- Prinia socialis
Identification
13-14 cm
- Ash grey above
- Black eye stripe
- White underparts
- Yellow flanks
- Short rounded wings
- Long tail - in non-breeding plumage; tail is significantly shorter in breeding plumage.
- Strong legs
- Short black bill
Sexes identical. Male develops a blacker bill and mouth in the breeding season;
Distribution
Asia: found in Nepal, Pakistan, India, Eastern and Western Himalayas, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh
Taxonomy
Subspecies
There are 4 subspecies[1]:
- P. s. stewarti:
- P. s. inglisi:
- North-eastern India to Sikkim, Bhutan, Assam and Bangladesh
- P. s. socialis:
- Peninsular India
- P. s. brevicauda:
Habitat
Wetlands, scrub, grasslands and gardens up to 400 feet
Behaviour
Diet
The diet includes insects.
Breeding
The nest is formed from leaves stitched together with webs and hair, it's placed close to the ground in a shrub or tall grass. Three to five pointed oval very glossy, chestnut or red eggs are laid. Both parents share incubation and feeding the young.
Vocalisation
The song is a repetitive tchup, tchup, tchup or zeet-zeet-zeet.
<flashmp3>ashy_prinia_alok.mp3</flashmp3>
Listen in an external program
Recording by Alok Tewari
Sultanpur Village, Dist. Gurgaon, Haryana, India, Aug.-2016
Call given just before Sunset, in farmland and adjacent wilderness and Tamarisk scrub.
References
- Clements, JF. 2011. The Clements Checklist of Birds of the World. 6th ed., with updates to August 2011. Ithaca: Cornell Univ. Press. ISBN 978-0801445019. Spreadsheet available at http://www.birds.cornell.edu/clementschecklist/downloadable-clements-checklist
- Avibase
- Wikipedia
Recommended Citation
- BirdForum Opus contributors. (2024) Ashy Prinia. In: BirdForum, the forum for wild birds and birding. Retrieved 27 April 2024 from https://www.birdforum.net/opus/Ashy_Prinia
External Links
