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 T.N.A. Perumal, F.R.P.S., M.F.I.A.P.

Indian Roller or Blue Jay

» SCIENTIFIC NAME: Coracias benghalensis
» KANNADA NAME: Daasa Magare
» HINDI NAME: Nilkant, Sabzak

These strikingly pretty birds are commonly seen perched on telephone poles, wires and branches of plants and trees. Their frenzied aerobatics during courtship have earned them the epithet ‘March Roller’.

Colour and description: About the size of a pigeon, bigger than the common myna. A number of shades of blue and brown: brown breast, pale blue abdomen and under-tail, dark and pale blue wings. Biggish head. Heavy black bill. Male appears brighter than female.

Call: The sharp ‘kirrr, kirrr’ call of the bird is a familiar sound, as are the variety of loud raucous croaks and chuckles it emits. Harsh, grating screams common during courtship displays.

Food: Frogs, lizards, insects and other invertebrates.

Nesting season: March to July.

Nest: Tree hollows, sometimes in a hole in the wall of a building or telegraph poles. Nest is made of a collection of straw, rags and rubbish.

Eggs: Four or five, glossy, white roundish ovals.