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| In the Chronology: • Toxic molecule may help birds "see" north and south; posted on 24 June 2009 • Rosy Starling, Sturnus roseus - Facts and images; on 22 June 2009 • Allometry of the Duration of Flight Feather Molt in Birds; Neccessary feather change limits bird size, posted on 18 June 2009 • LSU Researcher First to Demonstrate Link Between Bird Songs and Habitat Change; posted on 16 June 2009 • “Weedy” Bird Species May Win as Temperatures Rise; posted on 14 June 2009 • Climate change could leave some species stuck in the kitchen; posted on 12 June 2009 • Siberian jays use complex communication to mob predators; posted on 10 June 2009 • Birds use social learning to enhance nest defence; Reed Warblers mob Cuckoo, on 09 June 2009 • Demoiselle Crane, Grus virgo - Facts, images and the first description by Carl Linnaeus; on 06 June 2009 • The first Great Bustard chicks hatch in the UK: Success brings cheer, on 04 June 2009 • Nature parks can save species as climate changes: Durham University leads research, on 02 June 2009 • Climate Change Threatens Endangered Honeycreepers, Deadly Diseases May Move Up Hawaiian Mountains to Birds’ Refuges, on 30 May 2009 • A bad performance is better than no performance at all, late canaries sing as well, on 29 May 2009 • Red-headed Trogon Harpactes erythrocephalus on 26 May 2009 • Shillong, Upper Shillong and Khasi Hills, Meghalaya on 25 May 2009 • Indian Bustard ardeotis nigriceps on 18 May 2009 • Desert Lark Ammomanes deserti on 14 May 2009 • Black-crowned Sparrow Lark Eremopterix nigriceps on 12 May 2009 • Cinereous Vulture Aegypius monachus on 29 April 2009 • Desert National Park, Rajasthan on 24 Apr 2009 • Har Ki Doon, Uttarakhand, India Checklist on 24 Mar 2009 • Hume's Warbler Phylloscopus humei on 19 February 2009 • Bristled Grassbird Chaetornis striata on 10 February 2009 • New Bird from Nonggang, China on 5 February 2009 • Striated Laughingthrush Garrulax striatus on 5 January 2009 • Sambhar Lake; Historical foreword by Adam, R.M. (1873) on 3 January 2009 • Half the world birds lay two eggs, some even ten; UC San Diego study brings clarity on 14 December 2008 • Besra Accipiter virgatus on 29 November 2008 • Scaly-breasted Wren Babbler Pnoepyga albiventer on 26 November 2008 • Slender-billed Gull Larus genei on 24 September 2008 • Chestnut-crowned Laughingthrush, Garrulax erythrocephalus on 12 September 2008 • Checklist of Birds around Chopta, Uttaranchal on 6 September 2008 |
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After seeing the Indian Bustard male strutting about and displaying
we completed the round and returned to the main entrance of the Desert National
Park. This was on 03 March 09.The morning at nine was cool and the breath of the passing breeze, insistent easterly winds, seemed to hold a promise for more birds and I decided next to try my luck at the hide nearest to the gate, a km or so away. The forest officer at the gate had said that there were many more such hides. Buzz Index (6 months Google analytics
aggregate)
Besra Changeable-hawkEagle Chopta DesertNationalPark HarKiDun Kaziranga MottledWoodOwl News Orange-flankedBushRobin Pallas'sFishEagle |
Distribution. The whole of India as far east as Western Bengal, Ball recording
this species from Manbhoom. It is found on the lower ranges of the Himalayas
as far east as Sikhim. It extends to Ceylon, and is said to have occurred in
the Andamans. It is absent from India from about the middle of May to the beginning
of July, but is abundant at other times. It occurs over a considerable portion
of Europe and Western and Central Asia...
The Demoiselle Crane appears early in October-often I think in September-generally
in vast flocks, either flying in a straight line or in a line which
the letter M. represents very well. Occasionally, but rarely, they
will settle on large shallow jhils; but on the Chowka and Gogra at
Byramghat they are often numerous, particularly during the very cold
weather. They migrate in March, going, as they came, in immense flocks...
Coloration. Male. Head and neck all round, and upper breast, deep
crimson; chin blackish; remainder of lower parts bright crimson behind
an ill-marked white gorget; back, scapulars, and wing-coverts along
forearm ferruginous-brown, brighter and more rufous on rump and upper
tail-coverts; wings as in H. fasciatus; middle tail-feathers rich
chestnut, black-tipped, the next two pairs black, with usually part
of the outer web chestnut; outer three pairs black, with long white
tips...
Habits,
&c. The Great Indian Bustard is usually found singly or in
twos or threes, more rarely in flocks, and it keeps chiefly to open
dry country, especially wastes covered with low grass and scattered
cultivation, or sandy ground with small bushes; it is never found
in forests nor on hills, but it sometimes enters high grass...
Coloration. Upper plumage greyish brown, tinged with rufous on the
upper tail-coverts and slightly streaked with blackish on the crown;
tail brown margined with pale rufous, the outer web of the outer tail-feather
entirely of this colour, the bases of all the feathers tinged reddish;
wing-coverts and quills brown margined with pale fulvous, the inner
web of all the quills largely pale rufous; lores brown; a ring round
the eye and a line above and below the lores fulvous white; ear-coverts
greyish brown; chin and throat pale fulvous white, with a few brown
spots on the lower throat; remainder of lower plumage fulvous grey,
with a few brown streaks on the breast; under wing-coverts and auxiliaries
rufous...
Distribution.
A winter visitor to the plains of India, ranging as Coloration. Male. Resembles
male of P. grisea, but differs in having the forehead broadly white, the whole
crown dark chocolate-brown or blackish, and the white of the ear-coverts produced
narrowly round the hind neck to form a collar; the black sides of the neck are
also produced as a collar over the mantle, immediately behind the white collar...
Habits, &c. Those of the family. The nesting does not appear to have
been recorded within Indian limits, though there can be no doubt that
this bird breeds in the Himalayas. In Europe it breeds about February
or March, sometimes on cliffs, more often in trees;...
Distribution. A winter visitor to the plains of India, ranging as
far east as about the longitude of Mudhupur on the E.I. Railway, where
it meets P. superciliosus, and the two are found there together. It
extends south to about the latitude of Belgaum. It is found throughout
the Himalayas as far as Nepal, but it has not occurred in Sikhim...
The Grass-Babbler is not uncommon about Deesa in the rains at which
season it breeds. I found a nest containing four eggs on the 18th
August 1876. When the hen bird flew off I mistook her for Chatarrhoea
caudata (Common Babbler, Turdoides caudata - ED). On looking,
however, into the bush I saw at once by the eggs that it was a species
new to me...
Coloration. Whole upper plumage, sides of the head and neck, chin,
and throat umber-brown (deepest on the crest) shading off into pale
brown on the lower plumage; every feather of the plumage, both upper
and lower, the wing-coverts, and tertiaries with a long median white
streak, the streaks larger but less defined on the abdomen and under
tail-coverts; quills dark brown, the outer webs of the first few
primaries hoary,...
Besra identification:
Coloration. Male. Forehead and the sides of the head and neck rich
brown with bright fulvous shaft-streaks; the whole upper plumage and
the lesser wing-coverts also rich brown with a fulvous drop on each
feather, the drops becoming bars on the rump and upper tail-coverts;
each...
To
a casual observer these birds closely approximate to L. ridibundus in winter
plumage; but they may be very readily distinguished from these; they never get
the dark hood that ridibundus does, and they never have the dark spot in front
of the eye and behind the ear coverts that ridibundus always exhibits in the
cold weather; the bills also are considerably longer,...
Coloration: Forehead, crown, and nape chestnut; ear-coverts chestnut,
each feather blackish near the tip and edged with white; lores, chin,
and upper throat black with a chocolate tinge; cheeks mingled chestnut
and black; mantle and sides of neck olive-brown, each feather with
a semicircular black mark near the end;
It nests in holes in bank-sides, under tree-roots, or fallen tree-trunks. The
eggs, four in number, are bluish white, very faintly marked towards the larger
end with the palest reddish brown. Those markings can only be seen upon a close
inspection. Length 0.74 by 0.56.