10 Beautiful Birds of Southern India

1. Name: Indian roller (Coracias benghalensis)

 Size: 26-27cm
 Color: The crown and vent are blue. The primaries are deep purplish blue with a band of pale blue.
The tail is sky blue with a terminal band of Prussian blue and the central feathers are dull green.
The neck and throat are purplish lilac with white shaft streaks. The bare patch around the eye is
ochre in color
 Distribution and Habitat: The Indian roller is distributed across Asia, from Iraq and United Arab
Emirates in south-western Asia through the Indian Subcontinent, including Sri Lanka,
Lakshadweep islands and Maldives Islands. Its main habitat includes cultivated areas, thin forest
and grassland
 Behavior: Indian rollers are often seen perched on prominent bare trees or wires. They descend
to the ground to capture their prey which may include insects, arachnids, small reptiles, small
snakes and amphibians
 Culture: The Indian roller is very common in the populated plains of India and associated with
Hindu legends. It is said to be sacred to Vishnu, and used to be caught and released during festivals
such as Dussera or the last day of Durga Puja. A local Hindi name is neelkanth, meaning "blue
throat", a name associated with the deity Shiva
 It is state bird by the Indian states of Odisha, Karnataka and Telangana.
 2.Name: Indian paradise flycatcher (Terpsiphone paradisi)

 Size: 19–22 cm
 Color: Their heads are glossy black with a black crown and crest, their black bill round and sturdy,
their eyes black. Female are rufous on the back with a greyish throat and underparts. Young males
look very much like females but have a black throat and blue-ringed eyes. As adults they develop
up to 24 cm long tail feathers with two central tail feathers growing up to 30 cm long drooping
streamers. Young males are rufous and have short tails. They acquire long tails in their second or
third year. Adult males are either predominantly bright rufous above or predominantly white
 Distribution and Habitat: The Indian paradise flycatcher is a migratory bird and spends the winter
season in tropical Asia. In southern India and Sri Lanka, both locally breeding populations and
visiting migrants occur in winter.
 Behavior and Food: The Indian paradise flycatcher is a noisy bird uttering sharp skreek calls. It sits
very upright whilst perched prominently. It is insectivorous and hunts in flight in the understorey.
In the afternoons, it dives from perches to bathe in small pools of water. Its breeding season lasts
from May to July
3. Name:Black-rumped flameback(Dinopium benghalense)
 Size: 26–29 cm
 Color: It has a typical woodpecker shape, and the golden yellow wing coverts are distinctive. The
rump is black and not red as in the greater flameback. The underparts are white with dark chevron
markings. The black throat finely marked with white. The head is whitish with a black nape and
throat, and there is a greyish eye patch
 Distribution and Habitat: This flameback is found mainly on the plains going up to an elevation of
about 1200m in Pakistan, India south of the Himalayas and east till the western Assam valley and
Meghalaya, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka. It is associated with open forest and cultivation. They are
often seen in urban areas with wooded avenues
 Behavior and Food: They forage from the ground to the canopy. They feed on insects mainly
beetle larvae from under the bark, visit termite mounds and sometimes feed on nectar. As they
make hopping movements around branches, they often conceal themselves from potential
predators. They adapt well in human-modified habitats making use of artificial constructions
fallen fruits and even food scraps. The breeding season varies with weather and is between
February and July
 4.Name: Baya weaver (Ploceus philippinus)

 Size: These are sparrow-sized (15 cm)

 Color: They have a stout conical bill and a short square tail. Non-breeding males and females look
alike, dark brown streaked fulvous buff above, plain (unstreaked) whitish fulvous below, eyebrow
long and buff colored, bill is horn colored and no mask. Breeding males have a bright yellow
crown, dark brown mask, blackish brown bill, upper parts are dark brown streaked with yellow,
with a yellow breast and cream buff below
 Distribution and Habitat: They are found across the Indian Subcontinent and Southeast Asia
 Behavior and Food: Baya weavers are social and gregarious birds. They forage in flocks for seeds,
both on the plants and on the ground. Flocks fly in close formations, often performing complicated
 maneuvers. They are known to glean paddy and other grain in harvested fields, and occasionally
damage ripening crops and are therefore sometimes considered as pests. The breeding season of
the baya weavers is during the monsoons
 Interesting Point: A male usually takes about 18 days to construct the complete nest, making
close to 500 trips to nearby trees (palm trees) to get nesting material. The nests are partially built
before the males begin to display to passing females by flapping their wings and calling while
hanging from their nests. The females inspect the nest and signal their acceptance of a male. The
male then completes the entire nest. The female then gives finishing touches to the interiors
 5.Name: Crested serpent eagle (Spilornis cheela)

 Size: 50-74cm
 Color: This medium-large, dark brown eagle is stocky, with rounded wings and a short tail. Its
short black and white fan-shaped nuchal crest gives it a thick-necked appearance. The bare facial
skin and feet are yellow. The underside is spotted with white and yellowish-brown. When perched
the wing tips do not reach until the tail tip. In soaring flight, the broad and paddle-shaped wings
are held in a shallow V. The tail and underside of the flight feathers are black with broad white
bars
 Distribution and Habitat: They are found in forested habitats across tropical Asia. Within its
widespread range across the Indian Subcontinent, Southeast Asia and East Asia.
 Behavior and Food: The crested serpent eagle, as its English name suggests, is a reptile eater
which hunts over forests, often close to wet grassland, for snakes and lizards. It has also been
observed to prey on birds, amphibians, mammals and fishes. It is found mainly over areas with
thick vegetation both on the low hills and the plains. The breeding season begins in late winter
when they start courting and establishing territories
 6.Name: Egyptian vulture (Neophron percnopterus)

 Size: 47–65cm
 Color: The adult's plumage is white, with black flight feathers in the wings. Wild birds usually
appear soiled with a rusty or brown shade to the white plumage, derived from mud or iron-rich
soil. Captive specimens without access to soil have clean white plumage. The bill is slender and
long, and the tip of the upper mandible is hooked. The neck feathers are long and form a hackle.
The wings are pointed, with the third primary being the longest; the tail is wedge shaped. The legs
are pink in adults and grey in juveniles
 Distribution and Habitat: They are widely distributed across Africa, Asia and Europe with their
breeding range from southern Europe to northern Africa east to western and southern Asia. They
 are rare vagrants in Sri Lanka. They occur mainly on the dry plains and lower hills. In the Himalayas,
they go up to about 2,000 meters (6,600 ft) in summer
 Behavior and Food: The Egyptian vulture is usually seen singly or in pairs, soaring in thermals
along with other scavengers and birds of prey, or perched on the ground or atop a building. On
the ground, they walk with a waddling gait. They feed on a range of food, including mammal
faeces (including those of humans), insects in dung, carrion, vegetable matter, and sometimes
small animals
 Point to notice: Healthy adults do not have many predators, but human activities pose many
threats. Collisions with power lines, hunting, intentional poisoning, lead accumulation from
ingesting gunshot in carcasses, and pesticide accumulation take a toll on populations. That is why
this species is classified as Endangered by IUCN
 7.Name: Indian eagle-owl, also called the rock eagle-owl or
Bengal eagle-owl (Bubo bengalensis)

 Size: 50-56cm
 Appearance: The facial disk is unmarked and has a black border, a feature that is much weaker in
the Eurasian form. The base of the primaries is unbanded and rufous. The tail bands have the
tawn bands wider than the black ones. A large pale scapular patch is visible on the folded wing
 Distribution and Habitat: They are seen in scrub and light to medium forests but are especially
seen near rocky places within the mainland of the Indian Subcontinent south of the Himalayas
and below 1,500 metres (5,000 ft) elevation. Humid evergreen forest and extremely arid areas
are avoided. Bush covered rocky hillocks and ravines, and steep banks of rivers and streams are
favorite haunts. It spends the day under the shelter of a bush or rocky projection, or in a large
mango or similar thickly foliaged tree near villages
 Behavior and Food: The deep resonant two note calls are characteristic, and males deliver these
"long calls" mainly at dusk during the breeding season. Their diet through much of the year
consists of rodents, but birds like dove and fouls seem to be mainly taken towards winter
 8.Name: Blue-tailed bee-eater (Merops philippinus)

 Size: 23-26cm
 Color: It is a richly colored, slender bird. It is predominantly green; its face has a narrow blue patch
with a black eye stripe, and a yellow and brown throat; the tail is blue and the beak is black
 Distribution and Habitat: This is a bird which breeds in sub-tropical open country, such as
farmland, parks or rice fields. It is most often seen near large waterbodies
 Behavior and Food: Like other bee-eaters it predominantly eats insects, especially bees, wasps
and hornets, which are caught in the air by sorties from an open perch. This species probably
takes bees and dragonflies in roughly equal numbers. The insects that are caught are beaten on
the perch to kill and break the exoskeleton. Before swallowing prey, a bee-eater removes stings
and breaks the exoskeleton of the prey by repeatedly thrashing it on the perch
 9.Name: White-rumped shama (Copsychus malabaricus)

 Size: 23-28cm
 Color: Males are glossy black with a chestnut belly and white feathers on the rump and outer tail.
Females are more greyish-brown and are typically shorter than males. Both sexes have a black bill
 and pink feet. Juveniles have a greyish-brown coloration, similar to that of the females, with a
blotchy or spotted chest
 Distribution and Habitat: They are native across scrub and secondary forests in South and
Southeast Asia. In Asia, their habitat is dense undergrowth especially in bamboo forests
 Behavior and Food: The white-rumped shama is shy bird and get active during twilight. They feed
on insects in the wild but in captivity they may be fed on a diet of boiled, dried legumes with egg
yolk and raw meat
 10.Name: Painted spurfowl (Galloperdix lunulata)

 Size: 27-34cm
 Color: The male has a black tail and ochre underparts that contrast with the darker upperparts.
The plumage of the upper parts and the feathers have white spots edged with black. The head
and neck of the male are black with a green sheen and finely spotted in white while the mantle,
rump and wing coverts are chestnut. The female is much duller with a rufous brow and ear
coverts. The throat is pale and spotted as in the male, but the female lacks white spotting on the
body. The bill and legs are dark grey, with two to four tarsal spurs on the male. Females can also
have one or two spurs. The tail is sometimes carried upright
 Distribution and Habitat: The painted spurfowl is found in some parts of the Aravalli ranges in
Rajasthan, the hills of central India (Pachmarhi) and the rocky hills and dry forest areas of southern
India. They have also been recorded in the Nallamalai region in the Andhra Pradesh eastern Ghats
 Behavior and Food: They feed on berries as well as insects and flowers and visit waterholes in the
early morning. The breeding season is January to June.