The Himalayan bluetail (''Tarsiger rufilatus''), also called the Himalayan red-flanked bush-robin or orange-flanked bush-robin, is a small

passerine A passerine () is any bird of the order Passeriformes (; from Latin 'sparrow' and '-shaped') which includes more than half of all bird species. Sometimes known as perching birds, passerines generally have an anisodactyl arrangement of their ...

bird Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class (biology), class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the Oviparity, laying of Eggshell, hard-shelled eggs, a high Metabolism, metabolic rate, a fou ...

that was formerly classed as a member of the

thrush Thrush may refer to: Birds * Thrush (bird), any of the birds in the family Turdidae ** List of thrush species * Antthrushes, the Formicariidae family of birds * Dohrn's warbler, or Dohrn's thrush-babbler, a species ''Sylvia dohrni'' in the famil ...

family Turdidae, but is now more generally considered to be an

Old World flycatcher The Old World flycatchers are a large family, the Muscicapidae, of small passerine birds restricted to the Old World (Europe, Africa and Asia), with the exception of several vagrants and two species, bluethroat (''Luscinia svecica'') and north ...

of Muscicapidae. While currently under review, this taxon is not current recognized as a species by BirdLife international. It is closely related to the

red-flanked bluetail The red-flanked bluetail (''Tarsiger cyanurus''), also known as the orange-flanked bush-robin, is a small passerine bird that was formerly classed as a member of the thrush family Turdidae, but is now more generally considered to be an Old World ...

and was generally treated as a

subspecies In Taxonomy (biology), biological classification, subspecies (: subspecies) is a rank below species, used for populations that live in different areas and vary in size, shape, or other physical characteristics (Morphology (biology), morpholog ...

of it in the past, but as well as differing in its migratory behaviour (the red-flanked bluetail is a long-distance migrant), it also differs in the more intense blue colour of the adult males and the greyer colour of the females and juveniles.

Description and distribution

The Himalayan bluetail is a short-distance altitudinal migrant species, breeding in the

Himalaya The Himalayas, or Himalaya ( ), is a mountain range in Asia, separating the plains of the Indian subcontinent from the Tibetan Plateau. The range has some of the Earth's highest peaks, including the highest, Mount Everest. More than 100 pea ...

in bush layer (dwarf

rhododendron ''Rhododendron'' (; : ''rhododendra'') is a very large genus of about 1,024 species of woody plants in the Ericaceae, heath family (Ericaceae). They can be either evergreen or deciduous. Most species are native to eastern Asia and the Himalayan ...

in wetter areas,

deciduous In the fields of horticulture and botany, the term deciduous () means "falling off at maturity" and "tending to fall off", in reference to trees and shrubs that seasonally shed Leaf, leaves, usually in the autumn; to the shedding of petals, aft ...

bushes in drier) of conifer and mixed conifer-oak forest, main species fir (''

Abies Firs are evergreen coniferous trees belonging to the genus ''Abies'' () in the family Pinaceae. There are approximately 48–65 extant species, found on mountains throughout much of North and Central America, Eurasia, and North Africa. The genu ...

'') but sometimes in areas with ''

Picea smithiana ''Picea smithiana'' is a species of evergreen tree in the family Pinaceae family. It is referred to by the common names morinda spruce and West Himalayan spruce, and is a spruce native to the western Himalaya and adjacent mountains, from northea ...

'' or ''

Pinus wallichiana ''Pinus wallichiana'' is a coniferous evergreen tree native to the Himalaya, Karakoram and Hindu Kush mountains, from eastern Afghanistan east across northern Pakistan and north west India to Yunnan in southwest China. It grows in mountain v ...

''/''

Cupressus torulosa ''Cupressus torulosa'', commonly known as the Himalayan cypress or Bhutan cypress, is a species of Cupressus, cypress tree native to the mountainous northern regions of the Indian subcontinent, in the western Himalayas. Description It is a medi ...

'' forest; at 3000–4400 m, not penetrating beyond tree-line and in winters found at 1,500–2,500 m typically in broadleaf evergreen forest, dense dark undergrowth and thickets, clearings, treefall gaps with vine tangles, open woodland; commonly seen along tracks; favours ridges and mountain tops.Collar, N. & de Juana, E. (2017). Orange-flanked Bush-robin (''Tarsiger cyanurus''). In: del Hoyo, J., Elliott, A., Sargatal, J., Christie, D.A. & de Juana, E. (eds.). ''Handbook of the Birds of the World Alive''. Lynx Edicions, Barcelona. It is insectivorous.

References

Tarsiger Birds of Afghanistan Birds of the Himalayas Birds of Central China Birds of Yunnan Birds described in 1845 Taxa named by Brian Houghton Hodgson {{Muscicapidae-stub