Grey Bushchat
Saxicola ferreus
A neat grey-and-white chat of the open hillsides.
Seen atBarechhina ·Ranikhet
Opens recordings on xeno-canto, the open bird-sound archive.
What the hills call it
Jhaadi Pidda
/ jhaa·ṛee pid·daa /झाड़ी पिद्दा
Grey Bushchat — A neat grey-and-white chat of the open hillsides.
Field notes
- Order
- Passeriformes
- Family
- Muscicapidae · Old World flycatchers
- Genus
- Saxicola
- Length
- 14–15 cm
- Weight
- 13–17 g
- At Kunja
- Resident — here all year round
- Conservation
- Least Concern
How to know it
The male is grey above with a black mask, a white throat and supercilium; the female is a warm brown. Perches upright and flicks its tail.
What it eats
Insects, dropped onto from a low perch, and a few seeds and berries.
Where & when to spot it
On the tops of bushes, fence-posts and tall weeds in open scrubby country, dropping to the ground and back to its perch.
Nesting & mating
A cup of grass low in a bush or bank; four to five eggs in spring and summer.
In the lens
Grey Bushchat, photographed at Barechhina
Photographs by Manohar Negi · mnegi.com — tap any photo to view it full
More to spot
PasseridaeHouse Sparrow
Passer domesticus
Kunja
MuscicapidaeBlue Whistling Thrush
Myophonus caeruleus
Kunja
SturnidaeCommon Myna
Acridotheres tristis
Kunja
HirundinidaeRed-rumped Swallow
Cecropis daurica
Kunja
PycnonotidaeHimalayan Bulbul
Pycnonotus leucogenys
Kunja
MegalaimidaeGreat Barbet
Psilopogon virens
Kunja