Flying beauties of Himachal Pradesh

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...

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...

Shikra has come again for nesting  on the Khirak ( Celtis australis ) tree in my backyard. Today in the morning,i heard the typical light,shrilling call of the bird.Last year it had come late in the month of April. Perhaps the summer is a bit early this year or may be Shikra is feeling the heat of Global warming. Anyway the bird is here preparing to nest on the same tree where it had been last year. Thats the most amazing thing about the birds. How do they they manage to locate the place and come back year after year to the same tree almost? Shikra is a Raptor(bird of prey) and is fond of smaller birds and their young ones. When Shikra arrives here,the Himalayan crows are the first line of defense who try to scare it away by forming groups. But Shikra is quite brave and knows the nature of the crows and it does't leave.  This fight for existence keeps on going till the Shikra is here. While Shikra comes, the other smaller birds ...