Birds 17 - The White Bellied Blue Robin Poem by Unnikrishnan Sivasankara Menon

The white bellied blue robin
or white-bellied sholakili
is a blue-gray beauty with
a pale belly and frosty forehead;

Its song is thrush-like, angelic
and melodious, tit-like notes
interspersed with ringing
and harsh buzzing rattles.

The bird builds its nest of moss
and fibrous roots, in a tree-hole
or amid grass low on the ground,
lays two eggs greyish green, a season.

Its breeding season varies
from April to June; it is known
to moult its tail feathers
in the beginning of June

Shola or cõlai means grove -
patches of tropical montane forest
in the valleys of rolling grassland -
that are home to this bird.

These forest patches go on
dwindling in size, the bird
species suffers habitat loss,
thus threatened of extinction.