Bar-throated Minla Actinodura strigula yunnanensis, Baihualing (25.307377, 98.796990), Gaoligong Mountains, Yunnan, China, elev. 1600 m (5,240 ft.), February. Bar-throated Minla is a small, active, tit-like barwing with a ragged orange crown, barred throat, and colorful wings. Ranges disjointly from northern India to Vietnam. In China, strigula is resident south Tibet and yunnanensis southeast Tibet, southwest Sichuan, and Yunnan. Inhabits broadleaf and conifer forests, from 1300–3600 m (4,270–11,810 ft.). (Craig Brelsford)Bar-throated Minla A. s. yunnanensis, Baihualing (25.301580, 98.793680), Gaoligong Mountains, Yunnan, elev. 1980 m (6,510 ft.), February. (Craig Brelsford)Bar-throated Minla bathing, Baihualing (25.301580, 98.793680), Gaoligong Mountains, Yunnan, elev. 1980 m (6,510 ft.), February. The minlas are bathing in a way particular to some babblers and laughingthrushes, write Collar and Robson. ‘Unlike most other passerines, which often stand for prolonged periods part-submerged in the water, some babblers dip themselves only briefly to whirr their wings, sending a flurry of spray into the air, before hopping to a dry perch. They repeat this process several times, never spending more than a few seconds in the water’ (2007). (Craig Brelsford)
REFERENCE
Collar, N.J., and C. Robson. Family Timaliidae (Babblers). P. 101 in del Hoyo, J., Elliott, A. & Christie, D.A., eds. (2007). Handbook of the Birds of the World. Vol. 12. Picathartes to Tits and Chickadees. Lynx Edicions, Barcelona.
