Kingdom: | Animalia | |
Phylum: | Chordata | |
Class: | Aves | |
Order: | Passeriformes | |
Family: | Muscicapidae | |
Genus: | Ficedula | |
Species: | F. strophiata | Source : Wikipedia |
Tuesday, 25 March 2014
Ficedula strophiata (Rufous gorgeted flycatcher) - Sikkim Bird
Saturday, 22 March 2014
Two birds; two stories
I am new to bird
watching and I am glad to say I am enjoying it. In the last two months I have
come across more than 40 species of avian diversity. From the smallest of
humming birds to the biggest, the Cormorants; the avian world is beautiful and
beyond any comparisons. In recent times, I am very fond to two birds; sparrows
as a whole and a common mynah particularly the one I had recently discovered
that had a deformed upper mandible and I named him “Machindra”.
Couple of days back, we
observed World Sparrow Day at Chisopani JHS, where I am a primary school
teacher. The programme was a successful one and we saw large numbers of
students participating at the event. From a bird hunter to surrendering their
catapults was itself an achievement of the event. There were students who had
been hunting birds in the wild for more than three years. To hear those
students saying that they were wrong in doing so and they will in near future
protect those harmless birds tell us the success of our programme. We might
have been late in introducing such kinds of programme but it is for sure our
intention and motive has hit the right cord. It was only during the awareness
interaction between the resource persons and the students I came to know most
of the beautiful birds and beautifully singing birds belong to male category.
Little did I have
thought that the concrete jungles we human are creating are one of the reasons
for the downfall of the House Sparrow locally called “Bhangerra” (Nepali language). That small creature likes wooden
houses and live in the cavities of old houses which are now very hard to find.
Due to lack of house factors, the house sparrow’s eggs gets destroy and their
population is in a decrease. Today’s highly qualified civilization do not
prefer to catch hold on nestling materials being dropped at their houses or
gardens, is the other reason that people have left appreciating these small
birds Feeding sparrows are limited to
lesser people compared to few decades back. There are various other reasons for
the downfall of sparrow population but I am sure we all need to come together
and save this small creature for the survival of our environment, for the
balancing of the nature. Why not support these birds by having a bird nest and
bird feeders at your house?
Few days back I came across
a strange looking Common Mynah (“rupp-pee”
as we call it in Nepali) at the verandah of my home, surprisingly its upper
mandible had scrolled towards sky. I found it very strange and close to her was
another rupp-pee walking side by
side. I could not believe that the other bird was feeding grains to the malformed
one. Amazingly I came to learn from source that male Common Mynahs are larger
in size compared to the female. I found that normal looking Common Mynah’s bill
was shorter than the deformed bird. To my notice, the deformed bird was larger
than the other bird when together. So, does that mean a female bird was feeding
the male one!!
The deformed bird
visited me yesterday and since then I had given him (though still confused with
its gender) a name “Machindra” that means mysterious. Several questions of how
(!) raised within my small mind and believe me the bird seems so healthy
despite its abnormality. I saw no sign of abnormality affecting him. I saw him
walking perfectly, scratching his dorsal part as any other bird does and even
recorded its high-pitched scream. Being a nature lover Machindra has caught my
fancy and everyday in the morning I try to look for him, expecting something
different to watch! Bird watching is fun and it is a pleasurable experience, do
try it….!!
Friday, 21 March 2014
Megalaima franklinii (Golden-throated Barbet) - Sikkim Bird
Megalaima franklinii (Golden-throated Barbet)
Other name: Great Hornbill, Great Indian Hornbill
Venue: Tumin, East Sikkim
Date: March 8, 2014
Pic: Krishna Dahal
|
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Class: | Aves |
Order: | Piciformes |
Family: | Megalaimidae |
Genus: | Megalaima |
Species: | M. franklinii Source: Wikipedia |
Buceros bicornis (Great Pied Hornbill) - Sikkim Bird
Buceros bicornis (Great Pied Hornbill)
Other name: Great Hornbill, Great Indian Hornbill
Venue: Singtam, East Sikkim
Date: February 4, 2014
Pic: Krishna Dahal
|
Buceros bicornis (Great Pied Hornbill)
Other name: Great Hornbill, Great Indian Hornbill
Venue: Shantinagar, Singtam, East Sikkim
Date: June 8 2014
Pic: Shital Pradhan
|
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Class: | Aves |
Order: | Coraciiformes |
Family: | Bucerotidae |
Subfamily: | Bucerotinae |
Genus: | Buceros |
Species: | B. bicornis |
Monday, 17 March 2014
How beautiful was the moment...could not help myself smiling!
A normal common mynah
feeding on another common mynah on it mouth was something extraordinary to
watch. I saw this happen today at my residence at Shantinagar, Singtam. One of the little birds had a deformed upper
mandible bill. It was curved against its evolution. I was gathering off my
camera and I missed the moment of the other ‘rup-pee’ feeding the deformed one.
How beautiful was the moment...could not help myself smiling. It stayed on the verandah facing me for
couple of minutes and it moved away following its partner.
Interestingly, the bill of the deformed common mynah was bit longer and pointed as compared to the other bird. I had never come across
such deformity on birds, felt sad but it had survived fighting against all
odds. Humans need to take lesson from these small creatures.
Macropygia unchall ( Barred Cuckoo-Dove) - Sikkim Bird
Macropygia unchall (Barred Cuckoo-Dove)
Venue: Duga, East Sikkim
Date: February 2, 2014
Pic: Santosh Sharma |
Macropygia unchall (Barred Cuckoo-Dove)
Venue: Duga, East Sikkim
Date: February 2, 2014
Pic: Santosh Sharma
|
Kingdom: | Animalia | |||||||
Phylum: | Chordata | |||||||
Class: | Aves | |||||||
Order: | Columbiformes | |||||||
Family: | Columbidae | |||||||
Genus: | Macropygia | |||||||
Species: | M. unchall |
Saturday, 15 March 2014
Zosterops palpebrosus (Indian White Eye / Oriental White-eye) - Sikkim Bird
Zosterops palpebrosus (Oriental White-eye)
Venue: Chisopani, Singtam, East Sikkim
Date: February 20, 2014
Pic: Shital Pradhan
|
Zosterops palpebrosus (Oriental White-eye)
Venue: Sittey Forest, Rangpo, East Sikkim
Date: February 2, 2014
|
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Class: | Aves |
Order: | Passeriformes |
Family: | Zosteropidae (disputed) |
Genus: | Zosterops |
Species: | Z. palpebrosus
Source:Wikipedia
|
Wednesday, 12 March 2014
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)