crown and nape, dark lores (extending as less distinctive eyeline behind eye), broken eye-ring, and grey mantle and scapulars (sometimes with greenish tinge). Scarlet coloration of male replaced by bright yellow in female. Throat paler yellow and chin whitish. Scarlet Minivet has red (male) or yellow (female) spots on tertials and secondaries and is larger with a proportionately shorter tail. Wing patch of Long-tailed has two slashes, but main wing patch of Scarlet and Short-billed has only one. Juvenile like female but scaly on crown, nape, mantle, flanks, and breast. Juvenile paler below than juvenile Scarlet; distinguished with difficulty from juvenile Short-billed. Immature male replaces yellow with orange. BARE PARTS Bill short, black; feet black. VOICE Distinctive sweet, thin, disyllabic call, sometimes combined with a trilling start. — Craig Brelsford
THE CUCKOOSHRIKES OF CHINA
shanghaibirding.com covers every species in the family Campephagidae in China. Click any link below:
Grey-chinned Minivet Pericrocotus solaris
Short-billed Minivet P. brevirostris
Long-tailed Minivet P. ethologus
Scarlet Minivet P. speciosus
Ashy Minivet P. divaricatus
Swinhoe’s Minivet P. cantonensis
Rosy Minivet P. roseus
Large Cuckooshrike Coracina macei
Black-winged Cuckooshrike Lalage melaschistos
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Daniel Bengtsson served as chief ornithological consultant for Craig Brelsford’s Photographic Field Guide to the Birds of China, from which this species description is drawn.
