White-collared Blackbird

White-collared Blackbird  Turdus albocinctus

Etymology:

• Turdus : Latin word for Thrush
• Albocinctus : Latin word albus –white; cinctus –banded 

Vernacular Names:Hindi: Kundookastura, Pahari: Charchar

Distribution in India: Resident of Himalayas and North East India

Description: Size of 25-27 cm.The male is black, with very broad white collar extending from chin to mid-breast and around lower nape and upper mantle. They have thin whitish lines and bars on undertail-coverts; eyering is yellow, bill is yellow and legs are yellowish-brown. The female mirrors male pattern but is variable, upperparts generally brown and head is darker, the underparts are slightly paler and collar is greyish-white or buffish-white.

Habitat: It breeds along edges and in glades mainly in lower reaches of conifer zone, spruce-birch, oak and rhododendron forest with rich undergrowth, dwarf rhododendron at tree-line. Found from 2100 to 4000 m in Himalayas.

Food habits: It eats invertebrates including earthworms  and insects, also fruit, drupes and berries. It is dependent more on vegetable material in winter. It forages on ground and in trees; in winter also near villages and on grass in gardens, sometimes in large flocks with other thrushes.

Breeding habits: They breed in Mar–Jul in Himalayas. The nest is a compact large cup of moss, grass, rootlets and stems, lined with dry grass and rootlets, placed up on branch in tree or on mossy stump. They lay a clutch of 3–4 eggs.