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…
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
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 😉
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.
There is always a better shot 😉
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.
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
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.
When I first saw this bird I was reminded of the Changelable Hawk Eagle…
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