The Bristled Grassbird is a small passerine bird also called Bristled Grass Warbler. This species is endemic to the Indian Subcontinent and known to be patchily distributed in Indian Subcontinent. I photographed and bagged this bird as a lifer today in Jawaharpur, Punjab. Wiki lists this bird as insectivorous bird that skulk in dense and tall grasslands, often in marshy areas. The bird was considered to be sedentary, the species is now considered to be migratory, moving south and east in the Indian peninsula during winter and returning to their breeding grounds in the Northern plains south of the Himalayas.
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| The first sight of the bird in Jawaharpur, Punjab |
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| This bird flew overhead to investigate when I played the call. |
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| One last sight after we planned to moved on - after the two odd hour appointment |
This is a warbler - that is large and brownish with broad dark streaks to the feathers of the crown and back and can appear almost babbler like in appearance. The tail is graduated and has dark ribs to the feathers the are visible in the first picture.
This bird has a bare patch of skin in front of the eyes on which a vertical row of five stiff rictal bristles arise and face forward. The bare skin is flexible and it is thought that the bristles provide protection to the eye as the bird scampers between the dense and rough grass back and formisn a kind of cage or visor over the eyes. The sexes are similar.
The species is threatened by the destruction of grassland and marshland habitats.
2 comments:
Great! But the alarming thing is that this species is threatened by the destruction of grassland and marshland habitats. The species was thought to be mainly sedentary with movements related to the rains but they may be migratory, breeding along the riverine plains south of the Himalayas and wintering further east and south in the peninsula of India. Extinction has been a great concern for the birder.
I agree - +Birdingscopestalk - this is a fact - destruction of habitat now is bigger problem than anything else like hunting and all. I wish this was not true but it is so. The man and his greed is far too much to satiate ...
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