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

Oriental Magpie-Robin

» SCIENTIFIC NAME: Copsychus saularis
» KANNADA NAME: Madivaala
» HINDI NAME: Daiyar, Daiya

Once a familiar sight in parks and gardens, these wonderful songbirds are becoming fewer and fewer in number.

Colour and description: Slightly bigger than a sparrow. Male is pure white and glistening black; female is greyish brown and white. Cocked, white-fringed tail.

Call: A melodious singer, with different embellishments at dawn and dusk. An expert mimic of other birds. The male sings lustily from his perch during breeding season. Males are extremely possessive of their breeding territories and intruders are threatened with visual and aural displays of anger.

Food: Mainly insects in leaf litter and nectar of certain flowers.

Nesting season: March and April. Male and female share in parental duties.

Nest: Holes and hollows in trees and walls. Nests are made of grass, rootlets and hair. Quick to adapt to and accept man-made nesting boxes.

Eggs: Three to five, pale blue-green, blotched and mottled with reddish brown. Only females incubate.