Tuesday, March 16, 2010

Birds at Kavdi - Visit No. 2

I visited kavdi again last month along with my friend Hershal. Here are snaps of some of the birds along with their description.

White Wagtail







This is an insectivorous bird of open country, often near habitation and water. It prefers bare areas for feeding, where it can see and pursue its prey. In urban areas it has adapted to foraging on paved areas such as car parks.
It nests in crevices in stone walls and similar natural and man-made structures. This is a slender bird, 16.5–19 cm (6½–7½ in) in length, with the characteristic long, constantly wagging tail of its genus.
This species breeds throughout Eurasia up to latitudes 75°N, only being absent in the Artic from areas where the July isotherm is less than 4°oC. It also breeds in the mountains of Morocco and western Alaska. It occupies a wide range of habitats, but is absent from deserts. (Source: Wikipedia)




Grey Wagtail
The Grey Wagtail (Motacilla cinerea) is a small member of the wagtail family, Motacillidae. The species looks similar to the Yellow Wagtail but has the yellow on its underside restricted to the throat and vent. Breeding males have a black throat. The species is widely distributed, with several populations breeding in Europe and Asia and migrating to tropical regions in Asia and Africa. They are usually seen on open marshy ground or meadows where they walk solitarily or in pairs along the ground, capturing insects that are disturbed. Like other wagtails, they frequently wag their tail and fly low with undulations and they have a sharp call that is often given in flight. (Source: Wikipedia)


Wire Tailed Swallow
This bird is found in open country near water and human habitation. Wire-tailed Swallows are fast flyers and they generally feed on insects, especially flies, while airborne. They are typically seen low over water, with which they are more closely associated than most swallows.
The neat half-bowl nests are lined with mud collected in the swallows' beaks. They are placed on vertical surfaces near water under cliff ledges or more commonly on man-made structures such as buildings and bridges.
This striking species is a small swallow at 14 cm in length. It has bright blue upperparts, except for a chestnut crown and white spots on the tail. The underparts are white, with darker flight feathers. There is a blue mask through the eye.
This species gets its name from the very long filamentous outermost tail feathers, which trail behind like two wires. Sexes manifest similar appearances, but the female has shorter "wires". Juveniles have a brown crown, back and tail. The Asian form, H. s. filifera, is larger and longer-tailed than the abundant African H. s. smithii.
The scientific name of this bird is after Professor Chetien Smith, a Norwegian botanist, who was a member of the British expedition to the Congo River in 1816, led by James Kingston Tuckey. (Source: Wikipedia)