Common Name (in English) Yellow Wingtail (in Chinese) 黃鶺鴒 Scientific Name (in Latin) Motacilla flava Peculiar characteristics / external features: It is a slender 15–16 cm long bird, with the characteristic long, constantly wagging tail of its genus. It is the shortest tailed of the European wagtails. The breeding adult male is basically olive above and yellow below. In other plumages, the yellow may be diluted by white. The heads of breeding males come in a variety of colours and patterns depending on subspecies. Distributions:…

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Common Name (in English) White Wagtail (in Chinese) 白鶺鴒 Scientific Name (in Latin) Motacilla alba Peculiar characteristics / external features: This species breeds in much of Europe and Asia and parts of north Africa. It is resident in the mildest parts of its range, but otherwise migrates to Africa. It has a toehold in Alaska as a scarce breeder. Distributions: White wagtail is resident in the milder parts of its range such as western Europe and the Mediterranean, but migratory in much of the rest…

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Common Name (in English) White Ring-neck Dove (in Chinese) 白鴿 Scientific Name (in Latin) Streptopelia capicola Peculiar characteristics / external features: As with related species, they have white fringes and conspicuous white tips to the otherwise slate grey tail feathers. The tail pattern is particularly noticeable during the display flight. Distributions: Ring-neck Dove is a widespread and often abundant dove species in East and southern Africa. Habits: Dietary They feed mainly on seeds (of grasses, cereal grains, lupins, milkweeds, alien acacias and pines), but also…

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Common Name (in English) The Common Kingfisher (in Chinese) 普通翠鳥 Scientific Name (in Latin) Alcedo atthis Peculiar characteristics / external features: This sparrow-sized bird has the typical short-tailed, large-headed kingfisher profile; it has blue upperparts, orange underparts and a long bill. Distributions: The common kingfisher is widely distributed over Europe, Asia, and North Africa, mainly south of 60°N. It is a common breeding species over much of its vast Eurasian range, but in North Africa it is mainly a winter visitor, although it is a…

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Common Name (in English) Taiwan Blue Magpie (in Chinese) 台灣藍鵲 Scientific Name (in Latin) Urocissa caerulea Peculiar characteristics / external features: The plumages of the male and female are similar. The head, neck and breast are black. The eyes are yellow. The bill and feet are red. The rest of the plumage on the bird is mostly blue. The wings and tail feathers have white tips. The underwing-coverts are dark grey, and the flight feathers are light grey. The uppertail-coverts have black tips. The central…

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Common Name (in English) Taiwan Barbet (in Chinese) 五色鳥 Scientific Name (in Latin) Megalaima nuchalis Peculiar characteristics / external features: It is about 20 cm (7.9 in) long. The plumage is mostly green. The lore has a red spot. The ear-coverts and lower malar are blue. The throat is mustard yellow. The forehead is yellow. There is a black stripe above the eye. The beak is black and thick. The breast has a blue band and a red band. The belly is yellowish-green. The feet…

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Common Name (in English) Scarlet Tanager (in Chinese) 猩紅麗唐納雀 Scientific Name (in Latin) Piranga olivacea Peculiar characteristics / external features: Scarlet Tanagers are a beautifully colored bird. The male’s breeding plumage is red on the body and black on the wings and tail.Scarlet Tanagers are unusual among the 230 species of the Neotropical tanager family because they have seasonal changes in plumage. Only one other tanager, a South American species, does this. Females, immature males, and winter males have an olive colored back, yellow underside,…

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Common Name (in English) Scarlet Macaw (in Chinese) 緋紅金剛鸚鵡 Scientific Name (in Latin) Ara macao Peculiar characteristics / external features: The plumage is mostly scarlet, but the rump and tail-covert feathers are light blue, the greater upper wing coverts are yellow, the upper sides of the flight feathers of the wings are dark blue as are the ends of the tail feathers, and the undersides of the wing and tail flight feathers are dark red with metallic gold iridescence. Some individuals may have green in…

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Common Name (in English) Ruby-throated Hummingbird (in Chinese) 紅喉北蜂鳥 Scientific Name (in Latin) Archilochus colubris Peculiar characteristics / external features: The hummingbird is from 7 to 9 cm  long and has an 8 to 11 cm wingspan. Weight can range from 2 to 6 g, with males averaging 3.4 g against the slightly larger female which averages 3.8 g. Adults are metallic green above and greyish white below, with near-black wings. The species is sexually dimorphic. The adult male has a gorget (throat patch) of…

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Common Name (in English) Mountain Bluebird (in Chinese) 山藍鴝 Scientific Name (in Latin) Sialia currucoides Peculiar characteristics / external features: The mountain bluebird is a medium-sized bird weighing about 30 g with a length from 16–20 cm. They have light underbellies and black eyes. Adult males have thin bills and are bright turquoise-blue and somewhat lighter underneath. Adult females have duller blue wings and tail, grey breast, grey crown, throat and back. In fresh fall plumage, the female’s throat and breast are tinged with red-orange,…

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