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Project Noah Nature School
Orthotomus sutorius
The common tailorbird (Orthotomus sutorius) is a songbird found across tropical Asia. Popular for its nest made of leaves "sewn" together. This little bird has a long upright tail, greenish upper body plumage and rust coloured forehead and crown.
A new visitor to my garden...
Immortalized by Rudyard Kipling in his Jungle Book, it is a common resident in urban gardens. Tailorbirds get their name from the way their nest is constructed. The edges of a large leaf are pierced and sewn together with plant fibre or spider silk to make a cradle in which the actual nest is built.
Spotted on Nov 5, 2014
Submitted on Nov 5, 2014
10 Comments
Looked for the nest but couldn't find it, and haven't seen the bird again since I got back...
Or maybe this one is Mummy! The nest is really neatly sown...better than the raggedy stuff I used to make in needlework class. Hope you find one and the chicks are minuscule.
thanks Sukanya... cute little bird!
Pamsai, This looks like the normal length of the tail...This is what I found in Wikipedia " The sexes are identical, except that the male has long central tail feathers in the breeding season, although the reliability of sexing data accompanying museum specimens used in determining this sexual dimorphism has been questioned." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Common_tail...
I have a photo taken in Delhi (not very good though) where the long tail is evident.
Wiki says they breed in the wet season and we are 2 -3 weeks into monsoon here.
Thanks Sukanya. So this means this one might not be breeding? Don't know how long the tail normally is... but it doesn't look that long here...
Thanks Viv. This is the first time I have seen this little one in my garden. There were a pair, so I'll look for a nest.
During the breeding season, the male's tail becomes really elongated...at least it did so in Delhi, India. :)
This is one of my spottings. http://www.projectnoah.org/spottings/148... They made a nest in a climber attached to the side of the house .... had 4 chicks. I've still got the nest .. very tidy piece of tailoring : )
That's a Tailorbird Pam. we have them in the garden here in Thailand.