Thursday, December 23, 2010

The Oriental Magpie-Robin

 A bird that is commonly seen around our gardens and neighbourhoods is this one---the oriental magpie-robin/Copsychus saularis.. It's a small bird, a little bigger than a sparrow. The male as you can see from the picture is darker. Both male and female have a white-fringed tail.

 The female is more of grey than black. I love to hear the melodious call of these birds. They feed on the insects in my garden and I often see them on the ground foraging amidst the fallen leaves. Although these birds have attempted to build their nest on one of my trees, the crows never let them. But I'm glad to see them everyday seeking food, if not shelter, in my garden. All the photos in this post have been taken on my mango tree and its surroundings.
The magpie-robin is the national bird of Bangladesh where it is known as the Doyel. It is a widely used symbol there, appearing on currency notes and a landmark in the city of Dhaka is known as Doyel Chatwar meaning Doyel Square.
In order to see birds it is necessary to become part of the silence.~ Robert Lynd

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

Very pretty photos and interesting to learn more about this bird. John and I were discussing your wonderful photos, garden visitors, and flowers earlier tonight. Thanks for another great post.

Jim Groble said...

A very Merry Christmas and a Happy New year to you. Thanks for the visit. jim and pat

Ginny Hartzler said...

I love it!! I am a birdwatcher, and I have never heard of these. We don't have any around here. Are they a cross between a magpie and a robin?? Why are they called that? I have never even seen a magpie, do you have any of those? They almost look like they are wearing tuxedos. The last picture looks like a baby one.

Nature Rambles said...

Thanks Mildred. So glad to know that. You're in my thoughts too, especially at this time of the year!:)

Jim...Thank you so much!

Ginny, I really don't know how they got a name like that. I looked up Wiki...says they are considered the Old World Flycatcher. Indian birding sites mention the magpie but I haven't seen them. Or if I pay more attention to the birds, maybe I'll see them. Will be on the lookout for them!

Caroline Gill said...

A lovely post, Kanak. The minute I saw your Magpie-Robin, I thought it looked exactly like a cross between these two birds. We have lots of magpies flying about at the moment. You can see them on my blog pages here, here, and here.

Cyren said...

Oh my gosh, I love these birds!!! They sing really beautifully too! We get quite a lot of them in Malaysia where I come from and there are not too many crows so I guess they get their way most of the time. People catch them though, as they are quite popular as pet birds here.

lotusleaf said...

Lovely photos. The birds are so pretty. I have not seen them around here.