Wild Bird Wednesday 729 - Purple Heron

The Purple Heron (Ardea purpurea) is a large but rather slim looking heron.  It is rather more colourful than the Grey Heron (Ardea cinerea) which is the 'default' heron for much of Europe.  In adult plumage, and with decent views, this difference in colour is easily seen in the field.

As a pleasant surprise, that 'scientific name' of this species and the common name agree, with the full translation (if that is the correct term) of the scientific name meaning 'heron coloured purple'.

All of the sources I have consulted suggest that the Purple Heron is rather shy and likely to prefer dense vegetation to open spaces.  Maybe this individual has not read the same books as I have.

From boil tip to tail this species is just under 90cm long, but it rarely weighs more than 1.3kg.  I think this long, thin structure is shown well by at least one of these shots.

These pictures were taken in Northern India, although this species can be found through out much of India.

As ever to join in with WBW, click on the link below.  When this post publishes I will be half way through a remote walk in the Northern Territory, so I won't be able to view blogs or comments straight away.

Cheers  SM

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Wild Bird Wednesday 728 - Chestnut-Bellied Nuthatch

There are 29 species of Nuthatch in the world, all of which are classified as being in the genus Sitta.  As a kid, I always though seeing a Nuthatch was a great thing - and the species I saw in the UK would have been the Eurasian Nuthatch (Sitta europaea), although I would have never used the first part of that name.

It was just a Nuthatch.  I remember ringing / banding one in a country park in the North East of England, and that day was a bit of a highlight.   You may be able to tell that I am rather fond of this sort of bird.

As a result, I think that seeing new 'versions' of birds that I really like excites me even more than seeing completely new species.

So, when I was in India I was very pleased to meet the Chestnut-Bellied Nuthatch (Sitta cinnamoventris).  This is by no means an uncommon bird in India and it is found in subtropical or tropical forest and in montane and lowland forests.  The familiar structure of the bird - and its even more characteristic behaviour marked this bird out as a nuthatch even before I worked out which species it was.

Nuthatches behave a lot like woodpeckers, but they are not closely related to them.  In fact Nuthatches have the classic songbird 3 forward, 1 backwards toe  arrangement that is found in songbirds.  Woodpeckers have a 2 and 2 argument of toes.

This bird came into feeding station in from of a hide and give excellent views - most other views I had of nuthatches in India were rather more distance and often in the tops of trees.

All in all, this is an excellent bird!

As ever, to join in with WBW click on the blue link below.  Cheers  SM.

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Wild Bird Wednesday 727 - Kalij Pheasant

The Kalij Pheasant (Lophura leucomelanos) is a pheasant found in forests and wooded areas, in the Himalayan foothills, from Nepal, Pakistan to western Thailand. 

Males are rather variable depending on the subspecies involved, but all have at least partially glossy bluish-black plumage, while females are overall brownish.  These birds seem to be of the sub-species that are known as the White-Crested Kalij Pheasant (for reasonably obvious reasons!)

If people are familiar with the more common (and widely introduced) Common or Ring Necked pheasants, these birds are just a little larger, but seem no wiser!

The first birds we found - the ones on the stone pile - were photographed in early morning light through a dirty window!

Remarkable birds.

As ever, to join in with WBW click the link below.  Cheers  SM

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Passing Clouds at The Prom.

I arrived at the top of cloud covered Mount Oberon earlier this week and watched as the clouds changed and passed, opening up wonderful views back over Tidal River and beyond.

These are three of the pictures I took as I sipped my tea and drank in the views.

Cheers - Stewart M

Wild Bird Wednesday 726 - Brown-Headed Barbet

The Barbets are a very widely spread group of birds, with a very complex taxonomy.  Nowadays Barbets in the "New World" and those in the "Old World" are considered different - but they are all considered to be reasonably closely related to woodpeckers.

This barbet is a Brown-Headed Barbet (Psilopogon zeylanicus) which is native to the Indian Subcontinent.  This species can be found in southern Nepal, most of India and Sri Lanka.  This was probably the species of Barbet we encountered most often on my Indian adventure.

The bird on the tree trunk was feeding very confidently within a temple complex in the city of Bharatpur which is not that far (in Indian terms!) from Agra and the Taj Mahal.

The adult bird has a streaked brown head, neck and breast, an orange eye patch and a heavy, thick set orange beak. The rest of the plumage is green. It is 27 cm long with a large head, short neck and short tail. 

The bird on the tree trunk seems to using its tail as a kind of prop, which seems to be a regular behaviour for tree dwelling birds.

In most of these picture you can see bristly, hair-like feathers surrounding a barbet's beak: these are called rictal bristles. 

Apparently, the name 'Barbet' comes from the Latin word barba which means meaning beard. This is a reference to the fringe of specialised feathers around their heavy bills.  I suppose that makes sense.

As ever, to join in with WBW click on the link below.   Cheers  SM

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At The Prom

I've been spending a lot of time at Wilsons Prom national park over the last couple of months.  It's a wonderful place.  All granite rocks and white sand, amazing skies and ever-changing seas.

I love the place.  Maybe these pictures will help you to understand why.

I tend to visit The Prom most in the winter - because (as you can see) you often seem to have the place almost to yourself.

Cheers. SM