Habitat
Subtropical and tropical moist montane forest, subtropical and tropical high altitude forest. From 2,350 - 4,600 m, occasionally down to 1,500 m.
Black-faced Laughingthrush (Trochalopteron affine) [XC114672]
by Mike Nelson from Dochu La, Bhutan (song)
Black-faced Laughingthrush (Trochalopteron affine) [XC114674]
by Shuangqi Liu from Pele La, Bhutan (call, song)
Subspecies
May form a superspecies with White-whiskered Laughingthrush (Trochalopteron morrisonianum) and has been considered conspecific, but basis for such treatment poor.
The following 6 subspecies are recognised:
affine (Blyth, 1843) - Western and central Nepal and adjacent southern China (southern Xizang).
bethelae (Rand & Fleming, RL, 1956) - Eastern Nepal east to Bhutan and north-eastern India (Arunachal Pradesh) and adjacent southern China (southern and south-eastern Xizang).
oustaleti (Hartert, 1909) - Northern Myanmar and southern China (north-western Yunnan and adjacent south-eastern Xizang).
blythii Verreaux, J, 1871 - Southern Gansu south to south-western Sichuan (north of Muli region), in south-central China.
muliense (Rand, 1953) - South-western Sichuan (Muli Region) south to north-western Yunnan (Lijiang Range), in southern China.
saturatum (Delacour & Jabouille, 1930) - Central and south-eastern Yunnan and extreme north-western Vietnam (north-western Tonkin).
BirdLife International Species Factsheet