Underneath The Mango Tree

Discover the sweet rituals of courtship and nesting materials sharing between a pair of Orange-headed thrushes.

- Samrat Sarkar

It was a sojourn that lasted a few moments last summer, under the canopy of a mango tree, and on the ground where sunrays were playing hide and seek with the dry leaves in my village. One was the King and the other, his Queen. Their

conjugal life was as colourful as their deep and bright orange-coloured bodies. Surprised? Confused? Allow me to elaborate.

The ‘King’ and the ‘Queen’ in my story are actually a pair of birds known as the Orange-headed thrush (Zoothera citrina), also called Dama in Bengali. This Citrina sub-species of the OHT is found across the north eastern Himalayan foothills. Another subspecies called caynotus looks a bit different with white patches on either side of their eyes, and are found across southern India.

The Orange-headed thrush is not very popular as a pet in India but is in high demand in South-East Asian countries, where these birds are commercially reared in Java and Indonesia. Known to be marvelous singers, the birds feature in famous ornithologist Salim Ali’s book Handbook of the Birds of India and Pakistan where he quotes: “A typical Thrush song, loud, sweet and variable with some very high pitched notes, reminiscent of the Blackbird’s; contains many successive repetition of strophes (as a European Song Thrush, Turdus philomelos) and faithful imitations of other birds’ songs and call. Uttered chiefly in the morning and evening while sitting motionless, wings drooping at the sides and tail held low; usually given from low trees or down in dense cover.”

I have never heard them sing very loudly. The male and the female look similar, barring one difference; the back of the male is grey while that of the female is brownish grey.