Green Cochoa   Cochoa virdis

Etymology

• Cochoa : Nepalese name Cocho

• Virdis : Latin word for Green

Vernacular name: Lepcha: Lo-nyum-pho, Nepal: Cocho

Distribution in India: Resident of Himalayas and North East Indian hills.

Description: Size of 25–28 cm; weight of male 88–99 g, weight of female 117–122 g. The male is mainly mossy green, with shiny mid-blue crown and nape, slightly darker blue face, bluish towards centre of underparts, especially on throat and belly. It has broad silvery-blue wingpanel offset by black bars and tips. It has deeper silvery-blue tail with broad black terminal band; bill is black and legs are pinkish. The female is like male, but with more bronzy-green body and bronzy-green staining on wingpanels. The juvenile has a wing pattern similar to adult, but heavily white-barred blackish crown, brownish body with heavy rufous-buff flecking above, heavy scaling below.

Habitat: It is found in dense moist broadleaf evergreen forest, often near small streams, in various strata, including undergrowth, but mainly in canopy and middle storey. It is found at 700–1800 m.

Food habits: It eats berries, insects and molluscs. It forages, often in pairs or small flocks, in trees and undergrowth, occasionally on ground. It sally-hawks for insects from treetop.

Breeding habits: They breed in May–Jul in Himalayas. The nest is a shallow cup placed above ground in fork of small tree, often near water. They lay a clutch of 2–4 eggs.