Wagtail

Walking up to the Helipad at Saiha, on an invigorating Saiha morning, i saw a beautiul bird, the plummage of which appeared to have been splashed with beautiful strokes of black and white by a painter. After i moved up to the Helipad, and had been there for little less than an hour, i saw a similar bird (doubt it was the same one).


Checking up in the books, after having seen it patiently with my binoculars, I saw it was the ~
English : White Wagtail (Motacilla alba leucopsis)
Mizo: Khawmual chinrang.
Date was 16th September 2008 and the time about 5.45am.

I saw it (on the approach road to the Helipad) fluttering. It flew about 2 to 3 feet above the ground and then barely settled before setting off again. This I saw it repeat about 10 times before it flew away. Whether it was catching insects during these flights I could not see with my binoculars but the rains have enabled wild growth on both sides of the road that harbour insects.

It however noticed ~

a. eyes that appeared like black spots on a white face.

b. breast that had a black colour marking resembling a heart.

c. “V” markings on the tail.

Of the bird lists made for Saiha and the Blue Mountain National Park, nearest PA; (and accessed by me) only one of them by Sudhir Shivaram (http://www.thejunglelook.com/) mentions the White wagtail. While Salim Ali’s The Book of Indian Birds says of this “Winter visitor arriving about September / October, departing March/ April”.

I got ready to welcome other winged winter visitors.

For Details ~
Samrakshan ~ Saiha ~ Email: Nimesh.ved@gmail.com.
Phone: (mizo) Manuna 94363 93394 and (english) Nimesh 94361 56458.