An encounter with a friendly treepie
Omnivorous and opportunistic in feeding, the Rufous treepie is a pleasant visitor to our young correspondent, as she recounts her encounter with the bird during her vacation in Ranthambore.
My family and I went to Ranthambore National Park in the summer of 2018. Since we were enjoying our sojourn into the jungle, the hot weather did not bother us much. We saw a variety of animal and bird species. Some birds were huge and the other birds were small. Generally, birds are not friendly in India, but the scene was different in Ranthambore that day.
A bird species called Rufous treepie(Dendrocittavagabunda) is one of the most friendly species in the wild. A member of the crow family, Corvidae, this bird has a black head, a long tail with black and white stripes, and a pale yellow body. It is blessed with a sharp curved beak. The bird’s call is loud but oddly silver. Its loud musical call made it conspicuous and easy to spot. Wherever we went, a bird of the same species sat on a branch and watched us. When we were eating a biscuit, the bird slowly sat on my sister’s arm and ate the biscuit. It was so delightful to watch the bird.
The range of this species is quite large, covering all of mainland India up to the Himalayas, Pakistan and southeasterly in a broad band into Bangladesh, Myanmar, Laos, and Thailand in open forest consisting of scrublands, plantations and other agricultural areas as well as urban gardens.