Muscicapidae

Blue Whistling Thrush

Myophonus caeruleus

A big, dark, violet-blue bird of the streamsides — all black at a distance until the light catches its spangles, and famous for the rambling, almost human whistle it pours out at dawn and dusk.

Seen atKunja

Opens recordings on xeno-canto, the open bird-sound archive.

In the Lap of Nature

Field notes

Order: Passeriformes
Family: Muscicapidae · Chats & Old World flycatchers
Genus: Myophonus
Length: 31–35 cm
Weight: 136–230 g
At Kunja: Resident — along streams and shaded gullies
Conservation: Least Concern

How to know it

A large thrush that looks plain blue-black until close light reveals the cobalt spangling across its head, breast and wing-coverts. The bill is bright yellow and the eye dark; it bounds along the ground in long hops, cocking and fanning its tail as it goes.

What it eats

A forager of the wet edges — insects, snails, worms, small crabs and other streamside life picked from mossy rocks and leaf litter, with berries and fruit taken in season.

Where & when to spot it

Near running water: shaded streams, damp gullies, mossy rocks and the stone water-channels around Kunja. Easiest to find at first light and at dusk, when its loud, rich, wandering whistle carries through the half-dark long before the bird itself is seen.

Nesting & mating

Builds a bulky cup of moss and roots on a rock ledge or a beam beside running water — often under a bridge or in a culvert — and usually raises two broods of three to four eggs through the warmer months.

In the field

When we’ve seen it

Most often photographed in November. That makes autumn a clear window to spot it around the homestay.

Spotting tip: head out early in the day, walk slowly and stop often, and listen as much as you look — most of these birds call before they show themselves.

In the lens