Sunday, May 31, 2020

Bird Watching - White Breasted waterhen

White Breasted Waterhen




They are dark slaty birds with a clean white face, breast and belly. The lower belly and undertail are cinnamon coloured. They have long toes, a short tail and a yellow bill and legs. Sexes are similar but females measure slightly smaller. Immature birds are much duller versions of the adults.

Local names: Dawak , Dahak (Hindi)
                    Kula kozhi (Malayalam)
                    Kanan Kozhi (Tamil)



They are mostly found near fresh water.
These birds are usually seen singly or in pairs as they forage slowly along the edge of a water body mainly on the ground. Wanders considerably afield in the monsoon when low lying tracts become water logged. The tail is held up and jerked as they walk.




Ordinarily shy and silent but extremely noisy during the rainy season when it breeds.  They mainly eat insects, worms, molluscs, grain and shoots of paddy and marsh plants.



They nest in a dry location on the ground in marsh vegetation, laying 6-7 eggs.. Nest is a shallow cup of twigs,creeper stems and flags of bulrushes up in a bush near water. 
Eggs are cream or pinkish white, streaked and blotched with reddish brown. The eggs hatch in about 19 days. Both sexes incubate the eggs and take care of the chicks.


References
The Book of Indian Birds (Salim Ali)
Wikipedia

Pictures:
Thoovampallil house, Chettikulangara, Kerala(2018, 2019) 








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