Yunnan Fulvetta Alcippe fratercula is resident in Burma, Thailand, Laos, and China in southwest Yunnan (fratercula) and northwest Yunnan and southwest Sichuan (yunnanensis). HABITAT & BEHAVIOR Common in understory and undergrowth of broadleaved evergreen forests, from lowlands to 3000 m (9,840 ft.). Usually in busy flocks, sometimes with other species, feeding on insects and berries. ID & COMPARISON Large-headed, brown-and-grey alcippe. Has grey head, white eye-ring, and black lateral crown-stripes, which in some cases are very faint or not present at all. Mantle and wing coverts grey-brown; remiges and tail brown; underparts brownish-buff. Most other alcippes have larger eye-ring. David’s Fulvetta A. davidi and Huet’s Fulvetta A. hueti are greyer below, and Grey-cheeked Fulvetta A. morrisonia is tinted orange below. Upperparts of Yunnan Fulvetta less reddish and flanks warmer buff than Nepal Fulvetta A. nipalensis. Brown-cheeked Fulvetta A. poioicephala about 25 percent larger and has brownish-grey head sides. Juvenile has warmer upperparts, flanks, and vent. BARE PARTS Bill black; iris reddish-brown; feet pinkish-brown. VOICE Busy, twittering song, similar to David’s Fulvetta. — Craig Brelsford
THE ALCIPPE FULVETTAS OF CHINA
shanghaibirding.com covers every species in the family Alcippeidae in China. Click any link below:
Brown-cheeked Fulvetta Alcippe poioicephala
Nepal Fulvetta A. nipalensis
David’s Fulvetta A. davidi
Huet’s Fulvetta A. hueti
Yunnan Fulvetta A. fratercula
See also this Taiwan endemic:
Grey-cheeked Fulvetta Alcippe morrisonia
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.
