Jungle Prinia

The jungle prinia is a warbler about 15cm long with short rounded wings, a longish tail, strong legs and a short black bill. In breeding plumage it is grey-brown above with a short white eyebrow and a warmer brown rump, rufous fringes to the closed wings and white edges to the tail, and whitish-buff below. In winter it is warmer brown above and buffer below, with a longer tail. The sexes are identical except that breeding males have a blacker bill and mouth. Four races differ in shade (Wikipedia, general species account).

It lives in dry open grassland, open woodland, scrub and sometimes gardens. Like most warblers it is insectivorous. It builds its nest in a shrub or tall grass and lays three to five eggs. Its song is a repetitive pit-pretty, pit-pretty. SoIB 2023 treats it as endemic to the Indian subcontinent and resident with a large range, finds its long-term trend stable, and rates it a Low conservation priority (Wikipedia, general species account; SoIB 2023).