River Tern Lodge - Dec 2015

203. Osprey: The price catch for this trip was definitely this Osprey that was running sorties from this tree stump in the reservoir.

232. River Tern: The emblem of this place. Come May, the islands in the reservoir will be covered with River Terns breeding here.

350. Great Thick-knee (Esacus recurvirostris)
Great Thick-knee on the banks of the waters of the Bhadra Reservoir.

351. Forest Wagtail (Dendronanthus indicus)

The Forest Wagtail differs from its cousins in wagging its tail left to right, as opposed to top to bottom.

Road trip to Chikmagalur - Oct 2015

342. Indian Blue Robin (Luscinia brunnea)
Visitor to the western ghats in the winters. Comes from the breeding grounds in the himalayas.

343. Yellow-cheeked Tit (Parus spilonotus)

Shot just outside our resort near Kalasa. The cheeks of this individual are less brighter yellow than normal.

344. Malabar Barbet (Megalaima malabarica)

Similar to the Coppersmith barbet, you'll find them in the western ghats tirelessly calling out their single-note song for hours on end.

345. Hill Myna (Gracula religiosa)

Noisy birds that have a wide repertoire of calls

346. Dark-fronted Babbler (Rhopocichla atriceps)
Dark-fronted Babbler foraging on a pile of woods in our homestay.

347. Blue Rock Thrush (Monticola solitarius)
Called a thrush, but really is a species of chat.

348. Oriental White-eye (Zosterops palpebrosus)

349. Velvet-fronted Nuthatch (Sitta frontalis)
Spotted in a private estate near Koppa in Chikmagalur.

Vietnam - 2015

Hạ Long Bay is popular tourist destination in Viet Nam that is famous for the thousands of isles (or karsts) that stick out of the South China sea. Caught sight of this Oriental Pied Hornbill from our cruise. The bird was on a distant karst, the light was fading, and the cruise was rocking gently. The result is this terrible shot.

328. Oriental Pied Hornbill (Anthracoceros albirostris)

Bang Lang, in south Vietnam, is a hectare-wide protected area which hosts a huge number of waders- egrets, Asian openbill, cormorants and herons.

329. Cattle Egret (Bubulcus ibis)

330. Ashy Tailorbird (Orthotomus ruficeps)

Cát Tiên National Park is a nature reserve in South Vietnam famous for the Javan Rhinoceros (now thought extinct) and the Yellow cheeked Gibbon. This particular region is rich in bird diversity too.

331. Lesser Racket-tailed Drongo (Dicrurus remifer)

332. Unidentified

333. Ruby-cheeked Sunbird - Female (Chalcoparia singalensis)

334. Scarlet-backed Flowerpecker - Male (Dicaeum cruentatum )

The male (photographed here) was so busy cavorting with his lady that he seemed to completely ignore me, allowing me to take a photo from close range

And here's the female of the same species. 

335. Blue-bearded Bee-eater (Nyctyornis athertoni)

One of the biggest bee-eaters. Misses the wire tails that the smaller species have.

336. Green-billed Malkoha (Phaenicophaeus tristis)

Member of the cuckoo family, but doesn't parasite on other birds.

337. Bronzed Drongo (Dicrurus aeneus)

338. Stripe-throated Bulbul (Pycnonotus finlaysoni)

Songbird endemic to the Indochina peninsula.

339. Brown-breasted Flycatcher (Muscicapa muttui)

Unsure about this ID since I got only a few glimpses of ths bird in dense foliage.

340. Unidentified

341. Black-and-red Broadbill (Cymbirhynchus macrorhynchos)

This one was very high in the dense foliage, and I had to use ISO 3200 just to get a record shot.

Backyard Birds - Common Tailorbird

327 - Common Tailorbird (Orthotomus sutorius)

There's a family of tailorbirds that have nested in our backyard this year. After several months they seem to be warming up to my presence. They no longer are on edge even when they spot me watching them. 

Uploading old pics

Found these pictures while cleaning my old hard disk, that I hadn't uploaded on the blog.

16. Southern Hill Myna (Gracula indica)
Clicked this on a trek through the Periyar Wildlife Sanctuary in Thekkady.

217. Japanese White-eye (Zosterops japonicus)

On my 2013 visit to Kamakura Japan

229. American Tree Sparrow - Non-breeding plumage (Spizelloides arborea)

This ID is a little doubtful. Spotted in Seattle.

Galibore - Jul 2015

325. Brown Hawk-owl (Ninox scutulata)

Never been disappointed at the end of a Galibore trip. This time we saw this owl perched in a tree just a few metres from our tent.

Masinagudi - 2015

97. Nilgiri Flowerpecker (Dicaeum concolor)

324. Indian Scimitar Babbler (Pomatorhinus horsfieldii)

182. Scarlet Minivet - Male (Pericrocotus speciosus)

Olympic National Park - April 2015

Back when I was in school, I remember reading the cover of a National Geographic edition that had the picture of a Snow Owl in flight. The picture was part of a feature on the winter sights from the Olympic National Park in the northwest part of Washington State. The park we visited was very different from the one that left such strong impressions on my mind, but as rewarding as I expected. We even happened to visit the park on a weekend marked as the Olympic Bird Fest, which gave us the chance to meet some birders and attend some events. My favorite sightings were of the Bald Eagle and the Anna's Hummingbird.

308. Bald Eagle (Haliaeetus leucocephalus)

309. Anna's Hummingbird (Calypte anna)

310. American Crow (Corvus brachyrhynchos)

311. Brant (Branta bernicla)

312. California Gull (Larus californicus)
Looks very much like a herring Gull, except an almost indiscernible difference in size, and the blank ring on it's bill.

And here's the juvenile of a California Gull

313. Canada Goose (Branta canadensis)

314. Chestnut-backed Chickadee (Poecile rufescens)

315. Double-crested Cormorant (Phalacrocorax auritus)

316. Harlequin Duck (Histrionicus histrionicus)

Female

Male

317. Killdeer (Charadrius vociferus)

318. Mallard (Anas platyrhynchos)

319. Pine Siskin (Spinus pinus)

320. Red-breasted Nuthatch (Sitta canadensis)

321. Red-winged Blackbird (Agelaius phoeniceus)

322. Steller's Jay (Cyanocitta stelleri)

323. Varied Thrush (Ixoreus naevius)