Saunders's Tern (1 new image)

Sun, 24 Apr 2011 08:38:51 +0530

A poorly known species, Saunders’s tern (Sterna saundersi), also known as the black-shafted tern, is a small bird that is easily be mistaken for the little tern (Sterna albifrons).

Adult Saunders’s terns have pale grey upperparts, while the underparts, rump and tail are a contrasting white. The first three or four main flight feathers on the outermost parts of the wings are black, creating a striking streak along the edge of the wing when the bird is in flight. Its legs and feet can vary in colour, being olive, dark reddish-brown or pinkish-brown.

Breeding adult Saunders’s terns have a black cap. with a triangular white forehead patch reaching from the top of the beak to the front of the eye, and a yellow bill with a black tip. Outside of the breeding season, adults have a mostly white head, with black plumage extending from the back of the neck through the eye, and an all-black bill.

Juvenile Saunders’s terns have sandy buff plumage, with each feather having a darker centre.

Saunders’s tern has a very large range. Its breeding range stretches from the Red Sea coast and Arabian Gulf, to north-west India, Sri Lanka and the Maldives

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Little Tern (3 new images)

Sun, 26 Jun 2011 09:35:53 +0530

Little Tern (3 new images)

The Little Tern, Sternula albifrons or Sterna albifrons, is a seabird of the tern family Sternidae. It was formerly placed into the genus Sterna, which now is restricted to the large white terns (Bridge et al., 2005). The former North American (S. a. antillarum) and Red Sea S. a. saundersi subspecies are now considered to be separate species, the Least Tern (Sternula antillarum) and Saunders's Tern (Sternula saundersi).

This bird breeds on the coasts and inland waterways of temperate and tropical Europe and Asia. It is strongly migratory, wintering in the subtropical and tropical oceans as far south as South Africa and Australia.

There are three subspecies, the nominate albifrons occurring in Europe to North Africa and western Asia; guineae of western and central Africa; and sinensis of East Asia and the north and east coasts of Australia (Higgins and Davies, 1996).

The Little Tern breeds in colonies on gravel or shingle coasts and islands. It lays two to four eggs on the ground. Like all white terns, it is defensive of its nest and young and will attack intruders.

Like most other white terns, the Little Tern feeds by plunge-diving for fish, usually from saline environments. The offering of fish by the male to the female is part of the courtship display.

This is a small tern, 21–25 cm long with a 41–47 cm wingspan. It is not likely to be confused with other species, apart from Fairy Tern and Saunders's Tern, because of its size and white forehead in breeding plumage. Its thin sharp bill is yellow with a black tip and its legs are also yellow. In winter, the forehead is more extensively white, the bill is black and the legs duller. The call is a loud and distinctive creaking noise.

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Pallid Harrier (1 new image)

Thu, 01 Jan 1970 05:30:00 +0530

Pallid Harrier (1 new image)

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. The male is whitish grey above and white below, with narrow black wingtips. It differs from the Hen Harrier in its smaller size, narrower wings, pale colour different wing tip pattern. The female is brown above with white upper tail coverts, hence females and the similar juveniles are often called "ringtails". Her underparts are buff streaked with brown. It is best distinguished from the female Hen Harrier on structure. It is very similar to the female Montagu's Harrier, but has darker and more uniform secondaries from below. Pallid Harriers hunt small mammals, lizards and birds, surprising them as they drift low over fields and moors. The nest of this species is on the ground. Four to six whitish eggs are laid.]]>

White-browed Bushchat (1 new image)

Thu, 01 Jan 1970 05:30:00 +0530

White-browed Bushchat (1 new image)

The White-browed Bush Chat (Saxicola macrorhynchus), also known as Stoliczka's Bushchat, is an Old World flycatcher in the genus Saxicola. The alternate name is after the discoverer, geologist and explorer Ferdinand Stoliczka. This desert specialist has a small, declining population because of agricultural intensification and encroachment, which qualifies it as vulnerable. The White-browed Bush Chat is found in an area of semi- arid country in north-western India and eastern Pakistan. It has apparently strayed as far east as the Bharatpur area of Rajasthan and as far south as Goa and Pune, with two simultaneous historical records from southern Afghanistan.]]>

White-browed Fantail (1 new image)

Thu, 01 Jan 1970 05:30:00 +0530

White-browed Fantail (1 new image)

The White-browed Fantail, Rhipidura aureola, is a small passerine bird. The White-browed Fantail breeds across tropical southern Asia from India and Sri Lanka east to Vietnam. This species is found in forest and other woodland. Three eggs are laid in a small cup nest in a tree.]]>

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Saunders's Tern (1 new image)

Little Tern (3 new images)

Pallid Harrier (1 new image)

White-browed Bushchat (1 new image)

White-browed Fantail (1 new image)