Friends in My Garden- 29

Ashy Prinia

Ashy prinia

Ashy prinia (Prinia socialis) is a small song bird with shrill, repetitive song.  Pairs of these used to frequent my garden. Agile and chirpy, they forage among the foliage for insects.

Ashy prinia is a very common bird in farmlands and urban gardens. I have seen them fighting for space with sunbirds in my garden.

I was lucky to have them build nests in my garden. Nests were built on low shrubs and ferns. They are round and cup shaped, made of plant materials and soft cottony hairs of seeds and cobweb. The eggs are dark reddish brown

It was a pleasure to see the parent birds training their fledglings to fly!

A nest in my garden

A nest among ferns

Singing Ashy prinia

Friends in My Garden- 28

Colourful Moths

Wasp moth

Presenting two moths today. Moths are generally dull in appearance but here are two exceptions.

Wasp moth (Amata passalis)  is very colourful with orange and black bands on the abdomen and orangish spots on the wings. The pictures were clicked on my terrace. This moth is reported to be seen in S. India and Sri Lanka.

Another brightly coloured moth, found in the same geographical region is commonly known as Footman moth (Nepita conferta). The antennae of this species are highly branched and has a feathery appearance.

I located him on my backyard tree, relaxing and allowed me to take many pictures.

Another view of wasp moth

Footman moth

Footman moth- another image

Friends in My Garden- 27

Purple-rumped Sunbird

Purple-rumped sunbird (male)

These cute little birdies are my companions in the garden; twittering and feeding on the nectar of Hibiscus flowers, flowers of Moringa tree and others.

The purple-rumped sunbird (Leptocoma zeylonica) is endemic to the Indian Subcontinent. They feed mainly on nectar but sometimes take insects, particularly when feeding young. These sunbirds build a hanging nest with cobwebs, lichens and plant materials.

Males are brightly coloured but females are olive grey above and yellow to buff below. I see them always in pairs and the couple has built a nest on a tree next to my home. They are very agile and keep moving all the while!

The female bird

Collecting material for the nest

The nest