“A very friendly bird, the Chestnut-Tailed Minla (Minla strigula malayana), allows close approaches. At times I was only a meter away (above) when the bird was preening in a dense bracken bush (Dicranopteris linearis and Pteridium aquilinum).
“Photo above shows the bird with moss in the beak that was pulled off a tree to get at insect prey underneath.
“Also seen taking fruit. Not uncommon part of mixed foraging parties (bird waves) in the highlands. On this occasion two Chestnut-Tailed Minlas were foraging with 5-6 Blue-winged Minlas (Minla cyanouroptera sordidior), 2 Mountain Leaf Warblers (Phylloscopus trivirgatus parvirostris), 7-8 Silver-eared Mesias (Leiothrix argentauris tahanensis), 4 Yellow-breasted Warblers (Seicercus montis davisoni), 4 Bar-winged Flycatcher-shrikes (Hemipus picatus intermedius), 1 White-throated Fantail (Rhipidura albicollis atrata), 1 Golden Babbler (Stachyridopsis chrysaea chrysops), 1 Grey-throated Babbler (Stachyris nigriceps davisoni), and others (unidentified).
Dato’ Dr Amar-Singh HSS
Ipoh, Perak, Malaysia
14th March 2019
Location: ~1,800m ASL, Gunung Brinchang, Cameron Highlands, Malaysia
Habitat: Road running through mixed secondary & primary montane forest
