The broad-tailed grassbird is a species of Old World warbler in the family Locustellidae. It is endemic to the Western Ghats of India with a possibility of occurrence in Sri Lanka. A small, mostly brown bird, it has a broad rounded and graduated tail. It is found only on the higher altitude grassy hills where it usually skulks, except during the breeding season when males fly up into the air to sing in their display. The species is believed to be a resident although it is possible that they make local movements.
Region
Western Ghats
Typical Environment
Occurs patchily across high-elevation grasslands interspersed with shola forest in the southern Western Ghats, including the Nilgiri, Palni–Anamalai, and adjacent massifs. It favors tall, dense tussocky grasses and hill slopes with scattered shrubs. Birds usually remain low and hidden, moving through grass stems and along edges of shola patches. During the breeding season they use prominent perches or ascend above the grass for display flights. Habitat fragmentation and conversion of grasslands to plantations reduce suitable range.
Altitude Range
900–2300 m
Climate Zone
Highland
Ease of Keeping
Beginner friendly: 1/5
This shy grassland warbler is restricted to the high-elevation shola–grassland mosaics of the Western Ghats in India. Males perform an eye-catching display flight in the breeding season, rising above the grass and parachuting down while singing. Its broad, rounded, and graduated tail—often fanned during displays—gives the species its name. Ongoing loss of montane grasslands is the main threat to its survival.
Head showing the short bill and the two rictal bristles
Temperament
skulking and secretive
Flight Pattern
short rapid wingbeats close to the grass; males perform rising and parachuting display flights
Social Behavior
Typically solitary or in pairs, maintaining small territories within suitable grassland patches. Nests are placed low in dense grass, often a woven cup concealed in tussocks. Pairs are monogamous during the breeding season, with males singing persistently from low perches or during display flights.
Migratory Pattern
Resident
Song Description
A rapid, high-pitched series of trills and rattling notes, insect-like and ventriloquial from within tall grass. During display flights the song becomes more emphatic and repeated in bursts. Calls include sharp ticks and soft churrs.
Plumage
Upperparts warm brown with fine streaking; underparts buffy to whitish with faint breast streaks. Tail broad, rounded, and distinctly graduated with darker barring, often held cocked or fanned. A pale buff supercilium contrasts with a dusky ear covert area; overall appearance is plain and grass-colored for camouflage.
Diet
Primarily small arthropods such as beetles, grasshoppers, crickets, ants, and caterpillars. It gleans from grass stems and leaves, probes among leaf litter, and occasionally snaps at flushed prey during short sallies. Seeds or plant matter may be taken incidentally but form a minor part of the diet.
Preferred Environment
Feeds within dense, tall grass and along the edges of shola thickets where cover is abundant. Often forages close to the ground, moving methodically through tussocks and along gentle grassy slopes.
