Verditer Flycatcher
Eumyias thalassinus
A jewel of turquoise-blue among the branches.
Opens recordings on xeno-canto, the open bird-sound archive.
What the hills call it
Neela Pidda
/ nee·laa pid·daa /नीला पिद्दा
Verditer Flycatcher — A jewel of turquoise-blue among the branches.
Field notes
- Order
- Passeriformes
- Family
- Muscicapidae · Old World flycatchers
- Genus
- Eumyias
- Length
- 15–17 cm
- Weight
- 14–22 g
- At Kunja
- Resident — here all year round
- Conservation
- Least Concern
How to know it
An all-over verditer-blue flycatcher (the female duller, greyer) with a small black mask before the eye. A jewel against dark foliage.
What it eats
Insects, taken in short sallies from an exposed perch and snapped up in mid-air.
Where & when to spot it
On wires, bare twigs and the tops of bushes at the forest edge, returning again and again to the same favourite perch.
Nesting & mating
A moss cup tucked into a bank, wall-crevice or tree-hollow; three to five eggs in spring and summer.
In the field
When we’ve seen it
Most often photographed in March, usually in the middle of the day. That makes spring a clear window to spot it around the homestay.
Spotting tip: head out in the middle of 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
Verditer Flycatcher, photographed at Kunja
Photographs by Manohar Negi · mnegi.com — tap any photo to view it full
More to spot
PasseridaeHouse Sparrow
Passer domesticus
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MuscicapidaeBlue Whistling Thrush
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SturnidaeCommon Myna
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HirundinidaeRed-rumped Swallow
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PycnonotidaeHimalayan Bulbul
Pycnonotus leucogenys
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MegalaimidaeGreat Barbet
Psilopogon virens
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