Bird Watching - Indian Treepie (Rufous Treepie)

Indian Treepie (Rufous treepie)

The Rufous Treepie, is a common corvid (a bird of the crow family) that is found throughout India. 

A long tailed chestnut brown bird with sooty head and neck . black -tupped grey tail and greyish white wing patches conspicuous in flight. 

Local names: Mahalat , Taka Chor (Hindi)

                    Olenjali kuruvi( Malayalam)

                    Val Kakai (Tamil)

The Rufous treepie is primarily an arboreal omnivore feeding on fruits, nectar, seeds, invertebrates, small reptiles and the eggs and young of birds.

The bird is the size of a myna, but with a long tail.

The local name for the Rufous Treepie is the “taka chor” means“coin stealer”. This name for the treepie comes on account of its habit, like many other corvids, to seek out and steal shiny items such as coins, jewellery and other similar objects. They collect these objects, and often line them up in their nests, possibly to attract the female treepie.

The breeding season in India is April to June. 

The nest is built in trees and bushes and is usually a shallow platform. There are usually 3-5 eggs laid. Eggs are most commonly pale salmon-white splashed and streaked with bright reddish brown,

Both sexes shares parental duties.

References

The Book of Indian Birds (Salim Ali)

The Hindu article on Rufous Treepie 

Wikipedia

Pictures:

Thoovampallil house, Chettikulangara, Kerala (2019)