Ashy Woodswallow

The ashy woodswallow is a stocky bird with a short, curved, silvery finch-like bill, a short square tail and long wings that look very broad at the base, giving a triangular outline in flight. It is ashy grey above with a darker head and a narrow pale rump band, pinkish-grey below, and has a short slaty-black tail tipped white. The sexes look alike, and young birds are barred below. It has no subspecies (Wikipedia, general species account).

It lives from the plains up to about 2,000m over cultivation and forest clearings, especially where tall palms grow. Small groups perch high on power lines, pylons or bare treetops, making aerial sallies after insects, and several birds often sit huddled side by side, sometimes preening each other. It is found from Bangladesh and India to Southeast Asia and China, but not in the most arid parts of western India. In India it is resident with a large range; SoIB 2023 finds its current trend stable and rates it a Low conservation priority (Wikipedia, general species account; SoIB 2023).