From Opus

Alternative name: Bamboo Partridge

Male, Subspecies "sonorivox"
Photo by James Eaton
Shihmen Reservoir, Taiwan, April 2005

Bambusicola thoracicus

Includes: Taiwan Bamboo-Partridge

[edit] Identification

31cm. Male larger

• Upperparts and breast mottled black, chestnut, and cream
• Black spotted flanks (dark brown in sonorivox)
• Rufous face and throat (much more extensive in nominate)
• Grey above eye and down to neck (darker grey in sonorivox)
• Females are usually unspurred

Subspecies sonorivox
Photo by fluorite
Taiwan

Immatures are duller, have buffy shaft streaks, dark spots on lower back, rump and undertail-coverts.

[edit] Distribution

Asia: found in south and central China and Taiwan.
Common in Taiwan, common but declining in China.

[edit] Taxonomy

[edit] Subspecies

• B. t. thoracica:

• found in arid bush of south and central China

• B. t. sonorivox:

• found in Taiwan, introduced in Japan and Hawaii, sometimes split as full species

The scientific name was formerly spelled thoracica.

[edit] Habitat

Warm forests and grasslands; not entirely dependent on bamboo. Occurs up to 1000m, occasionally up to 2000m.

[edit] Behaviour

Terrestrial.

[edit] Breeding

The clutch consists of 3-7 eggs which are incubated by the female for 18 days.

[edit] Diet

The diet includes invertebrates, nuts, seeds, shoots and leaves.

[edit] Vocalisation

Call: ki-ko-kuai or kojukkei

[edit] References

1. Clements, JF. 2011. The Clements Checklist of Birds of the World. 6th ed., with updates to August 2011. Ithaca: Cornell Univ. Press. ISBN 978-0801445019. Spreadsheet available at http://www.birds.cornell.edu/clementschecklist/downloadable-clements-checklist
2. Del Hoyo, J, A Elliot, and J Sargatal, eds. 1994. Handbook of the Birds of the World. Volume 2: New World Vultures to Guineafowl. Barcelona: Lynx Edicions. ISBN 978-8487334153
3. gbwf.org
4. Birding in Taiwan

• List of references

[edit] External Links

• View more images of this species on Orientalbirdimages