Blue Faced Malkoha
The blue-faced malkoha (Phaenicophaeus viridirostris) or small green-billed malkoha, is a non-parasitic cuckoo found in the scrub and deciduous forests of peninsular India and Sri Lanka.
It has a waxy, dark, blue-grey plumage on its upperparts and has a long tail with graduated white-tipped feathers. The throat and chin are dark with spiny pale feathers that are branched. The lower belly is a dull creamy to rufous colour.
The bill is apple green, and a naked patch of blue skin surrounds the eye. The sexes are alike. The blue-faced malkoha is a bird of open forests and scrub jungle.
Me and wife have luckily spotted this unique but uncommon bird in nearby locality in Bhubaneswar and have well observed it’s behaviour continuously for 3-4 days and saw it from quite closeup.It was really awesome to watch it catching a Praying Mantis and how it swallowed it and then flue away into wilds again.
I will love to share the pictures with the writeup among my bird photographer friends and birders as well across the Globe.
#Siba_Photography