Red Munia or Red Avadavat

The Red Munia, Red Avadavat or Strawberry Finch (Amandava amandava) is a sparrow-sized bird of the Munia family. It is found in the open fields and grasslands of tropical Asia and is popular as a cage bird due to the colourful plumage of the males in their breeding season. It breeds in South Asia during theMonsoon season. The species name of amandava and the common name of avadavat are derived from the city of Ahmedabad in Gujarat from where these birds were exported into the pet trade in former times

This small finch is easily identified by the rounded black tail and the bill that is red in all seasons. The rump is red and the breeding male is red on most of the upper parts except for a black eye-stripe, lower belly and wings. There are white spots on the red body and wing feathers. The non-breeding male is duller but has the red-rump while the female is duller with less of the white spotting on the feathers

Black Shouldered Kite (Manipuri Name - Uchi-thembi )

Basai - Feb 2012

The Black-shouldered Kite (Elanus axillaris) or Australian Black-shouldered Kite is a small raptor found in open habitat throughout Australia and resembles similar species found in Eurasia and North America, which have in the past also been named as Black-shouldered Kites. Measuring 35–38 cm (13.8–15 in) in length with a wingspan of 80–95 cm (31.5–37.4 in), the adult Black-shouldered Kite is a small and graceful, predominantly pale grey and white, raptor with black shoulders and red eyes. Their primary call is a clear whistle, uttered in flight and while hovering.

Though reported across Australia, they are most common in the south-east and south-west corners of the mainland. Their preferred habitat is open grasslands with scattered trees and they are often seen hunting along roadsides. Like all the elanid kites, it is a specialist predator of rodents, which it hunts singly or in pairs by hovering in mid-air above open land.

Black-shouldered Kites form monogamous pairs, breeding between August and January. The birds engage in aerial courtship displays which involve high circling flight and ritualised feeding mid-air. Three or four eggs are laid and incubated for around thirty days. Chicks are fully fledged within five weeks of hatching and can hunt for mice within a week of leaving the nest. Juveniles disperse widely from the home territory.

Desert Wheatear

The Desert Wheatear (Oenanthe deserti) is a wheatear, a small passerine bird that was formerly classed as a member of the Thrush family Turdidae, but is now more generally considered to be an Old World flycatcher, Muscicapidae.

It is a migratory insectivorous species, 14.5 to 15 cm (5¾–6 inches) in length. Both western and eastern forms of the Desert Wheatear are rare vagrants to western Europe.

The upper parts of the male in summer are buff. The underparts are white with a buff tinge on the breast. The black on the face and throat extends to the shoulders, and there is distinct white superciliary stripe.

The best character, in both sexes at all ages, is that the entire tail is black to the level of the uppertail coverts. The female is greyer above and buffer below and has no black on the throat, and in the winter plumage the black on the throat of the male is obscured by white tips.

Shikra

Yamuna Biodiversity Park- Feb 2012

The Shikra (Accipiter badius) is a small bird of prey in the family Accipitridae found widely distributed in Asia and Africa where it is also called the Little Banded Goshawk. The African forms may represent a separate species but have usually been considered as subspecies of the Shikra. The Shikra is very similar in appearance to other sparrowhawk species including the Chinese Goshawk and Eurasian Sparrowhawk. They have a sharp two note call and have the typical flap and glide flight. Their calls are imitated by drongos and the Common Hawk-Cuckoo resembles it in plumage.

Red whiskered Bulbul (Manipuri Name - Khoining)

Yamuna Biodiversity Park - Feb 2012

The Red-whiskered Bulbul (Pycnonotus jocosus) is a passerine bird found in Asia. It is a member of the bulbul family. It is a resident frugivore found mainly in tropical Asia. It has been introduced in many tropical areas of the world where populations have established themselves. It feeds on fruits and small insects and they conspicuously perch on trees and their calls are a loud three or four note call. The distinctive crest and the red-vent and whiskers makes them easy to identify. They are very common in hill forests and urban gardens within its range

Tufted Duck (Manipuri Name - Sadang)

Yamuna Biodiversity Park - Feb 2012

The Tufted Duck, Aythya fuligula, is a medium-sized diving duck with a population of close to one million birds

The adult male is all black except for white flanks and a blue-grey bill. It has an obvious head tuft that gives the species its name. The adult female is brown with paler flanks, and is more easily confused with other diving ducks. In particular, some have white around the bill base which resembles thescaup species, although the white is never as extensive as in those ducks.

The only duck which is at all similar is the drake North American Ring-necked Duck, which however has a different head shape, no tuft and greyish flanks.

The Tufted Duck is one of the species to which the Agreement on the Conservation of African-Eurasian Migratory Waterbirds (AEWA) applies.

Great Cormorant (Manipuri Name - U-ra ok-maan )

Yamuna Biodiversity Park - Delhi - Fen 2012

The Great Cormorant (Phalacrocorax carbo), known as the Great Black Cormorant across the Northern Hemisphere, the Black Cormorant in Australia and the Black Shag further south in New Zealand, is a widespread member of the cormorant family of seabirds. It breeds in much of the Old World and theAtlantic coast of North America.

The Great Cormorant is a large black bird, but there is a wide variation in size in the species wide range. Weight is reported from 1.5 kg (3.3 lbs)^[2] to 5.3 kg (11.7 lbs),^[3] with a typical range from 2.6 to 3.7 kg (5.7-8.2 lbs).^[4] Length can vary from 70 to 102 cm (28–40 in) and wingspan from 121 to 160 cm (48–63 in). It has a longish tail and yellow throat-patch. Adults have white thigh patches in the breeding season. In European waters it can be distinguished from theCommon Shag by its larger size, heavier build, thicker bill, lack of a crest and plumage without any green tinge.

Black-tailed Godwit

Sambar Lake  - Sep 12

The Black-tailed Godwit, Limosa limosa, is a large, long-legged, long-billed shorebird first described by Carolus Linnaeus in 1758. It is a member of theLimosa genus, the godwits. There are three subspecies, all with orange head, neck and chest in breeding plumage and dull grey-brown winter coloration, and distinctive black and white wingbar at all times.

Its breeding range stretches from Iceland through Europe and areas of central Asia. Black-tailed Godwits spend winter in areas as diverse as Australia, western Europe and west Africa. The species breeds in fens, lake edges, damp meadows, moorlands and bogs and uses estuaries, swamps and floods in winter; it is more likely to be found inland and on freshwater than the similar Bar-tailed Godwit. The world population is estimated to be 634,000 to 805,000 birds and is classified as Near Threatened.

Long-tailed Minivet

Sultanpur - Feb 2012

The Long-tailed Minivet (Pericrocotus ethologus) is a species of bird in the Campephagidae family.

It is found in Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, China, India, Laos, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan, Thailand, andVietnam. Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical moist lowland forests and subtropical or tropical moistmontane forests.

Brown Shrike

Sultanpur - Jan 2012

The Brown Shrike (Lanius cristatus) is a bird in the shrike family that is found mainly in Asia. It is closely related to the Red-backed Shrike (L. collurio) andIsabelline Shrike (L. isabellinus). Like most other shrikes, it has a distinctive black "bandit-mask" through the eye. and is found mainly in open scrub habitats, where it perches on the tops of thorny bushes in search of prey. Several populations of this widespread species form distinctive subspecies which breed in temperate Asia and migrate to their winter quarters in tropical Asia. They are sometimes found as vagrants in Europe and North America.

Greater Short-toed Lark

The Greater Short-toed Lark (Calandrella brachydactyla) or sometimes just Short-toed Lark (but see below) is a small passerine bird. It breeds in southern Europe, northwest Africa, and across temperate Asia from Turkey and southern Russia to Mongolia. It is sometimes considered conspecific withCalandrella cinerea.^[2][3] During migration they form large flocks that fly in synchrony and at other times they form loose flocks.

White-capped Bunting or Chestnut-breasted Bunting

Jaipur - Feb 2012

The White-capped Bunting or Chestnut-breasted Bunting (Emberiza stewarti) is a species of bird in theEmberizidae family. It is found in Afghanistan, India, Iran, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Nepal, Pakistan, Tajikistan,Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan. Its natural habitats are boreal forests, boreal shrubland, and temperate grassland

Alexandrine Parakeet

Sultanpur - Jan 2012

The Alexandrine Parakeet or Alexandrian Parrot (Psittacula eupatria) is a member of the psittaciformes order and of the psittacines family. The species is named after Alexander the Great, who is credited with the exporting of numerous specimens of this bird from Punjab into various European andMediterranean countries and regions, where they were considered prized possessions for the nobles and royalty

White tailed Lapwing

The White-tailed Lapwing or White-tailed Plover (Vanellus leucurus) is a wader in the lapwing genus.

This medium-sized lapwing is long-legged and fairly long-billed. It is the only lapwing likely to be seen in other than very shallow water, where it picksinsects and other small prey mainly from the surface

Adults are slim erect birds with a brown back and foreneck, paler face and grey breast. Its long yellow legs, pure white tail and distinctive brown, white and black wings make this species unmistakable. Young birds have a scaly back, and may show some brown in the tail.

The breeding season call is a peewit, similar to Northern Lapwing.

The White-tailed Lapwing is one of the species to which the Agreement on the Conservation of African-Eurasian Migratory Waterbirds (AEWA) applies

Red Wattled Lapwing (Manipuri Name - Salangkak)

Bharatpur - Jan 2012

The Red-wattled Lapwing (Vanellus indicus) is a lapwing or large plover, a wader in the family Charadriidae. It has characteristic loud alarm calls which are variously rendered as did he do it or pity to do it^[2] leading to colloquial names like the did-he-do-it bird.^[3] Usually seen in pairs or small groups not far from water but may form large flocks in the non-breeding season (winter)

Intermediate Egret (Manipuri Name - Lang khongsang )

The Intermediate Egret, Median Egret, or Yellow-billed Egret (Mesophoyx intermedia) is a medium-sized heron.

This species, as its scientific name implies, is intermediate in size between the Great Egret and smaller white egrets like the Little Egret and Cattle Egret, though nearer to Little than Great. It is about 56–72 cm (22–28 in) long with a 105–115 cm (41–45 in) wingspan and weighs c.400g (14 oz),^[3] with all-white plumage, generally dark legs and a thickish yellow bill. Breeding birds may have a reddish or black bill, greenish yellow gape skin, loose filamentous plumes on their breast and back, and dull yellow or pink on their upper legs (regional variations). The sexes are similar.