Tim writes: This is Elliot’s laughingthrush (Trochalopteron elliotii), a songbird found in Central China and the extreme NE part of India. It occurs at high altitudes from about 1200 to 4800m in forest and scrub. But like all laughingthrushes, they are heard more often than they are seen. This was unusual to see one perched completely in the open, but it didn’t pose for long and was soon back skulking in the scrub. I photographed this one at Labahe in Sichuan, China.
It was named after Daniel Giraud Elliot (1835 – 1915), who was a founder member and later President of the American Ornithologists’ Union. He was wealthy and commissioned the best artists of the day to illustrate books that he wrote. Though he never traveled to China so probably never clapped eyes on his eponymous laughingthrush in the field.
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