Sep 25
by Admin in Dandeli, Karnataka 0 comments tags: Alwan, art, Avian, Bangalore, Bird, birds, Dandeli, Digitalfrescos, Indian paradise flycatcher, Nikkor, Nikkor 500, Nikon, Nikon D500

Male Indian paradise flycatcher perched, Dandeli

        The Indian paradise flycatcher (Terpsiphone paradisi) is a medium-sized passerine bird native to Asia, where it is widely distributed. Adult Indian paradise flycatchers are 19–22 cm (7.5–8.7 in) long. Their heads are glossy black with a black crown and crest, their black bill round and sturdy, their eyes black. Female are rufous on the back with a greyish throat and underparts. Their wings are 86–92 mm (3.4–3.6 in) long. Young males look very much like females but have a black throat and blue-ringed eyes. As adults they develop up to 24 cm (9.4 in) long tail feathers with two central tail feathers growing up to 30 cm (12 in) long drooping streamers. Young males are rufous and have short tails. They acquire long tails in their second or third year. Adult males are either predominantly bright rufous above or predominantly white. Some specimens show some degree of intermediacy between rufous and white. Long-tailed rufous birds are generally devoid of shaft streaks on the wing and tail feathers, while in white birds the shaft streaks, and sometimes the edges of the wing and tail feathers are black. The Indian paradise flycatcher is a migratory bird and spends […]
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Sep 25
by Admin in Dandeli, Karnataka 0 comments tags: Alwan, art, Avian, Bangalore, Bird, birds, Dandeli, Digitalfrescos, hornbill. malabar pied hornbill, Nikkor, Nikkor 500, Nikon, Nikon D500

Malabar pied hornbill pair in flight, Dandeli

  The Malabar pied hornbill (Anthracoceros coronatus), also known as lesser pied hornbill, is a bird in the hornbill family, a family of tropical near-passerine birds. The Malabar pied hornbill is a large hornbill, at 65 cm (26 in) in length. It has mainly black plumage, apart from its white belly, throat patch, tail sides and trailing edge to the wings. The bill is yellow with a large, mainly black casque. Females have white orbital skin, which the males lack. Male has a creamy white large bill with black base, and a huge ivory yellow and black casque with projecting front end, red eye with black bare skin, female is smaller with bare skin around eye pale blue, becoming pink during breeding season. Juveniles have no casque. It might be confused with the oriental pied hornbill. The Malabar pied hornbill is a common resident breeder in India and Sri Lanka. Its habitat is evergreen and moist deciduous forests, often near human settlements. This species is omnivorous, taking fruits, small mammals, birds, small reptiles, insects etc. Prey is killed and swallowed whole. Figs are an important food, contributing 60% of their diet from May to February, the non-breeding season; during breeding, […]
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Sep 25
by Admin in Dandeli, Karnataka 0 comments tags: Alwan, art, Avian, Bangalore, Bird, birds, Dandeli, Digitalfrescos, hornbill, malabar grey hornbill, Nikkor, Nikkor 500, Nikon, Nikon D500

Malabar grey male hornbill with cicada catch, Dandeli

  The Malabar grey hornbill (Ocyceros griseus) is a hornbill endemic to the Western Ghats and associated hills of southern India. They have a large beak but lack the casque that is prominent in some other hornbill species. They are found mainly in dense forest and around rubber, arecanut or coffee plantations. They move around in small groups, feeding on figs and other forest fruits. Their loud cackling and laughing call makes them familiar to people living in the region. The Malabar grey hornbill is a large bird, but mid-sized for a hornbill, at 45 to 58 cm (18 to 23 in) in length. It has a 23 cm (9.1 in) tail and pale or yellowish to orange bill. Males as seen in this picture has a reddish bill with a yellow tip, while the females have a plain yellow bill with black at the base of the lower mandible and a black stripe along the culmen. They show a broad whitish superciliary band above the eye, running down to the neck. They fly with a strong flap and glide flight and hop around heavily on the outer branches of large fruiting trees. They have brown-grey wings, a white carpal […]
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Sep 24
by Admin in Dandeli, Karnataka 0 comments tags: Alwan, art, Avian, babbler, Bangalore, Bird, birds, Dandeli, Dark fronted babbler, Digitalfrescos, Nikkor, Nikkor 500, Nikon, Nikon D500

Dark fronted babbler, Dandeli

  The dark fronted babbler (Rhopocichla atriceps) is an Old World babbler found in the Western Ghats of India and the forests of Sri Lanka. They are small chestnut brown birds with a dark black cap, a whitish underside and pale yellow iris. They forage in flocks in the undergrowth of forests constantly making calls and uttering alarm calls when disturbed. The dark-fronted babbler measures 13 cm including its square-tipped tail. It is brown above and white below. The two subspecies in the Western Ghats have black hoods, but the two Sri Lankan races have this reduced to a dark bandit mask. The pale yellow iris stands in contrast. Babblers have a weak flight and are residents within their range. The forage in parties and clamber up vegetation and when disturbed, they tend to drop from the topmost perches of the bush into the undergrowth. The typical habitat is undergrowth in forest or on the edge of forests in more open growth. Their food is mainly insects. They can be difficult to observe in the dense vegetation they prefer, but like other babblers, these are noisy birds, and their characteristic rattling churr alarm calls are often the best indication that […]
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Sep 21
by Admin in Dandeli, Karnataka 0 comments tags: Alwan, art, Avian, Bangalore, Bird, birds, Chestnut-tailed starling, Dandeli, Digitalfrescos, malabar starling, Nikkor, Nikkor 500, Nikon, Nikon D500

Chestnut-tailed starling

Chestnut-tailed starling The Malabar starling (Sturnia blythii) is a species of starling found in southwest India. It was previously considered a subspecies of the chestnut-tailed starling.
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