Tailor Bird ('Tuntuni' in Bengali)

We reappear once again after a long gap!
Here is one special announcement!!

This entry is the 100th entry of our blog. So we are very happy and celebrate with this Tailor bird. Tuntuni as we call. Our friend Shankar Sinha has captured this near his home at Panskura.
This bird is one of the most difficult birds to photgraph, not because of its tiny size, but it can not just sit at one place for more than a few moments and can not decide which direction it will look at! It always appears excited! We all love this bird and this is immortalized in our folk tales by legends like Upendra Kishore Raychowdhury.
Tuntuni's weave neat small nests by floding a leaf and sewing it by collected fiber! Truly a tailor bird!
More you can find in this beautiful site over here.



Photo: Shankar Sinha
Location: Panskura
Camera: Nikon D90

Black-Hooded Oriole -II

We once published a photo of this Black Hooded Oriole here in this site. This one is one of our favourite birds. You can see them mostly during spring around the rural areas. Locally, we call them 'Halud pakhi' (because of the colour) or 'Istikutum pakhi' (because of the sound it makes).

Photo: Shankar Sinha, Panskura, WB, India

Location: Panskura

Feeding!

Red Whiskered Bulbuls. The mother and the chick.
This photo is recently captured by our friend at a rural area in West Bengal, India. Red Whiskered Bulbul and the Red Vented Bulbul (search for another entry here) are very common bulbuls found in this part of India.

Wikipedia Entry:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red-whiskered_Bulbul


Photo: Shankar Sinha, Panskura
Location: Panskura, East Midnapore, WB, India

Bulbul (Yellow Vented Bulbul)

Bulbul: They are song birds! There are many varieties (around 130) of them. Is this a yellow vented Bulbul? We are not sure.


More info:
http://www.avianweb.com/bulbuls.html

Photo: Shankar Sinha, Panskura.
Location: Panskura, WB, India.

Indian Treepie - I

Indian Treepie or Asian Treepie or Indian Magpie ('Hanri chacha' in Bengali). You can find them almost always on trees looking for fruits or seeds. They are also known take flesh from freshly killed rats or animals. These birds make nest over the trees. They make variety of loud calls.


More on Wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rufous_Treepie

Photo: Shankar Sinha, Panskura
Location: Panskura, West Bengal, India.

Red Crab

The beautiful Red beach crab at Sunderban mangrove forest reserve. 'Suderban' is the world's largest mangrove forest over the Bay of Bengal at the south end of West Bengal and Bangladesh.  Most common wildlife in this area consists of the famous Royal Bengal Tiger, Spotted Deer and this Red Beach Crab.
Look at the interesting thing, the eyes of the crab are fixed over the two 'antenna' sticking out. So the eyes can move in many directions freely! 


More on Sunderban:
http://www.sunderbansnationalpark.com/
http://www.portal.gsi.gov.in/portal/page?_pageid=127,723778&_dad=portal&_schema=PORTAL&linkId=1214


Photo: Shankar Sinha, Panskura, WB, India

White Throated Kingfisher -I

This pic. of white throated kingfisher (also known as white breasted kingfisher) is sent by our friend. This brilliant blue coloured bird with a chocolate brown head,  white breast and the long heavy bill is common in this part of India. 
They eat fish, tadpoles, lizards, grasshoppers insects etc.

Wikipedia entry:
This kingfisher is a resident over much of its range, although some populations may make short distance movements. It can often be found well away from water where it feeds on a wide range of prey that includes small reptiles, amphibians, crabs, small rodents and even birds. During the breeding season they call loudly in the mornings from prominent perches including the tops of buildings in urban areas or on wires.


Photo:  Shankar Sinha, Panskura
Camera: Canon Power Shot S10 IS
Location: Panskura, West Bengal, India

Kite ('Sankhachil')

It is perhaps very difficult to take a photo of a Kite or an Eagle because they usually sit high up and fly high! 
This beautiful Brahminy Kite (Haliastur Indus) was spotted by our friend in a rural area in West Bengal. We learned that this is called 'Sankhachil' (a very celebrated name immortalized in poetry and novels in Bengali literature). 
The other common Kite in India is the Black Kite and this one is around the same size of that.
We hardly notice this Brahminy kite in the city areas nowadays.

From Wikipedia:

It is mainly a scavenger, feeding mainly on dead fish and crabs, especially in wetlands and marshlands but occasionally hunts live prey such as hares and bats.

Brahminy Kite is the official mascot of Jakarta. In India it is considered as the contemporary representation of Shree Garuda, the carrier of the Supreme God Krishna.


(More useful information is welcome.) 


Photo: Shankar Sinha, Panskura, West Bengal, India.