The name of the bird is ‘Indian Silverbill', locally known as ‘Deshi Chadi Thot’. The scientific name of the bird is ‘Lonchura malabarica' and they are also known as 'Chhota Munia'.
These birds are very much alike sparrow, so many people mistake them as sparrow. They prefer safe places to live. When they saw the gathering of people, they flee away.
Earlier, these birds could be seen in large numbers in the rural areas of Bangladesh. However, due to the decline of small shrubs and bushes, the Indian Silverbill or Munia bird is disappearing day by day from different areas.
They are birds with gray beaks and black tails. Body length is 10 cm and weight is about 12 grams. Adult birds have white waists, hindquarters, wings and pale brown back. The body surface is white. The lips are triangular and grayish. The feet, toes and claws are grayish-brown. Male and female birds look alike.
They roam in bushes of ‘Kashfull', sandy forest, riverine arable land and thorn bushes. They are found in the Indian subcontinent and the Middle East. Naturally, they are similar to Munia. These birds are usually flock together. They look for food jumping on the ground, grass and on the rural path. Their food list includes seeds and small insects.
They sometimes spend the night in the abandoned home of the Weaver bird. Their breeding season is between July to December. They build ball-like nest with grass, leaves, feathers, fur and cotton at a height of two to three meters on the thorn bushes and lay eggs. The color of their egg is white. They lay four to eight eggs at a time. Both male and female birds lay eggs and raise them. However, not many of them can be seen in Bangladesh now a days due to various reasons.