The orange minivet (''Pericrocotus flammeus'') is a brightly colored
bird
Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the laying of hard-shelled eggs, a high metabolic rate, a four-chambered heart, and a strong yet lightweig ...
in the
cuckooshrike
The cuckooshrikes and allies in the family Campephagidae are small to medium-sized passerine bird species found in the subtropical and tropical Africa, Asia and Australasia. The 93 species are divided into 11 genera. The woodshrikes ('' Tephrodor ...
family, Campephagidae.
It is found all along the
Western Ghats and west coast of
India
India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...
and
Sri Lanka.
It was formerly considered a subspecies of the
scarlet minivet which is considered to have a wider distribution in eastern and northern India and South-east Asia. Its natural
habitat
In ecology, the term habitat summarises the array of resources, physical and biotic factors that are present in an area, such as to support the survival and reproduction of a particular species. A species habitat can be seen as the physical ...
s are temperate
forest
A forest is an area of land dominated by trees. Hundreds of definitions of forest are used throughout the world, incorporating factors such as tree density, tree height, land use, legal standing, and ecological function. The United Nations' ...
s,
subtropical or tropical moist lowland forest, and subtropical or tropical moist
montane forest
Montane ecosystems are found on the slopes of mountains. The alpine climate in these regions strongly affects the ecosystem because temperatures fall as elevation increases, causing the ecosystem to stratify. This stratification is a crucial ...
. The orange minivet is a species resident in southern India and Sri Lanka, that feeds primarily on insects while foraging in
mixed-species bird flocks or in small single-species groups.
Taxonomy and systematics
The genus name comes from
Ancient Greek
Ancient Greek includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Dark Ages (), the Archaic p ...
''peri -'' 'very'; ''krokotus'' 'saffron-coloured'. The species name ''flammeus'' has its roots in
Latin
Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...
, meaning 'fiery' or 'flame-coloured' (''flamma -'' 'flame'). The English name of this species was changed from scarlet minivet to orange minivet after the former was assigned to ''Pericrocotus speciosus'' following the split of these two species.
This is a complex of species from South and South-east Asia which needs more detailed work.
Description
The orange minivet measures about 17 – 22 cm and weighs 19 - 24.5 g. Males are bright orange and black while females are largely yellow with a grey upperside. Males have a glossy black head, chin, throat and mantle and upper back. Lower back, rump and uppertail-coverts are orange-red. Underparts are largely bright orange-red, that makes it stand out in the surroundings. It can be distinguished from other ''Pericrocotus'' species by isolated red markings near tips of tertials and inner secondaries. Females have a yellow forehead and ashy-grey, lower back. Red areas of male are replaced by yellow and in addition they have a yellow chin and are almost completely bright yellow on the underside. Juveniles resemble the female in this species with some variation.
Behaviour and ecology
The species is gregarious, typically seen foraging in small groups (more than 2 individuals) along tree tops in forests. Minivets are often seen to make bouncing flights over the canopy of the forest. They are primarily insectivorous, known to perch and scan surroundings. They catch prey by making a flight and hovering at plant surfaces to pick insects. This behaviour is often known as sally-gleaning. They regularly forage in
mixed-hunting parties along with other canopy species of birds. The call of this species is sweeping whistles composed of multiple "weep-sweep" notes. They are often seen to call when in flight or when stationary.
References
orange minivet
Birds of India
Birds of Sri Lanka
orange minivet
{{Campephagidae-stub