Rainforest Birds – White-Crested Laughing Thrush

Bird Name:

White-crested Laughing Thrush

Latin Name:

Garrulax leucolophus

Status:

Least concern

Scientific Classification:

Kingdom: Animalia

Phylum: Chordata

Class: Aves

Order: Passeriformes

Family: Timaliidae

Genus: Garrulax

Species: G. leucolophus

General information:

The White-crested Laughing Thrush is an Old World Babbler characterized by soft puffy plumage.
They exhibit brief chatter that is followed by a chorus of cackling laughter. They are the most sociable of the laughing thrushes. This is most likely attributed to their weak flying ability and non-migratory status.

Physical Description:

The White-crested Laughing Thrush averages 12 inches in length. They are reddish brown with white crest and breast. Beaks are black and the black coloring continues past their eyes in a streak. They have soft, loose, fluffy plumage with long tails. They have strong, stout feet and legs.

Diet:

The White-crested Laughing Thrush feeds mainly on the ground by probing, digging and flicking with their bills. They eat a variety of insects as well as small invertebrates, fruits, and seeds.

Habitat:

The White-crested Laughing Thrush is an arboreal forest dweller. It is common in Southeast Asia, from the northwest Himalayas to southwest China to Sumatra, India to Indonesia. It inhabits broad-leaved evergreen, semi-evergreen, and dry deciduous forests, as well as secondary growth and bamboo up to 5,300 feet.

Reproduction:

It is suspected that they build round cup shaped nests of moss and dead leaves. The White-crested Laughing Thrush have been observed participating in cooperative breeding, meaning more than just the parents’ help in the rearing of the young. The adults feed mainly insects to the nestlings. The young fledge after 14 to 16 days.