Overview

Greater Necklaced Laughingthrush: This medium-sized songbird has a brown crown, back, wings, rump and tail, a rufous nape and flanks, white throat, belly, vent and eyebrow, and blue-gray cheeks with black streaks. It has a black eye ring, malar, sides of neck and thin breast band. Sexes are similar. It has a weak flight with rapid wing beats and short glides. Feeds mostly on insects and fruits.

Voice Text

"kleer-eer"

• A group of laughingthrush are collectively known as a "peal", "howl", "roar" and "titter" of laughingthrush.
• It is also known as the Black-gorgeted Laughingthrush.
• Laughingthrushes are named after their loud, rollicking vocalizations and thrush-like shape.
• The Greater Necklaced Laughingthrush was first described in 1836 by English Ornithologist John Gould.

Sylviid Warblers (Sylviidae)

ORDER

The PASSERIFORMES (pronounced pas-ser-i-FOR-meez) is large taxonomic order of one hundred eighteen families of birds that includes the larks, the vireos, and the shrikes, and the babblers.

FAMILY TAXONOMY

Sylviid warblers or sylviidae, are a large family of three hundred and twenty-two species in fifty genera found mostly in Asia and Africa.

NORTH AMERICA

There are four species of sylviid Warblers in three genera that occur in North America (including three species introduced to Hawaii). These are the exotic sounding Red-billed Leiothrix, the Greater Necklaced Laughingthrush, the Hwamei, and the Wrentit.

KNOWN FOR

Sylviid warblers are most well known for their vociferous behavior. Like many members of this family, the loud, distinctive vocalizations of the Wrentit reverberate throughout its brushy habitat while it remains hidden in the dense cover it prefers.

PHYSICAL

This large, diverse family ranges from birds the size of warblers small to the jay-like laughingthrushes. The few species that occur in North America and Hawaii also vary in size and shape. They have both short and long tails, short wings, fairly long, strong legs and feet, and rather stout bills.

COLORATION

Sylviid warblers are mostly plumaged in various shades of brown and gray. Many species have spotting or streaks in their plumages and light colored eyes. Bright colors are limited to a few species such as the Red-billed Leiothrix with its red bill and yellow edging to the feathers in its wings and tail.

GEOGRAPHIC HABITAT

Although some members of the sylviidae family utilize non-forest habitats, the majority are birds of tropical forests. The three species that were introduced to Hawaii, the laughingthrushes and the Red-billed Leiothrix, are arboreal birds that occur in thickets and open woodlands. The one species native to North America, the Wrentit, occurs in thick, shrubby habitats of the west coast from northern Baja California to Oregon.

MIGRATION

The sylviid warbler species that occur in North America do not migrate.

HABITS

Many members of the sylviidae family are social birds that typically occur in family groups and in mixed flocks with other bird species. They forage for small creatures by gleaning and picking them from nooks and crannies in the thick vegetation.

CONSERVATION

The sylviidae species of North America are not threatened. Some species in Asia, though, have very limited ranges and are threatened by destruction of their tropical forest habitats.

INTERESTING FACTS

Some sylviidae species are so social in nature that family groups will huddle together while perched.

Artist

Chris Vest