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24

Indian Silverbill (Euodice malabarica) Alternate name(s): "White-throated Munia", "White-throated Silverbill" Size: 11-11.5 cm Weight: 10-14 g

Oman: Family Group 24 Family Group 24 Table Grey Wagtail White Wagtail House Sparrow Indian Silverbill Striolated Bunting Black-crowned Sparrow Lark Tree Pipit Thumbnails page Classification table Index of bird names Birds of Oman home page

Description     Classification     Distribution     Sightings     Photos     Breeding     Nest     Eggs     Behaviour     Food     Call/s

Physical description Click here for a physical description Indian Silverbills are small finches. They have a greyish-brown head and back, a light-grey front and somewhat darker greyish-brown wing coverts. The flight feathers and the tail are dark-grey. The rump is white. Their most prominent feature is a big, conical grey bill. The upper mandible is darker-grey than the lower one, whose silvery-grey colour gives the species its name. The irises are dark; the legs and feet are greyish-pink. Note that Indian Silverbills in India have a darker grey upper mandible than the ones shown here found in Oman.

Taxonomy, classification See Indian Silverbill at Wikipedia .

Range, habitat Click here for information on habitat and range The overall distribution of this species can be assessed, and specific locations where birds have been spotted can be found, based on individual sighting reports submitted by birdwatchers to ebird.org . The global distribution of the Indian Silverbill is available HERE . Indian Silverbills populate parts of Arabia and the area from southern coastal Iran south-eastwards via Pakistan into all of the Indian subcontinent, including Sri Lanka. Apart from a few patches in the UAE and in (near-)coastal Saudi Arabia, the main population of Indian Silverbills in Arabia is found in northern Oman, in a several hundred km-wide area from about Abu Dhabi, UAE, via Musandam and all through northern Oman, up to about the border with Saudi Arabia and to a few hundred km to the South of the eastern Cape near Ras al-Hadd. This population may be descendants of birds that made the jump across the Strait of Hormuz.

Sightings Click here for sighting information Flocks of Indian Silverbills were spotted by us on the Campus of Sultan Qaboos University, near Muscat, regularly in the time frame August 2009 to May 2010. They stayed through the winter of 2009/10, and were seen breeding in the area. Another flock was seen in the Batinah region, about 200 km West of Muscat, in May 2010.

Photos

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ADULT

MALE

Close-up frontal view of an Indian Silverbill; this bird is a male bearing a "gift" for his partner to entice her to mate with him
[Campus of Sultan Qaboos University, near Muscat, May 2010]

PAIR

Frontal/ventral view of a pair of Indian Silverbills
[Campus of Sultan Qaboos University, near Muscat, September 2009]

Frontal/lateral view of a pair of Indian Silverbills
[Campus of Sultan Qaboos University, near Muscat, September 2009]

Near-lateral view of a pair of Indian Silverbills
[Campus of Sultan Qaboos University, near Muscat, September 2009]

Near-lateral view of a pair of Indian Silverbills taking a nap
[Campus of Sultan Qaboos University, near Muscat, September 2009]

Dorsal view of some Indian Silverbill TLC (Tender Loving Care)... (click on image to see what happened)
[Campus of Sultan Qaboos University, near Muscat, February 2010]

Sex unknown

Frontal view of an Indian Silverbill looking sideways, with its mate right behind
[Campus of Sultan Qaboos University, near Muscat, September 2009]

Near-lateral view of an Indian Silverbill looking towards the observer
[Campus of Sultan Qaboos University, near Muscat, September 2009]

Near-lateral view of a snoozing Indian Silverbill
[Campus of Sultan Qaboos University, near Muscat, February 2010]

IMMATURE/JUVENILE

Pair of Indian Silverbills stuffing the bills of their ever hungry and noisy chicks
[Campus of Sultan Qaboos University, near Muscat, September 2009]

Near-frontal/near-lateral view of fledgling Indian Silverbills waiting to be fed; note the whitish gapes
[Campus of Sultan Qaboos University, near Muscat, April 2010]

Breeding information

Breeding season: Jan - Apr

Eggs: 4 - 8

Incubation period: 10 - 12 days

Fledging age: ?

The breeding period listed above is approximate and applies to Arabia and southern India. In northern India they breed after the summer. Indian Silverbills are semi-communal nesters. More than one female may lay eggs into one nest and helpers may be employed to incubate the eggs and care for the young.

Close-up frontal view of an Indian Silverbill; this bird is a male bearing a "gift" for his partner to entice her to mate with him
[Campus of Sultan Qaboos University, near Muscat, May 2010]

Nest building: ?

Incubation: Female & male

Dependent care: Female & male

Nest

Type: (Domed) basket

Material: Twigs, grass, feathers

Height above ground: 2 - 5(?) m

Roost platform (i.e. an old nest; foreground) and an active Indian Silverbill nest behind it
[Campus of Sultan Qaboos University, near Muscat, February 2010]

Eggs

Size: 14 x 10 mm

Colour: White, with tiny grey speckles

Shape: Oval

Behaviour

The photo presented below was obtained at Sun Farms, Sohar (Batinah region). Special permission to enter the premises for bird photography is hereby most gratefully acknowledged.

Like other species of finches, Indian Silverbills are very sociable birds; here a flock congregating on power lines in mellow evening light
[Batinah region, May 2010]

Food, Diet

Like all finches, Indian Silverbills are seed-eaters. We have seen them take seeds of grasses and reeds.

Indian Silverbills in reeds
[Campus of Sultan Qaboos University, near Muscat, September 2009]

Indian Silverbills chopping into the seeds of reeds
[Campus of Sultan Qaboos University, near Muscat, September 2009]

These pages are largely based on our own observations and those of our contributors. The structure of these bird pages is explained HERE. For more salient facts on any bird species please refer to a field guide.

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Disclaimer: Comments are always welcome. We give no guarantee that the information presented on these pages is always correct or up-to-date. External links are marked as such and we take no responsibility for the contents of external pages. All images on this site are protected by copyright & used by permission of the respective owners. If you wish to reproduce them or any of the material presented on this web site, please contact us: We hereby acknowledge the original custodians of the land which is described on these pages, including the Gomeroi/Gamilaraay people of the North-west Slopes and Plains of NSW, and the traditional owners of other lands and nations within this country. We acknowledge elders past, present and emerging. Sovereignty was never ceded.          Last updated: Sat, 3 June 2023, 22:59 +00:00