MINIVET 2/3 - Fiery Minivet

 

Got lucky about noon at the Awana campsite. It suppose to be a low montane to lowland bird. It was a alone in a bird wave of cuckooshrike and shrike babbler. So we can say they do move around.

The Fiery Minivet like Scarlet is a canopy bird and seldom come down to lower storey. you need a good 800mm lens to get a good shot. They are not gregarious unlike the grey-chinned minivets.

Fiery Minivet

 

The Fiery Minivet like Scarlet is a canopy bird and seldom come down to lower storey. you need a good 800mm lens to get a good shot. It is threatened by habitat loss and this is quite worrisome. They are not gregarious unlike the grey-chinned minivets. We believe it do move around and there is why is it a uncommon bird to see.

One of the smallest species in the Campephagidae family; the fiery minivet was first recognized as a separate species in 1846 during an expedition to the Moluccas, a group of islands in Indonesia. They range in length from 6 to 6.5 inches (15 to 16.5 centimeters) and typically weigh between 0.5 to 0.6 ounces (14 to 16 grams). Males have black upperparts and throats, with vivid red breast, belly, rump, and outer tail feathers. Females are more subtly colored, with gray upperparts, yellow undersides, orange reddish rumps, and black tails. The bird has a distinct, rising call of "swee-eet."

Fiery minivets are Tropical Asiasn birds, occupying southern Myanmar, southern Thailand, and parts of Malaysia and Brunei, as well as the Indonesian islands of Sumatra and Borneo and the Palawan Province islands of the Philippines.

This species typically makes its home in the canopies of forests and along the forest edges, but it will also occupy pine plantations and casuarinas, evergreen, groves. Many of the birds may be found in lowlands, but it is also commonly be sighted in the sub-montane slopes and montane forests of Sumatra at altitudes up to 8,900 feet (2,700 meters). Another favored habitat is coastal mangrove swamps..... so it appears they are very adaptive.

Although little is known about the feeding habits of fiery minivets, ornithologists presume that the species, like birds in the rest of the family, eats primarily insects, particularly moths and caterpillars. They forage in the canopies of trees where they live.

Sociable and energetic, fiery minivets are frequent participants in what scientists call "mixed-species bird waves" groups that contain a number of bird species. They are believed to be monogamous, with mated pairs working together to build a cup-shaped nest of fine plant parts, spider webs, and lichens, fungus, that they place high in a tree. This species breeds in Palawan's dry season of December and in Malaysia's rainy season that starts in May. The female usually lays two eggs.