- Cutia nipalensis
Includes Vietnamese Cutia
Identification
17 - 19.5cm. A chunky colorful babbler, sexually dimorphic:
- Heavy decurved bill
- Rufous rump and long tail-coverts (so tail seems to be short)
- Slaty crown above blackish mask
- Black wings with bluish-grey wing-panel
- White underparts with bold curved black bars on side of breast and flanks
- Male with rufous-chestnut upperparts, female with olive-brown mantle with blackish streaks and dark brown mask (dark brown crown in Vietnamese Cutia)
Juveniles are duller than adults with browner crown and fainter bars on flanks
Distribution
Found from north India along the Himalayas (Nepal, Bhutan) to northeast India, Burma, adjacent south China (Tibet, Yunnan, Sichuan) to Thailand, Laos, Vietnam and peninsular Malaysia.
Scarce and locally, but in some areas numerous.
Taxonomy
Five subspecies recognized which are sometimes split into two species:
- Himalayan Cutia - Cutia nipalensis
- C. n. nipalensis from north India east over Nepal and Bhutan to northeast India, north and northwest Burma and south China (Tibet, Yunnan, possibly Sichuan)
- C. n. melanchima in east and southeast Burma, south China (Yunnan), northwest Thailand, Laos and northwest Vietnam
- C. n. cervinicrissa in peninsular Malaysia
- Vietnamese Cutia - Cutia legalleni
Habitat
Broadleaf evergreen forest, prefers areas with lots of epiphytes and moss. Also in mixed oak and pine forest.
Found at 1200 - 2800m in India, 1200 - 1500m in southeast Asia and up to 3000m in China.
Behaviour
Feeds on insects, larvae, pupae, gastropods, insect eggs, seeds and berries. Seen to feed on pine cones.
Outside breeding season in small groups of up to 12 birds, also in bird-waves. Creeps along tree trunks and branches like a nuthatch. Slow movements are typical.
Breeding season April to May in Bhutan, May to June in Nepal, March to June in southeast Asia. The nest is an open cup made of pine needles and moss, placed at base of a pine branch against the trunk, 3 to 3.5m above the ground, sometimes up to 20m in a broadleaf tree. No other information.
Resident species.
References
- Clements, JF. 2008. The Clements Checklist of Birds of the World. 6th ed., with updates to December 2008. Ithaca: Cornell Univ. Press. ISBN 978-0801445019.
- 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
- Rasmussen, PC and JC Anderton. 2005. Birds of South Asia: The Ripley Guide. Barcelona: Lynx Edicions. ISBN 978-8487334672
Recommended Citation
- BirdForum Opus contributors. (2024) Himalayan Cutia. In: BirdForum, the forum for wild birds and birding. Retrieved 28 May 2024 from https://www.birdforum.net/opus/Himalayan_Cutia
