The Wilson Journal of Ornithology 123(4): 748-754, 2011 
BREEDING ECOLOGY OF THE EMEI SHAN LIOCICHLA 
(LIOCICHLA OMEIENSIS ) 
YI-QIANG FU.' - SIMON D. DOWELL.' AND ZHENG-WANG ZHANG" 
fT ^ ““ '» — 
breeding density (mean i SE>w«s between I 20 ± 0.46 and | 55 ±nM~ AttguM 2009 and Apnl to August 2010. ft 
April to mid-August and from mid-Mav to hte Aumisr in i •'*' "J & mdlc ^ /km • and lhe breeding season was from L 
species used the Wes of or Z, 2 , t " Laojunshaw Nature Reserve in 2009 and 2010. respectively. Tr, 
Vegetation around nesTs l” ^nl^ Z r h 1°™ be,WCen dcvalions * >-450 and 2.150 
trees. Nests were cup-shapcd with a mean T*" ^ ^ ^ 
szechuanensis. Females laid one ecu ner d iv iifrh. , “ j' A 111 above ,he ground. Nests were mainly in t 
Incubation started after the last egg was laid Both male^-.n^f^ l™*" * “ SE> C,Utch S “ C was 2 9 T ft2 ^ 
provisioning, and brooding the nestlings Hatchine slices n .,i ” Cma Cs werc observed participating in incubation 
respectively. Nest predation and human'^disturbaLs^'me t ^ I n UCt T S ' ™ *“**" Were 58A N*-* 27 *- 
Liocichlas. Received 13 January * 2011. Accepted 22 Max 2011 faCt0ni af,ecIin g breeding success of Emei Situ 
win fuM UocirhUl re P r csen(s a group of Old 
World babblers found in Asia from India to China 
including Red-faced Liocichla (Liocichla phoeni- 
J f . Scarlet-faced Liocichla (L. ripponi), Steere's 
Liocichla (L. steerii), Emei Shan Liocichla (L 
omeiensis) and lhe newly described Bugun 
and C R h 3 (Alhreya 2006, Collar 
and Robson 2007). To dale, except for Sterne’s 
Liocich 13 (Luo 1987; Mays ct al. 2006a. b) l ule 
has been pubhshed on the ecology of the'other 
four species (Collar and Robson 2007). Additfo™ 
information is needed to provide the basis for their 
The species has been recorded only in a few 
mountainous areas at medium „i ‘ ,evv 
1-000 to 7400 m in ^ elevat, ons from 
P (Conservation International 201 1 ). Emei 
Shan Liocichlas often hide in thick htimbix 
(C hithonobambusa szechuanensis) or deep soul 
and are not easy to see in the field (Li 1995). Nol 
surprisingly, its biology and ecology are poorly 
known. Currently, only a short note of a nesi lias 
been reported in the literature (Jiang et al. 2007|, 
We studied the breeding ecology of Emei Shun 
Liocichlas in southwest China from March to 
August 2009 and from April to August 2010, Our 
objectives were to collect basic information on 11 1 
bleeding density, (2) breeding season, (3) charac¬ 
teristics of nesting habitat, nests, eggs, and 
nestlings, (4) breeding success and influencing 
factors, and (5) breeding-related behaviors. 
&i’en«r; f E“ ^ Uh °™ 0ry ror Biodiversity 
Sciences. Co,, ‘* c * Ufc 
China. 8 Umvers,ty - Beijing 100875. 
University^ Leshan'ci'ty^'h enCC p ECS -*' an NorTnal 
School of Natural Sri. ’ ^ L ^ uan Province. China. 
John Moores University Bvr^ T' Psyc hc)l°gy. Liverpool 
UK. mversity, Byron, Street. Liverpool L3 3AF. 
"Corresponding author; e-mail- 
■- <nuu. /zw@bnu.edu.cn 
METHODS 
Study Area .—Most field work was conducted 
Laojunshan Nature Reserve, while some suppl 
mentary investigations of nesting habitat were 
Wawushan Nature Reserve. The two sites a: 
wtthin the distribution area of Emei Shan Lioc 
chla (Li 1995). 
Laojunshan Nature Reserve (28 39' 36-2* 
43 ' 38" N, 103 57' 36"-104 04' 12" E) (Fig. I 
is in the Xiao Liang Mountains between 900 aft 1 
2,009 m elevation, covering an area of ~35 km 
The climate is temperate with high precipitatioi 
(>1,500 mm per year) and relative humidity 
(>85%), and annual average temperature of 12.0- 
,4 -7 C (Liao et al. 2008). The vegetation i> 
characterized by evergreen broadleaf forest, 
including Castanopsis spp.. Schima spp.. Camel- 
' a S PP- Eur >< 1 -spp.. and Rhododendron spp. 
Some non-native coniferous forests and tea 
plantations exist at lower elevations (<1,450 m)- 
748 
