Golden Parrotbill

Paradoxornis verreauxi morrisonianus

Endemic Subspecies

The Golden Parrotbill is a small (11.5 cm) bird with a relatively large, rounded head and a small, thick parrotlike beak.  The head and neck are a rich rufous brown, the back and tail a warm chestnut brown.  The central underparts are white and the flanks are rufous brown. The flight feathers and tertials are black broadly edged with whitish, and the throat is black.  The Taiwan subspecies morrisonianus is more olive-grayish on the head, back and flanks, its whitish supercilium extends further behind the eye and the lores are grayish.  The iris is dark brown, the bill gray above and pinkish below.

The Golden Parrotbill prefers bamboo and the edges of broadleaf evergreen forests.  It feeds on tiny insect larvae, small beetles and seeds, and is usually found in pairs or in small groups of up to about ten individuals.  It frequently associates with babblers in mixed species flocks.

In Taiwan the Golden Parrotbill breeds in July.  The nest, built by both sexes, is a rough oval structure with a side entrance near the top, constructed mainly of green moss lined with fine fibres, and situated usually 1 to 2 m. above the ground in Arundinaria bamboo.  The female usually lays three pale blue eggs which are incubated by both sexes. 

The Golden Parrotbill is a sedentary species, and is an uncommon resident  in Taiwan at 2000-3050 m.

References:  Handbook of Birds of the World Vol. 12; A Field Guide to the Birds of China (Mackinnon and Phillipps); 100 Common Birds of Taiwan (Wild Bird Society of Taipei)