Description
The Brown Rock Chat is larger than the somewhat similar looking Indian Robin and is about 17 cm long. It is uniformly rufous brown with the wings and tail of a slightly darker shade. The brown on the undersides grades into a dark grey-brown vent. In flight it resembles a female Blue Rock Thrush thrush and is usually found singly or in pairs on old buildings or rocky areas. The sexes are indistinguishable in the field. When feeding on the ground it sometimes flicks open its wings and tail. It also has a habit of slowly raising its tail slightly, fanning it and bobbing its head. They feed mainly on insects, picked off the ground. They have been known to feed late and forage on insects attracted to artificial lighting.
They have a wide repertoire of calls. Nearly eight different kinds of calls have been noted and these include territorial calls, begging call, feeding call, alarm call, threat call, contact call, distress call, roosting and emergence calls. The usual call is a short whistling chee delivered with a rapid bob and stretch and the alarm call is a harsh chek-check. The song is thrush like with a number of notes, often including imitations of the songs of other bird species including the Yellow-eyed Babbler, Smaller Grey Cuckoo-Shrike and Tickell's Blue Flycatcher.
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