There are six recognized subspecies of Black Francolin:
F. f. francolinus (Linnaeus, 1766) – Western Black Francolin – Cyprus, southern Turkey to Iraq and Iran
F. f. arabistanicus (Zarudny and Harms, 1913) – Iranian Black Francolin – southern Iraq and western Iran
F. f. asiae (Bonaparte, 1856) – Indian Black Francolin – northern India
F. f. henrici (Bonaparte, 1856) – South Persian Black Francolin – southern Pakistan to western India
F. f. bogdanovi (Zarudny, 1906) – southern Iran and Afghanistan to southern Pakistan
F. f. melanonotus (Hume, 1888) – eastern India to Sikkim and Bangladesh.
Also known as the Asiatic wildcat is one of the most endangered of the small “big cats” habitat loss and excessive hunting in the past for its characteristic spotted pelt has led to decline in this cat’s numbers in the wild. As with other wild cats, the risk of loss of genetic purity also looms large through interbreeding with feral and domestic felines.
Friends have had great success in photographing this very shy Wildcat but I have only managed to get glimpses of it in the past. This early morning shot is the best I have in my collection.
Dalmatian Pelican is the largest of the pelicans, averaging 160–180 cm (63-70 inches) in length, 11–15 kg (24-33 lbs) in weight and just over 3 m (10 ft) in wingspan.
This cuckoo, like other Malkohas, is non-parasitic breeder – that is it builds it’s own nest and raises it’s own young…
The scientific name of this bird commemorates the French botanist Jean Baptiste Leschenault de la Tour.
Flamingos live until they are about 40 years old but only breed every five or six years. Non-breeding birds do not return to breeding sites until they are ready to breed again. This and rapid loss of habitat has put this bird in the near threatened list
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
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.
European Roller, Coracias garrulus is a long distance migrant and at times a few straggler can even reach up to Nagpur. This individual was however taken on our recent trip to Kutch, Gujarat.
Twitch: a British term used to mean “the pursuit of a previously-located rare bird.”
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 with the quality of pictures that we had… Continue reading for details and 4 more pictures