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As posted on Delhibird Yahoo! mailing list on December 23, 2002:
During a short birding session at the Rose Garden (Hauz Khas, New Delhi) this afternoon, I caught a brief glimpse of a bird which I first thought was a Brahminy Starling. On closer observation, it turned out to be an Orange-headed Thrush (Zoothera citrina), a rare bird in our area. Here are the details:
Habitat:
Moist forest (with a stream or rather a nullah running through it) with dense undergrowth.
Size:
About the same as a Myna
Plumage / appearance details:
• Deep yellow underparts
• Chestnut orange head
• Short blackish bill (whitish at the base)
• Black eyes
• A slight black patch right next to the eye on ear coverts
• Slight streaking on throat
• Brownish Grey Mantle and wings (folded)
• Grey tail
• A strong whitish wing bar
• Reddish Legs
• White vent
So it seems the bird I saw was a Female (distinguished from the male by a brownish mantle – which is bluish grey in the male), it was sitting singly on a branch (about 4 m above the ground). It hardly moved and as I tried to get close, it flew to a nearby tree and again sat motionless, sometimes moving it’s head. I had good views of both the front and back sides of the bird.
As this is a rare bird in our area, before sending this e-mail to the group I consulted an experienced birder (Mr. Suresh C. Sharma) who confirmed that there has been one previous record of this bird from Delhi, and one from Haryana.
(This bird record was included in the 2002 regional bird list for the Delhi region, prepared by Vivek Tiwari.)
