Asian Pied Starling. Gracupica contra
Hin: Ablak Myna. Ass: Kankurika
Size: Bulbul +; Common Myna -.
Field Characters: A trim black and white myna with orange orbital skin, and deep
orange-and- yellow bill. Sexes alike. Parties and flocks about villages and
cultivation.
Habits: Rarely met with away from the neighborhood of villages, towns, and
cities where refuse dumps afford attractive feeding. Commonly seen in
attendance of grazing cattle, particularly on moist or marshy environs of
village tanks.
Calls: A number of pleasant high-pitched notes.
Nesting:
Season: March to September.
Nest: Large, untidy, globular, of twigs, leaves, grass and rubbish, with a
lateral entrance. In branch of mango or similar tree 15 to 30 ft up, sometimes
3 or 4 nests in the same tree. Both sexes share in building the nest care of
the young.
Eggs: 4 or 5, glossy blue.
Call recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oNV7NSBBeLQ
House Sparrow. Passer domesticus
Hin: Gauriyya, Ass: Ghansirika
Size: Bulbul -; (6 inches).
Field
Characters: Undoubtedly
our most familiar bird. Female ashy grey-brown above, streaked with blackish
and rufous, and with a pale fulvous supercilium; fulvous ashy white
below. Inseparable from human habitations.
below. Inseparable from human habitations.
Habits: A confirmed hanger-on of man, in
hills and plains alike, whether in a bustling noisy city or outlying forest
hamlet. Non-breeding birds have favourite community roosts in leafy trees,
where large numbers foregather with much noise every evening.
Food and
feeding: Omnivorous;
eats grain, insects, fruit buds, flower nectar and
kitchen scraps. Sometimes collects in enormous flocks and does damage to ripening crops and in market gardens.
kitchen scraps. Sometimes collects in enormous flocks and does damage to ripening crops and in market gardens.
Call: Chirping call notes too well known.
Song of breeding male a loud, monotonous tsi, tsi, tsi, or cheer, cheer, cheer
uttered ad lib as he fluffs out his feathers, arches his rump, droops his wings
and struts about arrogantly, twitching his partly cocked tail.
Nesting:
Season. Practically all year, the most
favoured months varying with locality.
Nest. A collection of straw, rubbish and
feathers in a hole in ceiling, niche in wall, inverted lamp shade, and every
conceivable site within or without an occupied building.
Eggs. 3 to 5, pale greenish white,
stippled and blotched with brown. Several successive broods are often raised.
Red-vented Bulbul. Pycnonotus cafer
Hin: Bulbul, Ass: Bulbuli
Size: Myna -; (8').
Field Characters: A perky smoke-brown bird with partially crested black head, scale-like
markings on breast and back, a conspicuous crimson patch below root of tail,
and a white rump, the last particularly noticeable in flight. Sexes alike.
Pairs or small gatherings, in gardens and lightly wooded country:
Habits: Common in gardens and light scrub jungle, both near and away from human
habitations. Large numbers collect to feed on banyan and peepul figs and winged
termite swarms.
termite swarms.
Call: Has no song as such, but its joyous notes and vivacious disposition
make it a welcome visitor to every garden. Its pugnacity makes it a favourite
with fanciers as a fighting bird, and large stakes are wagered on bulbul
fights.
Food: Insects, fruits and berries, peas and suchlike vegetables, and flower
nectar.
Nesting:
Season: Chiefly between February and May, varying with local conditions.
Nest: A cup of rootlets. sometimes plastered outside with cobwebs, in a bush
or tree, 3 to 30 ft up.
Eggs: 2 or 3, pinkish white, profusely blotched with purplish brown or
claret. Both sexes share parental duties.
Online Resources
House Crow. Corvus splendens
Hin: Kowwa, Ass: Kowri, Kak
Size: Pigeon ±; (17 inches).
Field Characters: Grey neck and smaller size distinguish it from the all-black Jungle
Crow. Sexes alike.
Habits: Perhaps the most familiar bird of Indian towns and villages. Lives in
close association with man and obtains its livelihood from his works. Audacious,
cunning and uncannily wary. Has community roosts in selected trees or groves
where large numbers collect every night.
Food and feeding: Has no particular food preferences. Will eat almost anything: dead
sewer rat, offal, carrion, kitchen scraps and refuse, locusts, termites, fruit,
grain, and eggs or fledgling birds pilfered from nests. A useful scavenger but also a great
bully and therefore a serious menace to defenseless ornamental bird species in
urban areas.
Nesting:
Season: Principally April to June.
Nest: A platform of twigs frequently intermixed with iron wire, with a
cup-like depression lined with tow, coir fiber, etc., 10 ft or more up in a
tree; sometimes several nests in the same tree.
Eggs: 4 or 5 pale blue-green, speckled and streaked with brown. Both sexes
share Incubation and nest-feeding. The Koel commonly lays its eggs in crows'
nests.
Online Resources
Images: https://www.birdsofindia.org/#!/sp/1339/Corvus-splendens
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