Winter Habitat Characteristics of Red-winged Laughingthrush at Laojunshan National Nature Reserve in China

Studies on winter habitat characteristics of Red-winged Laughingthrush(Garrulax formosus) were conducted at Laojunshan National Nature Reserve in Sichuan Province,China in January of 2010 and 2011.Red-winged Laughingthrushes often made in small flocks in winter,total of 78 individuals in 21 flocks were recorded in the study area during study period.They preferred secondary forest,and avoided primary forest and artificial forest.The results of comparative analysis indicated that Red-winged Laughingthrushes used the habitats with less and lower trees,dense shrubs,higher herbs,abundant lianes and larger canopy of vegetation at upper part of slope,in southward slope aspect,in lower altitude.In addition,Red-winged Laughingthrushes also preferred to select the sites close to the forest edge and water resources.Logistic regression analyse suggested that slope aspect,average height of trees and cover of shrubs were the most important three factors influencing the habitat selection of Red-winged Laughingthrush.The regression model could be formally expressed as: π(x)=eg(x)/(1 + eg(x)),g(x)=-1.927 + 1.824 × slope aspect-0.337 × average height of trees + 2.136 × cover of shrubs.The model could predict the occurrence of wintering habitat of Red-winged Laughingthrush with an accuracy of 81.7%.