Orange-Headed Thrush

A pair of Orange-Headed Thrush (Zoothera citrina cyanotus) have been foraging in our garden for months now. I could hear their calls, occasionally see them zip past, but never did get a chance to photograph them. All that changed yesterday- Rain, which has been relentlessly pouring for the last five days stopped for a few hours and we had a few hours of sunshine. During these few hours, many birds arrived at our bird bath for a dip! In this group, were these Thrushes and I was comfortably seated to watch them enjoy a dip. Well I still do wonder, why would birds take a bath when it has been raining for the last few days and has soaked them wet anyway! These birds I tell you.

Malabar Whistling Thrush

When I first heard the whistle of a Malabar Thrush a few years ago ( Myophonus horsfieldii ) ,I though it was a human being, in a very good mood, whistling in the forest. It was only later, when someone told me about the above bird did I realise my faux pas. This time, when I saw the bird sing, I remembered my mistake and curiously enough, when I mentioned a fellow birder about the bird, she admitted to me that even she though it was a 'jolly good fellow' in the forest. As the name suggests, the bird is mostly found in western India and parts of central India. A very shy bird, but enlivens the forest with its dulcet voice. 

Orange-headed Thrush

This male orange headed Thrush (Zoothera citrina) was perched on a tree, looking for berries. I saw it and sat on the ground awaiting for a good frame. Fortuitously, the Thrush came on the ground and continued its hunt. Since I was squatting on the ground, it gave me nice eye level photographs. The bird is apparently a good imitator of other bird calls, and during my brief encounter with the bird, I heard quite a variety of chirps and songs coming from the pretty fellow.
Photographed at Dandeli, Karnataka. 

Song Thrush

A popular European garden bird, the Song Thrush (Turdus philomelos ) landed on board off the Mediterranean coast of Africa. This insectivorous bird was probably hopping across the Mediterranean like the birds that have been featured in the previous posts. Like the Lark in my previous post this bird too is in rapid decline especially in the UK
The bird is a great imitator of calls, and can imitate up to 100 calls many of which it learns either from its mother or neighborhood birds. There have been instances of the bird even repeating telephone rings.
The Song Thrush is occasionally a host of parasitic cuckoos, but this is very rare because the thrush recognizes the cuckoo's eggs. The introduced birds in New Zealand, where the cuckoo does not occur, have, over the past 135 years, have still retained the ability to recognise and reject cuckoos eggs.

Photodetails : The photographs were clicked at noon and hence they lack the warm tones of the morning or evening sun. The noon sun also casts some unwanted shadows, especially on the birds face in the second photograph. The bird did not stay until evening and hence probably missed a chance to click some wonderful photographs.
300mm, f/5.6, 1/320sec, ISO 100