Just outside the door of my hotel room in Kota Kinabalu, I came across this Chestnut munia, which was apparently on its way to the nest with building materials. The bird is about 11-12 cm long, has a short pale gray or light blue beak, a jet-black head and a brown body. The sexes are the same, so it is difficult to determine whether this is a male or female. The bird is a very social bird and lives mostly on seeds and grain. The nest consists of a large dome of grass placed in a bush. The species occurs in large parts of Southeast Asia, but also in Nepal, northeastern India, Myanmar and northwestern Yunnan in China.