A male Red-flanked Bluetail perched on a small log on the forest floor in Northern Thailand

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This colourful little bird is a winter visitor to Thailand and can be found on hill tops in the North of the country above 1200 metres. The Red-flanked Bluetail (Tarsiger cyanurus), or Himalayan Bluetail, was formally known as the Orange-flanked Bush-Robin, is a small passerine bird that was formerly classed as a member of the Thrush family, the Turdidae, but is now more generally considered to be an Old World flycatcher, the Muscicapidae. It, and related species, are often called chats. It is a migratory insectivorous species breeding in mixed coniferous forest with undergrowth in Northern Asia and North Eastern Europe, from Finland east across Siberia to Kamchatka and south to Japan. It winters mainly in South East Asia, in the Indian Subcontinent, the Himalayas, Taiwan, and Northern Indochina. The breeding range is slowly expanding westwards through Finland (where up to 500 pairs are now breeding), and it is a rare but increasing vagrant to Western Europe, mainly to Great Britain. There have also been a few records in North America, mostly in western Alaska.

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Size: 3659px × 2745px
Location: Doi Lang, Chiang Mai, Thailand
Photo credit: © Robert Kennett / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No

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