Population
Estimated population is unknown (2010) and decreasing.
Status NT
Habitat destruction and degradation through development and reclamation, as well as reed harvesting, is the main threat.
For more information see BirdLife International Species Factsheet.
Reed Parrotbill (Paradoxornis heudei) [XC80587]
by Qin Huang from Dongtan Nature Reserve, Chongming Island, Jiangsu Province, China (song)
Reed Parrotbill (Paradoxornis heudei) [XC761996]
by id from Hengsha Island, Shanghai, Shanghai, China (call, song)
Subspecies
Paradoxornis heudei (Sibley and Monroe 1990, 1993) was split by Stepanyan (1998) into Reed Parrotbill (Paradoxornis heudei) and Northern Parrotbill (Paradoxornis polivanovi) but the BirdLife Taxonomic Working Group prefer to follow the treatment of Penhallurick and Robson (2009) who resist this split.
It has been suggested that subspecies polivanovi merits full species status. Also proposed that Mongolian birds represent a separate subspecies, mongolicus, although differences from polivanovi are minimal (slightly purer grey mantle lacking dark streaks, slightly darker back, rump and breast sides, and slightly smaller size) and could involve minor clinal variation. In both cases, separation was based largely on presumed "huge" gap between northern and southern forms, but several populations have since been found in intervening areas and it is likely that this species will prove to have a more continuous range. In addition, polivanovi considered by some authors to represent one end of a geographical cline. Also, recently discovered populations of this species in coastal Tianjin Municipality (northern and southern Hebei) and coastal Liaoning, in eastern China, not yet assigned to subspecies.
The following 2 subspecies are recognised:
polivanovi Stepanyan, 1974 - Extreme eastern Mongolia east to north-eastern China (north-eastern Nei Mongol, Heilongjiang) and extreme south-eastern Russia (L Khanka region of Ussuriland). Considered by some authors to be a distinct species, Northern Parrotbill (Paradoxornis polivanovi).
heudei David, 1872 - Eastern China, from south-eastern Shandong southern along coast to northern Zhejiang (Hangzhou) and inland in R Yangtze system to northern Jiangxi (Jiujiang area).
BirdLife International Species Factsheet