That flash of blue!

This boldly coloured forager is a favourite of birders for its attractive plumage

March 31, 2015 07:07 pm | Updated 07:08 pm IST

ONE FOR THE CAMERA Tickell's Blue Flycatcher prefers to hunt from its perch on a branch Photo: Swaroop Bharadwaj

ONE FOR THE CAMERA Tickell's Blue Flycatcher prefers to hunt from its perch on a branch Photo: Swaroop Bharadwaj

Tickell's Blue Flycatcher (Cyornis tickelliae) is difficult to spot in the city, but can be found on the outskirts. A small bird in the flycatcher family, it is an insectivorous species which breeds in tropical Asia, from the Indian Subcontinent eastwards to Southeast Asia. A small perching bird which is blue on the upperparts and the throat and breast are a reddish brown.

Vasanth Joshi famed for his bird pictures which appear in The National Geographic says, “Tickell’s Blue Flycatcher is one of my favourite birds. It is tiny, cute, active and very colourful and has a lovely musical call. I generally go to Nandi Hills to sight this bird, and the last time I saw this was in Ranganathittu Bird Sanctuary. It really gave me a hard time trying to get a nice shot in the light.”

Information from online birding sites describe the bird as being around 11–12 cm long. The birds forage in the undergrowth. The male has dark blue upperparts; the throat, breast and flanks are orange fading into the white belly. The female is duller blue with a brighter blue brow, shoulder, rump and tail.

Pronoy Baidya an avid birder said, “I observed this pretty bird, sitting on a perch for a long time, before swooping down and picking up a small frog. The frog was killed and swallowed whole.” The flycatcher according to bird watchers, sometimes feed after dusk on flying insects and occasionally crawling insects.

Devika Rani, who lives on St Johns Road, says when she is out with a group of birders, “A flash of deep blue gets all the birders focus their binoculars or get their cameras rolling. The flycatcher is slightly larger than sparrow in size but not as common. I guess you should be lucky to see one. The fly catcher species of birds are very boldly coloured and very attractive.”

Tickell’s blue flycatcher repeatedly hunt from their perch on a branch,” says Swaroop. G. Bharadwaj. “The first time I wanted to specifically photograph this bird, I decided to go to Nandi hills, and it appeared for my camera. I have seen this bird in the Cavery wildlife sanctuary, Nandi hills, and the Bannerghatta area. They are usually present in dense scrub, canopies, wooded areas, bamboo clumps and have a beautiful call too. These birds prefer open perches and allow you to get closer to take the picture. But, one should have enough patience to get good pictures as the bird poses only if its feels safe.”

0 / 0
Sign in to unlock member-only benefits!
  • Access 10 free stories every month
  • Save stories to read later
  • Access to comment on every story
  • Sign-up/manage your newsletter subscriptions with a single click
  • Get notified by email for early access to discounts & offers on our products
Sign in

Comments

Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.

We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of The Hindu and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.