Birds always amaze you with their colors, feathers, songs, display and most importantly because they can fly. In my childhood, I was knowing very few birds. For me the traveling was going to places to see the landscapes, travel in bus or train, eat and staying at hotel. Thats it!! When I got the taste of bird watching every travel has got another dimension. Now, wherever I go, the bird watching habit keeps me and my camera busy.
Among all birds flycatchers are the most agile and beautiful birds. Some have superb colors, some have lovely tails and some do superb acrobats to catch the flies!!
Fantail Flycatcher - One of the most fascinating bird with a lovely song and the superb tail, is the fantail. When the tail is folded it is rounded at the end, but when spread in display or aerial foraging it has a characteristic fan shape that gives the family its name. While showing the dominance or their existence, they open up the tail which make it look like a fan.
White Throated Fantail Flycatcher - It is found in forest, scrub and cultivation across tropical southern Asia from the Himalayas, India and Bangladesh east to Indonesia. This small grey colored bird which is commonly seen in and around Pune near small water bodies. Even our wet garbage pits also attract many of these faintails. Its a great experience to see the acrobats of these small birds in the air to catch the flies while they are flying. Its a photogenic moment when you see it with its fan. Most of the times, its changing its position and jumping from one spot to another, so it gives nightmare to the photographer to catch the moment.
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| White-throated Fantail Flycatcher |
The white-browed fantail is insectivorous, and often fans its tail as it moves through the undergrowth.
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| White-throated Fantail Flycatcher |
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| White-throated Fantail Flycatcher |
Many times it is sitting on the rocks, soil which camouflages with its body color. So getting its photograph in the clear background is generally tough.
White Browed Fantail Flycatcher - This specie is very similar to the white throated Fantail. Sizes and habitats are also similar. The difference is the white underparts and predominant while brow. This one looks much brighter than the prior.
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| White Browed Fantail Flycatcher |
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| White Browed Fantail Flycatcher |
Red-breasted flycatcher - The red-breasted flycatcher is a small passerine bird. It breeds in eastern Europe and across central Asia and is migratory, wintering in south Asia. The breeding male of this small 11–12 cm long flycatcher is mainly brown above and white below, with a grey head and orange throat. The bill is black and has the broad but pointed shape typical of aerial insectivores. As well as taking insects in flight, this species hunts caterpillars among the foliage, and will take berries.
They are found mainly deciduous woodlands, especially near water. Every winter these lovely small birds come to Pune. Near small puddle they would like to bathe in and do all the aerobatics to catch the flying insects in air.
As found in most of the living things (No exception, though 50% of my readers wouldn't agree ;)), the males are more attractive than females. Here as well the red mark is predominantly seen on males as against females.
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| Red Breasted Flycatcher - Male |
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| Red-breasted Flycatcher - Female |
Summer: Common breeding visitor to the western Himalayas, from Jammu and Kashmir and Himachal Pradesh to Uttarakhand (western race), and intergrading within Nepal with the eastern race aestigma which continues in the eastern Himalayas through Bhutan to Arunachal Pradesh.
Winter: Central India from Delhi south to northern Maharashtra, Goa, northern Maharashtra, and eastward to Andhra Pradesh and Odisha.
This too is commonly seen in Pune during winters. Photographers patiently wait for the bird on small ponds where it shows up at times.
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| Ultramarine Flycatcher |
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| Ultramarine Flycatcher |
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| Ultramarine Flycatcher |
Tickell's blue flycatcher - One of the beautiful bird of Pune which is found in many areas. I have seen this multiple times in my backyard. Many times you could see it on your morning evening walks on hilly area near Pune. It have very attractive colors.
This is an insectivorous species which breeds in tropical Asia, from the Indian Subcontinent eastwards to Southeast Asia. Its range stretches across all the countries from India to Indonesia. They are blue on the upper parts and the throat and breast are rufous. They are found in dense scrub to forest habitats.
The name commemorates the British ornithologist Samuel Tickell who collected in India and Burma
Tickell's blue flycatcher is about 11–12 cm long. It sits upright and forages mainly in the overgrowth. The male's upper parts are bright blue, its throat and breast are red, and the rest of the underparts are white. The female is duller blue with a brighter blue brow, shoulder, rump, and tail.
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| Tickell's Blue Flycatcher |
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| Tickell's Blue Flycatcher |
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| Tickell's Blue Flycatcher |
The male and female are very different from each other. The male is white in colour with a long tail. The size of the tail is approximately three times the size of its body. That makes him very special. The head and small crest is black. The eye is rounded by recognizable blue ring. Whereas the females are rufous wings, white belly and long rofous tail. Juveniles also have rofous wings and undeveloped tail. Young males acquire long tails in their second or third year. Adult males are either predominantly bright rufous above or predominantly white.
Indian post has published a stamp for this bird which is now the state bird of Madhya Pradesh. I am fortunate to have this stamp in my childhood stamps collection!!
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| Asian Paradise Flycatcher Jv |
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| Nesting |
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| Asian Paradise Flycatcher Male |
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| Asian Paradise Flycatcher Male |
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| Verditer Flycatcher Male |
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| Verditer Flycatcher Male |
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| Verditer Flycatcher - Female |
Black-naped monarch - The black-naped monarch or black-naped blue flycatcher is a slim and agile passerine bird belonging to the family of monarch flycatchers. They are sexually dimorphic with males having a distinctive black patch on the back of the head and a narrow black half collar ("necklace") while the female is duller and lacks the black markings. They have a call that is similar to that of the Asian paradise flycatcher and in tropical forest habitats pairs may join mixed-species foraging flocks.
This bird too is very beautiful and can be seen in mainly deciduous woodlands, especially near water. Its Azure blue color makes him the most beautiful bird.
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| Black-naped Monarch Male |
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| Black-naped Monarch Male |
I was under the impression that we do not see this bird near Pune. But to my surprise, we got to see it few times this year at the foot of nearby hills in Pune. I was overjoyed to see it around Pune. But later understood that this is seen in surrounding areas in winter.
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| Grey-Headed Canary-Flycatcher |
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| Grey-Headed Canary-Flycatcher |
Some of the data in copied from Wikipedia..
To be continued...
