Red-tailed Minla - BirdForum Opus

Photo by James Eaton
Tengchong, Yunnan, China, July 2004

Minla ignotincta

Identification

With 13 - 14.5 cm a small, brown backed Babbler:

• Broad white supercilium
• Black crown and mask
• Pale yellow underparts
• Black wings with red to yellow outer trims

Females are duller than males and hav paler greyish-brown upperparts, plaer pinkish-yellow to whitish flight-feather trim and whiter tail tip. Juveniles have some faint dark scaling below.
Could be confused with much larger male Blyth's Shrike Babbler which is grey-backed and has more solid black wings and tail.

Distribution

Found in the Himalayas from Central Nepal east over Bhutan and NE India into S and C China. Also in the mountains of Myanmar, E Laos and Vietnam.
Common in most parts of its range and easily found in some national parks.¹

Taxonomy

Clements² and others accept four subspecies:

• M. i. ignotincta from Nepal east over Assam into S China (NW Yunnan) and Myanmar
• M. i. mariae in C and SE Yunnan (China), E Laos and W Vietnam
• M. i. jerdoni in SC China
• M. i. sini in the Yao Shan, Guangxi (SE China)

Mariae and sini are sometimes merged into jerdoni.¹

Habitat

Broadleaf evergreen forest, mixed broadleaf-conifer forest, oak and rhododendron forest. Mainly from 1370m to 3400m in the Indian Subcontinent, 1000m - 3050m in China, but also reported down to 200m.¹

Behaviour

Feeds mainly on insects and larvae. Takes sometimes also seeds. Searches insects on branches and trunks, similar to Treecreepers.
Usually found in big flocks or in bird waves, thogether with other Babblers (eg Chestnut-tailed Minla).
Breeding season from April to June. The nest is a nice, small cup, made of moss and rootlet and placed in a bush fork or bushy tree some 1.2 to 3m above the ground. Lays 2 - 4 eggs.
Resident species, some altitudinal movement reported.¹

References

1. Clements, JF. 2009. The Clements Checklist of Birds of the World. 6th ed., with updates to December 2009. Ithaca: Cornell Univ. Press. ISBN 978-0801445019.
2. Del Hoyo, J, A Elliott, and D Christie, eds. 2007. Handbook of the Birds of the World. Volume 12: Picathartes to Tits and Chickadees. Barcelona: Lynx Edicions. ISBN 978-8496553422

• List of references

Recommended Citation

• BirdForum Opus contributors. (2024) Red-tailed Minla. In: BirdForum, the forum for wild birds and birding. Retrieved 4 June 2024 from https://www.birdforum.net/opus/Red-tailed_Minla

External Links

Search for photos of Red-tailed Minla in the gallery

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