If you walk through countryside, you are likely to see some birds stalking alongside the cattle to seize the insects, disturbed by their movement through grasses. Which of the following is/are such bird/birds? (1). Painted Stork (2). Common Myna (3). Black-necked Crane Select the correct answer using the code given below.

The correct answer is B (2 only). The Common Myna is the bird that works alongside grazing cattle. As cattle move through grass, they flush grasshoppers, beetles and other insects, and the myna walks just behind or beside the animals and snaps them up. This is a feeding association with large herbivores, and it is a familiar sight across the Indian plains.

• Statement 1 (Painted Stork) is wrong. It is a large wading bird of wetlands, jheels and marshes. It feeds in shallow water by tactile probing, mainly on fish and crustaceans, and does not follow livestock.
• Statement 3 (Black-necked Crane) is wrong. It is a high-altitude crane that breeds on the Tibetan plateau and winters in Ladakh, Arunachal Pradesh and Bhutan. It is found in marshes and wetlands, not in cattle-grazing grasslands of the plains. It is protected under Schedule I of the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972.

The core idea here is commensalism between birds and grazing animals, which is a useful link to the ecology and biodiversity theme in GS-III, and to how human-wildlife interactions shape local ecosystems.

Trap: Aspirants often pick the Painted Stork because storks and cranes are associated with cattle-feeding in popular images. The Cattle Egret is the classic bird of this behaviour, but it is not among the options, so the Common Myna is the one that fits.