rufous vented prinia by Pratim Das

Comments

Login or register to add a comment

No comments

PAKHI DEKHUN PAKHI CHINUN (Observe the Bird and recognize)...RUFOUS VENTED PRINIA...[From a Photograph of ATANU MONDAL]....WATERCOLOUR...A4...2013...The Rufous-vented Prinia or Long-tailed Grass Warbler (Prinia burnesii) is a small warbler. As treated here, this prinia is found only in the plains of the Indus in Pakistan and adjacent in Punjab (India). (However, the Swamp Prinia of Assam and Bangladesh is often combined with this species.) It inhabits a variety of long grasslands, notably plains of sarkhan (Saccharum) but also plains of elephant grass and ekra grass, sometimes where mixed with acacias and tamarisks. It can even occur in deserts with scattered patches of tall grass, and reedbeds. It prefers the vicinity of large rivers and their tributaries or swamps. Its conservation status is rated at Near Threatened. It is locally common or abundant in the Punjab and northern Sindh but much rarer in southern Sindh. Rufous-vented Prinias average 17 cm long (large for a prinia) with a wing length from the bend to the tip of 5.3 (females) or 5.5 (males) to 5.9 cm. Adults are a cool brown colour above except that a buffy region on the back of the neck and upper back forms a distinct collar. Bold dark streaking starts at the forehead and fades on the back. The underparts are whitish with a tawny hue and dark streaking on the flanks. The undertail coverts are bright rufous or chestnut. The upper surface of the wings has barring formed by the covert feathers and their paler fringes. The wing linings are a faintly tawny off-white. The flight feathers of the wings are greyish-brown; when the wing is folded, the primaries barely extend beyond the tertials. Those of the tail may be greyish or olive-brown and have rufous tips. The tail is long (8.7 to 11.5 cm) and strongly graduated, that is, the outermost pair of feathers is only one-third as long as the central pair. The head shows a conspicuous white eye-ring, whitish lores, and dark-streaked whitish cheeks. The upper