Species Spotlight

Species Spotlight: Black-faced Laughingthrush

January 9, 2026 by Kai Pflug No Comments

This is another one of those posts in the “Species Spotlight” series where there isn’t really enough scientific information on the species to justify such a post – but on the other hand, I have too many photos of too nice-looking a species not to prepare one.

So, the first tried-and-tested approach when not having solid facts is looking at the scientific name. In this case, Trochalopteron affine. The first part has a nice ring of either a dinosaur or a sinister hedge fund. I went with the latter and asked ChatGPT to provide more information on it. ChatGPT happily obliged and did pretty well, I think:

Trochalopteron Capital Partners

About Us
Founded in 2009 amid the ashes of the global financial crisis, Trochalopteron Capital Partners quickly established itself as a leader in non-transparent, high-velocity asset metamorphosis. Headquartered in a glass tower that reflects the sky but never reveals its interiors, Trochalopteron specializes in turning obscure financial derivatives into even more obscure financial derivatives.

Our name, derived from the Greek trochalos (“wheel”) and pteron (“wing”), symbolizes our core philosophy: constant motion without visible progress, combined with the grace of flight and the opacity of a fogged window.

Investment Philosophy
At Trochalopteron, we believe markets are ecosystems. Some participants sing; others eat. We are not the songbirds. Our proprietary Laughing Engine™ algorithm identifies fleeting inefficiencies, monetizing micro-volatility across illiquid sectors most investors avoid — often for good reason.

Sustainability and ESG
Trochalopteron takes environmental, social, and governance responsibilities seriously. We have pledged to be net-neutral in accountability by 2030, and all compliance documentation is stored on recycled USB drives.

Our Team
Trochalopteron’s partners come from leading institutions such as Goldman Sachs, BlackRock, and briefly, the witness protection program. Together, they bring centuries of collective experience and a shared aversion to daylight.

Motto

“Because even the forest has predators.”

Unfortunately, the second part of the name, affinis, does not lend itself much to interesting writing. According to the HBW, “Over 85 forms share these specific epithets, which indicate relationship or similarity (not necessarily to a currently recognized congener).”

Thanks, HBW … maybe I will refer to ChatGPT more frequently than to you in the future …

Individual scientific papers mentioning the species also do not provide anything I can usefully quote here – or does any of the following titles sound interesting to you?

Preliminary surveys of mammals and birds by infrared camera traps in the Sichuan Baishuihe National Nature Reserve

Floral traits determine pollinator visitation in Rhododendron species across an elevation gradient in the Sikkim Himalaya

The avifauna of Pangchen valley, Arunachal Pradesh, India

Flower-Visiting-Passerine-Birds-of-Darjeeling-and-Sikkim-Himalaya

The highlight among the papers must then be a new low among papers related to specific bird species:

Descriptions_of_six_new_species_of_slender-bodied_chewing_lice_of_the_Resartor-group_Phthiraptera_Ischnocera_Brueelia-complex

In which our hero, the Black-faced Laughingthrush, gets a very cursory mention. As a carrier of lice. Poor bird. So pretty, and so unappreciated.

Species seen and photographed at Laojunshan, Yunnan, on October 25, 2025.

Written by Kai Pflug
Kai has lived in Shanghai for 22 years. He only started birding after moving to China, so he is far more familiar with Chinese birds than the ones back in his native Germany. As a birder, he considers himself strictly average and tries to make up for it with photography, which he shares on a separate website. Alas, most of the photos are pretty average as well. He hopes that few clients of his consulting firm—focused on China’s chemical industry—ever find this blog, as it might raise questions about his professional priorities. Much of his time is spent either editing posts for 10,000 Birds or cleaning the litter boxes of his numerous indoor cats. He occasionally considers writing a piece comparing the two activities.