Baya weaver:Ploceus philippinus (Female)

Baya weaver:Ploceus philippinus (Female)

 

Baya weaver: Ploceus philippinus (Female)

Coppersmith barbet: Megalaima haemacephala

Coppersmith barbet
 Megalaima haemacephala

There are reasons for the lull in fresh posting to the blog: besides work grabbing priority, disaster struck me yet again. Way back, on a long tour of Rajasthan with family, I lost data from 32Gb SD card. I learnt my lesson, reduced my ignorance about such tech matters, and went ahead and purchased two large capacity external hard disk drives of reputed brands for backing up my data. I went ahead and backed up my data, distributing it between the two as per relevance and relationship to the theme  assigned for each external drive. For the past couple of years, my smugness at my elevation to a reduced level of ignorance knew no bounds and I merrily went ahead storing and processing photos, and expanding my database tables without further reducing my ignorance about data storage do's and don'ts any further. Smugness got hit. By a simple straight punch, but with catastrophic effects - my birding and wildlife TB drive was accidentally disconnected by a careless movement of my arm, and BAM!, my drive went dead. Reputation of a company wasn't  a shield after all. Neither was it a panacea for laziness in knowing more about how to store AND protect data. I didn't create "back-up images" or obtain further security through a "cloud". My docketed albums are gone. Along with my reports, databases, reference materials etc. Yet again, I'm wiser after. Now, I have to peck through my SD cards to restore portions of my data. Those deleted or overwritten (thanks to unaware smugness) are efforts up in the sky and clouds or space beyond now.  I tried some things through internet tutorials but in vain. The spirit has taken hard kicks in its backside.

Returning to he Coppersmith barbet in hand, let me state that this is my first decent quality photograph of the species. Invariably, they have either been beyond my reach, swifter than my reflexes, or simply well-hidden behind interfering leaves, twigs and branches which is their wont. They seek high perches on old trees to broadcast themselves in the manner of a coppersmith hammering the element to mould something out of it. Here was this specimen cavorting all over a bare trunk of a dead tree at eye-level too! It was a lucky day indeed.

I shall edit later to add the Taxonomy and other details after I rebuild a data storage and retrieval mechanism to house a new database which I will have to build from scratch.

To shake my enthusiasm out of its current dejection, a birding trip is in order to start with. The longish grieving at the start was necessary also.

©2015 Prashant V Tenjarla All Rights Reserved

Photographed at Keoladeo Ghana (Keoladeo National Park), Bharatpur, Rajasthan, India on 29.7.2015 using Nikon D7200 and Tamron 150-600mm system.

Exif data: f/6.3/600mm; ISO 100. Image has subsequently been cropped and exposure adjusted.

 



White-breasted waterhen: Amaurornis phoenicurus

White-breasted waterhen
Amaurornis phoenicurus
Display with loud calls.

 

White-breasted waterhen
Amaurornis phoenicurus

 

White-breasted waterhen: Amaurornis phoenicurus

Gender: Indeterminate

Age: Adult

IUCN Status: Least Concern

Sighted at: Keoladeo Ghaṅā, Bharatpur, Rajasthan, India.

Date: 29.7.2015

T o commoners again! They deserve to be looked at and photographed also.

 

Taxonomy:

Kingdom	-	Animalia
Phylum	-	Chordata
Class	-	Aves
Order	-	Gruiformes
Family	-	Rallidae
Genus	-	Amaurornis
Species	-	phoenicurus

 

 

Photographed at Keoladeo Ghaṅā, Bharatpur, Rajasthan, India, on 29^th July, 2015, using a Nikon D7200 camera and Tamron 150-600 mm lens.

 

© Prashant V Tenjarla

 



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Nene (Hawaiian goose): Branta sandvicensis

Nene (Hawaiian goose)
Branta sandvicensis

Nene (Hawaiian goose)
Branta sandvicensis

Nene: Branta sandvicensis

Age: Adult

IUCN Status: Vulnerable

Sighted at: Kauai, Hawaii, U.S.A.

Date: 1.5.2015

Nene or Nene goose or Hawaiian goose is the state bird of Hawaii. It is has been declared Vulnerable and conservation efforts are being made successfully to increase its numbers. It is endemic to the Hawaiian islands.

Taxonomy:

Kingdom	-	Animalia
Phylum	-	Chordata
Class	-	Aves
Order	-	Anseriformes
Family	-	Anatidae
Genus	-	Branta
Species	-	sandvicencis

 

Photographed at Kauai Island, Hawaii, U.S.A., on 1^st May, 2015, using a Nikon D5100 camera and Nikkor 55-300 mm lens.

 

© Sharang  Tenjarla



Zebra dove: Geopelia striata

Zebra dove
Geopelia striata

Zebra dove: Geopelia striata

Age: Adult

IUCN Status: Least Concern

Sighted at: Kauai, Hawaii, U.S.A.

Date: 1.5.2015

An introduced bird.

Taxonomy:

Kingdom	-	Animalia
Phylum	-	Chordata
Class	-	Aves
Order	-	Columbiformes
Family	-	Columbidae
Genus	-	Geopelia
Species	-	striata

 

Photographed at Kauai Island, Hawaii, U.S.A., on 1^st May, 2015, using a Nikon D5100 camera and Nikkor 55-300 mm lens.

 

© Sharang  Tenjarla



Red-crested cardinal: Paroaria coronata

Red-crested cardinal
Paroaria coronata

Red-crested cardinal
Paroaria coronata

Red-crested cardinal: Paroaria coronata

Age: Adult

IUCN Status: Least Concern

Sighted at: Kauai, Hawaii, U.S.A.

Date: 1.5.2015

Genders are alike unlike mainland variety in which the female of the species sports a more brownish crest. These are introduced birds on the island.

Taxonomy:

Kingdom	-	Animalia
Phylum	-	Chordata
Class	-	Aves
Order	-	Passeriformes
Family	-	Thraupidae
Genus	-	Paroaria
Species	-	coronata

 

Photographed at Kauai Island, Hawaii, U.S.A., on 1^st May, 2015, using a Nikon D5100 camera and Nikkor 55-300 mm lens.

 

 

© Sharang  Tenjarla

 



Indian scops owl: Otus bakkamoena

Indian scops owl (with two juveniles)
Otus bakkamoena

Indian scops owl: Otus bakkamoena

Gender: Indeterminate

Age: Adult with two juveniles

IUCN Status: Least Concern

Sighted at: Keoladeo Ghaṅā, Bharatpur, Rajasthan, India.

Date: 6.6.2015

This is a first for me from a photography point of view. I have seen Indian scops owl before. I knew t then as Collared scops owl but now the two are classified distinctly. The Collared scops is called Otus lettia.

 

The parent (both genders look alike) has two juveniles behind and beneath it (poking out from the tree hollow) and they were catching the early morning sunrays for warmth.

 

 

I was at a safe distance and took care not to disturb the family. I was well-concealed about 10-15 meters from the hollow on the roof of a structure in the forest crowuching behind a drum and the overhanging branches of the banyan tree.

Taxonomy:

Kingdom	-	Animalia
Phylum	-	Chordata
Class	-	Aves
Order	-	Strigiformes
Family	-	Strigidae
Genus	-	Otus
Species	-	bakkamoena

 

Photographed at Keoladeo Ghaṅā, Bharatpur, Rajasthan, India, on 6^th June, 2015, using a Nikon D7200 camera and Tamron 150-600 mm lens.

 

© Prashant V Tenjarla

 

 



Blue-cheeked bee-eater: Merops persicus

Blue-cheeked bee-eater
Merops persicus

Blue-cheeked bee-eater: Merops persicus

Age: Adult

IUCN Status: Least Concern

Sighted at: Village Sultanpur, Distt. Gurgaon, Haryana, India.

Date: 27.6.2015

A peculiarity I noticed while observing this representative – probably a female given its shorter tail compared to the other bird - with a Golden dragonfly catch is she exhibited the prize to at least two bee-eaters who didn’t show much interest and ultimately she flew into one of the holes carved out in the sand dune. This region appeared to be a nesting region and these birds flew in and out of holes carved out of these mud-sand dunes.

 

Key features  are:

 

1)     Summer visitor

2)   Passage migrant

3)   Bronze-green tail

4)   Whitish forehead

5)    Turquoise and white supercilium

6)   Black eye stripe

7)    Turquoise and green ear coverts

8)   Yellow chin

9)   Chestnut throat

10)           Upperparts and underparts are rich green with turquoise wash

Taxonomy:

Kingdom	-	Animalia
Phylum	-	Chordata
Class	-	Aves
Order	-	Coraciformes
Family	-	Meropidae
Genus	-	Merops
Species	-	persicus

 

Photographed at Desert beyond Sultanpur, Distt.Gurgaon, Haryana, India, on 27^th June, 2015, using a Nikon D7200 camera and Tamron 150-600 mm lens.

© Prashant V Tenjarla