Bar-throated minla facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Bar-throated minla |
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|---|---|
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| at Doi Inthanon | |
| Conservation status | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Genus: |
Actinodura
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| Species: |
strigula
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| Synonyms | |
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Chrysominla strigula |
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The bar-throated minla (scientific name: Actinodura strigula) is a small, colorful bird. It is also sometimes called the chestnut-tailed minla or bar-throated siva. This bird belongs to a family of birds known as laughingthrushes and babblers. Scientists used to place it in the Minla group, but now they put it in the Actinodura group.
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Where Does This Bird Live?
The bar-throated minla lives in mountain forests. You can find it in countries from India all the way to Malaysia. These birds prefer to live at high altitudes, usually between 1,800 and 3,750 meters (about 5,900 to 12,300 feet) above sea level.
During very cold winters, they might move to slightly lower areas, sometimes as low as 1,300 meters (about 4,300 feet). They live in different kinds of forests, like evergreen forests, mixed forests, pine forests, or areas with oak and rhododendron trees. They can also be found in bamboo stands.
Different Types of Bar-throated Minlas
There are several slightly different types, or subspecies, of the bar-throated minla. Six of these types are widely recognized by scientists. For example:
- One type, Chrysominla strigula strigula, lives in central Nepal, parts of India, southern China, and Bhutan.
- Another type, C. s. simlaensis, is found in northern India and western Nepal.
- Other types live in places like northern Burma, Laos, Vietnam, and Peninsular Malaysia.
What Does the Bar-throated Minla Eat?
The diet of the bar-throated minla changes with the seasons.
- In the summer, they mostly eat insects. This includes beetles, caterpillars, and other small bugs.
- In the winter, they also enjoy berries, seeds, and even nectar from flowers.
These birds often join groups of other babblers and yuhinas (another type of bird) when they are not breeding. They search for food everywhere, from the tops of the trees down to the ground.
Family Life
When it's time to lay eggs, the bar-throated minla builds a cup-shaped nest. They make their nests from grass, bamboo leaves, lichen, and birch bark. A female minla usually lays two to four eggs in her nest.
Gallery
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Specimen from Fambong Lho Wildlife Sanctuary, Sikkim, India
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At around 11,000 ft. altitude in Kullu District of Himachal Pradesh, India
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At Phulchowki, Lalitpur, Nepal
