Pied myna (Asian pied starling): Gracupica contra

Pied myna (Asian pied starling): Gracupica contra

 

Pied myna or Asian pied starling: Gracupica contra

IUCN Status: Least Concern

Subcontinental bird.

Group operators.

Interstingly, they were co-murmuating with flocks of Bank mynas Common starlings in this instance.

 

Photographed at Dhankot village, Basai wetlands, Gurgaon, Haryana, India on 6.11.2014

Camera used: Nikon D5100 DSLR with Tamron 150-600mm Lens



Common starling: Sturnus vulgaris

Common starling: Sturnus vulgaris

Common starling: Sturnus vulgaris

IUCN Status: Least Concern

Mainly winter visitors to Northern subcontinent.

This is an adult in non-breeding plumage.

Interstingly, they were co-murmuating with flocks of Bank mynas and Asian pied starlings.

Common starlings murmurating with Asian pied starlings and Bank mynas

 

Photographed at Dhankot village, Basai wetlands, Gurgaon, Haryana, India on 6.11.2014

Camera used: Nikon D5100 DSLR with Tamron 150-600mm Lens



Black kite (Juvenile): Milvus migrans

Black kite (Juvenile): Milvus migrans

Black kite: Milvus migrans

Maturity: Juvenile

IUCN Status: Least Concern

 

Photographed at Dhankot village, Basai wetlands, Gurgaon, Haryana, India on 6.11.2014

Camera used: Nikon D5100 DSLR with Tamron 150-600mm Lens



Pallas's fish eagle: Haliaeetus leucoryphus

 Let me begin with an admission – I’m not particularly good yet at instant identification of birds of prey in the field. I look for silhouettes in the shadows of trees and for profiles in grasslands, and, shoot first and ask questions later. I don’t wait as far as photography is concerned for raptors can be terribly skittish. Rarely do birds of prey allow me sufficient time or permit me audience close enough for my meek lenses to capture their majesty. Meek lenses are the bane. Therefore, when I spotted a large, pale-headed silhouette towards a distant corner of Aasan Lake, I knew I had something special waiting. It was too distant for even my upgraded camera lens. Quickly I assessed the area for paths leading to that corner of the lake. I spotted a room…kind of a guard room in the forests thataway…surely there would be a path, even a motorable one perhaps on that bank of the lake…I dumped the chakotra I was eating into a nearbytrash bin, summoned Suresh who was driving me around, and we made haste down the sloping road towards where a path might branch off. Sure enough, there were two worn wheel tracks cutting straight into that neck of woods. We boarded the wheel tracks with our own transportation and drove as quietly as we could, all the time keeping a keen eye on the eagle in the middle.

The Pallas’s fish eagle – by this time I had plucked out my edition of Grimmett and Inskipps and furiously flipped the pages to hone in on the identification while Suresh drove – was probably surveying, or secure in its isolation, or sunbathing after an wholesome meal made out of any one of the teeming waterfowl varieties surrounding it, or merely displaying its comparatively sedentary trait. Whatever the reason, it was all good for us. Precious time was gained to get as close as we practically could.

But the trail ended abruptly at the forest edge. I leapt out, my equipment in hand and jogged carefully towards the lake. One couldn’t be too obvious lest one disturbed birds – that would give me away - and one had to feel for solid footholds in what was fast becoming marshy gloop among the lakeside reeds. I crept through the slush and reeds without kicking up a fuss, found a firm muddy high point barely larger than the palm of my hand, which, even though quite distant, was as close as I could get; set up my monopod and carefully inserted my toes alongside onto that high-point, praying I wouldn’t come down in a splash equipment and all, and went on to click as many photos as I could. Multiple shots, simply because I was trembling all the time with all the excitement and attempt to keep balance on that small piece of firm ground; and fully zoomed out photos, sensitive as they are to movement, were bound to be affected by my trembling.

Anyway, I recorded a few decent shots of this eagle listed as Vulnerable in IUCN Red List.

Pallas’s fish eagle: Haliaeetus leucoryphus

IUCN Status: Vulnerable

Main Features:

1.      Pale head and neck in adults.

2.    Dark brown upperwings.

3.    Underwings also dark brown.

4.    Tail is mainly white (not visible in this shot) with a terminal dark band.

5.     Soars and glides with flat wings.

6.    Flying silhouette, in addition, reveals long, broad wings, with protruding head and neck.

7.     Sharp talons.

8.    Almost 3/4ths to a full metre in size.

9.    Call is mainly a hoarse bark – kvo kvok kvok.

Photographed at Aasan Barrage, Dehradun, Uttarakhand, India on 8.11.2014

Camera used: Nikon D5100 DSLR with Tamron 150-600mm Lens

Crested lark: Galerida cristata

 

Crested lark: Galerida cristata

IUCN Status: Least Concern

 

Photographed at Dhankot village, Basai wetlands, Gurgaon, Haryana, India on 6.11.2014

Camera used: Nikon D5100 DSLR with Tamron 150-600mm Lens

Red avadavat: Amandava amandava

Red avadavat: Amandava amandava
Red munia

Manna Dey planted a munia inside my head while giving voice to the side character of a rustic gawaiyya in a Hindi film of late 60s or early 70s, set to music provided by Shankar-Jaikishen and with lyrics penned by Shailendra: the munia has been chirping in my mind since.

Everybody has enjoyed the song I refer to which begins with a chorus that goes - chalat musaafir moh liya re pinjde waali muniyaa, and the verse going something like ud ud baithi halwaiya dukaniya - but the true beauty of the bird and song as a whole was revealed to me when I first realized what a Red munia, or Red avadavat, or Lal munia was.

I’ve seen this bird aplenty growing up – on the grasslands and fields that dotted the ancient Aravalli range that once existed as Delhi’s spine. I just didn’t know then that this bird was Red munia.

Among those who relish keeping birds in a cage, the munia is popular due to the splash of colours and its beautiful song. I don’t know why they’d want to do that. They’re missing the dance. The elaborate mating rituals. Be that as it may, even when caged, the munia’s song is so happy. Take my word for it, it is quite something else when the munia sings as a free bird…lilting…matching the sine-wave curve of its flight-dance. The song reaches the ears far before the eye spies the tiny bird. The morning brightens in an instant and all one can do is switch off all engines one has running in and around, and submit one’s silence to be overwritten by the uplifting melody of the munia’s song. And this remarkable natural rhythm and melody has been captured in the song I mentioned before. To my level of awareness in such matters, it is the best attempt at recreating the soul of a munia’s song in one created by man.

This male Red avadavat was with his group, a gawaiyya of the scenic fields of Dhalipur village on the Uttarakhand-Himachal Pradesh border, belting out a carefree song among the reeds of standing bajra; flitting - singly and as a group - from stalk to stalk and into the bushes. Savannahs, low bushes, fileds in cleared areas of forests are their theatre. I must have spent almost an hour sitting engrossed in the cool aromatic moist-earth field, listening to their song, observing their ways, absorbing the experience.

The sun wended its way up, crunching underfoot the dewy coolness of dawn, and I, almost reluctantly, knowing I had to move on, lifted my camera to take a snapshot of this common, carefree, dancing minstrel of happy songs.

The munias are an old fascination and their song and dance flipped back many pleasant pages – my attention was the minimum I could give in return. Keep them free.

Red avadavat: Amandava amandava

Synonyms: Red munia; Lal munia (Hindi) Incidentally, Lal not only refers to the red colour but also stands for boy in rural Hindi belt. Breeding plumage of the male is brilliantly red, with spots and for the rest of the year they are duller. Breeding seasons vary from place to place and molting begins accordingly.

Gender: Male.

IUCN Status: Least Concern.

Photographed at Dhalipur village, near Aasan Barrage, Dehradun, Uttarakhand, India on 8.11.2014

Camera used: Nikon D5100 DSLR with Tamron 150-600mm Lens

 



Large-billed crow (Himalayan): Corvus macrorhynchos intermedius

Large-billed crow (Himalayan): Corvus macrorhynchos intermedius

 

Dhalipur is a picturesque village in the Garhwal region of Uttarakhand on the banks of Asan Lake. Nestled at the feet of Timli Range, which lies to its south, Asan Lake and river to its north, River Yamuna to its west, it is a peaceful outpost near the border with Himachal Pradesh. In fact, the Shimla Bypass coursing through the Timli Range forms its southern border, but I took the northern route via Herbertpur and reached Dhalipur by taking a rough track forking off Chakrata Road - which goes on to Paonta Sahib about 15 kms. away – soon after crossing the Asan Barrage and going down through the fields to the village.

I reached Dhalipur at dawn after driving through the night from Delhi. The sky was lightening grey - too early for the camera sensors but not too soon for my city nerves; the cool and refreshing breeze whistling through the confluence of Yamuna and Asan rivers; various waterfowl croaking to my left and a symphony orchestrated by various hidden arboreal and grassland birds ringing in my ears as I walked down the track inhaling deeply the aroma of mountains and the scent of dew-moist fields.

A feldegg subspecies of Yellow wagtail flew in low, landed, breaking my exploratory stride, almost tripping me, and, having snatched attention, instantly took off in a streak of black and yellow. I stared after seduced, but my engrossment was cracked by a guttural grack…grack in my right ear. I looked up. Perched atop a stone fence post, almost within reach, was a Large-billed crow (Himalayan). A Pahari kuwwa or Junglee kuwwa welcome to a shard of paradise.

Large-billed crow (Himalayan): Corvus macrorhynchos intermedius

Synonyms: Sanskrit: Van kak; Hindi: Pahari kuwwa, Junglee kuwwa.

IUCN Status: Least Concern

 

Photographed at Dhalipur village, Asan Barrage, Dehradun, Uttarakhand, India on 8.11.2014

Camera used: Nikon D5100 DSLR with Tamron 150-600mm Lens

 



Oriental honey-buzzard (Male): Pernis ptilorhyncus

Oriental honey-buzzard (Male)
Pernis ptilorhyncus

Oriental honey-buzzard (Male) with active nictitating membrane
Pernis ptilorhyncus

 

Ranthambore, this time around, was a pugmark better than my previous trip two weeks ago. Alright, make that many pugmarks – of mother and cubs instead. I didn’t spot a stripe and neither did mom, son, aunt and uncle, but we spotted a few birds, reptiles and mammals. In addition to the pugmarks of course. One of them was this bird:

Oriental honey-buzzard (Male):  Pernis ptilorhyncus

Synonyms: Crested honey-buzzard (English); Maduha (Sanskrit); Shahutela (Hindi); Tena gaddu (Telugu)

IUCN Status: Least Concern

The appearances are highly variable in the six subspecies identified.

Main Features:

1.      Long and broad tail.

2.    Narrow neck.

3.    Small head – usually grayish or grayish-brown.

4.    Small bill.

5.     Male has grey face – as in Plates 1 and 2 above – while females have browner face (Female– Link to an earlier post for comparison)

6.    Male has brown iris – see Plates 1 and 2 above. This bird has an active nictitating membrane (third eyelid, whitish) which offers additional protection to the eye.

7.     Females have yellow iris instead. (Female - Click link to compare)

8.    Male has two black tail bands and three dark underwing bands.

9.    Female has three dark tail bands and four dark underwing bands.

10.                        Has small crest or hindcrown (clearly visible in earlier post- Female) at back of head, the size of which is highly variable, and resembles that of local species of hawk-eagle. This form of mimicry is thought to be a survival tactic for the protection of the weaker honey-buzzards.

11.  Soars with flat wings. Silhouette shows a shallow ‘w’ shape.

12.Back is dark brown to grayish-brown.

13.Underparts and coverts range from dark brown through rufous to white. May be unmarked, streaked or barred.

14.Lacks dark carpal patch on underwings.

15. The six subspecies of this bird are divided into two main groups – a migrating northern population with one subspecies – P.p.orientalis, and a sedentary southern one containing five subspecies, of which, P.p.ruficollis is found here and has a more pronounced crest/hindcrown than the migrant orientalis subspecies. (The Female Oriental honey-buzzard in my earlier post belongs to ruficollis subspecies)

16.Typically have an undulating, sine-wave-like flight pattern.

17. Have short bare tarsi, relatively straight claws, adapted to digging and walking.

What do they eat?

Take a guess! Generally prefer honey-combs along with larvae, pupae and bees or wasps or hornets inside them, but they are not averse to other elements of a predatory bird’s diet.

Scaly feathers around eye and head protect from stings of bees, hornets and wasps it preys on.

Nests high up in trees. Usually made of sticks, twigs and leaves.

 

Photographed at Ranthambore National Park, Sawai Madhopur, Rajasthan, India on 19.10.2014

along with Mom, Sharang, Aunt Ramani and Uncle Achyut Ramaiah.

Camera used: Nikon D5100 DSLR with Tamron 150-600mm Lens.

 

References:

1. Richard Grimmett, Carol Inskipp, Tim Inskipp (2011). Birds of the Indian Subcontinent (Second Edition). ISBN: 978-0-19-807722-0.
2. K.N.Dave (2005). Birds In Sanskrit Literature (Revised Edition). ISBN:81-208-1842-3.
3. Indian bird names - BNHS-ENVIS 
4. ARKive.org

Greater flamingo (Juvenile): Phoenicopterus roseus

Greater flamingo (Juvenile)
Phoenicopterus roseus

 

Greater flamingo: Phoenicopterus roseus

IUCN: Least Concern

 

 

Photographed at Sambhar Lake, Rajasthan, India on 18.10.2014

Camera used: Nikon D5100 DSLR with Tamron 150-600mm Lens. 

Black-shouldered kite (Juvenile): Elanus axillarus

Plate 1: Black-shouldered kite (Juvenile):  Elanus axillarus

Plate 2:  Black-shouldered kite (Juvenile) in flight:  Elanus axillarus

Black-shouldered kite (Juvenile):  Elanus axillarus

IUCN Status: Least Concern

On a grey uncertain day at Tal Chappar.

Mature bird may be seen in this post (Link to blog post) from an earlier birding trip.

The parents of this bird were busy foraging nearby to feed this recent juvenile.

Glad I spotted this bird and added it to my list.

Photographed at Tal Chappar, Distt. Churu, Rajasthan, India on 31.10.2014

Camera used: Nikon D5100 DSLR with Tamron 150-600mm Lens.