Birds Around Me 0046 - Pied Bushchat काला पिद्दा (Saxicola caprata)

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Pied Bushchat (काला पिद्दा) - Saxicola caprata
Male Pied Bushchat (काला पिद्दा) - Saxicola caprata

The Pied Bushchat काला पिद्दा (Saxicola caprata) is slightly smaller than the Oriental Magpie Robin दहियर, काली सुई चिड़िया (Copsychus saularis), about the size of a sparrow.  Although it has a similar dumpy structure and upright stance. The male is jet-black except for a white rump, wing patch and lower belly. The white patch on the wings is more prominent in flight. The female Pied Bushchat काला पिद्दा (Saxicola caprata) is plain earth-brown with a pale rust coloured rump. 

Often seen in open countryside and around cultivation, perched on bushtops and reed stems. It makes frequent little darts to the ground to pick up a fly, moth or a bug. Its sorties are very similar to fly-catchers.

Among the Toda people in the Nilgiris, the pied bushchat or kāŗpiłc, is a bird of omen and the origin of its white wing patches is described in a story of a dairy priest who in the ritual of churning milk forgot to remove the churning stick before fetching water from a stream. The bird attempted to obstruct him by blocking his path but he disregarded it and flicked off butter from his hands. The white spots remained but priest met his death. The Kotas of the Nilgiris have an origin story to explain the sexual dimorphism of the pied bushchat but they consider the "karyvaky" bird to be one that foretells good omen

Birds Around Me - Unfinished List (अपूर्ण  सूची) 

-- Ashutosh Jhureley @BirdsAroundMe

Female Pied Bushchat (काला पिद्दा) - Saxicola caprata Sanjivini Nagar, Jabalpur, India January 2018
Female Pied Bushchat (काला पिद्दा) - Saxicola caprata 
Sanjivini Nagar, Jabalpur, India
January 2018


Brown rock chat or Indian chat (शमा) - Oenanthe fusca
Female Pied Bushchat (काला पिद्दा) - Saxicola caprata 
Taken on June 26, 2018
Location: Sanjivini Nagar, Jabalpur, India (Latitude: 23.172826, Longitude: 79.881881) 

Male Pied Bushchat (काला पिद्दा) - Saxicola caprata
Male Pied Bushchat (काला पिद्दा) - Saxicola caprata

Male Pied Bushchat (काला पिद्दा) - Saxicola caprata
Male Pied Bushchat (काला पिद्दा) - Saxicola caprata

Male Pied Bushchat (काला पिद्दा) - Saxicola caprata
Male Pied Bushchat (काला पिद्दा) - Saxicola caprata

Male Pied Bushchat (काला पिद्दा) - Saxicola caprata
Male Pied Bushchat (काला पिद्दा) - Saxicola caprata

Male Pied Bushchat (काला पिद्दा) - Saxicola caprata
Male Pied Bushchat (काला पिद्दा) - Saxicola caprata


Male Pied Bushchat (काला पिद्दा) - Saxicola caprata
Male Pied Bushchat (काला पिद्दा) - Saxicola caprata

Male Pied Bushchat (काला पिद्दा) - Saxicola caprata
Male Pied Bushchat (काला पिद्दा) - Saxicola caprata

Male Pied Bushchat (काला पिद्दा) - Saxicola caprata
Male Pied Bushchat (काला पिद्दा) - Saxicola caprata

Pied Bushchat (काला पिद्दा) - Saxicola caprata
Female Pied Bushchat (काला पिद्दा) - Saxicola caprata

Pied Bushchat (काला पिद्दा) - Saxicola caprata
Male Pied Bushchat (काला पिद्दा) - Saxicola caprata

Pied Bushchat (काला पिद्दा) - Saxicola caprata
Male Pied Bushchat (काला पिद्दा) - Saxicola caprata

Brown rock chat or Indian chat (शमा) - Oenanthe fusca
Female Pied Bushchat (काला पिद्दा) - Saxicola caprata

Brown rock chat or Indian chat (शमा) - Oenanthe fusca
Female Pied Bushchat (काला पिद्दा) - Saxicola caprata

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