Category "World of Wonder - Birds"

The Black Headed Jay is found in the Himalayas, ranging from Afghanistan across to India and Bhutan. It is a large, striking bird with a black head and crest that stands out when it lands after a short flight. It has a long, well defined blue with black barring tail. […]

The Great Barbet is a large, colourful and striking bird with a red vent, blue head, brown and green and yellow streaked body and a large yellow bill, found in South East Asia and foothills of the Himalayas. They are well over a foot in length and can easily be spotted due to their large size and noisy calls, of which they have three types. […]

The Himalayan Black Lored Tit is a very beautiful yellow and black bird. The name ‘lore’ refers to the black area between the eye and the bill. […]

The Blue Whistling Thrush is widely distributed in the mountains of Central Asia, China and South East Asia, and in India are found along the foothills of the Himalayas. They feed on the ground and are found along streams foraging for insects, crabs, snails and fruit. They make altitudinal changes in the Himalayas, descending in winters to lower altitudes. I photographed this specimen in Chakki Mor in Himachal Pradesh, about an hour’s drive from Chandigarh. […]

The Red-wattled Lapwing is a wader and are ground birds that are incapable of perching. Their characteristic loud calls that sound like ‘did he do it – did he do it’ are indications of human, animal or larger birds getting close to their habitat, especially when they are nesting or looking after the young. They nest in a ground scrape laying three to four camouflaged eggs. Adults near the nest fly around, diving at potential predators while calling noisily. […]

The Common Tailorbird is a songbird found throughout tropical Asia. It can be seen around gardens and bushes in urban areas too, hopping about quickly in search of food, giving themselves away by their loud ‘cheeup cheeup cheeup’ calls. They are a delight to watch and are not afraid of human proximity. […]

The Crimson Sunbird is also a small Sunbird, about 11 cm. long. They are generally found throughout India but are a rare sight in urban areas, preferring forests and farms with tree cover. […]

The Purple Sunbird is a small Sunbird less than 10 cm long, found throughout India in both urban and rural areas. They can be seen early in the morning hovering around flowers and perched besides them on branches of flowering plants and trees. […]

The Indian Robin is widespread across the subcontinent, with its Southern species more black than its ‘browner’ Northern species. They are commonly found in open scrub areas and often seen running along the ground or perching on low thorny shrubs and rocks. The long tail is usually held up and the chestnut undertail coverts and dark body make them easily distinguishable. […]

The Baya Weaver is widespread in the Indian Subcontinent and South East Asia. Large flocks are found in grasslands, farmlands, scrub and secondary growth. Though widespread, they are not generally migratory and move about locally depending upon food and habitat factors. […]

The Brown Headed Gull is found all along coastal India during winters in large colonies. They breed in the highlands of Central Asia from Tajikistan to Mongolia in reeds, marshes, islands and lakes from May to July; and migrate to the subcontinent in winter. […]

The Lesser Crested tern is found all along the coastal regions of India,and are widely distributed from the Mediterranean to Australia and parts of the Pacific. They winter to the south of the equator, and are often migratory, coming into the sub continent from Central Asia and the North. They have a distinct black crest, grey rump and yellow – orange bill and are thus identified from their fellow Tern family. […]

The Spotted Owlet is a small, cute looking owl that is found in India and South East Asia. They are widespread all over the country and can even be seen in urban areas, quietly sitting on trees, cavities of rocks or even a quiet corner in buildings. They are small birds, barely 8 to 8 ½ inches in length. […]

The Small Green Bee Eater is a small, beautiful bird and is found widespread from Africa through to South East Asia. India has a large population of this species. They are mainly insect eaters and they are found in grassland, thin scrub and forest often quite far from water. Several regional plumage variations are known for this colourful bird. They are mostly seen in the plains but can sometimes be found up to 5000 or 6000 feet in the Himalayas. […]

The wire-tailed swallow is a small bird, measuring about 7 inches in length. It has bright blue upperparts, bright white under parts and a chestnut cap. The species is named for the very long outermost tail feathers, which trail behind like two wires. The sexes are similar in appearance, but the female has shorter “wires”. […]