Wild Bird Wednesday 260 - Jungle Babbler

I've gone back to my Indian pictures for this week's WBW - this is a Jungle Babbler (Turdoides striata) and I saw this bird at Sultanpur National Park, which must been one of the most productive 'overseas' birding locations I have ever been too.

This bird gathers in small flocks, and the translation of one of its Indian names is Seven Brothers.  They were noisy, active and hard to photograph.

As ever, to join in with WBW click the blue button below the thumbnails.  SM

An InLinkz Link-up

A New View

Greetings - some of you may have noticed I have been a bit slow to reply to comments and such like for the last couple of weeks.  I assume that you will have worked out that I am out and about on a bit of an adventure.

At present I am in Grindelwald in Switzerland - with a glass of local wine, watching the clouds lens in and out over the Eiger. Sometimes you just have to take a hit for the team!

This is the view from my new (but temporary) back door!

I may remain a little distracted for a while - but normal service will resume soon!  

You can find more shots from around the world at Our World Tuesday.  SM

Wild Bird Wednesday 260 - Brown Quail

This weeks bird for WBW is wild, but not native where I found it.

This is a family of Brown Quail (Coturnix ypsilophora) on top of the highest point of Rangitoto Island is a volcanic island in the Hauraki Gulf near Auckland, New Zealand.

I was rather pleased to find these birds as this was one of the hottest walks I have done in a very long time - at time I thought I was going to melt out of the bottom of my shoes.

These birds are not native to New Zealand, they have been introduced from Australia.  I would suspect that apple cores are not the natural food - but who can tell.

This family of birds was taking shelter from the sun under some rather dense bushes - so in the end I'm pleased with these pictures.

By the time this post goes live I will be in the middle of an adventure, so I'm not sure what my connectivity will be like - so, please be patient!

As ever, to join in with WBW, just click the blue button below the thumbnails.  SM

An InLinkz Link-up

Wild Bird Wednesday 259 - Silver / Red Beaked Gull

A little bit more taxonomic confusion here.  For a long time, this bird was considered a full species - The Red-Beacked Gull, and it was only found in New Zealand.  Now it is considered a subspecies of the Silver Gull (Chroicocephalus novaehollandiae).

These pictures were taken in Aukland harbour in New Zealand.  At the time I can remember thinking, I really can't see a difference between this bird and the Silver Gulls see on a daily basis.

As you may have gathered by now, I like many different sorts of birds - but the silver, grey and white combination sported by gulls really is rather magnificent.

So, this weeks WBW is brought to you by the Silver / Red Beaked Gull.

As ever, to join in with WBW, just click the blue button below the thumbnails.  SM

An InLinkz Link-up