Striated grassbird - Megalurus palustris

Common Name :	Striated grassbird.
Binomial Name :	Megalurus palustris
Family :	Locustellidae
Bengali Name :	Dagi ghashpakhi (দাগি ঘাসপাখি).
Photo Taken :	Bangladesh

Striated grassbird is a noisy and conspicuous bird that is native to South Asia and East Asia. Binomial name of the Bird is Megalurus palustris. This vocal bird resides inside the bird family Locustellidae. Previously the bird was classified as a warbler, that's why it has few common names like Striated marsh warbler, Striated canegrass warbler, etc. In Bangladesh the bird is known as 'Dagi ghashpakhi'.

Although the Striated grassbird (Megalurus palustris) looks a bit larger for its tail, but indeed it is a normal sized bird (weight around 50 gram). Upper side of the bird is brow in color and striated with black. Under side of the bird is pale or pale-brown in color (but having slightly striated near upper breast or under the throat) . Male birds are slightly larger than the female. This passerine birds are having a black bill.

Striated grassbird (Megalurus palustris) perched on a Ipomoea carnea.

Striated grassbird (Megalurus palustris) mostly lives near the grasses, bushes (i.e. reeds) around wetlands. They often seen perched over the top of shrubby plants. During the dry season their color can give a camouflage with the grasses, but their noisy call reveals them easily. This bird mostly feed on the small insects (and larvae) from the ground (i.e. spiders). Striated grassbird prefers to make their nest inside the tall grasses and bushes.

Having a wide range of this bird across Asia, this bird is still not under a threat for extinction. But in some countries (i.e. Bangladesh) this bird is losing their habit for human population growth.

A Striated grassbird (Megalurus palustris) is preening.

Photos of Striated grassbird (Megalurus palustris) were taken from the following locations of Bangladesh.
1. December 2014: Sreemangal.
2. January 2015: Munshiganj.


This article has written by Lonely Traveler,
for the blog http://icbird.blogspot.com/