There are 6 birds in India with Pygmy in their name. In a world where we currently split hair on everything and where people take umbrage at the smallest slight and troll you endlessly about them, it is refreshing that there are things that one can still call Pygmy without wondering whether it is the politically correct usage or whether some cardinal sin has been committed.

The biggest of these Pygmy birds is the Pygmy Cormorant, which as Cormorants go, is half the size of largest in that group at about 45-50 cms. The most wide-spread one is the Brown-capped Pygmy Woodpecker, a wide-spread resident. And the smallest is the Pygmy Wren-babbler, which, at 9cms is probably one of the smallest birds you will see (if you have lady luck by your side) in the country.

The Pygmy Blue Flycatcher, in my opinion, is the prettiest of the Pygmy birds in the country. It is not much bigger than the last stated bird above and is probably one of the smallest of the flycatchers in the country.

The way he is perched on this branch, with the foliage in the background a decent distance away, it almost seems as if the bird and its perch are jumping out of the frame. Don’t let the size of the bird in the frame fool you, this guy was so close to me that he looks bigger in this image than in reality.