Pied Bush Chat is an Indian bird that bears a scientific name "Saxicola caprata". Pied Bush Chat is a small passerine bird familiar in the countryside of Indian states like Assam, West Bengal, Bihar, Odisha, Arunachal Pradesh, Mizoram and Manipur. Pied Bush Chat is slightly smaller than the Siberian stonechat, Saxicola maurus, although it has a similar dumpy structure and upright stance.
Category of Pied Bush Chat
Pied Bush Chat is a small passerine bird found ranging from West Asia and Central Asia to the Indian subcontinent and Southeast Asia. Pied Bush Chat is about sixteen subspecies are recognized through its wide range with many island forms.
Habitat of Pied Bush Chat
Pied Bush Chat is a familiar bird of countryside and open scrub or grassland where it is found perched at the top of short thorn trees or other shrubs, looking out for insect prey.
Feeding of Pied Bush Chat
Pied Bush Chat picks up insects mainly from the ground and was like other chats, placed in the thrush family Turdidae. This species is insectivorous, and like other chats hunts from a prominent low perch. Pied Bush Chat has been noted to feed on Pyralid moths and whitefly.
Nests of Pied Bush Chat
Pied Bush Chat nests in cavities in stone walls or in holes in an embankment, lining the nest with grass and animal hair. The male Pied Bush Chat is black with white shoulder and vent patches whose extent varies among populations. Females are predominantly brownish while juveniles are speckled.
Sizes of Pied Bush Chat
The male Pied Bush Chat is black except for a white rump, wing patch and lower belly. The iris is dark brown, the bill and legs black. The female Pied Bush Chat is drab brown and slightly streaked. The juvenile Pied Bush Chat has a scaly appearance on the underside but dark above like the females.
Names of Pied Bush Chat
The local names include Kala pidda in Hindi Shyama in Gujarati Kavda gapidda in Marathi Kallu kuruvi in Tamil, Kampa nalanchi in Telugu. The Fore people of New Guinea called it Pobogile. They were once popular in Bengal as cage birds. They are still found in the local bird trade of some parts of Southeast Asia.
Breeding of Pied Bush Chat
Pied Bush Chat is a resident breeder in tropical southern Asia from the Greater Middle East through the Indian subcontinent eastwards to Indonesia. They colonized in Papua New Guinea around 1950. It is found in open habitats including scrub, grassland and cultivation.
Migration of Pied Bush Chat
Some populations are partially migratory. A ringed individual of subspecies rossorum has been recovered from Israel. The populations in India also appear to show seasonal movements but the patterns are unclear. Subspecies bicolour is found in peninsular India in winter. In Karwar on the western coast, it is said to appear in October and stay till May but not seen during the rainy season.
Breeding of Pied Bush Chat
The breeding season of Pied Bush Chat is mainly from February to August with a peak in March to June. Males sing from prominent perches.
Call of Pied Bush Chat
The whistling call of Pied Bush Chat is somewhat like that of an Indian robin and has been transcribed as we are tea for two with tea at higher note.
Nests of Pied Bush Chat
The nest of Pied Bush Chat is built in a hole in a wall or similar site lined with grass and hair, and 2-5 eggs are laid. Paired males did not reduce their dawn singing behaviour when their mates were trapped and temporarily excluded from the territory.
