Brown Prinia
Prinia polychroa
A dull and poorly marked prinia with a strong bill and a long, graduated tail. Light brown above with faint dark streaking. Pale below, sometimes with some dark smudging along the sides of the breast. Found at low and moderate elevations in open dry forest, shrubby areas, and forest or agricultural edges. Can be retiring and difficult to see in dense vegetation. Sings two different song types: a dry rolling trill and a repeated two-syllabled “tulip.” Separated from other prinias by its overall plainness and lack of contrasting head markings.
Taxonomy
- Scientific name
- Prinia polychroa
- Authority
- (Temminck, 1828)
- Order
- Passeriformes
- Family
- Cisticolidae
- Genus
- Prinia
Range and habitat
- Migration
- Vertical migration
Conservation
- Population trend
- stable
Photos
Bird Calls
Other Birds

Yellow-breasted Bowerbird
Chlamydera lauterbachi
A rather drab bowerbird of forest edge and cultivation from the lowlands to the mid-mountains. Olive-brown back and wings with pale-edged feathers giving a scaled effect. Yellow belly, streaky throat and face. Makes a unique 4-walled bower. Similar to Fawn-breasted Bowbird, but Yellow-breasted Bowerbird has a yellow rather than buffy belly and an unstreaked crown. Call, a loud, downward “kyew!”.

San Blas Jay
Cyanocorax sanblasianus
Handsome blue-and-black jay of tropical forests, woodlands, and gardens endemic to west Mexico. Usually in small groups, which can be noisy and conspicuous or very quiet and easily overlooked; often with Yellow-winged Caciques. Around the town of San Blas (in Nayarit, Mexico), appreciably larger Purplish-backed Jay occurs at southern end of its range (and northern end of San Blas Jay’s range). Purplish-backed is deep purplish blue on back and tail, not strikingly two-toned blue-and-black like San Blas Jay, and has bright yellow legs. Voices also very different. Purplish-backed occurs in mangroves and adjacent woodlands in and around town while San Blas Jay occurs in foothill forest of coffee plantations south of town.

Sri Lanka Blue-Magpie
Urocissa ornata
A large, long-tailed blue bird with a white-tipped tail, and chestnut hood and wings. Inhabits humid forest from lowlands to hills, where it often accompanies mixed canopy flocks, either singly or in small groups. There are no other large, long-tailed blue birds in its range. A noisy species. Sounds typically a series of high-pitched, piercing “clink” calls, as well as some rasping “krak” notes often given in a sequence.
Start Your Bird Watching Journey
Identify a bird outdoors and keep the field guide close for your next observation.