Thirty-four species, and most of them spend their time on the forest floor turning over leaf litter. That is the first thing to know about photographing them and the reason they are difficult: the bird is in the darkest part of the wood, on the ground, moving through cover, and it hears you long before you see it. A thrush that is aware of you leaves in one hop and a flash of wing, and it does not come back while you are standing there.
The way in is water. In the dry months a shaded pool in forest — or a bath in a garden that backs onto forest — will draw thrushes in that will not tolerate you anywhere else, because thirst overrules caution in a way that food does not. The bird on this page is at one, perched on the rim. Set something up in shade, sit far enough back, and wait: the same individuals come in at roughly the same times, and after a few visits they stop treating the place as a risk.
They are also, as a family, among the best singers in the world, and in India that is mostly a Himalayan pleasure — the forest at dawn between March and June, when the altitudinal migrants are back on their breeding ground and every one of them is announcing it.
34Species in India
3Photographed
Forest floorWhere they feed
Water in shadeHow to bring them in
Dawn, springWhen they sing
The species
Grandala
Grandala coelicolor3 frames
Status
Resident, with altitudinal movement — descends lower in winter
Range
The high Himalaya
Habitat
Open alpine terrain, rocky slopes and ridges above the treeline
IUCN
Least Concern
The male is an unmistakable deep, almost electric cobalt-blue over the entire body, with blackish wings and tail. Females are far duller, brown with a blue wash on the wings and tail. Found in flocks on open, rocky, high-altitude ground well above the treeline, often around snow — a genuinely striking bird in a landscape with very little other colour.
FM0242
Mar 2024Sela Pass, West Kameng, Arunachal PradeshMale mid-stride on open ground, wings raised, electric blue plumage lit by low sun.
Widespread in wooded country across much of the subcontinent
Habitat
Shaded broadleaved forest and dense well-wooded gardens, feeding in leaf litter
IUCN
Least Concern
Deep orange head and underparts against slate-blue wings and mantle — unmistakable once seen, though the bird spends most of its time where it cannot be. The form in this photograph has a white face crossed by two dark vertical bars, which is the peninsular Indian population; birds in the north and east have plain orange faces without the stripes.
FM0175
Apr 2018Dandeli, Uttara Kannada, KarnatakaCome in to drink, perched on the rim of a forest water bowl.
Resident, with altitudinal movement — descends lower in winter
Range
The Himalaya from Himachal Pradesh east through Arunachal Pradesh
Habitat
Moist broadleaf and mixed forest, mid to high elevation
IUCN
Least Concern
The male is glossy black overall with a striking pale silvery-grey panel across the wing coverts, an orange-yellow bill, and an orange eye-ring — a Himalayan counterpart to the familiar Eurasian Blackbird, told apart at a glance by that grey wing panel. Females are duller brown with a less contrasting wing patch. Forages on the forest floor like other thrushes in this group, and is similarly drawn to water sources in the dry season.
FM0263
Mar 2024Eaglenest Wildlife Sanctuary, West Kameng, Arunachal PradeshPerched in profile at first light, orange bill and eye-ring catching the sun.
