Chestnut Munia

The chestnut, or black-headed, munia is a small estrildid finch 11–12 cm long, sexes alike, with races differing slightly in intensity of colour; the bill is silvery grey, the eye chestnut and the legs grey, and some races have a black belly. It was formerly considered conspecific with the tricoloured munia. Before 1995 it was the national bird of the Philippines, where it is known in Tagalog as mayang pula, red maya, because of the brick-red patch on the lower back, visible only when it flies (Wikipedia, general species account).

It is a resident breeding bird across Bangladesh, Brunei, Cambodia, China, India, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Nepal, the Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand and Vietnam, and in Hawaii. It is a small gregarious bird that feeds mainly on grain and other seeds. The nest is a large domed grass structure in a bush or tall grass, in which four to seven white eggs are laid (Wikipedia, general species account).