Small Minivet

The small minivet is a small songbird about 16cm long with a strong dark bill and long wings. The male has grey, not glossy black, upperparts and head, and orange underparts fading to yellow on the belly, with orange tail edges, rump and wing patches. The female is grey above and yellow below, with yellow tail edges, rump and wing patches. There is much regional variation: north-western males are pale grey with whitish underparts, while males in peninsular India are darker with more scarlet below (Wikipedia, general species account).

It is a widespread and common resident of thorn jungle and scrub, forming small flocks and catching insects in trees, either in flight or from a perch. Its call is a high, thin swee swee swee. The nest is a small cup in which two to four spotted eggs are laid and incubated by the female. In India it is resident across a very large range. SoIB 2023 estimates a long-term decline of about 40% with a stable current trend, and rates it a Low conservation priority (Wikipedia, general species account; SoIB 2023).