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