Blue-tailed Bee-eater

Blue-tailed Bee-eater

Location-Bagladesh

Date-!9/3/2013

Dusky Warbler

Dusky Warbler

Location--Kaptai NP,Banglades

Date--26/4/2013

Dusky Warbler

The Dusky Warbler (Phylloscopus fuscatus) is a leaf warbler which breeds in east Asia. This warbler is strongly migratory and winters in southeast Asia. It sometimes occurs in North America in Alaska, and has also occurred in California.
This is an abundant bird of taiga bogs and wet meadows. The nest is built low in a bush, and 5-6 eggs are laid. Like most Old World warblers, this small passerine is insectivorous.
This small warbler is prone to vagrancy as far as western Europe in October, despite a 3000 km distance from its breeding grounds. It has wintered in Great Britain.
This is a warbler similar in size and shape to a Chiffchaff. The adult has an unstreaked brown back and buff underparts. There is a prominent whitish supercilium, and the bill is fine and pointed. The sexes are identical, as with most warblers, but young birds are more olive-tinged above. Like most warblers, it is insectivorous, but will take other small food items, including berries.
The song is a monotonous whistle, and the call is a harsh check. The call is often the first clue that this typically skulking species is present, away from the breeding grounds.

How to Attract Birds to Your Yard

Providing food, nest boxes, nesting materials, water, and natural habitat can attract birds to our backyards, giving us much nicer views of them and, when done properly, making life easier for the birds. Attracting birds is also a great way to introduce young people to nature, and it's something the whole family can share. Having a bird-friendly yard has never been more important – nearly 80 percent of wildlife habitat in the United States is in private hands, and an average of 2.1 million acres each year are converted to residential use.

How do you begin?

An easy way to start out attracting birds is to put up a bird feeder. We'll help you choose feeders and foods that appeal to the birds you want to attract, plus we'll tell you where to put your feeder and how to maintain it. And we can give you some hints about food items, such as eggshells, fruits, and mealworms, that provide extra nourishment for some wonderful species.
Some birds, especially woodpeckers and chickadees, excavate cavities in tree trunks for nesting and roosting. Many other species, such as wrens, bluebirds, and some ducks and owls, nest in cavities that other birds have made. Nest boxes offer these birds a place to raise their young, especially where natural cavities are at a premium. Our nest box section describes the features of a good nest box, where to place it, and how to avoid predators. Our nesting section also lists some nesting materials you can offer that will help a wide variety of species.


A source of clean water, for drinking and bathing, may attract birds that don’t visit feeders. We can help ensure that your water helps birds, not mosquitoes or algae. And we've got ideas for other great attractants, too, such as building a brush pile.

The Big Picture: Landscaping

How we landscape our yard and deal with insects and weeds can make the difference between a bird haven and a pile of problems. Our landscaping section is full of tips to help you make your backyard a place where birds thrive.

Problems?

Attracting birds to your property is full of rewards, but it brings problems and responsibilities too. From too many starlings or geese to woodpecker holes in your house, our problems section offers advice to help solve these and many other problems.

Building Photography Skills

The images take your breath away—birds frozen in flight or with feathers fanned for a graceful mating dance. The images are captured by photographers from all corners of the world. You may never make it to Zanzibar on a shoot for National Geographic, but even in your own backyard, you can up the “wow” factor in your bird photography. This is not an exhaustive discussion of bird photography, or a debate on the merits of digital vs. film or specific brands of equipment. But we do hope this overview gives beginning photographers something to think about and a few techniques to try.

Basic Elements

Beyond the mechanical aspects of picture-taking, which nearly anyone can learn, there is an indefinable “something” that transforms an image into a work of art. People with this ability have an “eye” for composition, color, and shape. What they come by naturally, the rest of us can learn with practice, book-learning, and by studying the work of photographers we admire. With that in mind, consider the following crucial elements in any outstanding image:


Lighting

“The angle, intensity, and hue of your light source can make or break a picture,” says photographer Tim Gallagher. He feels the best times to shoot are morning and late afternoon when the light is angled, warmer, and more subdued. “It brings out all the color and texture of your subject's plumage,” Tim says.
It’s harder to take a good picture in the middle of a bright, clear day because images end up with too much contrast, washed-out light-colored areas, and inky black shadows. Having the source of light behind and slightly to one side of you creates a more three-dimensional subject. Having your subject backlit rarely works well unless you’re deliberately going after a silhouette


Framing
Professionals usually avoid placing any subject in the exact center of a photograph. It is much more visually stimulating to see the bird off to one side, facing inward. Our own eyes naturally follow the same trajectory. Likewise, avoid placing the horizon line in the middle of a picture which cuts it in half and usually looks bad. It's better to frame the horizon in the top or bottom third of your photograph.
In the case of a flying bird, leave space in front of it, so it appears that the bird has somewhere to go. “It’s not necessary to have an expensive camera and lens to get quality bird-in-flight photos,” says professional photographer Steve Wolfe. “All you need is a decent camera with auto-focusing capabilities, a red-dot sight to track the bird’s flight—plus patience, perseverance, and practice!”


Non-bird elements in your picture can add or detract from a pleasing composition. Branches, shrubbery, rocks, and flowers can be a distraction—or they can be used artfully to frame the bird within the picture.
Wildlife photographer Marie Read points out, “Birds don’t live in a vacuum. Showing the bird-habitat relationship is a compelling way to help others understand and appreciate the fascinating complexity of the natural word—and to tell a story.”
Although you want to avoid having a branch right behind the bird, looking like it’s growing out of its head, incorporating some part of the bird's habitat into the shot usually makes it better. If the background is too busy, try opening the aperture more to blur the background and make your subject stand out.
Angle
You can shoot from a position that is higher than your subject, lower, at eye-level, or somewhere in-between. One position may be preferable over another depending on the terrain and what species of bird (or group of birds) you’re trying to photograph. But it’s important to consider this ahead of time.
“Shooting from bird’s-eye level results in dramatic photos with an intimate feeling to them that you don’t get when the bird is viewed from above,” says Marie Read. To get closer to wary birds, Marie suggests wearing muted clothing, hiding behind vegetation, and moving slowly in a zigzag pattern low to the ground. Bird blinds also work very well.
Knowledge
To be the best bird photographer you can be you really have to know birds. Then you know where you’re likely to find them and what they might do next. For example, berry bushes attract Cedar Waxwings; herons haunt the edges of marshes and ponds; waterfowl often rest and preen in the same spot every day.
“You’ll develop an almost intuitive sense of when a bird is going to fly,” says wildlife photographer Bobby Harrison. “Before a bird takes flight, it often stands very alert, turning its head in all directions. It also turns into the wind.”

Parting Shots

All the professionals quoted in this overview agree that the key to improving your bird photography is to spend a lot of time in the field and don’t be afraid to experiment!

white throated fantail

The White-throated Fantail (Rhipidura albicollis) is a small passerine bird. It is found in forest, scrub and cultivation across tropical southern Asia from the Himalayas, India and Bangladesh east to Indonesia. The White-spotted Fantail, (R. albogularis) until recently was considered a subspecies.

The adult White-throated Fantail is about 19 cm long. It has a dark fan-shaped tail, edged in white, and white supercilium and throat. There is otherwise much variation in plumage between races. Most resemble the Himalayan R. a. canescans which is mainly slate grey above and below, with a black eye mask, and a white throat and eyebrow.

The White-throated Fantail lays three eggs in a small cup nest in a tree.

The White-throated Fantail is insectivorous, and often fans its tail as it moves through the undergrowth.

Birds use the same song year after year, with progressively small changes, with the result that the song sounds very different after 4–5 years. The male's call is a valuable tool in detection and identification of the bird, which can often be confused with the White-browed Fantail, R. aureola, where their ranges overlap. R. aureola has light underparts and prominent spots in two rows on the wings. Its call is rather functional, and not as pleasant and aesthetic as that of R. albicollis.

Brahminy Kite

The Brahminy Kite (Haliastur indus) also known as the Red-backed Sea-eagle in Australia, is a medium-sized bird of prey in the family Accipitridae, which also includes many other diurnal raptors such as eagles, buzzards and harriers. They are found in the Indian subcontinent, Southeast Asia and Australia. They are found mainly on the coast and in inland wetlands where they feed on dead fish and other prey. Adults have a reddish brown plumage and a contrasting white head and breast which makes them easy to distinguish from other birds of prey.



The breeding season in South Asia is from December to April.[7] In southern and eastern Australia, it is August to October, and April to June in the north and west.[8] The nests are constructed of small branches and sticks with a bowl inside and lined with leaves, and are sited in various trees, often mangroves.[8] They show considerable site fidelity nesting in the same area year after year. In some rare instances they have been seen to nest on the ground under trees.[9][10] A clutch of two dull white or bluish-white oval eggs measuring 52 x 41 mm is laid. Both parents take part in nest building and feeding but it is suggested that only the female incubates. The incubation period is about 26 to 27 days.[11]

It is primarily a scavenger, feeding mainly on dead fish and crabs, especially in wetlands and marshland[7] but occasionally hunts live prey such as hares and bats.[12] They may also indulge in kleptoparasitism and attempt to steal prey from other birds.[13] A rare instance of a bird feeding on honey at the hive of Apis florea has been recorded.[14]

Young birds may indulge in play behaviour, dropping leaves and attempting to catch them in the air.[15] When fishing over water, they may sometimes land in the water but manage to swim and take off without much trouble.[16]

They roost communally on large and isolated trees and as many as 600 have been seen at just one location.[17]

They may mob larger raptors such as the Aquila eagles. In some incidents where Brahminy Kites mobbed Steppe Eagles (Aquila rapax), they were attacked and injured or killed.[18]

A number of ectoparasitic bird lice in the genera Kurodaia, Colpocephalum and Degeeriella have been reported

The Green Bee-eater

The Green Bee-eater (Merops orientalis) (sometimes Little Green Bee-eater) is a near passerine bird in the bee-eater family. It is resident but prone to seasonal movements and is found widely distributed across sub-Saharan Africa from Senegal and the Gambia to Ethiopia, the Nile valley, western Arabia and Asia through India to Vietnam.[2] 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 and several subspecies have been named.


Like other bee-eaters, this species is a richly coloured, slender bird. It is about 9 inches (16–18 cm) long with about 2 inches made up by the elongated central tail-feathers. The sexes are not visually distinguishable. The entire plumage is bright green and tinged with blue especially on the chin and throat. The crown and upper back are tinged with golden rufous. The flight feathers are rufous washed with green and tipped with blackish. A fine black line runs in front of and behind the eye. The iris is crimson and the bill is black while the legs are dark grey. The feet are weak with the three toes joined at the base.[3] Southeast Asian birds have rufous crown and face, and green underparts, whereas Arabian beludschicus has a green crown, blue face and bluish underparts. The wings are green and the beak is black. The elongated tail feathers are absent in juveniles. Sexes are alike.[2]

The calls is a nasal trill tree-tree-tree-tree, usually given in flight.[3]
Taxonomy
Race orientalis from Coimbatore, India

Several populations have been designated as subspecies:[4]

    viridissimus is found from Senegal to northern Ethiopia (has more green on the throat, crown and nape with long streamers)
    cleopatra from the Nile Valley to northern Sudan
    flavoviridis from northern Chad to Sudan
    muscatensis on the Arabian plateau (more yellowish green with narrow gorget on throat)
    cyanophrys found in Israel and the Arabian region (includes meccanus)
    beludschicus(=biludschicus[5]) Iran to Pakistan (paler colours with a blue throat)[6]
    orientalis in India and Sri Lanka (has head and neck tinged with rufous)
    ferrugeiceps (=birmanus) in northeastern India, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam (has rufous crown, name and mantle)
    ceylonicus in Sri Lanka has the nape and hindneck with more pronounced golden brown sheen[7] often included within the nominate race

A study of species within the genus Merops based on plumage characteristics found that most of the subspecies of orientalis grouping together with the most similar species being Merops leschenaulti and subspecies ferrugeiceps appeared closer to that group.[8]

This is an abundant and fairly tame bird, familiar throughout its range. It is a bird which breeds in open country with bushes. In Africa and Arabia it is found in arid areas, but is more diverse in its habitats further east. This species often hunts from low perches, maybe only a metre or less high. It readily makes use of fence wires and electric wires. Unlike some other bee-eaters, they can be found well away from water.[4]

They are mostly see in the plains but can sometimes be found up to 5000 or 6000 feet in the Himalayas. They are resident in the lowlands of South Asia but some populations move seasonally but the patterns are not clear,[3] moving away to drier regions in the rainy season and to warmer regions in winter.[4] In parts of Pakistan, they are summer visitors.[

Like other species in the genus, bee-eaters predominantly eat insects, especially bees, wasps and ants, which are caught in the air by sorties from an open perch. Before swallowing prey, a bee-eater removes stings and breaks the exoskeleton of the prey by repeatedly thrashing it on the perch. Migration is not known but they make seasonal movements in response to rainfall.[2] These birds are somewhat sluggish in the mornings and may be found huddled next to each other on wires sometimes with their bills tucked in their backs well after sunrise. They sand-bathe more frequently than other bee-eater species and will sometimes bathe in water by dipping into water in flight.[4] They are usually seen in small groups and often roost communally in large numbers (200-300). The birds move excitedly at the roost site and call loudly, often explosively dispersing before settling back to the roost tree.[11] The Little Green Bee-Eater is also becoming common in urban and sub-urban neighborhoods, and has been observed perching on television antennae, only to launch into a brief, zig-zag flight formation to catch an insect, then return to the same perch and consume the meal. This behaviour is generally observed between the hours of 7:00 and 8:00am, and after 4:00pm.
Sand bathing.

The breeding season is from March to June. Unlike many bee-eaters, these are often solitary nesters, making a tunnel in a sandy bank. The breeding pairs are often joined by helpers.[12][13] They nest in hollows in vertical mud banks. The nest tunnel that they construct can run as much as 5 feet long and the 3-5 eggs are laid on the bare ground in the cavity at the end of the tunnel. The eggs are very spherical and glossy white.[3] Clutch size varies with rainfall and insect food density. Both sexes incubate. The eggs hatch asynchronously with an incubation period of about 14 days and the chicks grow fledge in 3 to 4 weeks and in the fledging stage show a reduction in body weight.[14][15]

A study suggested that Green Bee-eaters may be capable of interpreting the behaviour of human observers. They showed an ability to predict whether a human at a particular location would be capable of spotting the nest entrance and then behaved appropriately to avoid giving away the nest location. The ability to look at a situation from another's point of view was previously believed to be possessed only by primates.[16][17]

Riverside habitats were found to support high populations in southern India (157 birds per square kilometre) dropping off too 101 per km² in agricultural areas and 43-58 per square km near human habitations.[18]

They feed on flying insects and can sometimes be nuisance to bee-keepers.[19] The preferred prey was mostly beetles followed by hymenopterans. Orthopterans appear to be avoided.[20] They are sometimes known to take crabs.[21] Like most other birds they regurgitate the hard parts of their prey as pellets.[22]
Race orientalis with a dragonfly in Hyderabad, India.

An endoparasitic nematode (Torquatoides balanocephala) sometimes infects their gizzard.[23]

Black Drongo

The Black Drongo (Dicrurus macrocercus) is a small Asian passerine bird of the drongo family Dicruridae. It is a common resident breeder in much of tropical southern Asia from southwest Iran through India and Sri Lanka east to southern China and Indonesia. It is a wholly black bird with a distinctive forked tail and measures 28 cm (11 in) in length. Feeding on insects, it is common in open agricultural areas and light forest throughout its range, perching conspicuously on a bare perch or along power or telephone lines. The species is known for its aggressive behaviour towards much larger birds, such as crows, never hesitating to dive-bomb any birds of prey that invades its territory. This behaviour earns it the informal name of King Crow. Smaller birds often nest in the well-guarded vicinity of a nesting Black Drongo. Previously considered a subspecies (Dicrurus adsimilis macrocercus) of the African Fork-tailed Drongo (Dicrurus adsimilis), it is now recognized as a full species.
The Black Drongo has been introduced to some Pacific islands, where it has thrived and become abundant to the point of threatening and causing the extinction of native and endemic bird species there.

The Black Drongo was once considered a subspecies of the Fork-tailed Drongo (Dicrurus adsimilis),[9][10] a close relative that diverged relatively recently.[9][10][11][12] The two are now considered distinct species,[11][12] with the Fork-tailed Drongo restricted to Africa and separated from the Asian range of the Black Drongo.[11][12]
Seven subspecies have been named[12] but the largely contiguous populations show clinal variation and intergrade with each other. Individuals from northern India (ssp. albirictus) are larger than those from the Sri Lankan population minor while those from the peninsular India (nominate subspecies) are intermediate in size.[13] Race cathoecus is found in Thailand, Hong Kong and China.[14] This race has a much smaller rictal spot and the wings are dark with a greenish gloss.[12] In southern Siam a race thai is resident, but overlaps with wintering cathoecus. Race javanus is found on the islands of Java and Bali. Race harterti found in Formosa has the tail length less than the wing

This bird is glossy black with a wide fork to the tail. Adults usually have a small white spot at the base of the gape. The iris is dark brown (not crimson as in the similar Ashy Drongo). The sexes cannot be told apart in the field. Juveniles are brownish and may have some white barring or speckling towards the belly and vent, and can be mistaken for the White-bellied Drongo. First-year birds have white tips to the feathers of the belly, while second-years have these white-tipped feathers restricted to the vent.[15]
They are aggressive and fearless birds, and although only 28–cm (11–in) in length, they will attack much larger species that enter their nesting territory, including crows and birds of prey. This behaviour led to their former name of King Crow. They fly with strong flaps of the wing and are capable of fast manoeuvres that enable them to capture flying insects.[16] With short legs, they sit upright on thorny bushes, bare perches or electricity wires. They may also perch on grazing animals.[17]
They are capable of producing a wide range of calls but a common call is a two note tee-hee call resembling that of the Shikra (Accipiter badius).


The Black Drongo is found predominantly in open country and usually perches and hunts close to the ground. They are mostly aerial predators of insects but also glean from the ground or off vegetation. They are found as summer visitors to northeastern Afghanistan and northern Pakistan but are residents from the Indus Valley until Bangladesh and into India and Sri Lanka.[13] Some populations show seasonal movements[17] that are poorly understood.[18] The Black Drongo can be found in savannas, fields, and urban habitats.
Black Drongos were introduced just before the Second World War from Taiwan to the island of Rota to help in the control of insects. It is believed that they dispersed over the sea to the island of Guam in the 1950s. By 1967, they were the fourth most commonly seen birds in roadside counts on Guam and are today the most abundant bird there.[19][20] Predation by and competition from Black Drongos have been suggested as factors in the decline of endemic bird species such as the Rota Bridled White-eye[21] and the Guam Flycatcher.

Black Drongos become active very early at dawn and roost later than many other birds. They feed mainly on insects such as grasshoppers, cicadas,[24] termites, wasps, bees, ants, moths, beetles and dragonflies. They sometimes fly close to tree branches, attempting to disturb any insects that may be present. They congregate in fields that are being ploughed, picking up exposed caterpillars and beetle grubs. As many as 35 birds have been seen at such congregations. They are also attracted to burning grasslands where insects are disturbed. They appear to avoid flies.[25] They associate with Common Mynas, Cattle Egrets and other birds that share a similar diet and habitat.[26] Drongos benefit from this association and are more successful in their foraging. There is only partial overlap in the insect prey sought by mynas and drongos although in rare instances the drongos may rob prey from mynas.[27] It is said that they imitate the call of the Shikra so as to put mynas to flight and then to steal prey.[28] Similar behaviour, using false alarm calls, has been noted in the Fork-tailed Drongo.[29] There are some cases of the Black Drongo preying on small birds, reptiles, or maybe even bats.[30][31][32][33][34] They have also been on occasion seen feeding on fish[35][36] Flowers of trees such as Erythrina and Bombax may be visited for water and nectar[37] and they are sometimes known to feed on grains.[38] They are only rarely known to take larger arthropods such as scorpions and centipedes.[39][40] They feed on milkweed butterflies that are often avoided by other predators[41] and are known to feed late in the evening or night, often on insects attracted to artificial lights.

Black Drongos breed mainly in February and March in southern India, and until August in other parts of the country. Males and females sing in the mornings during the breeding season. Courtship can include aerobatic chases and they may lock their wings and beaks together, with the pair sometimes falling to the ground. Displays may be made on the ground.[45] Pair bonds are retained for a whole breeding season. The nest is a cup made with a thin layer of sticks placed in the fork of branch, and is built in a week by both the male and female. Eggs are laid close to the first rains in April.[15] The usual clutch is three or rarely four eggs laid in a cup nest placed in the fork of an outer branch of tree. Large leafy tree such as the Jackfruit are preferred. The eggs are pale cream to red with spots and markings and are 26 mm long (1.05 in) and 19 mm wide (0.75 in). The eggs are incubated by both parents and hatch after 14 to 15 days. Nestlings are brooded for the first five days, after which the young are capable of maintaining a fairly constant body temperature.[15] A second clutch may be laid if the first is destroyed.[17] Nests are sometimes built in telephone poles.[46] A nesting territory of 0.003 to 0.012 km² (0.3 to 1.2 hectares) is maintained.[15]
Helpers, offspring from the previous brood, have sometimes been noted to assist in feeding the fledglings at the nest of their parents.[47] Cases of brood parasitism by the Asian Koel have been noted.[48] An average breeding success of 44% has been noted with the main cause of fledgling mortality being shortage of insect food which in turn was dependent on rainfall.

Young birds have a yellowish-red gape. The feather follicles appear on the fourth day and pin feathers emerge after a week. Nestlings increase in weight steadily until they are 12 days old. The eyes open on the eighth day, the iris reddish-black while the gape turns red. The young leave the nest after about 16 to 20 days after hatching. They do not have the fork in the tail until three weeks. The parents continue to feed and protect them for a month. Young birds may beg for food for longer, but are often ignored or chased away by the adults. Birds reach breeding condition in about two years.[15][56]
Play behaviour has been observed with birds dropping a leaf in the air and catching it in mid-air and these may possibly help young birds acquire aerobatic skills.[57]
In southern India, they moult their feathers from June to October. The wing moult begins in July with the first primary and proceeds towards the tenth. Secondaries are replaced from August after the primaries are at the third quill. The secondary moult is not orderly, the 8th and 7th being dropped earlier than the rest. The tail feathers are moulted centrifugally.[15] Seasonal colour changes in the testicular tissues are caused by variation in melanin synthesis, with the dark pigmentation being lost during the breeding season.

Spangled Drongo

For the Asian species sometimes referred to by the same common name see Hair-crested Drongo
The Spangled Drongo (Dicrurus bracteatus) is a bird of the family Dicruridae.
The Spangled Drongo is the only Drongo to be found in Australia. "Drongo" is Australian slang for "idiot", possibly referring to the bird's uninhibited and sometimes comical behaviour as it swoops and perches in search of insects, small birds and occasionally, small skinks.
Whilst this bird is often silent, it sometimes makes astonishingly loud, complex and entertaining calls that may sound like a "sneeze".
The most remarkable characteristic of its appearance is its tail, which is described by Morcombe as "long, outcurved and forked"[2] and on first examination looks like its feathers are crossed over - like crossing your fingers.
Its basically black plumage is iridescent with blue and purple highlights. When it - seasonally - visits urban areas it is easily tamed by throwing small pieces of raw meat into the air, when it will accurately swoop and catch them mid-air.
The Spangled Drongo is an amazing mimic taking most of her vocabulary from the sounds she hears and weaving them into her own virtuoso aria.


Drongos are altitudinal and latitudinal migrants.
In the high altitude areas around Brisbane, Qld, Australia, they arrive in late spring and leave with their new crop of juveniles in early to mid-summer. Nests are cup shaped in open spaces, where it is difficult for predators to access without being seen, 75% up the canopy. Each year, they produce 3-5 young.

Yellow-footed Green Pigeon

The yellow-footed green pigeon, popularly known as hariyal in Marathi, will continue to be the state bird. On Tuesday, the State Wildlife Board rejected the proposal to declare the critically endangered forest owlet as the state bird.

About 150 forest owlets are found in the Toranmal reserve forest of Nandurbar district and Melghat tiger reserve in Amravati. Only four have been found in Madhya Pradesh. On the other hand, the green pigeon is found across India and in Sri Lanka, Pakistan and Bangladesh.

“We don’t want to over expose owlets and want to protect them from ill-informed tourists who will flock to see the bird. If not protected, it will become extinct,” said Praveen Pardeshi, principal secretary, forest department, adding that many wildlife experts wrote against the forest owlet being tagged as the state bird.

In June 2010, the Bombay Natural History Society (BNHS) had submitted letters to the state forest department requesting that the declaration of forest owlet as the state bird to ensure the much needed conservation of the bird.

For 113 years, the forest owlet was regarded extinct till British researcher Pamela Rasmussen rediscovered it on her trip to Maharashtra in 1997. There are about 250 white-bellied forest owlets in the world.

“We decided the forest owlet not be publicised and their population be allowed to grow. Besides, it is found only in dense forests unlike the commonly found green pigeon,” said Sunil Limaye, director and conservator, Sanjay Gandhi National Park.

However, Raju Kasambe, project head, Important Bird Areas project, BNHS, disagreed with the state’s argument of keeping the forest owlet a secret. “In 1887, the forest owlet was found in the Orissa and Chattisgarh forests. But when researchers went to look for them in 1997, both the forest and the bird had vanished, as a result of keeping its existence a secret,” said Kasambe.

“More people should know about the bird so that it can be conserved and protected with its habitat. There is no rule saying a threatened bird cannot be a state bird,” he added.

white throated kingfisher

The White-throated Kingfisher (Halcyon smyrnensis) also known as the White-breasted Kingfisher or Smyrna Kingfisher, is a tree kingfisher,[2] widely distributed in Eurasia from Bulgaria,[3] Turkey, West Asia east through the Indian Subcontinent to the Philippines. This kingfisher is a resident over much of its range, although some populations may make short distance movements. It can often be found well away from water where it feeds on a wide range of prey that includes small reptiles, amphibians, crabs, small rodents and even birds. During the breeding season they call loudly in the mornings from prominent perches including the tops of buildings in urban areas or on wires.

This is a large kingfisher, 28 cm in length. The adult has a bright blue back, wings and tail. Its head, shoulders, flanks and lower belly are chestnut, and the throat and breast are white. The large bill and legs are bright red. The flight of the White-throated Kingfisher is rapid and direct, the short rounded wings whirring. In flight, large white patches are visible on the blue and black wings. Sexes are similar, but juveniles are a duller version of the adult.
This species forms a superspecies with Halcyon cyanoventris and most major works recognize four geographic races. They vary clinally in size, the shades of blue on the mantle which is more greenish in smyrnensis and fusca and more blue or purplish in saturatior.
smyrnensis (Linnaeus, 1758) is found in Turkey, Northern and Central Israel,[4] Egypt, Iraq, Pakistan, Afghanistan, northwestern India, China, Taiwan and the Philippines, south of Thailand, West Malaysia, Singapore, Sumatra and Java.
fusca (Boddaert, 1783) is found in India, Sri Lanka, South China, Taiwan, Sumatra and West Java. Population from Burma to the Greater Sundas were treated under the name perpulchra but are now lumped into fusca. South China and Taiwanese populations are sometimes treated as subspecies fokiensis.
saturatior Hume, 1874 is found in the Andaman Islands.
gularis (Kuhl, 1820) is found in the Philippines.


Geographic variation in plumage
H. s. gularis of the Philippines has only the neck and throat white. It is sometimes treated as a distinct species, H. gularis. Race fusca is found in Peninsular India and Sri Lanka and is slightly smaller, bluer and with a darker brown underside than the nominate race found in northwestern India. Race saturatior is found in the Andaman Islands and is larger with darker brown underparts. Race perpulchra (not always recognized) is found in northeastern India and is smaller than fusca with paler underparts.[5] Albinism has been noted on occasion.[6]
The English of White-throated was introduced since the range is large and geographic adjectives would make the name too restrictive, while the older name of White-breasted would not describe the eastern race which has only the throat white.
The call of this kingfisher is a chuckling chake-ake-ake-ake-ake. They are particularly noisy in the breeding season.
Local names include Baluchistan: Aspi chidok; Sindhi: Dalel; Hindi: Kilkila, Kourilla; Himachal Pradesh: Neela machhrala; Punjabi: Wadda machhera; Bengali: Sandabuk machhranga; Assamese: Masroka; Cachar: Dao natu gophu; Gujarati: Kalkaliyo, Safedchati kalkaliyo; Marathi: Khandya; Tamil: Vichuli; Telugu: Lakmuka, Buchegadu; Malayalam: Ponman; Kannada: Rajamatsi; Sinhalese: Pilihuduwa.


The White-throated Kingfisher begins breeding at the onset of the Monsoons. Males perch on prominent high posts in their territory an call in the early morning. The tail may be flicked now and in its courtship display the wings are stiffly flicked open for a second or two exposing the white wing mirrors. They also raise their bill high and display the white throat and front. The female in invitation makes a rapid and prolonged kit-kit-kit... call. The nest is a tunnel (50 cms long, but a nest with a 3 foot tunnel has been noted[19]) in an earth bank. The nest building begins with both birds flying into a suitable mud wall until an indentation is made where they can find a perch hold. They subsequently perch and continue digging the nest with their bills. Nest tunnels in a haystack have also been recorded.[20] A single clutch of 4-7 round white eggs is typical. The eggs take 20–22 days to hatch while the chicks fledge in 19 days.

Coppersmith Barbet

The Coppersmith Barbet, Crimson-breasted Barbet or Coppersmith (Megalaima haemacephala), is a bird with crimson forehead and throat which is best known for its metronomic call that has been likened to a coppersmith striking metal with a hammer. It is a resident found in the Indian Subcontinent and parts of Southeast Asia. Like other barbets, they chisel out a hole inside a tree to build their nest. They are mainly fruit eating but will take sometimes insects, especially winged termites.



This species of barbet is found to overlap in range with several larger barbets in most of South Asia. In the Western Ghats, it partly overlaps with the Malabar Barbet which is of a very similar size but having a more rapid call. The red forehead, yellow eye-ring and throat patch with streaked underside and green upperparts, it is fairly distinctive. Juveniles are duller and lack the red patches. The sexes are alike. The Sri Lankan form has more black on the face, more red on the breast and darker streaks on the underside.[2]
During the nesting season, the wear and tear on the feathers can cause the plumage of the upper back to appear bluish.[3]
Within the Old World Megalaima barbets, they are found to be basal in phylogenetic analyses. Most of the remaining Asian species are more recent in their divergence and speciation.[4]
About nine subspecies are well recognized.

Keeps solitary, pairs, or small groups; larger parties occasionally on abundantly fruiting Ficus trees. Fond of sunning themselves in the morning on bare top branches of tall trees, often flitting about to sit next to each other. The flight is straight, with rapid flaps.[3]
They compete with other cavity nesting birds and frugivores. Megalaima asiatica have been noted to evict them from their nest holes, while Red-vented Bulbuls have been seen to indulge in kleptoparasitism, robbing the male of berries brought to the female at the nest.[8]
The nest holes are also used for roosting and some birds roost alone in cavities and these often roost during part of the day. Immatures will roost with the parents but often return to roost early so as not to be prevented by the parents from entering the roost cavity.

The call is a loud rather metallic tuk…tuk…tuk (or tunk), reminiscent of a copper sheet being beaten, giving the bird its name. Repeated monotonously for long periods, starting with a subdued tuk and building up to an even volume and tempo, the latter varying from 108 to 121 per minute and can continue with as many as 204 notes. They are silent and do not call in winter.[3]
The beak remains shut during each call - a patch of bare skin on both sides of the throat inflates and collapses with each tuk like a rubber bulb and the head is bobbed

Courtship involves singing, puffing of the throat, bobbing of the head, flicking of the tail, ritual feeding and allopreening.[5][13]
They breed through much of the year with local variation. The breeding season is mainly February to April in India and December to September in Sri Lanka. Both sexes excavate the nest on the underside of a narrow horizontal branch. They may also roost inside the nest holes.[2] Three or four eggs are laid and like in many hole nesting birds the incubation period is not well known but has been estimated to be about 2 weeks. Both sexes incubate. Often two broods are raised in quick succession.

Malayan Night Heron

The Malayan Night Heron (Gorsachius melanolophus) also known as Malaysian Night Heron, is a medium-sized heron. It is distributed in southern and eastern Asia, breeding in India, China, and the Philippines.

The Malayan Night Heron stands about 47 cm tall. The adult is reddish brown with streaked underparts, black underwings, and a black crown. The lores are blue but can vary in colour after moulting. The sexes are similar, but the male may have a darker crest and some birds, especially females, may retain juvenile plumage. The juvenile is greyish brown with black and white spots, and its underparts are streaked.

This bird occurs in subtropical and tropical swamps, streams, and marshes, especially in regions with high rainfall. It nests in forests in trees and bamboo, and forages in open areas. The most common food items are earthworms and frogs, and it will sometimes eat fish

The bird has a large range and its global population is between 2,000 and 20,000 individuals. Its population trend is not known, but it does not meet the criteria for a vulnerable species status.

Oriental Magpie-Robin

The Oriental Magpie-Robin (Copsychus saularis) is a small passerine bird that was formerly classed as a member of the thrush family Turdidae, but now considered an Old World flycatcher. They are distinctive black and white birds with a long tail that is held upright as they forage on the ground or perch conspicuously. Occurring across most of the Indian Subcontinent and parts of Southeast Asia, they are common birds in urban gardens as well as forests. They are particularly well known for their songs and were once popular as cagebirds. The Oriental Magpie-Robin is national bird for Bangladesh.


This species is 19 centimetres (7.5 in) long, including the long tail that is usually held cocked upright. It is similar in shape to the smaller European Robin, but is longer-tailed. The male has black upperparts, head and throat apart from a white shoulder patch. The underparts and the sides of the long tail are white. Females are greyish black above and greyish white. Young birds have scaly brown upperparts and head. It is the national bird of Bangladesh.
The nominate race is found on the Indian Subcontinent and the females of this race are the palest. The females of the Andamans race andamanensis are darker, heavier-billed and shorter-tailed. The Sri Lankan race ceylonensis (formerly included the Peninsular Indian populations south of the Kaveri River[2]) and southern nominate individuals have the females nearly identical to the males in shade. The eastern populations (Bhutan and Bangladesh) have more black on the tail and were formerly named erimelas.[3] The populations in Burma and further south are named as race musicus.[4] A number of other races have been named across the range including prosthopellus (Hong Kong), nesiotes, zacnecus, nesiarchus, masculus, pagiensis, javensis, problematicus, amoenus, adamsi, pluto, deuteronymus and mindanensis.[5] However many of these are not well marked and the status of some are disputed.[6] Some like mindanensis have been now been recognized usually as full species (Philippine Magpie-Robin).[7] There is more geographic variation in the plumage of females than in that of the males.[8]
It is mostly seen close to the ground, hopping along branches or foraging in leaf-litter on the ground with cocked tail. Males sing loudly from the top of trees or other high perches during the breeding season.


Magpie Robins breed mainly from March to July in India and January to June in south-east Asia. Males sing from high perches during courtship. The display of the male involves puffing up the feathers, raising the bill, fanning the tail and strutting.[2] They nest in tree hollows or niches in walls or building. They are also known to have used artificial nesting areas provided by humans, like Nest boxes. They line the cavity with grass. The female is involved in most of the nest building that happens about a week before the eggs are laid. Four or five eggs are laid in intervals of 24 hours and these are oval and usually pale blue green with brownish speckles which match the color of hay. The eggs are incubated by the female alone for 8 to 14 days.[13][14] The nests are said to have a characteristic odour.[15]
Females spend more effort on feeding the young than males. Males are quite aggressive in the breeding season and will defend their territory.[16] and respond to the singing of intruders and even their reflections.[17] Males spend more time on nest defense.[18] Studies of the bird song show dialects[19] with neighbours varying in their songs. The calls of many other species may be imitated as part of their song.[20] This may indicate that birds disperse and are not philopatric.[21] They appear to use elements of the calls of other birds in their own songs.[22] Females may sing briefly in the presence of male.[23] Apart from their song, they use a range of calls including territorial calls, emergence and roosting calls, threat calls, submissive calls, begging calls and distress calls.[24] The typical mobbing calls is a harsh hissing krshhh.[3][25]
The diet of Magpie Robins includes mainly insects and other invertebrates. They usually catch insects in mid-air and take it to a perch to consume it.They often feed in groups of up to 6 members.They also prey on ants by hopping on the ground.These insectivores birds are known to occasionally take geckos,[26][27] leeches,[28] centipedes[29] and even fish.[30]
They are often active late at dusk.[3] They sometimes bathe in rainwater collected on the leaves of a tree

Common Myna

Common Myna

Bangla Name-Bhat Shalik


The Common Myna or Indian Myna (Acridotheres tristis), sometimes spelled Mynah, is a member of the family Sturnidae (starlings and mynas) native to Asia. An omnivorous open woodland bird with a strong territorial instinct, the Myna has adapted extremely well to urban environments.
The Common Myna is an important motif in Indian culture and appears both in Sanskrit and Prakrit literature. "Myna" is derived from the Hindi language mainā which itself is derived from Sanskrit madanā.[2][3]

The range of the Common Myna is increasing at such a rapid rate that in 2000 the IUCN Species Survival Commission declared it one of the world's most invasive species and one of only three birds in the top 100 species that pose an impact to biodiversity, agriculture and human interests.[4] In particular, the species poses a serious threat to the ecosystems of Australia where it was named "The Most Import.[5]ant Pest/Problem"


The Common Myna is readily identified by the brown body, black hooded head and the bare yellow patch behind the eye. The bill and legs are bright yellow. There is a white patch on the outer primaries and the wing lining on the underside is white. The sexes are similar and birds are usually seen in pairs.[6]
The Common Myna obeys Gloger's rule in that the birds from northwest India tend to be paler than their darker counterparts in South India



It is a species of bird native to Asia with its initial home range spanning from Iran, Pakistan, India, Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka; as well as Turkmenistan, Afghanistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Myanmar, to Malaysia, Singapore, peninsular Thailand, Indo-China and China.[7][9]
The Myna has been introduced in many other parts of the world such as Canada, Australia, Israel, New Zealand, New Caledonia, Hawaii, South Africa, and islands in the Indian Ocean (Seychelles, Mauritius, Maldives, Andaman and Nicobar Islands and Lakshadweep archipelago and also in islands of the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans.[7] The range of the Common Myna is increasing to the extent that in 2000 the IUCN Species Survival Commission declared it among the World's 100 worst invasive species


Breeding
Common Mynas are believed to pair for life. They breed through much of the year depending on the location, building their nest in a hole in a tree or wall. They breed from sea-level to 3000 m in the Himalayas.[7]
The normal clutch size is 4–6 eggs. The average size of the egg is 30.8 x 21.99 mm. The incubation period is 17 to 18 days and fledging period is 22 to 24 days.[7] The Asian Koel is sometimes brood parasitic on this species.[13] Nesting material used by mynas include twigs, roots, tow and rubbish. Mynas have been known to use tissue paper, tin foil and sloughed off snake-skin.[7]
During the breeding season, the daytime activity-time budget of Common Myna in Pune in April to June 1978 has been recorded to comprise the following: nesting activity (42%), scanning the environment (28%), locomotion (12%), feeding (4%), vocalisation (7%) and preening-related activities, interactions and other activities (7%).[14]
The Common Myna uses the nests of woodpeckers, parakeets, etc. and easily takes to nest boxes; it has been recorded evicting the chicks of previously nesting pairs by holding them in the beak and later sometimes not even using the emptied nest boxes. This aggressive behaviour is considered to contribute to its success as an invasive species.

White-rumped Shama (Copsychus malabaricus)

White-rumped Shama (Copsychus malabaricus) 
Date-21/6/2013
Location-Kaptai NP,Bangladesh


The White-rumped Shama (Copsychus malabaricus) is a small passerine bird of the family Muscicapidae. It was formerly classified as a member of the thrush family, Turdidae, causing it to be commonly known as the White-rumped Shama Thrush or simply Shama Thrush.

They are native to South and Southeast Asia, but have been introduced to Kaua'i, Hawai'i, in early 1931 from Malaysia (by Alexander Isenberger), and to O'ahu in 1940 (by the Hui Manu Society).^[2] Their popularity as a cage bird has led to many escaped birds establishing themselves. They have been introduced to Taiwan where they are considered an invasive species, eating native insect species and showing aggression towards native bird species.^[3]

In Asia, their habitat is dense undergrowth especially in bamboo forests.^[4] In Hawaii, they are common in valley forests or on the ridges of the southern Ko'olaus, and tend to nest in undergrowth or low trees of lowland broadleaf forests.^[2]

The nominate race is found in the Western Ghats and parts of southern India while leggei is found in Sri Lanka. Race indicus is found in the northern parts of India.^[4] Race albiventris is found in the Andaman Islands and now usually considered a distinct species, the Andaman Shama. Race interpositus from southwester Asia-China to Myanmar, Thailand and the Mergui Archipelago. Southern China has race minor while mallopercnus is found in the Malay peninsula. Race tricolor is found in the Sumatra, Java, Banka, Belitung and Karimata islands. Race mirabilis from the Sunda Strait, melanurus from northwestern Sumatra, opisthopelus, javanus, omissus, ochroptilus, abbotti,eumesus, suavis (Borneo), nigricauda, stricklandii and barbouri are the other island forms. The last two are sometimes regarded as a separate species, the White-crowned Shama (C. stricklandii).