House Sparrow (female)

Photo: Abhijit Kar Gupta

Location: Lake Gardens, Kolkata

Indian Grey Horn bill

We feel so good that we are back to our animal blog again after a long gap!
Here is Lieutenant Puskar Basu of Indian Army who came across our blog and appreciated so much. We are (Doro, his friends and Doro's father) indeed so happy. Puskar Basu (Puskar uncle) has sent us a set of wonderful photographs that he clicked at different times; we would love to put them in our blog.
Here is one of them.

This Photograph is of an Indian Grey Horn bill. Lieutenant Puskar Basu writes: I have found him in the branches of tall trees surrounding the campus of the Indian Military Academy, Dehradun. At first he was very camera shy, but offering him some delicacies, helped me to bribe him and earn his friendship.

These Indian Grey Horn bill birds are around 2 ft long, they have grey feathers all over their body. They can be found in the Himalayan foothills and up to certain height of Himalayas, on trees, in jungles but not in deep forests and sometimes in urban areas too, generally seen in small groups. What do they eat? They love to eat fruits, but occasionally they eat insects also. The Horn bill has a harsh cry, and an undulating flight, with alternate flapping and sailings.

For More details on Indian Grey Horn bills, click here and here.



Photo: Lieutenant Puskar Basu, Kolkata
Place: Dehradun, India

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

Green Bee Eater ('Banspati')

Hello! We were absent for some months! Sorry for this. Now we are back with more pictures. Please send us pictures and write ups...
This Green Bee Eater bird was spotted over a pond when we went to visit a flower nursery at a village near Kharagpur.

Location: 'Pushpanjali' Rose Garden, Jakpur (near Kharagpur), West Bengal, India
Photo: Abhijit Kar Gupta

Hummingbird Clearwing Moth

Hummingbird Clearwing Moth: Hemaris thysbe, the Hummingbird Clearwing Moth or Common Clearwing (wingspan 38-50 mm), readily visits flowers by day throughout the eastern half of the U.S. and Canada, where it ranges far to the north, even into the Yukon.
It is not difficult to see why many gardeners would mistake an Hemaris thysbe moth for a small hummingbird as it hovers, sipping nectar from flowers through a long feeding tube. The moth hovers briefly, sipping for only a few seconds before darting off to a new flower. Green body "fur" and burgundy wing scales suggest a small ruby throated hummingbird.

You can see the very similar species in India called Hummingbird Hawk Moth. So next time when you are in a garden watch for it!

Photo: Sanjib Bhattacharyya, France
(Our friend Sanjib has contributed this who also writes this up.)

Hoopoe - the colourful bird!

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

Butterfly at work!

Photo: Arunangshu Sinha, Kolkata

Location: Kolkata

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

The weird and wonderful beauty of nudibranchs

(via flickr.com)

This blurry image shows the closest (to my knowledge) I've ever come to a Nudibranch ("nude-gilled" marine mollusc), separated only by a glass wall in the Monterey Bay Aquarium a year ago when I accompanied Sanzari's class on a field trip. It was but a small splash of bright color among a mess of other critters in a corner of the rocky tidal shore area of the exhibits (if I remember correctly). It wasn't even specifically identified on the info panel on its enclosure - I only discovered later what it was. And I remembered this image today when I saw this fantastic gallery of Nudibranch portraits at National Geographic. Go check them out. They just might brighten your day too!

Photo: Madhusudan Katti, Fresno, California, USA

Crow Pheasant

Crow Pheasant (Greater Coucal): we call this 'Coobo pakhi' here in Bengal. This is because they make deep resonant call 'coob coob' in succession!

This bird is of cuckoo family and is very shy. They can't fly much. You find them most of the time walking on the ground looking for insects and other things to eat.

You can find this relatively large bird almost all over India, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Myanmar (Burma), especially in the rural areas of these countries.

Photo: Shankar Sinha, Panskura

Location: Panskura, West Bengal, India

Swallow

Who is this sitting on the wire? A swallow! This one is perhaps a Barn Swallow (Hirundo rustica) which is the most widespread species of Swallow in the world.These birds are very rarely found in the Indian plains. However, they are found in plenty in the countrysides of Europe and North America. They like to breed or stay in manmade structures like stables and barns. This fellow swallow was found sitting on an electric wire in 'Uttarey' in Western Sikkim.

Note added: Doro's friend Subhamon recently went to Sikkim with his parents and took this shot over there.

Photo: Subhamon Supantha, Kolkata

Writing: Subhamon Supantha.

Asian Openbill

Wikipedia says:

"The Asian Openbill or Asian Openbill Stork, Anastomus oscitans, is a large wading birdin the stork family Ciconiidae. It is a resident breeder in tropical southern Asia from Indiaand Sri Lanka east to Southeast Asia....."

We call this bird 'Shamukh Khol' or 'shamukh bhanga' possibly because it feeds molluscs ('shamukh' in Bengali and 'khol' is cover). They also catch frogs and insects while moving in and around the wetlands.

Yesterday we went to visit nearby water bodies (lakes you can say) where we found fishermen catching fish by traditional nets and on country boats. And then off the water, we found this pair of birds and a couple of egrets, drongos and some other common birds.

Photo: Abhijit Kar Gupta, Kolkata

Speckled Rattlesnake

'Speckled rattlesnake (Crotalus Stephensi) I saw last weekend at Pisgah Lava Flow in San Bernardino Co. Isn't she beautiful? She was found sitting coiled up under a sage plant (and then moved into the sun later for this photo)' - writes our friend Emily Taylor.

Yes, this looks beautiful! The venom of this snake is potentially dangerous to humans though that we got to know. They come in various colorations. Look how nicely it blends into its surroundings!

They eat small mammals, birds and lizards. When alarmed, it moves its tail back and forth and that makes a buzzing sound.

Photo: Emily Taylor

Rhino -the Boss of Jaldapara

Enter the Boss!

The Great One Horned Indian Rhinoceros at the Jaldapara Wildlife Sanctuary (North of West Bengal, India). Many of them of course you can find at Kaziranga National Park in Assam. Doro's friend and uncle had a recent trip at Jaldapara and they had a safari on Elephant back (during which they captured this)!!

Well, this one horned Rhino is the second largest among the all five varieties of them found all over the world. Both the male and female Rhinos have the very special horn! But the young ones don't have one (Is this young?) . And the interesting fact is that the horns are made of the same stuff (keratin) that our finger nails and the cow horns are made of. Rhinos are peaceful grass eating creatures.

Photo: Arunabha Adhikari. Kolkata

Location: Jaldapara Wildlife Sabctuary, North Bengal, India

American Robin in our backyard

Wait... what???? In case you're wondering what this was doing in my backyard let me just say that I am from Fresno, California. My name is Sanzari Aranyak and I am Doro's 10 year old cousin. The American Robin hangs out in our backyard every winter and my dad took this picture (with my little sister's help) during this year's Great Backyard Bird Count. (I was unable to participate because of school.) If you want to know what else they saw check out my dad's blog.

I like the American Robin because it has a warm breast and a cheery song. Though they are city and town birds they can also be found in the Alaskan wilderness and in mountain forests. To learn more about this bird go to All About Birds the website from Cornell University's Lab of Ornithology which conducts the Great Backyard Bird Count.

Photo: Madhusudan Katti, Fresno, California, USA

Write up: Sanzari Aranyak, Fresno.

Spotted Deer

Spotted Deer in Sunderban. This is also known as 'Chital' deer or Axis deer. They eat mainly grasses and vegetation but sometimes also eat their shed antlers as a source of nutrients! These beautiful deers are generally seen in a group or herd.
'Sunderban', the largest mangrove forest in the world is on the southern most part of Bangladesh and West Bengal over Bay of Bengal.
Our friend captured this through his Nikon D700 Camera on a recent tour there.


More on Sundarban:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sundarbans_National_Park


Photo: Arunangshu Sinha, Kolkata

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.

Stork

Wikipedia info:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stork

Photo: Arunangshu Sinha, Kolkata
Location: Alipore Zoo, Kolkata

Painted Stork

Painted Stork - majestic and colourful! Our friend has captured this inside the Zoo in Kolkata. 
These birds are found around shallow water or wetlands, often seen wading through water in search of small fish. Because of the distinct colourful feathers the name 'painted' is added with this kind of stork birds. 


More info:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Painted_Stork
http://www.iloveindia.com/wildlife/indian-birds/stork-birds/painted-stork.html

Photo: Arunangshu Sinha, Kolkata
Location: Alipore Zoo, Kolkata, India