IDENTIFICATION

VOCALISATIONS

The calls of Blue-winged Minla have a distinctive timbre that often allows the discovery of what is a rather unobtrusive species. The voice is slightly nasal in tone and medium in pitch, and includes short ‘pwit’, ‘choop’or ‘pweet’ notes, as well as a more drawn out ‘pwee’ that may be uttered in succession.

Excited chattering flocks may also be encountered.

DISTRIBUTION & HABITAT PREFERENCE

First recorded in HK on 5 September 1992 when one was seen at Tai Po Kau, Blue-winged Minla rapidly became established in the central New Territories and breeding was confirmed at Tai Po Kau in 1994. As a non-migratory species occurring no closer than western Guangxi, natural colonisation was considered implausible and Blue-winged Minla was placed what was then the equivalent to the current Category IIB as an established exotic species (Carey et al. 2001).

Since that time, the population of Blue-winged Minla has continued to increase and spread and it is now common in secondary broadleaf forest in the central New Territories from Tai Lam in the west to Ma On Shan in the east, with smaller numbers in the northeast and east New Territories. It was recorded from 0.4% of squares during the first (1993-96) breeding and 0.8% in the first (2001-05) winter atlas surveys. By the time of the second atlas surveys (2016-19) it was much more widespread, being reported from 5.5% of squares in summer and 6.9% of squares in winter. As such, it is now second only to Rufous-capped Babbler as the most widespread of the suite of small forest ‘babblers’ (the others being Huet’s Fulvetta, Red-billed Leiothrix and Silver-eared Mesia) that became established from captive sources in the 1990s. Like these species, it remains largely confined to the mainland New Territories north of Kowloon; though it was first recorded on HK Island in January 1995 (Carey et al. 2001), there is no evidence that a population established there, and it is not present on any of the other islands.

Blue-winged Minla is a species of secondary broadleaf forest where it now appears to be one of the commoner species in mixed babbler and warbler flocks in winter and is one of the more frequently encountered species in summer. It occurs up to at least 650 metres altitude on Tai Mo Shan. It seems to be more strictly a forest species and to occur less often in shrubland than Rufous-capped Babbler and the two Leiothrix species, though quantitative data is lacking.

OCCURRENCE

There is no evidence that Blue-winged Minla makes anything other than local dispersive movements, albeit since it has occurred at both Robin’s Nest in HK and Wutongshan in adjacent Guangdong (eBird 2024), which are about 5km apart, occasional cross-boundary movements are not unlikely. Indeed, its distribution in Guangdong, where it is also an established exotic species, suggests it is probable that the population at Wutongshan originated from birds dispersing from HK.

BREEDING

Blue-winged Minla has been observed collecting nest material, including cobwebs, between 23 March and 7 July, but the nest and eggs in HK have not been described. Birds have been observed carrying food from 16 May, and dependent juveniles seen between 11 June and 8 October, suggesting it is multi-brooded.

BEHAVIOUR, FORAGING & DIET

Blue-winged Minla occurs as pairs or in small flocks, either with its own species, or in mixed warbler or babbler flocks. Flocks are typically of five to 20 individuals, though flocks of up to 44 have been recorded; the highest count is of 50 birds on 18 September 1999 in Tai Po Kau, but it is not clear if this was a single flock.

Like other small babblers, Blue-winged Minla is an insectivore-frugivore. The diet has not been studied in Hong Kong, but food items observed include caterpillars and the fruit of Schleffera octophylla, Zanthoxylum avicennae and cultivated persimmon Diospyros kaki. Food is gathered by gleaning and flocks typically move through the middle layers of the canopy, higher than other small babblers. It’s distinctive vocalisations often alert observers to its rather unobtrusive presence.

RANGE & SYSTEMATICS

Blue-winged Minla occurs from northwest India, eastwards through Nepal and throughout continental southeast Asia south to the Malay peninsula. In China the native range extends from south Tibet eastwards to south Sichuan and Chongqing south to west Guangxi (Liu and Chen 2020) but recent records northeast to Hubei and in Guangdong, suggest that ex-captive populations may be becoming established further east (eBird 2022).

There are eight races, the only one of which occurring naturally in China is A. c. wingatei which occurs in Yunnan, southern Sichuan, Chongqing, Guizhou and western Guangxi (Cheng 1987, eBird 2022). The race occurring in HK is unknown, but it appears morphologically the same as A. c. wingatei.

CONSERVATION STATUS

IUCN: Least Concern. Population trend decreasing.