Grey Francolin
Gujarati Name : તેતર , ધુળીયો તેતર
Hindi Name : सफ़ेद तीतर
Most of the common birds of India such as parrots, sparrows, peacocks, crows etc play a significant role in our folklores in the form of tales, poems, proverbs or riddles. One of the most popular riddle has Grey Francolin as the lead.
तीतर के दो आगे तीतर
तीतर के दो पीछे तीतर
आगे तीतर
पीछे तीतर
बोलो कितने तीतर
The first time I heard this, I admit, I paid little attention to ‘Teetar’ and was least interested in how it looked. Even though most of my childhood summers I have spent in villages (Baramati) in Maharashtra or (Kapadwanj) in Gujarat, I had never seen nor heard this bird. The first time I heard it was in 2016, when we moved to ‘Mitthi’.
For many months I could only hear their call ….’ka…tee..tar…ka…tee…tar’ or ‘ pa…tee..la…pa…tee..la’ while they remained camouflaged. These birds come to feed on the grains we scatter for them at the far end of our garden.
One quiet afternoon, a casual glance towards the feeder and I saw a party of 5 francolins trotting in a line under the wired fence. Adult ones guarding the front and the back and 3 young ones in the middle. Straight out of the riddle!!
The bird is greyish brown in color and is barred throughout. Slightly plump, it has difficulty in flying high, but they are swift and graceful runners and deft at escaping into shrubs and thorny growths.
Chandan Danani (my brother-in-law) interpreted their call as
‘ Sukhi…reh….Sukhi…reh’, meaning the birds are blessing us ‘to remain happy’. An interpretation I love to adhere to. 😊
Hindi Name : सफ़ेद तीतर
Most of the common birds of India such as parrots, sparrows, peacocks, crows etc play a significant role in our folklores in the form of tales, poems, proverbs or riddles. One of the most popular riddle has Grey Francolin as the lead.
तीतर के दो आगे तीतर
तीतर के दो पीछे तीतर
आगे तीतर
पीछे तीतर
बोलो कितने तीतर
The first time I heard this, I admit, I paid little attention to ‘Teetar’ and was least interested in how it looked. Even though most of my childhood summers I have spent in villages (Baramati) in Maharashtra or (Kapadwanj) in Gujarat, I had never seen nor heard this bird. The first time I heard it was in 2016, when we moved to ‘Mitthi’.
For many months I could only hear their call ….’ka…tee..tar…ka…tee…tar’ or ‘ pa…tee..la…pa…tee..la’ while they remained camouflaged. These birds come to feed on the grains we scatter for them at the far end of our garden.
One quiet afternoon, a casual glance towards the feeder and I saw a party of 5 francolins trotting in a line under the wired fence. Adult ones guarding the front and the back and 3 young ones in the middle. Straight out of the riddle!!
The bird is greyish brown in color and is barred throughout. Slightly plump, it has difficulty in flying high, but they are swift and graceful runners and deft at escaping into shrubs and thorny growths.
Chandan Danani (my brother-in-law) interpreted their call as
‘ Sukhi…reh….Sukhi…reh’, meaning the birds are blessing us ‘to remain happy’. An interpretation I love to adhere to. 😊
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