This species uses a wide variety of habitats including dams, ponds, canals, creeks, swamps, mudflats, beaches with coconut palms and trees, mangrove edges, Nipa palm swamps, oil palm plantations, farmland, rice fields, large gardens, roadside trees, light industrial sites, bamboo forest and dry deciduous forest. It usually avoids dense forest except for clearings and is less common above 2,000 m (Woodall and Kirwan 2016). Breeding birds have been recorded in April and May in Europe, it lays in June in Egypt, April-May in Israel and Iraq, March-April and July in Pakistan, mainly April-July in India, May in Bhutan, April in Myanmar, mainly March-April in Sri Lanka, December-early August in Malaysia and March-April in Thailand and Sumatra (Woodall and Kirwan 2016). The species is considered monogamous, but the presence of three birds in some areas suggests possibility of communal breeding. The nest is usually excavated in an earthen bank of a ditch, stream, river, pond or road cutting and can also sometimes be in a termitarium, rock crevice, tree or mud hole. The nest-chamber is normally up to 15–23 cm wide and 13 cm high, at the end of an inclined tunnel 30–150 cm long. Clutches can be between four and seven eggs but usually five or six. The diet is widely variable and includes insects, scorpions, centipedes, snails, crustaceans, earthworms, fish, frogs and toads, lizards, chameleons, snakes, birds, voles, mice and squirrels. It hunts from a perch and will batter prey before swallowing it. Many populations exhibit partial short-distance migration, with seasonal changes in abundance, probably involving mostly juveniles (Woodall and Kirwan 2016).

Conservation Actions Underway
Bern Convention Appendix II. There are no known conservation measures in place for this species within its European range.

Conservation Actions Proposed
Important sites in Europe for the species should be protected owing to the species's restricted European range, this should include legislation to guard sites from development. Research into the species's ecology and habitat needs should be undertaken to inform future conservation measures and help assess potential threats and their impacts in order to develop appropriate responses.