Indian Blackbird

TIJn1us stmlllfmus

Beak

—

Feet

—

Crest

No crest

Resident. Hills of peninsula and Sri Lanka. Variable. Male Im. nig10pileus/spencei/simillimus have brownish slate - grey upperparts. with darker brown to blackish crown and ear - coverts resulting in capped effect (especially in nigropi/eusJ and underparts are paler brownish-grey, with whitish lower belly and undertail-coverts in spencei. All have distinct eye-ring and patch of orange post-orbital skin, and orange legs and feet. Females are more uniform brown, with paler underparts; lack distinct dark malar of female Ti ckell's Thrush. Juveniles have bullish underparts with broad dark barring and spotting, and indistinct buff shaft streaking on upparparts. Males of Im. bourdilloni(SW peninsula) and Im. kinnisii (Sri Lanka) are uniform slate-grey (purer bluish-grey in kinnisi1). Bare parts of kinnisii can be bright red. Female bourdil/oni is fairly uniform olive-brown, with warmer buffish olive-brown on breast and a slightly paler (and diffusely streaked) throat. Female kinnisi iis similar to male. but duller and browner. Moist forest, sholas and wooded ravines.