Bay Backed Shrike

A strikingly coloured, delicately built and fine-billed bird, the Bay-Backed Shrike is a beautiful bird, usually found singly, and commonly habituates the area of the Samudram Erie. This is a bird of open country and cultivation, and it inhabits dry, bushy areas with scattered trees or at the edge of woodland. 

The most distinctive feature of this bird is its black facial mask extending from the side of the neck through the eyes to the base of the hooked bill, that sits in stark contrast to the grey crown and shoulders and chestnut-maroon upperparts. The upper-wings and long, white-tipped tail are black, and the underparts of the body are whitish with a wash of brown. The bill and legs are black, and a large white patch sits on the primary wing feathers. 

Strikingly Coloured Bird

The Bay-Backed Shrike is the size of a Bulbul and is the smallest of the Indian Shrikes. This bird which is widely distributed is generally found singly. This curious bird may also be identified by its rather quiet, pleasant warbling song that is mixed with harsher ‘churring’ notes and much mimicry of other birds calls. 

Video of Bay Backed Shrike

This bird which is the same size as the Bulbul flies low and fast between perches and alights upon an exposed branch of a bush or an electricity wire, from which its watches for its insect prey in its characteristic upright position. After spotting its target, it swoops down onto the prey and catches it on the ground. Its diet consists almost exclusively of insects, but small lizards and even mice may also be taken in this way. 

Usually, the Bay-Backed Shrike feeds alone or in pairs, but it is always bold and conspicuous when feeding, and during times of abundant prey, it may store its food for periods when food is scarce impaled a sharp point, such as a thorn. Thus secured the prey can be ripped with the Shrike’s strong hooked bill, but its feet are not suited for tearing. 

Juvenile birds look like washed-out versions of adults.

 

Juvenile Bird

Nest of Bay-Backed Shrike

During breeding this bird’s nest is a small, neat cup built from grass, feathers, wool and other fibres and lined with grass. It is placed in a fork of a small tree or a large bush, up to ten metres above the ground, and its territory is defended around this nesting site as well as around favoured perches. A clutch of eggs is laid and incubated by the female for fifteen days, whilst the male brings the female food. The male also supplies all the food for the young nestlings once they have hatched, and they are tended to for around two weeks before they fledge. The Bay-Backed Shrike may produce two broods each breeding season.

Large Grey Babbler

The Large Grey Babbler (Turdoides malcolmi) is common throughout the Arunachala area. This bird habituates the Arunachala Samudra area as well as scrub, open forest and garden land throughout the Tiruvannamalai District. The Large Grey Babbler is usually seen in small groups and is easily distinguished from other babblers in the region by its nasal call.

This bird is pale grey-brown, with grey forehead. Its tail is long and graduated with white outer feathers which are very conspicuous in flight and when the tail is spread. It is one of the largest babblers in the region.

This species is found in small flocks which keep in contact with loud nasal calls. Its call, is loud and discordant, crying: kay, kay, kay, kay monotonously which is repeated by several individuals at the same time. Members of the flock may join in defending against predators. Individuals may also mob their own reflections.

This bird forages on or close to the ground, hopping and leaping in search of prey. It feeds mainly on insects but also feed on small lizards, molluscs and arachnids, and also feeds on seeds, grains and berries.

The Large Grey Babbler nesting season is irregular, but it believed to be more or less throughout the year. The usual clutch is four eggs. The nest is a shallow cup placed in a shrub often of thorny species. Their nests are parasitized by the Pied Cuckoo and the Common Hawk-Cuckoo.

Below is a video of a Large Grey Babbler feeding a Common Hawk-Cuckoo who she thinks is her offspring, but is a result of the nest being earlier parazitized by the Mother Common Hawk-Cuckoo. 

Indian Robin

The Indian Robin (Tamil = Wannatikuruvi, Washerman bird) is a size of a sparrow. The Male is black with white wing patch and a rusty red under a cocked tail. The hen is ashy brown, with no wing patch. They feed mostly on insects but are known to take frogs and lizards especially when feeding young at the nest. Individuals may forage late in the evening to capture insects attracted to lights.

 

This bird enjoys frequenting arid and stony country, semi-desert with scattered bushes around habitation. Although I may not have noticed it in my own garden, this bird frequents houses around villages, commonly perching on thatched roofs of huts and entering verandahs to pick up insects. This bird is widespread in this area. It is commonly found in open scrub areas and often seen running along the ground or perching on low thorny shrubs. All populations are resident and non-migratory. 

 

 

Male Indian Robin on ground

 

 

I’ve often noticed this Robin in the scrub land of the Samudram Erie, but thus far never noticed one in my own garden, where I often receive visitors from its compatriot, the Oriental Robin Magpie. 

 

 

Male Indian Robin on Perch

 

This bird hops along the ground. The male utters some cheery notes, but has no song as such except in the mating season when the male sings and displays itself by lowering and spreading its tail feathers and strutting around the female, displaying its sides and fluffing its undertail coverts. The songs of males have variants for inviting mates and for deterring other males. Males will drive away other males and patrol their territory by flying with slow wing-beats from perch to perch. They may sometimes peck at their reflections. An aggressive display involves fluffing up the feathers and holding the bill high. 

 

The nesting season for the Indian Robin in the South is from March to June and August to September. Its nest is usually a pad of grass, rootlets and rubbish lined with feathers or hair and sometimes sloughed off snakeskin. 

 

 

Indian Robin Hen

Male Indian Robin on Feeding Duty

This bird has tremendous adaptability and can nest anywhere provided it thinks it is safe. The nest is often placed under stone, in earth holes or tree-stumps or within derelict cans or pots. It usually lays 2-3 creamy white coloured eggs. The female alone incubates with the male sharing other domestic duties. 

Nestlings may feign dead (thanatosis) when handled. Nestlings may be preyed on by the Rufous Treepie. The same nest site may be reused in subsequent years. 

Pied Kingfisher

The Pied Kingfisher is a water Kingfisher, which is widely distributed in India mainly on the plains. I have seen a number of Pied Kingfishers recently at the Samudram Erie (at the foot of Arunachala). And in my opinion this is one of the most unique and fascinating birds of the area. 

The Pied Kingfisher is estimated to be the world’s third most common Kingfisher. Not only is the Pied Kingfisher the largest bird capable of a true hover in still air, it is also the only Kingfisher with all black and white plumage

Male Pied

Adult Pied

Males have a double band across the breast while females have a single gorget that is often broken in the middle. This Kingfisher is about 17 cm long and in size between a Mynah and a Pigeon. It also has the typical, stout, dagger-shaped bill associated with other species of Kingfisher.  

Female Pied

This bird is usually found in pairs or small family parties. When perched, it often bobs its head and flicks up its tail. 

Pair of Pied Kingfishers

This bird frequents rivers, jheels, irrigation tanks and tidal creeks and can usually be seen perched on a favourite rock or stake near the water.  The Pied Kingfisher feeds mainly on fish, although it will take frogs, crustaceans and large aquatic insects such as dragonfly.

Pied Courtship Feeding

It usually hunts by hovering over the water to detect prey and diving vertically down bill-first to capture fish. When not foraging, they have a straight rapid flight and have been observed flying at nearly 32 mph. They call often on the wing, with sharp chirruk chirruk notes.

Female Pied Kingfisher Hovering

Its chief characteristic is its unique way of fishing. It hovers stationary for considerable periods, 10m or so above the water, ‘standing on its tail’, and hurls itself, wings pulled in at the sides, at fish coming up within striking depth. On emergence with the quarry, the bird flies off to a convenient rock where the victim is battered before being swallowed.

However the Pied Kingfisher can deal with prey without returning to a perch, often swallowing small victims  in flight, and thus can hunt over large water bodies or in estuaries that lack perches that are required by other Kngfishers. 

Male Pied Kingfisher Hovering

Unlike some other Kingfishers, the Piedi is quite gregarious, and forms large roosts at night.  The breeding season is February to April. Its nest is a hole excavated in a vertical mud bank about five feet above water. The nest tunnel is 4 to 5 feet deep and ends in a chamber. Several birds may nest in the same vicinity. The usual clutch is 3-6 white eggs. Both sexes share excavation, and feeding the young

For a superb link with videos and photographs of the Pied Kingfisher go to this link here.

Amazing Video of Pied Kingfisher catching fish 

The Pied Kingfisher is extremely agile in the air and hovers far more often than other kingfishers. In flight, it holds the body almost vertical, with the head and bill angled sharply downwards, and beats the wings extremely rapidly.  Kingfishers beat the reaction time of a fish by 1/50th of a second. Hunting fish from the air, it seems, is harder than it looks for the birds. Amazing rare nature photography in this video from BBC Worldwide.

Asian Openbilled Stork

I've never noticed this bird in large numbers around the Samudram Lake (south of Arunachala and popular location for migratory waterbirds). But occasionally spot small groups of the Openbill. This season have spotted this bird on several occasions visiting for a few days, but none have been actually residing at the Samudram this season.

The Asian Openbill is a large wading bird of the Stork family. It is white or greyish white, with black on the wings. It can sometimes be confused with other Storks, except for its unique black bill with narrow open gap.

Openbills at Samudram
Indian Spot Billed Ducks background

One of the commonest Storks throughout India. It is both a resident breeder and also migratory. Sexes are alike and the Asian Openbilled flocks singly or in groups at jheels and marshes.

Openbills foraging for food at Samudram

Openbill at Takeoff

This bird is broad-winged and soaring, relying on moving between thermals of hot air for sustained flight. Like all storks, it flies with its neck outstretched. When on ground it walks slowly and steadily.

Openbill in flight

The origin of the bill is unknown but believed to have originated with the opening of thick shells of snails found on marshes which forms a large part of its food in season. The Openbill also eats frogs, crabs, large insects.

The bird gets its name (Openbill)
from its peculiarly shaped bill

Juvenile Bird

Nesting season mostly between November and Marsh in South India. This bird breeds in colonies amongst mixed flocks of cormorants, egrets, painted storks etc.

Its nest is a platform of twigs in a tree with a central depression lined with leaves. It lays around 2-4 white eggs.

Glossy Ibis

Right-click on all photographs to view enlargements.

The Glossy Ibis (Plegadis Falcinellus) is a wading bird and is the most widespread of the Ibis family.

For feeding, the Ibis probes in the mud and silt with its bill looking for prey like the fiddler crab, freshwater shrimp, insects and small snakes.

Painting by John James Audubon

The Glossy Ibis nests as part of a colony in trees, and often shares with other water birds such as Herons. In flight, the Ibis flies gracefully in a straight line or V-formation with its neck outstretched.

This bird is migratory and a colony of 40-50 are currently resident at Samudram Erie where they have been since the end of last year

Colony of Ibises at Samudram Erie

Video of Ibis Feeding

This bird lays 3-4 eggs in a nest of twigs and sticks usually built in trees or bushes but rarely on the ground. It builds its nests in colonies that includes other Ibises as well as the nests of different species such as Egrets and Herons. Occasionally, the Glossy Ibis will use an abandoned nest. The Ibis is very territorial during nesting.

The Ibis has a bleating call during breeding season but at other times is usually silent. Eggs take about three weeks to hatch. The female and male incubate the egg, but the female does most of the work. Both parents feed the chicks. The chicks fledge in about a month. They leave the nest and start to forage for food with their parents when they are two months old.







This bird is about 20 inches tall with a wingspan of about three feet. It has a long, dark gray bill that is curved down. Breeding adults have reddish-brown bodies and shiny bottle-green wings. Non-breeders and juveniles have duller bodies. This species has a brownish bill, dark facial skin bordered above and below in blue-gray (non-breeding) to cobalt blue (breeding), and red-brown legs.

Juvenile Bird

Adult Bird

To view more photographs and videos go to this link here.

Indian Spot-billed Duck

This season a flock of several adults and a number of ducklings of Indian Spot-billed Ducks (Anas Poecilorhyncha) are resident at the Samudram Erie. The Indian Spot-Billed is one of three subspecies of the Spot-billed which is also called Grey Duck.

2 Ducks Wading in the Samudram

Samudram Take-off

The wings of the Spot-billed Duck are whitish with black flight feathers, a white-bordered green speculum and white wing coverts. Juveniles are browner and duller than adults.






The Spot-billed which is the size of a domestic duck, is grey with a paler head and neck and scaly-patterned plummage. Its black bill is tipped bright yellow. The sexes are similar except that the male has a red spot on the base of the bill, which is absent or inconspicuous in the female The birds legs are bright orange.





The drake’s call is a hoarse and wheezy but the duck makes a loud quacking sound.






This bird is found in lakes and marshes in open country. It is a surface feeder getting its food by tipping or up-ending in shallow water.When reaching down for food, the tail end of the bird sticks out above the water surface






The nesting season is generally from July to September, depending upon the rains. And the bird’s nest is a pad of grass and weeds among herbage on marshy margins of tanks.

The Indian Spot-billed Duck lays 6 to 12 grey-buff or greenish-white eggs.





For more photos and videos go to this link here.

Eurasian Collared Dove

The Eurasian Collared Dove (Streptopelia Decaocto), a species of dove native to Asia and Europe, is commonly found around Tiruvannamalai. This bird is known as ‘Sambal Pura’ in Tamil Nadu. It is the size of a pigeon and in colouration a pale grey and brown with a narrow black half-collar on the back of its neck

A Collared Dove on Samudram

The Collared Dove is not wary and often feeds close to human habitation, including visiting gardens, bird tables and verandahs.

Can be Easily Persuaded to Come
to Humans

The song is a coo-COO-coo, repeated many times.







The sexes look alike and the bird is almost always seen in pairs and, like many birds, remains loyal to their mate.







It nests practically all year typically in a twig platform located in a bush or small tree and prefers to breed close to human habitation where food resources are abundant and there are trees for nesting; almost all nests are within a kilometre of inhabited buildings.







The female lays two white eggs, which she incubates during the night and which the male incubates during the day. Incubation lasts between fourteen and eighteen days, with the young fledging leaving after fifteen to nineteen days. Both sexes share domestic duties.

Breeding occurs throughout the year when abundant food is available. Three to four broods per year is common, and up to six broods in a year has been recorded.











Its a gregarious species and if there are large food supplies, it congregates in sizable winter flocks.

To look at more videos and photographs of the Eurasian Collared Dove go to this link here.

Tourism Boost for Six Bird Zones

An article of May 12th in the Tamil Nadu State Press, announced that six bird sanctuaries are to be developed across Tamil Nadu to promote eco-tourism.

“The State Tourism Department has sanctioned 191 Lakh to the Forest Department to develop six bird sanctuaries across the State to promote tourism.

“Bird watching is one of the most sought-after tourism activity and there has been an increasing preference among urbanites to take it up as a hobby to counter stress.

The Department has identified six bird sanctuaries to be developed to promote tourism in a big way,” a senior official said.

Every year a large number of migratory birds flock to Tamil Nadu to breed. Flamingos, Little Cormorants, Grey Herons, Large Egrets, Open-billed Storks, Spoonbills and Painted Storks are some of the State’s winged visitors.

According to sources, the Tourism Director has recommended the bird sanctuaries at Vedanthangal, Karikil, Pulicat, Koonthankulam, Mela Selvanoor and Keela Selvanoor and Chitrangudi for development.

Accordingly, about 191.02 Lakh has been sanctioned to the Forest Department. The six sanctuaries have been selected after a proposal was submitted to the Tourism Department by the Principal Chief Conservator of Forest and Chief Wildlife Warden, seeking funds to develop 19 bird sanctuaries at an outlay of 979.91 Lakh.

This is on the of the eco-friendly ways to promote tourism, the official said.


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Its excellent news that the State Government is promoting eco-tourism and that officials are beginning to understand that conservation can go hand in hand with financial development.

In this respect lets hope that the new State Government will look benignly upon Tiruvannamalai as an ideal location in which to develop a bird sanctuary on the Samudram Erie, instead of allowing the ongoing degradation of the Erie which is being currently treated by developers using the area as a personal sand quarry resource.

White Browed Wagtail

The White-browed Wagtail also known as the Large Pied Wagtail is the largest member of the Wagtail family at around 20 cm in length. It has black and white plummage, a prominent white eyebrow, shoulder stripes and outer tail feathers. In the female the black portions are duller and browner. This slender bird has the characteristic wagging tale of its genus.

Illustration by John Gould

Whilst swimming in the Samudram Erie I noticed a very nice White-browed Wagtail perched on some branches protruding from the water. Although the Wagtail noticed me it was completely unconcerned as I swam around its perch to get a better look.

Its not a surprise that the bird should be at the Samudram, as its commonly found at water bodies, village tanks and irrigation reservoirs. It has also successfully adapted to urban environments and can often be found perched on water tanks at homes and buildings taking advantage of overflows.










It has loud, whistling pleasant calls particularly evident by the male during breeding season.







Breeding season is generally March to September which may be extended depending on river and water levels.

The nest of the Wagtail is a cup-shaped pad of grass, hair, wool, rootlets etc under such projections as rocks, girders or rafters but always located close to water. Normally a clutch is comprised of 3-4 blotched and streaked eggs with both sexes sharing domestic duties.

Chicks in Nest

Photo by Lip Kee

The Wagtail which is insectivorous, is an active bird that flies rapidly for long distances and has been recorded at a speed of around 40 km/h.

Bird in Flight