Flying beauties of Himachal Pradesh

This spectacular  bird belonging to the crow family is quite common in the hills.It is easily noticable due to its large size and bright colours. It can be seen roaming arround habitations in search of fruits,insects and small birds as well.In the picture it is holding a Kiwi fruit in the bill. About 65 cm in size with bluish upper parts and long tail it can be heard making loud harsh and creaking calls and sharp whistlings.The bird is good at mimicry as well and has been noticed   immitating  calls probably to befool the targeted prey. Normally it is seen at higher altitudes than the Red-billed Blue Magpie but many times they have been noticed together in some localities.The yellow bill and smaller white nape patch distinguishes it from the Red-billed Blue Magpie. The style of the quick movements of the bird and its cleverness are the typical like crows as expected from a bird of this family.

Though it can be found in vide range of altitudes between 300-2400 meters yet it is more common in the higher altitudes than in the lower areas. Due to its yellow vent which differentiates it from the red vented bulbul, it is also called  Yellow vented Bulbul. About 20cm in size the bird has got a brownish crest,black throat and white cheeks. Another bird of the category which is generally found in the north-western parts of the country i.e. the ''White-eared Bulbul'' looks similar to the Himalayan Bulbul but, it lacks the long jaunty crest and the colour of its head is black unlike that of Himalayan Bulbul.Moreover the vent in White-eared Bulbul is orangy-yellow in colour whereas it is pure yellow in case of Himalayan Bulubul.

About 11 cm in size the Crimson sunbird like other sunbirds mainly depends upon the nectar of the flowers. Its long curved beak is typically shaped for that purpose.The male has a maroon back with  long greenish blue tail and olive underparts.The female with an olive-green back and yellowish-olive underparts lacks the long greenish tail.The bird can be seen upto an altitude of about 1800 meters in the open forests,gardens and orchards hovering over the flowers.Red coloured flowers are its favourite, probably due their camouflaging effect.  Like other birds of its category the flight of Crimson Sunbird is very fast and it hardly stays at a point for few seconds, which makes it very difficult to photograph the bird. The Male Crimson sunbird has also been reported to be very aggressive towards the intruders in its territory. It has very often been seen attacking its reflections in the water and in the rear view mirrors of the vehicles. The colour pattern shown ab...

Was lucky enough to locate the cup shaped nest of black drongo, hidden within the leaves on the top of a walnut tree. Made up of fine twigs and fibres the nest was very neatly stitched on a fork at the extremity of a branch. The Drongo is very bold for the defence of its nest. No one can dare to harm the nest in presence of Drongo.

I could locate a nest of Asian Paradise flycatcher hidden within the thick cover of leaves on the top of a Celtis tree. As read in the bird guides it was infact a compactly wooven cup of fine grasses and fibres, plastered outside with cobwebs. Built on and with the support of the branches of Khirak (Celtis asutralis) tree, it was very high so could not get the glimpse of the interiors of the nest. It was great fun watching the male and female taking turns for the safety of the nest and for bringing food. lovely!!!!!!!!!!!!

About 10cm in size this tiny bird of the size of sparrow is perhaps one of the smallest of the woodpeckers.The bird has olive green upperparts and whitish underparts intercepted with bold black spots and a soft rounded black and white tail.A blackish olive band behind the eye and onto the neck is bordered conspicuously with white bands.The male has got a orange coloured patch on the forecrown. The bird can be seen and heard continuously making a persisitent drumming sound on dead/dry branches probably looking for the insects/ants. it can be found upto an altitude of about 2000 meters normally singly in moist deciduous and semi-evergreen areas. With nesting season in April-May it drills hole in bamboos or dead branches to make its nest. Sony Alpha A230L 10.2 MP Digital SLR Camera with Super SteadyShot INSIDE Image Stabilization and 18-55mm Lens

Finally the number of bird species seen in Manali on 21st May 2011 has been confirmed to be 111.  Ofcourse the actual number of species residing in Manali area will be more.In the earlier checklist prepared by Trevor Price and others of Delhi Birds, the number of species reported was arround 140. But the interesting fact is that out of 111 species noticed now 22 species have not been reported in this checklist.So that leads us to the conclusion that the number of species would be more than 160. The birds not reported in the earlier checklist include Common starling,Black Bulbul,House Crow,Long Tailed Shrike,Common Tailor Bird,Black Kite,Slaty Headed Parakeet,Rose Ringed Parakeet etc