White-collared Yuhina

1 White-collared Yuhina Breed Overview

The White-collared Yuhina (Latin Yuhina diademata, English White-collared Yuhina) belongs to the white-eye family, genus Yuhina; a large (17.5 cm) smoky-brown yuhina with a fluffy crest, a large white nape patch joining a white eye-ring and posterior brow line. Distributed in western China, northeastern Myanmar, and northern Vietnam; a common montane resident in Gansu, Shaanxi (Qinling), Sichuan, western Hubei, Guizhou, and Yunnan. Except in breeding season mostly in pairs or alone, otherwise in small flocks of 3-5 to over 10. It moves among canopy leaves, also down to saplings, tall shrubs, bamboo, or grass, feeding. It gives a thin ‘si si si’ and in breeding season sings long from shrubs, loud and varied.

2 White-collared Yuhina Care

Except in breeding season it is mostly in pairs or alone, otherwise in small flocks of 3-5 to over 10. It moves among canopy leaves, also down to saplings, tall shrubs, bamboo, or grass, feeding. It gives a thin ‘si si si’ and in breeding season sings long from shrubs, loud and varied. It eats mainly insects and plant fruit and seeds; plant food is 83% of feeding frequency, insects 61%. Plant food is mainly Rosaceae fruit, various berries, and weed seeds; insects are mainly beetles (scarabs, chafers, ladybugs, click beetles) and also Lepidoptera, Hymenoptera, Diptera, and Orthoptera.

Yuhinas are a specialized group among babblers. Their shared trait is a head crest that lifts when excited, forming a small topknot. Yunnan has many yuhina species favoring the mid-canopy to upper shrub layer, but each adapts to different altitudes. Among all yuhinas, the White-bellied and Black-fronted prefer lowland broadleaf forest; the Yellow-cheeked and Rufous-vented prefer mid-mountain evergreen broadleaf forest, and the Rufous-vented also lives in higher conifer or mixed forest; the White-collared is the most cold-tolerant, living in mixed and conifer forest.

3 White-collared Yuhina Environmental Requirements

It forms small flocks, sometimes mixing in winter into dozens or hundreds. Berries are a large part of its diet, more plant-based than similar-sized tit-babblers. It rarely sings but keeps in contact with a series of churring chirps, like a parrotbill. It lives mainly in montane broadleaf, mixed, and conifer forest and bamboo at 1500-3000 m, also secondary forest, plantations, and forest-edge scrub; in winter it may descend below 1000 m to farmland, tea gardens, and village trees, one of the commoner birds of these forests.

Wide distribution, not near vulnerable thresholds (range or fluctuation under 20000 sq km, habitat quality, population size, fragmentation), stable trend, so evaluated as Least Concern.

4 White-collared Yuhina Food Requirements

It eats mainly insects and plant fruit and seeds; plant food is 83% of feeding frequency, insects 61%. Plant food is mainly Rosaceae fruit, various berries, and weed seeds; insects are mainly beetles (scarabs, chafers, ladybugs, click beetles) and also Lepidoptera, Hymenoptera, Diptera, and Orthoptera. Except in breeding season mostly in pairs or alone, otherwise in small flocks of 3-5 to over 10. It moves among canopy leaves, also down to saplings, tall shrubs, bamboo, or grass, feeding. It gives a thin ‘si si si’ and in breeding season sings long from shrubs, loud and varied.

The White-collared Yuhina is distributed in western China, northeastern Myanmar, and northern Vietnam. It is listed in the IUCN 2012 Red List of Threatened Species ver 3.1 as Least Concern (LC).