Prinias

Prinias are small passerine, insectivorous birds which sometimes referred to as Wren-Warblers. Like most Warblers these birds prefer dense bushes and long scrubs due to which they are a nightmare to locate. Like Warblers, they are heard heard more often seen.

But unlike their relatives, their identification is not a nightmare because of their plumage. Also there body structure pretty different from the stocky, short-tailed Warblers. Prinias have a sleek body design with short wings, long bill and a long and thin tail.

There is little or no sexual dimorphism in Prinias. Males and Females look alike. Colouration of most of the Prinias is brown or grey above and whitish below.

Prinias are highly vocal birds, constantly calling while feeding in the dense bushes and scrubs.

Prinias are chiefly resident birds and don’t migrate over long distances. They may migrate migrate locally in cold weather but most of them don’t indulge in intercontinental migrations.

These birds are mostly solitary or seen in pairs. But, non-breeding birds may form small groups.

Plain Prinia and Ashy Prinia are the most common Prinias found across the Indian Landmass.

The former Rufous-Vented Prinia has now been renamed to Rufous-Vented Grass Babbler and has been put into its own Genus with the Swamp Grass Babbler. But I’ll talk about the former in this section only.

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