Description

It’s a medium-sized and a fairly common bird. It has got long legs and a stub tail. Adult has a dark slaty-grey upperside and a white underside. It has rusty-red patch under the tail. Juveniles have a duller color than the adults. Sexes are alike.

Its habitat consist of swampy ground, reeds and tangles of bush on the margins of jheels and ponds. It is usually shy and resents observation. It is resident throughout Indian sub continent.

It usually feeds on insects, mollusks, seeds and vegetable matters.

It is usually silent except breeding season which lasts from June to October.Call begins with loud raucous grunts, croaks and chuckles. Female lays eggs numbering 6-7. Eggs are cream or pinkish-white in color with some shade of reddish-brown. Eggs are long and smooth oval in shape.

They build shallow cup shaped nests padded with twigs, creeper stems and flags of bulrushes. They place the nest either on the ground near the water, or in the interior of a bush or small tree.

Reference:

• Salim Ali, Book of Indian Birds
• ebird