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Blue-winged Minla and Long-tailed Sibia feeding on nectar

on 27th July 2013

“The Blue-winged Minla (Minla cyanouroptera sordidior) are recorded to take animal prey and and fruits but there is no record of nectar feeding (see Wells 2007).

“I observed a small flock of 3 Blue-winged Minlas feeding on nectar for 10 minutes (above). They were accompanied by Long-tailed Sibias (Heterophasia picaoides wrayi) (below). [The birds were feeding] on the nectar of flowers of a tall tree that appears to be of the Eucalyptus species. A small clump of these trees have been planted here that are not native to the country, and possibly of Australian origin. The birds would visit many flowers and take nectar from the centre of the ‘feathery’ flowers. I did not see them take any animal prey.

“As nectar feeding in the Blue-winged Minla has not been described in literature, I conducted an internet image search and word search for Blue-winged Minla looking for nectar events. There are a number of image reports of nectar feeding for this species.

“1. Callistemon (Bottlebrush) flowers (another Australian import). A number of images of feeding on nectar of a Callistemon (Bottlebrush) flowers. Three example HERE, HERE and HERE.

“2. Although I am dealing with the species from the Peninsular, there is one example from China showing a Blue-winged Minla feeding on the dark purple nectar of the Leucosceptrum canum flowers. Zhang, F.-P., Cai, X.-H., Wang, H., Ren, Z.-X., Larson-Rabin, Z. and Li, D.-Z. (2012), Dark purple nectar as a foraging signal in a bird-pollinated Himalayan plant. New Phytologist, 2012; 193: 188–195. SOURCE.

Dato’ Dr Amar-Singh HSS
Ipoh, Perak, Malaysia
17th July 2013

Location: 1,700m ASL, Cameron Highlands, Malaysia
Habitat: A public road along primary montane forest

If you like this post please tap on the Like button at the left bottom of page. Any views and opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the authors/contributors, and are not endorsed by the Lee Kong Chian Natural History Museum (LKCNHM, NUS) or its affiliated institutions. Readers are encouraged to use their discretion before making any decisions or judgements based on the information presented.

YC Wee

Dr Wee played a significant role as a green advocate in Singapore through his extensive involvement in various organizations and committees: as Secretary and Chairman for the Malayan Nature Society (Singapore Branch), and with the Nature Society (Singapore) as founding President (1978-1995). He has also served in the Nature Reserve Board (1987-1989), Nature Reserves Committee (1990-1996), National Council on the Environment/Singapore Environment Council (1992-1996), Work-Group on Nature Conservation (1992) and Inter-Varsity Council on the Environment (1995-1997). He is Patron of the Singapore Gardening Society and was appointed Honorary Museum Associate of the Lee Kong Chian Natural History Museum (LKCNHM) in 2012. In 2005, Dr Wee started the Bird Ecology Study Group. With more than 6,000 entries, the website has become a valuable resource consulted by students, birdwatchers and researchers locally and internationally. The views and opinions expressed in this article are his own, and do not represent those of LKCNHM, the National University of Singapore or its affiliated institutions.

Other posts by YC Wee

One Response

  1. Dear Amar,

    Thanks for the update. A fine example to emulate that one should not be content to be ‘tunnel-vision’ to read and accept all context in field guides alone but to explore beyond and be fearless to document observations. With photos, to substantiate one just can’t be far from wrong…..

    Cheers!

    Daisy

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