*“You must have the bird in your heart before you can find it in the bush.”- John Burroughs*
They are beautifully marked with bright coloring and have an olive-green body, an orangish-yellow throat, a yellow ring around their eyes, and a forked tail. They have a pleasant song similar to that of a red whiskered bulbul.
These are essentially birds of the Himalayas seen across northern India and Nepal, over much of China and into Myanmar found upto elevations of 7500 feet. They are popular cage birds which have been introduced over the last century to Hawaii, Japan, Europe where they have adapted upto mean sea level and are also also known by the names Pekin robin, Pekin nightingale, Japanese nightingale, and Japanese (hill) robin.
In Britain they are now considered an Invasive non-native species (INNS) which may benefit from Climate change and garden bird-feeding and may compete with native species for feeding and nesting sites.
Red-billed Leiothrix
(Leiothrix lutea)
Sony A77ii
Tamron 150-600
600mm, 1/500s, f/6.3, ISO2500, +0.7E
December 2022
Chakki Morh, Solan, HP (India)
www.thekeyislooking.com