Month: January 2012

Spotbill reflection

Spot-billed Duck
Spot-billed Duck

Spot-billed duck or simply Spotbill has three subspecies: the Indian Spot-billed Duck (A. poecilorhyncha poecilorhyncha), Eastern Spot-billed Duck (A. poecilorhyncha zonorhyncha), and Burmese Spot-billed Duck (A. poecilorhyncha haringtoni). An interesting trivia is that in the Japanese manga and anime One Piece, there is a “Super Spot-billed Duck” named Karoo which is owned by Nefertari Vivi. Also, the Farfetch’d species in the Pokémon series is possibly based on the spot-billed duck. In Super Mario World 2: Yoshi’s Island the character Huffin’ Puffins’ Japanese name “karugamo” corresponds to the name of the Anas poecilorhyncha.

Ref: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spot-billed_Duck

Indian Black-lored Tit

Indian Black-lored Tit
Indian Black-lored Tit

These birds utilize barbet and woodpecker holes for nesting and surprising for me they can excavate their own if needed – the beak just does not look powerful enough….

Easily identified by broad black line (wider in the male) down yellow front, Often a short yellow superilium in front of eye. Large black crest, neck, throat and head

Ref: https://www.birdforum.net/opus/Indian_Black-lored_Tit

Rollers rolling

Lilac-breasted Rollers in a courtship display
Lilac-breasted Rollers in a courtship display

Rollers get their name from their impressive courtship flight, a fast, shallow dive from considerable elevation with a rolling or fast rocking motion, accompanied by loud raucous calls. Have been lucky enough to see this display many times in Indian rollers but could never capture it. This picture of Lilac-breasted rollers we were particularly lucky to get 2 pairs indulging in courtship display…

Coming to land!

Long-legged Buzzard - Landing
Long-legged Buzzard - Landing

Long-legged Buzzards from the Balkan and Russia are mostly migratory and spend the winter in northern Afrika or in the Sahel. Some birds spend the winter in Hungary or Greece. Sometimes Long-legged Buzzards are seen farther in the west, for example in Austria and Germany.

A map on Wikipedia shows that the ones found in India are in a mixed range, some are winter migrants and some are part of the permanent range.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Long-legged_Buzzard
https://www.europeanraptors.org/raptors/long_legged_buzzard.html

The disappearing supercilium…

Ashy Prinia
Ashy Prinia

Another mystery solved for me. I had often wondered why some Ashy Prinia show supercilium and others don’t. Wikipedia informs me “In breeding plumage, adults of the northern population are ash grey above, with a black crown and cheek with no supercilium and rufescent wings. In non-breeding season this population has a short and narrow white supercilium and the tail is longer”

Psst… Supercilium is a synonym for eyebrow 😉

They have ultra-violet vision!

Common Kestrel (Falco tinnunculus)
Common Kestrel (Falco tinnunculus)

A fact that I learnt today about this species today is that are able to see near ultraviolet light, allowing the birds to detect the urine trails around rodent burrows as they shine in an ultraviolet colour in the sunlight.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Common_Kestrel

Oriental White-eye – 2

Oriental White-eye foraging on a bottle brush tree
Oriental White-eye foraging on a bottle brush tree

There is always a better shot 😉

Oriental Pratincole

Oriental Pratincole in flight over Makardokda Lake
Oriental Pratincole in flight over Makardokda Lake

The Oriental Pratincole (Glareola maldivarum), also known as the Grasshopper-Bird or Swallow-Plover is a wader in the pratincole family, Glareolidae.

Their most unusual feature of the pratincoles is that although classed as waders they typically hunt their insect prey on the wing like swallows, although they can also feed on the ground.

Black Redstart

Black Redstart - male
Black Redstart - male

Till very recently I did not know about the sub-species of Black Redstart. The sub-species we get is Phoenicurus ochruros rufiventris. Seen in Turkmenistan eastwards through Pamir and Alay Mountains to Himalaya and is a widespread winter visitor to the rest of Indian plians

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Redstart

Oriental White-eye

Oriental White-eye foraging on a bottle brush tree
Oriental White-eye foraging on a bottle brush tree

The Oriental White-eye, Zosterops palpebrosus, is a small passerine bird. They are easily identified by the distinctive white eye-ring and overall yellowish upperparts. Several populations of this widespread species are named subspecies and some have distinctive variations in the extent and shades of yellows in their plumage.About eleven subspecies are well recognized.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oriental_White-eye