Michael Frankis
conehead
Hi Okitsme,
They look like they're doing fine around those feeders!
Assuming they were trapped in the wild rather than bred in captivity (sadly, all too likely with huge numbers of cagebirds wild-trapped in China and imported into the west), their chances are reasonable - they will be savvy with natural predators like Sparrowhawks, tho' maybe not domestic cats which could be a risk. If captive bred, they'll be naive and probably get caught by a Sparrowhawk or similar quite quickly.
Climate-wise, they're from fairly high in a mountainous region of southern China, one of my books lists them as found from 1200-4600m. That puts them into a cool temperate, wet climate, so they should be able to cope with anything Britain's weather brings.
Whether we'll hear of White-throated Laughing-thrush joining Canada Goose, Ring-necked Parakeet, etc, etc, on the UK's growing list of established escapes is hard to say, but it could happen.
Michael
They look like they're doing fine around those feeders!
Assuming they were trapped in the wild rather than bred in captivity (sadly, all too likely with huge numbers of cagebirds wild-trapped in China and imported into the west), their chances are reasonable - they will be savvy with natural predators like Sparrowhawks, tho' maybe not domestic cats which could be a risk. If captive bred, they'll be naive and probably get caught by a Sparrowhawk or similar quite quickly.
Climate-wise, they're from fairly high in a mountainous region of southern China, one of my books lists them as found from 1200-4600m. That puts them into a cool temperate, wet climate, so they should be able to cope with anything Britain's weather brings.
Whether we'll hear of White-throated Laughing-thrush joining Canada Goose, Ring-necked Parakeet, etc, etc, on the UK's growing list of established escapes is hard to say, but it could happen.
Michael