One of the birds I was targeting in Myanmar was Collared Myna. This range-restricted species occurs only in Myanmar as well as a small part of Southwest China and Northeast India and has been challenging for some other birders to find in the areas we were visiting at some times of the year. We need not have worried about any trouble finding this species as a short distance out of Heho airport we spotted clusters of flowering trees where we were to see good numbers of this species feeding on the nectar. Looking at illustrations in field guides it seemed that it should be an easy bird to pick out from flocks of other similar coloured Mynas but in reality from many angles the white collar was barely visible and on juveniles it was almost invisible making spotting the birds among White-vented and Jungle Mynas a tricky task at distance and at close range, looking up at the birds, the most obvious feature was the barred undertail coverts.

The photo above illustrates perfectly how the white collar is not at all obvious from this angle but the undertail pattern is very clear. Even sitting upright only a small piece of the white collar is visible at this angle as can be seen below.

The bird in the next photo was just a little further away but the angle less steep and the white collar is even harder to see, partly because of the way the bird is sitting and partly due to shadow.

However, from other angles, with the bird in the right posture and the right light, the identification was really obvious.

And at times when they were feeding all the pertinent identification features could be seen at the same time.

It was nice to be able to see so many Collared Mynas, in total we saw at the very least 20 birds, but it was probably more as there was constant movement between flowering trees which were spread over quite a large area. Where some other groups have only seen 1 or 2 birds fairly briefly we were lucky to be able to study Collared Mynas for a long time and enjoy their antics alongside other Mynas and Starlings, as they fed on the flowering trees.

If you would like to join me on a birding tour to Myanmar you can see the next upcoming itinerary here – Myanmar Birding Tour