Wednesday 20 July 2011

Eetkili-kalam,Thamarakozhi

SIZE: About that of the Partridge
A leggy swamp bird, something like the moorhen, with glossy black head and breast, metallic greenish bronze back and wings, and chestnut-red stub tail. A broad white stripe from the eye to the nape. Sexes alike. Young birds chiefly whitish, ruffoous and brown. The outstanding feature of the Jacanas-this species and the next is their absurdly elongated spider like toes. Resident. Not common, but frequent.Its food consists of seeds and shoots of water-plants, as well as insects and molluscs. Eggs-normally 4, very glossy and handsome, bronze-brown with an irregular network of dark brown scrawls. Average SIZE 36.4x25.1mm. The female is polyandrous. The male incubates the eggs and looks after the young