Clamorous Reed Warbler

The Clamorous Reed Warbler (Acrocephalus stentoreus ) is an Old World warbler in the genus Acrocephalus. It breeds from Egypt eastwards through Pakistan,Afghanistan and northernmost India to south China, southeast Asia and south to Australia. There is also an endemic race in Sri Lanka.

Most populations are sedentary, but the breeding birds in Pakistan, Afghanistan and north India are migratory, wintering in peninsular India and Sri Lanka.

This passerine bird is a species found in large reed beds, often with some bushes. 3-6 eggs are laid in a basket nest in reeds.

Clamorous Reed Warbler is a large Song Thrush-sized warbler at 18–20 cm. The adult has an unstreaked brown back and whitish underparts. The forehead is flattened, and the bill is strong and pointed. The sexes are identical, as with most warblers. It is very like Great Reed Warbler, but that species has richer coloured underparts.

There are a number of races differing in plumage shades. The migratory northern race has the richest brown upperparts, and the endemic Sri Lanka subspecies is the darkest form.

Like most warblers, Clamorous Reed Warbler is insectivorous, but will take other small prey items.

The song is loud and far carrying, but less raucous than Great Reed Warbler. It is a slow, chattering kereet-kereet-kereet with typically acrocephaline whistles and mimicry added.

Yellow-bellied Prinia

The Yellow-bellied Prinia (Prinia flaviventris) is a species of bird in the Cisticolidae family. It is found in the Indian Subcontinent and much of Southeast Asia. It ranges across Brunei, Cambodia, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand, and Vietnam.

Isabelline Wheatear

The Isabelline Wheatear (Oenanthe isabellina) is 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 bird. It breeds in southern Russia and central Asia to Northern Pakistan, wintering in Africa and India.

It is like a female Northern Wheatear but it is larger at 15–16.5 centimetres (5.9–6.5 in) in length, more upright and more tawny in colour, and has more black on its tail. The term isabelline refers to the colouration. The axillaries and underwing coverts are white, whereas in the commoner bird they are mottled with grey. Sexes are similar.

It is a very rare vagrant to western Europe.

Chestnut-tailed Starling

The Chestnut-tailed Starling or Grey-headed Myna is a member of the starling family of perching birds. It is a resident or partially migratory species found in wooded habitats in India and Southeast Asia. The species name is after the distribution of a former subspecies in the Malabar region. This resident population has a white head and is often treated as a full species, the Malabar Starling (Sturnia blythii).

Isabelline Shrike

The Isabelline Shrike (Lanius isabellinus) is a member of the shrike family (Laniidae). It is the eastern equivalent of the Red-backed Shrike (Lanius collurio) with which it used to be considered conspecific.

The Isabelline Shrike breeds in south Siberia and central Asia (race L. i. phoenicuroides, known as Turkestan Shrike) and China (race L. i. isabellinus, known as Daurian Shrike (after the Dauria region)) and winters in the tropics. These two races are sometimes regarded as separate species. It is a rare vagrant to western Europe, including Great Britain, usually in autumn.

This migratory medium-sized passerine eats large insects, small birds, rodents and lizards. Like other shrikes it hunts from prominent perches, and impales corpses on thorns or barbed wire as a larder. It breeds in open cultivated country, preferably with thorn bushes.

The plumage is isabelline, the sandy colour which gives rise to its name. It has a red tail. Young birds can be distinguished from young Red-backed Shrikes by the much sparser vermiculations on the underparts.

Common Kestrel

The Common Kestrel (Falco tinnunculus) is a bird of prey species belonging to the kestrel group of the falcon family Falconidae. It is also known as theEuropean Kestrel, Eurasian Kestrel, or Old World Kestrel. In Britain, where no other brown falcon occurs, it is generally just called "the kestrel".
Common Kestrels measure 32–39 cm (13–15 in) from head to tail, with a wingspan of 65–82 cm (26–32 in). Females are noticeably larger, with the adult male weighing 136-252 g (c,5-9 oz), around 155 g (around 5.5 oz) on average; the adult female weighs 154-314 g (about 5.5-11 oz), around 184 g (around 6.5 oz) on average. They are thus small compared with other birds of prey, but larger than most songbirds. Like the other Falco species, they have long wings as well as a distinctive long tail
Their plumage is mainly light chestnut brown with blackish spots on the upperside and buff with narrow blackish streaks on the underside; the remiges are also blackish. Unlike most raptors, they display sexual colour dimorphismwith the male having fewer black spots and streaks, as well as a blue-grey cap and tail. The tail is brown with black bars in females, and has a black tip with a narrow white rim in both sexes. All Common Kestrels have a prominent black malar stripe like their closest relatives
Their plumage is mainly light chestnut brown with blackish spots on the upperside and buff with narrow blackish streaks on the underside; the remiges are also blackish. Unlike most raptors, they display sexual colour dimorphismwith the male having fewer black spots and streaks, as well as a blue-grey cap and tail. The tail is brown with black bars in females, and has a black tip with a narrow white rim in both sexes. All Common Kestrels have a prominent black malar stripe like their closest relatives

Bonelli's Eagle

The Bonelli's Eagle (Aquila fasciata) is a large bird of prey. Like all eagles, it belongs to the family Accipitridae. It breeds in southern Europe, Africa both north and south of the Sahara Desert and across the Indian Subcontinent to Indonesia. It is usually a resident breeder which lays 1-3 eggs in a tree or crag nest.

The Bonelli's Eagle is a species of wooded, often hilly, country with some open areas. The African race prefers savannah, forest edges, cultivation, and scrub, provided there are some large trees; this is not a species of very open or densely forested habitats.

This is a small to medium - sized eagle at 55–65 cm in length. The upperparts are dark brown, and the underside is white with dark streaks. The wings are relatively short and rounded. The long tail is grey on top and white below and has a single broad black terminal band. The feet and eyes are yellow.

Immature birds have deep buff underparts and underwing coverts, and have fine barring on the tail without the terminal band.

Long-legged Buzzard

The Long-legged Buzzard (Buteo rufinus) is a bird of prey.
It is similar in appearance to the Rough-legged Buzzard (Buteo lagopus), but it is larger and more robust. This is one of the largest species of Buteo. Length can range from 50 to 66 cm (20 to 26 in) and wingspan from 115 to 160 cm (45 to 63 in). Females, at an average mass of 1.3 kg (2.9 lb), are larger than males, at an average of 1.1 kg (2.4 lb).There are many different colour forms, but usually Long-leggeds have a clear orange tint to the plumage, red or orange tail, pale head and largely white underwings. There is usually a distinctive black carpal patch and dark trailing edge to the wing. The rump and "trousers" are often dark or deep rufous. Plumage varies from ghostly pale individuals to very dark ones. Some plumages are almost similar to those of the Steppe Buzzard, the easternsubspecies of the Common Buzzard (Buteo buteo vulpinus), but Long-legged Buzzards have longer wings and are more like Rough-Legged buzzards or even a small Aquila eagle.

Laggar Falcon

The Laggar Falcon (Falco jugger) is a mid-sized bird of prey which occurs in the Indian subcontinent from extreme south-east Iran, south-east Afghanistan,Pakistan, through India, Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh and north-west Myanmar.

It resembles the Lanner Falcon but is darker overall, and has blackish "trousers" (tibiotarsus feathers). Fledglings have an almost entirely dark underside, and first-year subadult birds still retain much dark on the belly.

It resembles the Lanner Falcon but is darker overall, and has blackish "trousers" (tibiotarsus feathers). Fledglings have an almost entirely dark underside, and first-year subadult birds still retain much dark on the belly.

This species belongs to a close-knit complex of falcons known as hierofalcons. In this group, there is ample evidence for rampant hybridization and incompletelineage sorting which confounds analyses of DNA sequence data to a massive extent; molecular studies with small sample sizes can simply not be expected to yield reliable conclusions in the entire hierofalcon group. The radiation of the entire living diversity of hierofalcons seems to have taken place in the Eemian interglacialat the start of the Late Pleistocene, a mere 130,000-115,000 years ago; the Laggar Falcon represents a lineage that arrived at its present range out of eastern Africaby way of the Arabian Peninsula which during that time had a more humid climate than today.

Laggar Falcons used to be the most common falcons in the region, but numbers have declined markedly in recent times and today it is probably nowhere a common species anymore. The main threats are the intensification of pesticide use in the region and use as a decoy to trap large falcons.

Asian Desert Warbler

The Asian Desert Warbler (Sylvia nana) is a typical warbler which breeds in the deserts of central and western Asia and the extreme east of Europe (Volga Deltaarea east to western Inner Mongolia in China), and migrating to similar habitats in southwestern Asia (Arabia to northwestern India) and the far northeast of Africa(Red Sea coastal regions) in winter. Until recently it was considered conspecific with the African Desert Warbler (and called just "Desert Warbler"), but is now givenspecific status.
The two are still each other's closest living relatives, and their relationships to other typical warblers are not clear. They may be fairly close to theWhitethroat; particularly, female Whitethroats look much like a richly-coloured Asian Desert Warbler. But it seems that all these three taxa are fairly basal members of the genus.
It is a small bird (the second-smallest in the genus after African Desert Warbler), 11.5–12.5 cm long. The sexes are almost identical in colour, pale grey-brown above with browner wings and tail, and whitish below; the bill and legs are yellowish, and the eye has a yellow iris. Like its relatives, it is insectivorous, but will also take small berries; unlike most warblers, it commonly feeds on the ground. The song is a distinctive jingle often given in an advertisement flight, with a mix of clear and harsher notes. It breeds in semi-desert and dry steppe environments, as long as some bushes for nesting occur. The nest is built in low shrub, and 4–6 eggs are laid

Eurasian Hobby

The Eurasian Hobby (Falco subbuteo), or just simply Hobby, is a small slim falcon. It belongs to a rather close-knit group of similar falcons often considered asubgenus Hypotriorchis

Adults are slate-grey above with a dark crown and 2 short black moustachial stripes. The throat is unstreaked white, thighs and undertail coverts are unstreaked rufous and rest of the underparts are whitish with black streaks. Close views enable the red "trousers" and vent to be seen. Sexes are similar. Juveniles are generally much browner, with scaled upper parts and streaked buffy thighs and undertail coverts.^[3]

The Hobby has a distinct first-summer plumage

Montagu's Harrier

The Montagu's Harrier (Circus pygargus) is a migratory bird of prey of the harrier family. Its common name commemorates the British naturalist George Montagu.

Sexual dimorphism is particularly apparent in the plumage of this species. Adult males are characterized by their overall pale grey plumage contrasting with black wingtips. Compared with other harriers this species has characteristic black bands along the secondaries, both above and below the wing and rusty streaks on belly and flanks.
Adult females have a broadly similar plumage to that of Pallid and Hen Harriers. The underparts are mostly pale yellow-brown, the belly with longitudinal stripes and the wing coverts spotted. The upper parts are uniform dark brown except for the white upper tail coverts ("rump"), and the sightly paler central wing coverts.

The juvenile plumage resembles that of the female, but differs by the belly and under wing coverts which are not spotted, but uniformly red brown in colour.

A melanistic form occurs regularly in this species. In this form the male is much darker than usual, with a black head, brownish black above and grey underparts. The melanistic female is entirely chocolate brown except for grey flight feathers. Partially melanistic morphs can also be found.

Pallid Harrier

RECORD SHOT - Juv

The Pale or Pallid Harrier (Circus macrourus) is a migratory bird of prey of the harrier family. It breeds in southern parts of eastern Europe and central Asia and winters mainly in India and southeast Asia. It is a very rare vagrant to Great Britain and western Europe, although remarkably a juvenile wintered in Norfolk in the winter of 2002/3.

This medium-sized raptor breeds on open plains, bogs and heathland. In winter it is a bird of open country.

This is a typical harrier, with long wings held in a shallow V in its low flight. It also resembles other harriers in having distinct male and female plumages. Adults measure 40–48 cm long with a wingspan of 95–120 cm. Males weigh 315 g while the slightly larger females weigh 445 g.

Common Babbler

The Common Babbler (Turdoides caudata) is an Old World babbler. They are found in dry open scrub countries in Asia mainly in India and extending west to Iran. Several populations are recognized as subspecies and the populations to the west of the Indus river system are sometimes treated as a separate species, theAfghan Babbler (Turdoides huttoni). The species is distinctly long-tailed, slim with an overall brown or greyish colour, streaked on the upper plumage and having a distinctive whitish throat.

White-eyed Buzzard

The White-eyed Buzzard (Butastur teesa) is a medium sized hawk, unrelated to the true buzzards of the genus Buteo, found in South Asia. Adults are characteristic, having a rufous tail, a distinctive white iris and a white throat with a contrasting mesial stripe and bordered by dark moustachial stripes. The head is brown and the median coverts of the upper wing are pale. They do not have typical carpal patches found on the underside of the wings of true buzzards but the wing lining appears dark in contrast with the flight feathers. They often sit upright on perches for prolonged periods and will soar on thermals in search of insect and small vertebrate prey. They are vociferous in the breeding season and several birds may be heard calling as they soar together.

Eurasian Marsh-harrier

The Western Marsh-harrier (Circus aeruginosus) is a large harrier, a bird of prey from temperate and subtropical western Eurasia and adjacent Africa. It is also known as the Eurasian Marsh-harrier.

The Western Marsh-harrier is 43 to 54 cm in length, and has a wingspan of 115 to 130 cm and a weight of 400 to 650 g in males and 500 to 800 g in females. It is a large, bulky harrier with fairly broad wings, and has a strong and peculiarsexual dichromatism. The male's plumage is mostly a cryptic reddish-brown with lighter yellowish streaks, which are particularly prominent on the breast. The head and shoulders are mostly pale greyish-yellowish. The rectrices and the secondary and tertiary remiges are pure grey, the latter contrasting with the brown forewing and the black primary remiges at the wingtips. The upperside and underside of the wing look similar, though the brown is lighter on the underwing. Whether from the side or below, flying males appear characteristically three-colored brown-grey-black. The legs, feet, irides and the cere of the black bill are yellow.

The female is almost entirely chocolate-brown. The top of the head, the throat and the shoulders have of a conspicuously lighter yellowish colour; this can be clearly delimited and very contrasting, or (particularly in worn plumage) be more washed-out, resembling the male's head colors. But the eye area of the female is always darker, making the light eye stand out, while the male's head is altogether not very contrastingly colored and the female lacks the grey wing-patch and tail. Juveniles are similar to females, but usually have less yellow, particularly on the shoulders.

There is a rare hypermelanic morph with largely dark plumage. It is most often found in the east of the species' range. Juveniles of this morph may look entirely black in flight.