| Common Name : | Common tailorbird. |
| Binomial Name : | Orthotomus sutorius |
| Family : | Cisticolidae |
| Bengali Name : | Tuntuni pakhi ( |
| Photo Taken : | Bangladesh |
There are lot of birds in nature which are varies in shapes and sizes. Amongst those birds, few are very small in size. Our today's bird Common tailorbird is one such of those. It is a very restless and cute little bird. In Bangladesh we have plenty of this bird in the village area. It is native to the Asia.
Binomial name of the bird is Orthotomus sutorius and belongs to the family Cisticolidae. The species name actually means the cobbler, But interestingly the common name is Tailor-bird. And to justify the name, this bird is a master of tailoring its nest. In Bengali we call this bird as Tuntuni pakhi.
Common tailorbird (Orthotomus sutorius) is a very small bird that is found around the vegetation mostly. They mostly prefer to live around the bushes and small plants. I have never seen them perching on top of a large tree. This little bird is too shy but yet live very close to the humans as well. You can be in a 2-3 feet distance from the bird easily. But the bird will keep jumping and hopping from one branch to another around you.
The weight of this small bird is probably around 6-10 grams. They are mostly having a dark brown or greenish brown back with having a touch of bright olive greenish plumage. Under part (throat, breast, vent) of the bird is whitish or dull whitish in color. The tail is mostly pointed to upwards. Feet are noticeably long compare to the size of the bird and having a light pinkish color. Color of the thighs are rufous.
A Common tailor bird is foraging around the Mignonette tree.
The crown of the bird is having slightly rufous. Both male and female birds are similar in outlook. They produce a cheep cheep or tweet tweet calls frequently and loudly throughout the days. Although they mostly hides inside the leafs and bushes, but this distinct call actually reveals their presence!
Common tailorbird (Orthotomus sutorius) is famous for its ability to make beautiful nests by sewing the leafs (though there are few other birds make such nests). They use a single or multiple leafs (thick or leathery and slightly bigger) and simply bend the leaf and then sew at the margin of the leafs (making like a cup). They are so masterful in this art that the process (puncturing and sewing) doesn't destroy the leaf. Inside the cup is filled with nesting materials like other birds and then the lay the eggs inside the cup. The upper surface of the leaf actually provides the bird's nest a nice camouflage. Both male and female prepare the nest, and their needle like beak is very helpful to do so. A couple requires 3-5 days to complete the whole nest!
A pair of Common tailorbird.
Common tailorbird (Orthotomus sutorius) is an insectivore. They found single or in a pair while foraging. They mainly look for the insects and bugs from the tree and flowers. Their breeding season is mainly the wet season. The clutch mostly gets three to four eggs. They sometimes parasitized by the Plaintive cuckoo bird.
A pair of Common tailorbird.
In Bangladesh the naughty kids very often locate the nest of this bird as they build their nest very near to the ground level. In my opinion these poor kids are the main threat for this bird.
Photos of Common tailorbird (Orthotomus sutorius) were taken from Bangladesh as mentioned below:
1. November 2014: Banani, Dhaka.
2. February 2015: Rupganj, Narayanganj.
This article has written by Lonely Traveler,
for the blog http://icbird.blogspot.com/
Comments
Post a Comment