To clarify the title; the zoo’s signage and staff refer to this species as the Red-Faced Liocichla (L. phoenicea). Yet, confusingly; Zootierliste lists them as the Scarlet-Faced Liocichla (L. ripponi)?!
Either way, any help with identifying the liocichla species that the zoo displays will be greatly appreciated.
It's a Scarlet-faced Liocichla. This species was split from the Red-faced which probably explains the zoo's signage. They can be quite readily distinguished by the extent of colour on the face - in the Scarlet-faced the red is more extensive, being over the eye, on the lores, and on the chin, whereas in the Red-faced the red is basically just on the cheeks and side of the neck. The shade of red is also different (hence the common names), but this captive bird is very pale - perhaps due to diet or maybe just the sun makes it look that way in the photo. The tail tips are also red in the Red-faced and yellowish in the Scarlet-faced.
All liocichla in the AZA are Scarlet-faced, although signage doesn't always get updated as you noticed. Another one of those "close enough" splits apparently.
A couple of hours ago Austin the Sengi and I were having a related conversation about liocichlas on the Golden-crested Myna photo page. I found some 2009 footage of "Red-faced Liocichlas" online from the North Carolina Zoo.and those birds were Scarlet-faced Liocichlas that had been mislabled (they didn't have the red tall feather tips or the dark black eyebrow of the Red-faced Liocichla). It looks like the earlier "Red-faced Liocichlas" in the U.S. zoos were Scarlet-faced Liocichlas afterall. And I'm glad that Scarlet-faced Liocichlas have persisted for another 15 years in the U.S. since those breeding efforts by the North Carolina Zoo! And I hope that they are still present at the other nine zoos that held this species a couple of years ago (San Diego, Bronx, Zoo Miami, Sedgwick County, Tracy Aviary, North Carolina Zoo, Riverbanks, Reid Park, and Fort Wayne). Thank you for your discussion of this species!
@Summer Tanager Indeed, it appears only Scarlet-faced was imported starting back in the 80's. This year will be two decades since they became a SSP and they are doing reasonably. NC and SDZ seem pretty committed to keeping the species going.
@Great Argus Thank you for the reply! Somehow, I had forgotten that this was an SSP species - thank goodness it has been! I was looking at Chlidonias' post about the taxonomic split from the Red-faced Liocichla and I've tried to do some digging into that. It looks like there were papers published in 2011, 2014, and 2015 advocating for the split. I'm sure that when the original Scarlet-faced Liocichlas were imported into the U.S., the species at that time was named Red-faced Liocichla and taxonomic change occurred 15 or more years later.
