- Prinia inornata
Identification
11 cm (4½ in)
Breeding
- Greyish-brown upperparts
- White supercilium
- Reddish fringes on closed wing
- Whitish underparts
- Short rounded wings
- Long tail
- Short black bill
Non-breeding
- Warmish brown upperparts
- Buff underparts
- Tail is longer than in summer
Silmilar Species:
Jungle Prinia (Prinia sylvatica): Differentiated by larger size; longer and stouter bill; longer tail; diffused and shorter supercilium and call.
Distribution
Asia: found in China, Tibet, Nepal
South Asia: Pakistan, India, Eastern and Western Himalayas, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Taiwan
Southeast Asia: Indochina, Myanmar, Laos, Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand, Indonesia, Greater Sundas, Java, Lesser Sundas, Bali
Taxonomy
Subspecies
There are 10 subspecies[1]:
- P. i. terricolor: Eastern Baluchistan to Pakistan and north-western India
- P. i. inornata: Central and peninsular India (south to southern Madras)
- P. i. franklinii: Southern India (south-western Mysore, Kerala and hills of western and southern Madras)
- P. i. insularis: Sri Lanka
- P. i. fusca: Nepal to Sikkim, Bhutan, Assam and Bangladesh
- P. i. extensicauda: Southern China to northern Laos, northern Vietnam and Hainan
- P. i. blanfordi: Myanmar and northern Thailand
- P. i. herberti: Southern Myanmar and southern Thailand to southern Laos, Cambodia and southern Vietnam
- P. i. flavirostris: Taiwan
- P. i. blythi: Java
Habitat
Shrubby grassland, mudflats, all types of damp grassland, agricultural crops, open woodland and second growth. They are also seen in gardens.
Behaviour
Diet
Their diet consists mostly of insects, including grasshoppers.
Breeding
The nest is placed in a shrub or tall grass; the clutch consists of 3-6 eggs.
Vocalisation
Song: a repetitive tlee-tlee-tlee.
Vocalisation
Recording by Alok Tewari
Gurgaon Rural, Haryana India, February-2017
Call by one individual just after daybreak, early spring season. Occasional brief calls by house sparrow and sound of an airplane passing overhead in the latter part of the recording.
References
- Clements, J. F., T. S. Schulenberg, M. J. Iliff, D. Roberson, T. A. Fredericks, B. L. Sullivan, and C. L. Wood. 2017. The eBird/Clements checklist of birds of the world: v2017, with updates to August 2017. Downloaded from http://www.birds.cornell.edu/clementschecklist/download/
- Avibase
- Handbook of the Birds of the World Alive (retrieved October 2015)
- Wikipedia
- BF Member observations
Recommended Citation
- BirdForum Opus contributors. (2021) Plain Prinia. In: BirdForum, the forum for wild birds and birding. Retrieved 14 May 2021 from https://www.birdforum.net/wiki/Plain_Prinia
External Links
