Birding across continents: Yellow Wattles and Lapwings...

I have been lucky - lucky in the sense that in the last one year I have made birding trips to two other continents - Australia in Oct last year and Africa, Jul this year. I was lucky to see similar species across the three continents - that is Asia (Indian Subcontinent to be precise), Africa (East Africa) and Australia. The observations on the similar species that I have observed in these three places is wonderful. I am no scientist - and do not proclaim myself to be an ornithologist - but to a keen birdwatcher like me - to discover facts like this - simply by observation is a great and interesting thing to observe and study.

I intend discuss all such birds. My birding trips have been - the tourist variety - not the kind that I might have preferred - staying for days and observing - but then something is better than nothing ? Okay the first similar birds that I saw across were the Lapwings, I am talking about Lapwings with Yellow Wattles. So in India we have our Yellow-wattled Lapwing, a bird not very common but fairly common (don't get me wrong please - what I mean is less common than very common), in Australian East Coast I saw Masked Lapwing, again a fairly common bird and in Uganda I saw Wattled Plover or also called Wattled Lapwing. The Wattled Lapwing in Uganda was seen by me only in Murchison while on a safari - but where I did see them - they seemed common enough.

The birds have been presented here with my home bird first followed by Australian and then African, purely in the sequence I have seen them in my life.

YELLOW-WATTLED LAPWING: INDIA

Picture of Yellow-wattled Lapwing in flight (India)

Yellow-wattled Lapwing (India)

The cute baby: Yellow-wattled Lapwing Chick (India)

MASKED LAPWING: AUSTRALIA

I virtually saw this bird along the entire East Coast. There are two subspecies This picture is of Race novaehollandiae. Just don't ask me how to spell it.

This picture is of the Race miles. The basic difference visually is the Wattle, The black on the crown, nape and going down the side of the neck.

AFRICAN WATTLED LAPWING: AFRICA (UGANDA)

The bird with the smallest yellow wattles. My sightings were in the Murchison fall area - but seemed fairly common there.

Okay there is blur - but I thought I will share this - have only limited pictures to compare.

Now that we have seen the three birds that I saw over these three continents - let me try and compare them a little more.

Bird	Family	Size (cm)	Remarks
Yellow-wattled Lapwing	Charadriidae	26-28	The birds behaved exactly as the other. The behaviour may have been in part due to belonging to the same family. The african birds I did not hear them - seemed quite but my exposure was for just 2 days, the Indian Yellow-wattled calls only when disturbed and the Australian was nearer to our Red-wattled Lapwing - same irritating calls over and over again.
Masked Lapwing	Charadriidae	35-39
African Wattled Lapwing	Charadriidae	34

However listening to the sounds they made was absolutely similar with small variations here and there. If you do listen to either of them - you cannot go wrong guessing that you are listening to a lapwing. None of the birds discussed are migrants so stands to logic that coming from the same family they got split as the land masses moved away from each other and over period they developed same and different - all at the same time. I will not speculate into the science of all this but am satisfied to be a witness to these small things and classify under the small miracles of Life...

I hope you have liked going through the blog. The references to the blog has been done by Wiki, xeno-canto and referencing the books I had bought for the birding at these three places. They are the best I got to pick from a lot of books on the subject floating around. I am leaving a link to all the books I have referred - before and after the tours...

Mirror Mirror on the wall.... continued

Okay in the last blog entry we were talking about the Cockatoos, that is out of the broadly related parrot like birds. Next comes the Lorikeets, parrots, fig-parrots and Budgeriegars - all broadly clubbed together. There is a whooping 39 birds in this category. The distribution is good from some very very common like the Rainbow lorikeets to absolutely rare (discovered after being declared extinct) Night Parrot. This parrot was rediscovered in 2015 and the location is a carefully guarded secret lest it gets mobbed by men and others. By the way - just to put it in perspective once yet again - I am covering those birds only that I saw with my own eyes and photographed.

So I will first start with the common ones that I saw. Rainbow Lorikeet. An absolutely surest sight anywhere in the coastal Asuatralia - both the north, East and South. I took so many pictures of this bird - never the perfect one so please bear with me. Beauty with this bird knows no bounds so just hold your breath when you see the bird - it can take it away.

Yes - I did try and count all the colours

A pair at its nest. Birding courtesy Gavin Goodyear

Omnipresent - everywhere

Rainbow Lorikeet

The second fairly common bird that I saw - shy and not so shy all at the same moment in the entire range I visited expect the very far south - was this Scaly-breasted Lorikeet. I did see these birds a number of times - they were a different green with beautiful broken yellow pattern on the breast with bright red underwings. They were a good company to be in but I did see that they minded seeing a human - when I was clearly visible and took to wing only then. Otherwise they were there forging, comfortable - all for you to see. Infact the only good picture of this bird I saw was when a person was throwing some boiled rice - feeding them - as long as we were hidden behind the bush - they were fine - the moment I came in full sight there they went.

The beautiful Scaly-breasted Lorikeet

Saw a fair amount of these birds - virtually everywhere in their range.

I did see a Double-eyed Fig-parrot - but since it was in captivity - kept in a habitat - I did not record it as a sighting but I would like to share the picture with you nonetheless. It was dark so don't mind the grainy picture. The bird was small and beautiful...

The smallest Australian parrot

Small on size - huge on beauty

Caution: they all are habitat shots of the Double-eyed Fig-parrot

Next was the Australian King-parrot I saw it many a times but mostly glimpses so not even a shot that I can say - a record shot. So after mentioning this I have to move on. A small description is warranted however. The bird was beautiful Red with green wings and a patch of blue on the rump of the male.

The Electus Parrot was another sight to behold. The Female (that one is more brightly coloured that the male) did not give an opportunity. I do have a shot - again in a habitat so I do not count it as proper - but for record here I thought I will share. The male however was cooperative for one shot so I will present it first.

The beautiful Female Electus Parrot (Habitat shot)

The male that lost the beauty pageant - Electus Parrot Male

This bird too gave only one shot before flying away But the close up was good

The bird is the Crimson Rosella. These are basically a group of blue-cheeked birds and again I had very good sightings around Cairns, Sydney and on my way to Twelve Apostles. Unfortunately - as it happens with birding in wild - the pictures always were in low light so ISO levels are ramped up - so pardon me for the shots. One more thing - this bird has in all seven races. I believe I might have seen only two out of them - but since two to three sightings were not in presence of a proper birding guide - I will let the case remain open.

Clicked in the rainforest with Mr Gavin Goodyear

Clicked near Cape Otaway I suppose on the way to Twelve Apostles

Crimson Rosella

I almost complained to all birders regarding the Eastern Rosella - I mean it was fairly common but just refused to come in open for a pose - the situation became so bad that I was resting in my room when a familiar bird flew overhead and landed in a bush about fifty feet away - I grabbed the camera ran - realised I was naked above the waist - ran back put on a T-shirt ran again - took a record shot and the bloody bird flew away - the onlookers were glaring at me - it was then I realised I put the T-shirt inside out - bloody Rosella !!

The hidden Eastern Rosella - Grrrrr 

The last bird I saw was the beautiful Red-rumped Parrot. I was taken for birding by Tom Tarrant - this was one of our last pit-stop before we returned and I packed up Australia birding. Was a great experience seeing this bird. I remember - we reached where Mr Tom said this bird would be there and we were disappointed seeing no birds at all. We started looking around for Common Bronzewing. That bird was calling from so near - but took a good hour to spot it. This was not before we almost gave up. In between we came back to the Parrot spot and - boom - there two pairs were foraging. They were soon joined by others and a sight it was. The pictures once again were not to my satisfaction - the ones showing rump did not show the face and vice versa. Again - beggars cannot be choosers... so here goes.

Okay - I did get one shot with its rump showing - the Red-rumped Parrot

Another shot of the beautiful parrot.

Seven Parrots out of the 39 in Australia and that too in the time I was there is okay I guess. Okay after spending a few days completing the part I and Part II of this writeup I am at a loss - as to which bird comes on top in beauty - so I leave this on to you to decide - Would you be kind enough to leave your choice as a comment to this ? It would be great. And surprisingly I did not see a single Budgerigar.

 Those who missed part I - here is the link Click Me

Mirror Mirror on the wall... who's the most beautiful of all ? - the Parrots, Parakeets, Cockatoos of Australia....

Okay - here I put a disclaimer before starting and generating any sort of flack from the birders. I went to Australia - did birding and am talking only about birds (all birds) that look basically like parrots and those that I have been able to photograph. So the blog post may be in no way a comprehensive or technically correct from scientific perspective. It is my opinion and mine alone.

While there I was already floored by the beautiful birds - birds that had perhaps developed on that island continent isolated for millions of years. Out of these - the Cockatoos and the Lorikeets/Parrots and related were stunning to say the least. I saw a couple of them, many multiple times and overtime I did so - I just wanted to sit in their company forever. One other thing that I noticed that most of these birds were fairly unafraid of humans and were a great company - coming close to a few feet from you or continuing to do what they were - unmindful of your presence. That made the Wow factor scream out even more. After all - you could really enjoy their company without chasing them.

I must add that we did almost an impossible - Daintree to Twelve apostles during our visit. That is the entire east coast of the Continent. This of course was possible to partly fly and partly drive - otherwise it is just too vast to do in 10 odd days we was there.

I will try and cover the Cockatoos that I saw first. With fourteen Cockatoos - first let me see what all did I see. Before that - a Cockatoo is a parrot belonging to bird family Cacatuidae, the only family in superfamily - Cacatuoidea. These birds are mainly distributed in the Australasian - ranging from Philippines till Solomon Islands. These birds are recognised by showy crests and curved bills. Out of these fourteen I was lucky to spot six of them.. The Yellow-tailed Black Cockatoo, Galah, Long-billed Corella, Little Corella, Sulphur-crested Cockatoo and Cockatiel.

The birds in general were big (other than cockatiel) and beautiful. With size on their side - they were confident and not easily intimidated - hence gave one of the best photo opportunities. There were some shy ones - but I might have read them wrongly.

Galah

Galah

Galah - and mind you I still do not know how to pronounce the name ;-)

The First bird that comes to my mind is The Galah, it was pretty, and I saw this almost everywhere except the very north of my visiting range. Around Daintree. I am sure that the bird would be there but I was not fortunate enough to see it. Beautiful, Bold and one that could win your heart in a moment. All the three pictures above are from a variety of places - and fairly far enough. 

Sulphur-crested Cockatoo

Sulphur-crested Cockatoo

Sulphur-crested Cockatoo

Ofcourse I already feel foolish not considering discussing this omnipresent bird of Australia. If there is a bird that I will connect my visit to Australia with - it is this one. Beautiful, bold and Omnipresent as I just described. This is one bird that I saw, heard and one that begged for attention everywhere I went. Attention it did get - with one card full of this bird photographs only - that would be a thousand shots if not more. The trouble started when I sat down and started sorting out the pictures - I tend to delete the ones that I do not like - and that was not an easy task mind you. 

The black and beautiful bird: Yellow-tailed Black Cockatoo in its typical pose

Yellow-tailed Cockatoo pointed out when birding with Tom Tarrant on the last day of my birding.

The first sighting of this bird was somewhere near or south of Cairns I suppose, Black and majestic. It just gave a single shot before it flew. Next I only saw it on my last day, that is 17th Oct that to flying high above and pointed out with Tom Tarrant.

Cockatiel: the beautiful bird I saw there...

Though Cockatoo are preferred pet birds - their demands are very high. This bird, the smallest of Cockatoos - the Cockatiel is the only bird out of this family that does not have as many requirements and is an Authorised pet in India. I have seen it many a times in many a homes - but to see a free bird - Oh that feeling was unbeatable. Found in the entire subcontinent - but I got only two sightings of this bird. I am satisfied I can assure you.

Little Corella

Little Corella near a nesting site.

Little Corella

 If you see the range of this bird - the Little Corella - they are not marked along the coast on the eastern front. True - not one sighting there - but on both occasions - when I was birding with Tom Tarrant near Sydney and Gavin Goodyear around Cairns. I was also lucky to see a few birds at the nests. They were far - but good to see.

Long-billed Corella

Long-billed Corella

Long-billed Corella : the one that decided to give a pose on perch

 The last of the Cockatoo - I found this bird too - majestic - I saw these bird while on my way to the twelve Apostles. They are restricted to small range in the absolute south Australia and I consider myself lucky to see these beauties...

Already this has been a fairly long post so I will take a break with a promise - that the second part would come soon...

....to be continued

Birding in Australia: Shiny Flycatcher...

Today I am sharing pictures of a wonderful little bird that was shown by Mr Murray 'The Boatman' during our Daintree river ride. 

The bird described as Shiny Flycatcher at some places and Shining Flycatcher at other - is a flycatcher where the male is entirely glossy with iridescent blue-black colour and the female has a Glossy blue-black head and a bright rufous chest.

Shiny Flycatcher, Male

Shiny Flycatcher, Male

Shiny Flycatcher, Male

Shiny Flycatcher, Male

 The female can be easily mixed up with Asian-paradise Flycatcher female had I spotted it by myself.

Shiny Flycatcher, female

You will have to pardon my photographs that are not the best I could take as the boat was moving, the light under the rainforest canopy was nothing to talk about and the ISO had to be ramped up to 1600 to get meaningful pictures. The bird inhabits mangroves,rainforest, pandaus, creeks and swamps. We saw the two three birds all over the perches over water and among the stilt roots of mangroves. The call was clean 'whit', 'whit', 'whit'.

Shiny Flycatcher female in a nest.

We were also lucky to see two nests, which were typical nest that I have seen so many times of Asian-paradise Flycatcher, basically a upright fork, but in this case both over water. The nest was rounded cup of bark strips and looked like bounded with spider web.

Birding in Australia: The Ibises of Australia...

While birding trip in Australia, Ibis were the birds that I saw common, most of the times purposefully flying overhead to some distant place. There are three Ibis in Australia

1. Glossy Ibis
2. Australasian Ibis
3. Straw-necked Ibis

Okay let’s get some facts out of the way before we see the ibis of Australia. Firstly India too have three ibis and one of them is common to Australia - that’s the Glossy Ibis. Before that Ibises are a group of long-legged wader birds. They all have long, down-curved bills and usually feed as a group, probing mud for food items. Most species nest in trees, often with spoonbills or herons. There are total of 28 Ibis as of now and two extinct species.

The next fun fact is that the African sacred ibis was an object of religious veneration in ancient Egypt. In town of Hermopolis, Ibises were specifically reared for sacrificial purposes and archaeologists have found the mummies of one and a half million ibises and hundreds of thousands of falcons.

It may come as a surprise to many but the northern bald ibis is likely to be the first birds off the Noah Ark as a symbol of fertility and a lingering religious sentiment in Turkey helped the colonies there to survive long after the demise of the species in Europe.

The mascot of University of Miami is an American White Ibis.

Starting with the Australian Ibises.

1. Glossy Ibis: Also known as Black Curlew, the Glossy Ibis is the most common of all the Ibis in the world. Infact they inhabit the world, scattered in the warm regions of Europe, Asia, Africa, Australia, the Atlantic and the Caribbean regions of Americans. It is thought to have originated in the Old World and spread

Glossy Ibis in breeding plumage

naturally from Africa to North America in the 19th century. The species are migratory.Unfortunately this is also one of the species to which the Agreement on the Conservation of African-Eurasian Migratory Waterbirds applies. These Ibis are threatened by wetland habitat degradation, loss through drainage, increased salinity, ground water extraction and invasion by exotic plants.

Glossy Ibis

The birds are brownish in the breeding plumage and glossy black in the non-breeding season. The Glossy Ibis feed in very shallow waters and show a preference for marshes at the margins of lakes and rivers - but also can be around lagoons, flood plains swamps, reserviors sewage ponds etc.

The diet varies according to season and is dependent on what is available. Prey includes insects, dragonflies, larval insects leeches, mollusks and occasionally fish, amphibians, lizards, small snakes and nestling birds.

2. Australian White Ibis: Well this was the most common Ibis that I encountered in Australia - almost entire East-coast I traveled expect of the very south. Historically I was told that the bird was rare in

Australian White Ibis in a park

Australian White Ibis

the urban areas but has done so from 1970 onwards. There is a strong debate whether to consider it a pest of vulnerable species. Populations unfortunately has disappeared from natural breeding ground such as Macquarie Marshes in North-western Wales. Despite this they have been culled in parts of Sydney due to their smell and intrusive nature. This behavior of man, where we find the smell not upto our sensibilities or poop on cars a problem and where he feels that he is the 'master of all' will continue our conflict with nature. This is also a sister species to the sacred ibis of Africa and Black-headed ibis of Asia (Including India).  

3. Straw-necked Ibis: This bird too is found in most of Australia, New Guinea and parts of Indonesia. The bird is so named as the males have distinctive straw like feathers on their necks. 

Straw-necked Ibis

These are fairly large birds that are around 60-75 cm. Males have longer bills. The adaptation of Straw-necked Ibis has been less than the Australian White Ibis so is seen lesser. I did have sightings, but regretfully I waited for perfect moment and missed even record shots baring the ones of this Ibis in flight around Melbourne. So I am sorry for no pictures - you will have to go online to search for some of this bird.

The birds are extremely nomadic and are constantly on the move in search of suitable habitats that they are getting lesser and lesser these days. 

Finally,

They say the birds are the barometer of the environment we live in. They are finding more and more difficult to survive the human onslaught. Teach everyone to respect mother Nature. May you always hear the bird song...