Flying beauties of Himachal Pradesh

Crimson Sunbird feeds largely on nectar,just in line with other sunbirds.A bout 11cm in size,one can see it hovering in the air around flowers.It perches to suck the nectar,but rarely stays for long at one place and continuously keeps on changing its position from one branch and flower to another. The long beak is typically made to suck the nectar from flowers,but at times  it consumes insects especially for feeding young ones and to meet the protein requirements during breeding season . An Adult Male The adult male has a crimson/maroon coloured chest,sides and upper back.Lower back is olive green with a bluish green tail and head.The females have an olive green back and yellowish underparts. Crimson Sunbird Female Sub Adult (Photo Suneet Bhardwaj) The subadults can be seen with various proportions of  crimson colour around throat, chest and ...

If we go by dictionary,the word Raptor means a bird of prey, e.g an eagle or hawk. Whenever we hear the word raptor the immediate phrase coming to our mind is "a bird of prey".The two terms are synonymously used for these birds which are commonly known as Raptors.The term Raptor has its origin in Latin verb Rapere and it literally means a plunderer,signifying that the raptors forcefully seize and carry away their prey. Yellow Billed Blue Magpie The foremost character of all the birds of prey is that they eat meat.But it does not distinguish them as a class,because there are many meat eating birds like Magpies(see photograph of Yellow billed Blue magpie carrying its prey in beak) and Crows.However these other meat eating birds do not use their  feet to kill and carry the prey and instead they depend on their beaks.The Raptors on the other hand make use of their strong legs and sharp talons to get hold of the prey and take it away. Raptors have very s...

The oriental magpie robin is a small (about 19 cms) passerine bird with distinctive black and white colours. It has got a long tail which is normally held upright. They breed mainly from March to July and females spend more time and efforts on feeding the young.Males are quite aggressive in the breeding season to defend their territory. They even respond to and attack their reflections in water or in the mirrors. Male Oriental Magpie Robin in Perfect pose The female has grayish  upper parts . They can be seen nesting in wooden boxes, broken street light shades and other man made shelters. Like any other creature Oriental Magpie robin is very cautious for the safety of young ones. If someone is standing nearby they never enter the nest, and they try to enter and exit with lightening speed. Female Oriental Magpie Robin

If you are sitting in the sun or roaming outside and hear a small tak-tak-tak sound from the bushes or small branches on a nearby tree,and the sound is not loud or bold enough for a big woodpecker,then you are likely to see a small bird known as Speckled Piculet  in the woody bush or the branches of the tree. The bird is about 10 cms and has an olive green back.Though the male and female look alike but the male has an orangish colour on the fore crown as is visible in this picture.It can be seen in the Himalayan foothills upto an altitude of about 2500 meters.

About 14 cms in size,this bird was earlier considered as a sub specie of Great Tit( Parus major ). It is Grey backed with white undersides in comparison to Great Tit which has greenish back and yellow undersides.Widely distributed from North to South India, It prefers  broad leaved forests,open wooded areas and can be seen upto an altitude of 3600 meters.

When you see birds of different species  making  noise together  on a tree you have a chance to see the Asian Barred Owlet  behind the thicket of branches.It is otherwise very difficult to spot this owlet due to its camouflaging appearance and  its ability to turn around its head in all directions from one place.  It is resident of the Northern parts of the Indian subcontinent and South East Asia. About 23 cms in size it resembles  Jungle Owlet which  is differentiated from it by contrasting rusty colour of  barring on the primaries and secondaries and more closely spaced barring on  upper parts. The barring  on the belly of Asian Barred owlet is usually more broken as compared to Jungle Owlet whose belly is covered with barring pattern. The owls in general are nocturnal.They have a strong sense of hearing and an ability to fly silently which helps them in tracking their prey by focussing on the sounds emerging in...

  About 23 cms in size this colourful bird prefers wooded areas and is a common resident across the  Himalayas, North-east India and West Bengal. It can be normally seen drumming the stem of trees  up to an altitude of about 1500 meters, but in summers 2000 meters is also a possibility. The fruits of  almost all Ficus spp are a delicacy for this beautiful  creature.