Birds


Lesser Pied Kingfisher | Crimsonbreasted Barbet | Common Hoopoe
River Tern | Indian Robin | Oriental Magpie-Robin | Indian Roller
Cattle Egret | Redvented Bulbul | House Sparrow | Grey Tit
Common Myna




Photograph by H. Satish, A.R.P.S., M.F.I.A.P

Indian Robin

» SCIENTIFIC NAME: Saxicoloides fulicata
» KANNADA NAME: Chittu Madivaala
» HINDI NAME: Kalchuri

Typically hopping around with tail erect on an untiring search for insects, the Indian Robin is a familiar sight in and around the city.

Colour and description: Slightly bigger than a sparrow. The male is black, with a white wing patch. Rusty red on the undersurface. Tail is cocked and is as long as the body. The female is ashy brown in colour, without the white wing patch. Always found in pairs.

Call: The male emits liquid notes (though not quite a song) chiefly during courtship.

Food: Insects and insect-eggs, spiders.

Nesting season: March to June. Males and females share in parental duties.

Nest: Under stones, holes in mud banks, tree-trunks and below haystacks. Nests are made of grass, rootlets and rubbish, lined with feathers or hair.

Eggs: Two or three, creamy white, sometimes tinged greenish, speckled and blotched with brown. Only females incubate eggs.