Brown Rockchat in the rocky fields

The brown rock chat (Oenanthe fusca) or Indian chat, is a bird species of the family Muscicapidae. It is found mainly in northern and central India. It is often found in old buildings and rocky areas. It resembles a female Indian robin but lacks the reddish vent and differs in posture and behavior apart from being larger. In-flight it bears some resemblance to thrushes and redstarts. It feeds on insects, captured mainly on the ground. It was formerly placed as the sole species in the genus Cercomela but is now included with the wheatears in the genus Oenanthe.

The brown rock chat is larger than the somewhat similar-looking Indian robin and is about 17 cm long. It is uniformly rufous-brown with the wings and tail of a slightly darker shade. The brown on the undersides grades into a dark grey-brown vent. In-flight it resembles a female blue rock thrush and is usually found singly or in pairs on old buildings or rocky areas. The sexes are indistinguishable in the field. When feeding on the ground it sometimes flicks open its wings and tail. It also has a habit of slowly raising its tail slightly, fanning it, and bobbing its head. They feed mainly on insects, picked off the ground.
The species is nearly endemic to India, distributed north of the Narmada, west to Gujarat (mainly Kutch but extending south and east to Bengal bordered on the north by the Himalayas where it is found only until about 1300 m in the foothills. Its distribution extends into northern Pakistan where it is restricted east of the Chenab River. Although largely resident, some populations make movements in response to the weather. In the foothills of the Himalayas it moves higher up in summer, appears in Dehra Dun in spring, and leaving before the onset of winter. The species has been seen in Nepal. It is a common species although very patchily distributed.

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