Saturday, November 4, 2017
Sunday, August 20, 2017
Tuesday, August 15, 2017
Tuesday, August 8, 2017
Monday, August 7, 2017
Saturday, August 5, 2017
Friday, August 4, 2017
Wednesday, August 2, 2017
Sarus Crane (Antigone antigone)
The sarus crane (Antigone antigone) is a large non-migratory crane found in parts of the Indian Subcontinent, Southeast Asia and Australia. The tallest of the flying birds, standing at a height of up to 1.8 metres, they are conspicuous and iconic species of open wetlands.
The sarus crane is easily distinguished from other cranes in the region
by the overall grey colour and the contrasting red head and upper neck.
They forage on marshes and shallow wetlands for roots, tubers, insects, crustaceans and small vertebrates. Like other cranes, they form long-lasting pair-bonds and maintain territories within which they perform territorial and courtship displays that include loud trumpeting, leaps and dance-like movements. In India they are revered and considered symbols of marital fidelity,
believed to mate for life and pine the loss of their mates even to the
point of starving to death.
The main breeding season is during the monsoons, when the pair builds an enormous nest "island", a circular platform of reeds and grasses
nearly two metres in diameter and high enough to stay above the shallow
water surrounding it.
-Wikipedia
Tuesday, August 1, 2017
Grey-headed Swamphen aka Purple Moorhen
Female Grey-headed Swamphen |
Grey-headed swamphen (Porphyrio poliocephalus) is a species of swamphen or moorhen occurring from the Middle East and the Indian subcontinent to southern
China and northern Thailand. It used to be considered a subspecies of
the purple swamphen, but was elevated to full species status in 2015; today the purple swamphen is considered a superspecies and each of its six races are designated full species.
The male has an elaborate courtship display which is more like children playing catch-me-if-you-can
game. Their calls are also amusing as
they do not keep to any standard call sometimes cackling like hens,
sometimes hooting, sometimes hissing and shrieking. The male is seen to
entice a female by holding a piece of reed in his beaks and offering it
to females.The male is a glistening purple color and the female is a little duller than the male with greyish-purple color; both have a red patch on a bald head.
They forage on insects, mollusks, water beetles, and water-plant shoots. The nesting season is from June to September. The nest is a large pad of reed leaves on a floating mass or hidden inside
the reed beds. Three to six eggs (pale yellowish color and blotched or spotted with reddish brown patches) are laid at a time.
Monday, July 31, 2017
Sunday, July 30, 2017
Little Cormorant (Microcarbo niger)
The little cormorant is about 50 centimetres long and only slightly smaller than the Indian cormorant (Phalacrocorax fuscicollis). The Indian cormorant has a narrower and longer bill
which ends in a prominent hook tip, blue iris and a more pointed head
profile. The little cormorant lacks a peaked head and has a shorter beak.
It forages singly or sometimes in loose groups in lowland freshwater
bodies, including small ponds, large lakes, streams and sometimes
coastal estuaries. Like other cormorants, it is often found perched on a
waterside rock with its wings spread out after coming out of the water.
The entire body is black in the breeding season but the plumage is
brownish, and the throat has a small whitish patch in the non-breeding
season. These birds breed gregariously in trees, often joining other waterbirds at heronries. The breeding adult bird has a glistening all black plumage with
some white spots and filoplumes on the face. There is also a short crest on the back of the head. The eyes, gular skin
and face are dark. In the non-breeding bird or juvenile, the plumage is
brownish and the bill and gular skin can appear more fleshy. The crest
becomes inconspicuous and a small and well-marked white patch on the
throat is sometimes visible.
Saturday, July 29, 2017
Friday, July 28, 2017
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