


Top 20 Most Common Bird in Gujarat
Boasting diverse landscapes from arid deserts to wetlands, Gujarat provides a rich habitat for various avian species. The 20 most common birds exhibit unique characteristics and adaptations mirroring this vast ecology. These birds enamor with their vibrant plumage, unique calls, specific feeding habits, or migratory patterns, making Gujarat a bird-watcher's paradise.

Most Common Bird

1. Rock Pigeon
The rock Pigeon is a wild ancestor of all domestic and feral pigeons, inhabiting coasts, cliffs, and caves. Pairs nest in rock crevices, often mating for life. They are known for their ability to fly very long distances to return to their homes, navigating using the sun's position and the earth's magnetic fields. Thanks to this ability, pigeons were used as messengers, particularly during World Wars I and II.

2. Common Myna
The common Myna is a large, stocky starling that prefers to live near humans in towns and suburban areas. It forages among tall grasses for grasshoppers; in fact, its scientific name, Acridotheres tristis, means "grasshopper hunter." The common Myna likes to maintain two roosts at the same time - both a temporary summer roost near the breeding site as well as a year-round roost where the female can sit and brood.

3. Rose-ringed Parakeet
The rose-ringed Parakeet is a very common sight in tropical climates and a variety of environments throughout the world. These colorful birds are popular as pets but can become a threatening invasive species to non-native ecosystems. They eat fruits, nuts, seeds, and grains, and can become serious pests to farmers. These birds are very vocal and very loud and come in several subspecies.

4. Red-vented Bulbul
The red-vented Bulbul is considered a pest by gardeners as it eats fruits and vegetables and spreads seeds to non-native regions. Because of this, these bird is considered an invasive species in some countries. The red-vented Bulbul is loud and can become aggressive to other birds and even humans in their forest, shrubland, and urban habitats.

5. Purple Sunbird
This small sunbird has a relatively short bill, a dark and short square ended tail with distinctive sexual dimorphism. Less than 10 cm long they have a down-curved bill with brush-tipped tubular tongues that aid in nectar feeding. The male is glossy metallic bluish to purplish black on the upper parts with the wings appearing dark brown. The breeding male also has underparts of the same purplish black, but non-breeding males may show a central streak of black on yellow underparts. (Birds in this eclipse plumage were once designated as a species, C. currucaria.) In the breeding plumage, the male can be confused with the syntopic Loten's sunbird which has a long bill and a distinctive broad maroon band on the breast. Breeding males will sometimes show their yellow pectoral tufts in displays. There is a patch of bright blue on the shoulder of breeding males. The maroon shine on the feathers of the collar around the neck is visible mainly during the breeding seasons. Females are olive brown above with a yellowish underside. There is a pale supercilium beyond the eye. There is a darkish eye stripe. The throat and breast are yellow, becoming pale towards the vent. The outer tail feathers are tipped in white both in the male and female. They are seen in pairs or small groups and aggregations may be found in gardens with suitable flowers. They feed mainly on nectar but also take fruits and insects. Groups of as many as 40 to 50 individuals have sometimes been noted.


6. House Crow
The house Crow is an intelligent bird that is near becoming a declared invasive species. The house Crow is very common in developed areas and can have a bold, aggressive personality. These birds have been known to damage and steal crops, affect local flora and fauna, create excessive noise, and carry diseases and parasites.

7. Common Tailorbird
The common Tailorbird is famous for its nests, which are leaves that have been sewn together. Also known as Orthotomus sutorius, it is found across tropical regions in Asia and can be identified by its long, erect tail. The male and female take care of the chicks, and there have been recorded cases of a pair adopting chicks from another couple.

8. Indian Peafowl
The male indian Peafowl displays a stunning, fan-like tail which has an important role in courtship rituals. Native to the Indian subcontinent, this spectacular bird has been domesticated worldwide as an ornamental bird. Even wild in its native region, it acts quite tame and comfortable with humans. The indian Peafowl is the national bird of India.

9. Asian Koel
The Eudynamys scolopaceus is commonly called asian Koel, native to China, the Indian Subcontinent and parts of Southeast Asia. This bird is used widely in Indian poetry, and it has a habit of colonizing new areas that it goes to. The bird is also known for stealing nests from other birds and having their chicks raised by the foster parents.

10. Red-wattled Lapwing
The wings and back are light brown with a purple to green sheen, but the head, a bib on the front and back of the neck are black. Prominently white patch runs between these two colours, from belly and tail, flanking the neck to the sides of crown. Short tail is tipped black. A red fleshy wattle in front of each eye, black-tipped red bill, and the long legs are yellow. In flight, prominent white wing bars formed by the white on the secondary coverts.


11. Eurasian Collared-dove
This plump, pretty dove with a square-tipped tail is known for bobbing its head and flicking its tail while walking. Though nice to look at, many people are not pleased at the sight of a eurasian Collared-dove walking along. In North America they are considered an invasive species, and one that carries a disease-creating parasite that can spread to native dove populations through birdbaths, feeders, or even through hawks preying on them.

12. Little Green Bee-eater
The entire plumage is bright green and tinged with blue especially on the chin and throat. The crown and upper back are tinged with golden rufous. The flight feathers are rufous washed with green and tipped with blackish. A fine black line runs in front of and behind the eye. The iris is crimson and the bill is black while the legs are dark grey. The feet are weak with the three toes joined at the base. The wings are green and the beak is black. The sexes are not visually distinguishable.


13. Black Drongo
This bird is glossy black with a wide fork to the tail. Adults usually have a small white spot at the base of the gape. The iris is dark brown (not crimson as in the similar ashy drongo). The sexes cannot be told apart in the field. Juveniles are brownish and may have some white barring or speckling towards the belly and vent, and can be mistaken for the white-bellied drongo. First-year birds have white tips to the feathers of the belly, while second-years have these white-tipped feathers restricted to the vent. They are aggressive and fearless birds, and although only 28 cm (11 in) in length, they will attack much larger species that enter their nesting territory, including crows and birds of prey. This behaviour led to their former name of king crow. They fly with strong flaps of the wing and are capable of fast manoeuvres that enable them to capture flying insects. With short legs, they sit upright on thorny bushes, bare perches or electricity wires. They may also perch on grazing animals. They are capable of producing a wide range of calls but a common call is a two note tee-hee call resembling that of the shikra (Accipiter badius).


14. Black Kite
Black Kite is a bird of prey known for its aerial skills and hunting ability. Its striking appearance makes it a fascinating species to observe, and it can often be seen soaring through the skies. Black Kite is highly adaptable and can be found in a variety of habitats, making it a common sight in many areas.


15. Jungle Babbler
This species, like most babblers, is non-migratory, and has short rounded wings and a weak flight. The sexes are identical, drably coloured in brownish grey with a yellow-bill making them confusable only with the endemic yellow-billed babblers of peninsular India and Sri Lanka. The upperparts are usually slightly darker in shade and there is some mottling on the throat and breast.


16. Indian Robin

17. Laughing Dove
The laughing Dove is a small dove named after its distinctive laugh-like vocalization. This ground-feeding, non-migratory bird is a regular inhabitant of man-altered environments such as villages, gardens, and orchards. In cities, these doves tend to become quite confident. They pair for life and live in very small communities.

18. Oriental Magpie-robin
This species is 19 centimetres (7.5 in) long, including the long tail, which is usually held cocked upright when hopping on the ground. When they are singing a song the tail is normal like other birds. It is similar in shape to the smaller European robin, but is longer-tailed. The male has black upperparts, head and throat apart from a white shoulder patch. The underparts and the sides of the long tail are white. Females are greyish black above and greyish white. Young birds have scaly brown upperparts and head. It is the national bird of Bangladesh. The nominate race is found on the Indian subcontinent and the females of this race are the palest. The females of the Andaman Islands race andamanensis are darker, heavier-billed and shorter-tailed. The Sri Lankan race ceylonensis (formerly included with the peninsular Indian populations south of the Kaveri River) and southern nominate individuals have the females nearly identical to the males in shade. The eastern populations (Bhutan and Bangladesh) have more black on the tail and were formerly named erimelas. The populations in Burma and further south are named as the race musicus. A number of other races have been named across the range, including prosthopellus (Hong Kong), nesiotes, zacnecus, nesiarchus, masculus, pagiensis, javensis, problematicus, amoenus, adamsi, pluto, deuteronymus and mindanensis. However, many of these are not well-marked and the status of some of them is disputed. Some, like mindanensis, have now been usually recognized as full species (the Philippine magpie-robin). There is more geographic variation in the plumage of females than in that of the males. It is mostly seen close to the ground, hopping along branches or foraging in leaf-litter on the ground with a cocked tail. Males sing loudly from the top of trees or other high perches during the breeding season.


19. Red-naped Ibis
The red-naped ibis is a large black bird with long legs and a long downcurved bill. The wing feathers and tail are black with blue-green gloss while the neck and body are brown and without gloss. A white patch on the shoulders stands out and the top of the featherless head is a patch of bright red warty skin. The warty patch, technically a caruncle, is a triangular patch with the apex at the crown and the base of the triangle behind the nape that develops in adult birds. The iris is orange red. Both sexes are identical and young birds are browner and initially lack the bare head and crown. The bills and legs are grey but turn reddish during the breeding season. The toes have a fringing membrane and are slightly webbed at the base. They are usually silent but call at dawn and dusk and more often when nesting. The calls are a series of loud braying, squealing screams that descend in loudness. This species can be confused with the glossy ibis when seen at a distance but the glossy ibis is smaller, more gregarious, associated with wetlands and lacks the white on the wing and has a fully feathered head.


20. Cattle Egret
Cattle Egrets are short, thick-necked egrets. Their name refers to their preference to follow along with livestock as they forage in fields. Cattle Egrets were native only to Africa until the late 1800s when they somehow made their way throughout the Americas. They can often be found along airport runways waiting for planes to take off and blow insects out of the grass and weeds. They also follow behind farm equipment and do the same thing.