The Montagu’s Harrier (Circus pygargus) is a migratory bird of prey of the harrier family. Nagpur gets a very small population of them passing through while they migrate. These are birds of vast open lands and naturally finding one in city is rather unusual. I was lucky to get this shot on 25th Jan 2012… [...]
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. [...]
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, [...]
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 [...]
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. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Common_Kestrel Tweet
In the morning it looked like there will be no sun on the new years day but by afternoon the skies cleared out and I could go out for a walk! Happy new 2012 to everyone Tweet
For 4 years in a row, the same female with NU band has been turning up from Mangolia in a Lake near Nagpur – read the complete story by Tarun Balpande at http://www.migrantwatch.in/blog/2011/12/03/female-bar-headed-goose-nu-four-years-in-a-row/ Tweet
Twitch: a British term used to mean “the pursuit of a previously-located rare bird.” Wikipedia During our previous visit to Kutch, Gujarat, we had manage to photograph almost all the major bird species, however, the Houbara Bustard (Chlamydotis undulata) had eluded us. Yes, we had managed to get a sighting but I was not happy [...]
