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).