Gorgeous Grey Francolin

Lovely followers many thanks for your blessings, I hope you liked Jhalana Trip report, I hope you will plan a visit to Jaipur as well as Jhalana to accomplish mission Bharat Dekho Forest Dekho.

Today’s topic is the outcome of Jhalana forest, I was so impressed with the kind of birding this small forest offers and hence I was going through each and every photo very closely and see I managed to find a bird for you. Today we are meeting a bird that we know from childhood but when it comes to visualization, we don’t know this bird hence let me bring back old memories through this blog.

Bolo Kitne Teetar?

The well-known name is “Teetar” I am sure you remember the famous question “Teetar k agge Teetar, Teetar k Piche Teerat, toh bolo kitne Teetar? Now tell me how many know the looks of Teetar, not many for sure, now let me help you with details of our friendly bird. 

In English, it is known as Grey Francolin or Grey Partridge (old name). In Hindi, it is famous as Teetar because of their loud repeated Ka-tee-tar-tee-tar call that may be produced by more than one bird at a time.

Let’s learn habits and descriptions before we get into the fantastic facts. The grey francolin (Francolinus pondicerianus) is a species of francolin found in the plains and drier parts of the Indian subcontinent. 

The Grey Partridge inhabits dry open grass and thorny-scrub country interspersed with cultivation and avoids heavy forest and humid tracts. 

Gray Francolins are grayish-brown game birds with a short stubbed tail. They have has buff-colored spear-shaped streaks, irregular mottles, and bars of reddish-brown and black above. Grey francolin is barred throughout and the face is pale with a thin black border to the pale throat.

The grey francolin is normally found foraging on the bare or low grass-covered ground in scrub and open country.

Fantastic Facts

They are usually seen in small groups. Males have an anchor-shaped black mark on the throat that is absent in females. 

The breeding season is between April to September and the nest is a hidden scrape on the ground. The nest is a simple grass-lined scrape in the ground, in grassland, plowed fields, standing crops, or scrub jungle.

Gray Francolins are fast runners and prefer to run when approached or disturbed. They take to wing only when surprised in the bushes or when persistently chased. The flight is swift and direct, attained by rapid vibrating wing strokes.

They are weak fliers and fly short distances, escaping into the undergrowth. The bird drops into the grass again after flying a couple of hundred meters.

They feed on seeds, grains, as well as insects, particularly termites and beetles. They also eat maggots, white ants and other insects.

They roost at night up in thorny trees and bushes, and will often take shelter into these when harried in the daytime.

I am sure now you will be able to identify Teetar when you see it near you, please visit DSLR section and share your feedback with me on this blog or you can connect to me on btwildart@gmail.com

Learning of the day 

Do you know each state and union territories of our Country have their own seals and symbols which include animals, birds, trees, flowers, etc, today providing you the list of state birds of respective states for your learning, do share this information with your kids this will help them to gain GK about States as well as wildlife. 

SN	State	State Bird
1	Andhra Pradesh	Rose-ringed parakeet
2	Arunachal Pradesh	Great hornbill
3	Assam	White-winged duck
4	Bihar	House sparrow
5	Chhattisgarh	Hill myna
6	Goa	Flame-throated Bulbul
7	Gujarat	Greater flamingo
8	Haryana	Black Francolin
9	Himachal Pradesh	Western Tragopan
10	Jammu and Kashmir	Black-necked Crane
11	Jharkhand	Asian koel (Koel)
12	Karnataka	Indian roller (Neelkanth)
13	Kerala	Great hornbill
14	Madhya Pradesh	Asian paradise flycatcher
15	Maharashtra	Yellow-footed Green Pigeon
16	Manipur	Mrs. Hume’s Pheasant
17	Meghalaya	Hill myna
18	Mizoram	Mrs. Hume’s Pheasant
19	Nagaland	Blyth’s Tragopan
20	Odisha	Indian roller (Neelkanth)
21	Punjab	Northern Goshawk
22	Rajasthan	Great Indian Bustard
23	Sikkim	Blood pheasant
24	Tamil Nadu	Emerald dove
25	Telangana	Indian roller (Neelkanth)
26	Tripura	Green imperial pigeon
27	Uttar Pradesh	Sarus crane
28	Uttarakhand	Himalayan monal
29	West Bengal	White-breasted kingfisher
30	Andaman and Nicobar Islands	Andaman Woodpigeon
31	Chandigarh	Indian Grey Hornbill
32	Dadar and Nagar Haveli	NA
33	Daman and Diu	NA
34	Delhi	House sparrow
35	Lakshadweep	Sooty tern
36	Puducherry	Asian koel

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