Grey bushchat (Male) : Saxicola ferreus

Grey bushchat
Saxicola ferreus

 

Grey bushchat: Saxicola ferreus

Gender: Male

Age: Adult

IUCN Status: Least Concern

Sighted at: Pangot, Distt.Nainital, Uttarakhand, India.

Date: 4.4.2015

It’s a small bird and this species is a resident breeder in Himalayas..

Key identifying features are*:

1)     White supercilium

2)   Dark mask

3)   Upperparts grey to black depending on wear

4)    Underparts are whitish

5)    Grey chest and flanks

*Grimmett, Inskipp and Inskipp

Taxonomy:

Kingdom	-	Animalia
Phylum	-	Chordata
Class	-	Aves
Order	-	Passeriformes
Family	-	Leiothrichidae
Genus	-	Trochalepteron
Species	-	lineatus

 

Photographed at Pangot, Distt. Nainital, Uttarakhand, India, on 3^rd and 4^th  April, 2015, using a Nikon D5100 camera and Tamron 150-600 mm lens.

© Prashant V Tenjarla

Another hot summer noon, and yet another thin stream between tall sun-baked mud banks. There's a bridge nearby. Ideal habitat for Bank mynas and Wire-tailed swallows. I stopped to check, and sure enough, I found them both. A flock of Bank mynas living in burrows in the small mud mountains lining the canal and a family of Wire-tailed swallows beneath the bridge. The sleepy nothingness of nowhere wasn't without life.

Smaller than Common myna, slate-grey plumage, black head and a black frontal crest, orange-red orbital patch, orange bill, red iris, orange-buff patch at base of primaries and underwings coverts, orange-yellow feet and orange-buff tip of tail.

I thought a habitat shot would be in order. Why don't you move on mate? Not too welcoming, are they? By the way, both genders look similar.

Another hot summer noon, and yet another thin stream between tall sun-baked mud banks. There's a bridge nearby. Ideal habitat for Bank mynas and Wire-tailed swallows. I stopped to check, and sure enough, I found them both. A flock of Bank mynas living in burrows in the small mud mountains lining the canal and a family of Wire-tailed swallows beneath the bridge. The sleepy nothingness of nowhere wasn't without life.

Smaller than Common myna, slate-grey plumage, black head and a black frontal crest, orange-red orbital patch, orange bill, red iris, orange-buff patch at base of primaries and underwings coverts, orange-yellow feet and orange-buff tip of tail.

I thought a habitat shot would be in order. Why don't you move on mate? Not too welcoming, are they? By the way, both genders look similar.

Another hot summer noon, and yet another thin stream between tall sun-baked mud banks. There's a bridge nearby. Ideal habitat for Bank mynas and Wire-tailed swallows. I stopped to check, and sure enough, I found them both. A flock of Bank mynas living in burrows in the small mud mountains lining the canal and a family of Wire-tailed swallows beneath the bridge. The sleepy nothingness of nowhere wasn't without life.

Smaller than Common myna, slate-grey plumage, black head and a black frontal crest, orange-red orbital patch, orange bill, red iris, orange-buff patch at base of primaries and underwings coverts, orange-yellow feet and orange-buff tip of tail.

I thought a habitat shot would be in order. Why don't you move on mate? Not too welcoming, are they? By the way, both genders look similar.