T7 : 18-05-26 

​The Red Junglefowl (Gallus gallus) is the wild ancestor of all domestic chicken breeds, including the Plymouth Rock.

Gallus is a biological genus of birds in the pheasant family (Phasianidae). It famously includes the red junglefowl (Gallus gallus), which is the wild ancestor of all domestic chickens (Gallus gallus domesticus).

The Plymouth Rock chicken commonly known as the Barred Rock are a friendly dual purpose breed originating in the US raised both for its meat and for its brown eggs.

Genetics : While they ultimately descend from the red junglefowl, Plymouth Rocks are a product of selective artificial breeding (often crossed with breeds like the Dominique, Black Java, and Cochin).

Plymouth rock chickens come in many colors, but the most common variation is the Barred Rock, with black and white feathers. This species belongs to the Gallus genus.

As a domestic breed, its full scientific classification is Gallus gallus domesticus, It belongs to the pheasant family (Phasianidae) and is a domesticated subspecies of the red junglefowl (Gallus gallus) native to Asia.

The Barred Rock chicken is famous for their black-and-white stripes, they lay about 200 250 large brown eggs yearly and they are highly adaptable and make excellent calm pets for backyard flocks. 

This American heritage breed was developed in the 19th century and is highly valued for both egg laying and meat production.

Phylum : Chordata

Class : Aves

Order : Galliformes

Family : Phasianidae

Genus : Gallus

Species : Gallus gallus domesticus

​Country of origin : United States

The genus Halcyon belongs to the subfamily Halcyoninae within the family Alcedinidae, comprising tree kingfishers.

Halcyon kingfishers are medium to large birds with large heads, heavy pointed bills, short tails, and vibrant plumage often featuring blue, green, chestnut and white colors.

They typically range from 16 to 28 centimeters in length and have strong, zygodactyl feet adapted for perching. Their bills are broad and powerful, suitable for catching a variety of prey. 

Most species are resident in sub Saharan Africa, with a few species in southern Asia, such as the white-throated kingfisher (H. smyrnensis), which occasionally reaches Europe.

Halcyon species inhabit woodlands, forests, mangroves, savannas, and even human modified landscapes like gardens and agricultural areas, demonstrating adaptabity.

Halcyon kingfishers employ a "sit-and wait" hunting strategy, perching on exposed branches to spot prey before making short flights or drops to capture it. 

Halcyon is omnivorous species, its diet consists of insects (grasshoppers, beetles), small reptiles and amphibians (lizards and frogs), rodents, snakes, and occasionally small fish or crustaceans.

They prefer terrestrial prey over aquatic sources typical of river kingfishers. The genus contains 12 recognized species, including the woodland kingfisher (H. senegalensis), ruddy kingfisher (H. coromanda) and white-throated kingfisher (H. smyrnensis)

While most species are resident, some, like the white throated and ruddy kingfishers, are partially migratory, occasionally moving beyond their usual range.

Halcyon species are classified as least concern by the IUCN, though habitat loss poses threats to localized populations. Their adaptability to various habitats helps maintain stable populations in many regions.

The genus name and mythological association with calm seas have influenced the use of "halcyon" in literature and language to denote peace, tranquility, and prosperity.

The ruddy kingfisher (Halcyon Coromanda) is a mediumsized tree kingfisher with a striking appearance and a rich ecological role. It is known for its bright red bill and plumage, which can be rust red or deep purple, it also had a bright red leg, this species is widely distributed in east and south east asia.

The bird prefers heavily forested areas and often calls high and descending notes, making it more often heard than seen. Its diet consist of fish, crustaceans, and large insects, whereby in areas with less running water, it may also consume frogs and other amphibians.

The ruddy kingfisher is migratory, with northern populations migrating as far south as Borneo during winter. It is locally common in southern parts of its range but rare in Japan, where it is highly sought after by birders. Conservation efforts are in place to protect this species and its habitats.

​

​

Phylum : Chordata

Class : Aves

Order : Coraciiformes

Family : Alcedinidae

Subfamily : Halcyoninae

Genus: Halcyon

Species : H. coromanda

Binomial name : Halcyon coromanda

Latham, 1790

SBWR : 29-10-25 

​Buceros is the scientific name for the genus of hornbills. Buceros meaning "ox" from Ancient Greek βοῦς (boûs), and κέρας (kéras), meaning "horn", are large hornbills that includes iconic species like the Rhinoceros Hornbill and the Great Hornbill in the (family Bucerotidae)

Hornbills are birds found in tropical and subtropical Africa, Asia and Melanesia of the family Bucerotidae. They are characterized by a long, down-curved bill which is frequently brightly coloured and sometimes has a horny casque on the upper mandible.

Hornbills have a two-lobed kidney. They are the only birds in which the first and second neck vertebrae (the atlas and axis respectively) are fused together, this probably provides a more stable platform for carrying the bill.

Hornbills family is omnivorous, feeding on fruit and small animals. They are monogamous (meaning they form a pair bond for a breeding season, which can last for a single season, multiple seasons, or even life. This social bond ensures parental care, as the offspring are often helpless at birth and require two parents to help with feeding, incubating eggs, and protecting them.

Hornbills typically form monogamous, lifelong pairs, it have a unique breeding strategy using pre-existing natural cavities in trees and sometimes cliffs as nests, and the entrance is sealed with a mixture of saliva, mud, and other materials to protect the family from predators, where the female seals herself inside the cavity for several months to lay and incubate eggs, while the male provides food for her and the chicks.

The breeding season varies by species and location but often coincides with the peak availability of fruit.

The hornbill incubation period varies by species, ranging from about 23 to 46 days for smaller species to over 100 days for some larger ones. For example, the rhinoceros hornbill incubates its eggs for 37–46 days, while the Oriental Pied Hornbill incubates for about 26–28 days. Some species, like the helmeted hornbill, can have an incubation period of up to 150 days.

The rhinoceros hornbill (Buceros rhinoceros) is a large species of forest hornbill in the family (Bucerotidae), they are typically found in primary, lowland rainforests, hill dipterocarp forests, mountainous forests, and swamp forests within elevations of 130 to 1500 meters.

Rhinoceros hornbill habitat usually contains large, mature trees and fruit-bearing trees that are required for nesting and feeding. If undisturbed habitat is unavailable, they will inhabit tall secondary forests and slightly disturbed areas.

The rhinoceros hornbill is the state bird of the Malaysian state of Sarawak and the country's national bird.

Rhinoceros hornbills are large cavity-nesting birds with black plumage, a white abdomen and a long, white tail crossed by a wide black band. Male and female rhinoceros hornbills look alike, except males have brownish-red eyes and females have blueish-white eyes.

Rhinoceros hornbills diet are mostly fruits, especially figs. They also eat bird eggs, bugs, small reptiles and frogs in their catch.

The rhinoceros hornbill is distributed in the forests of Southeast Asia, including mainland peninsular Malaysia and southern Thailand, and the islands of Sumatra, Java, Borneo and in Singapore which was once thought to be extinct.

​

Phylum : Chordata

Class : Aves

Order : Bucerotiformes

Family : Bucerotidae

Genus : Buceros

Species : B. rhinoceros

Binomial name : Buceros rhinoceros

Linnaeus, 1758

Japanese Garden : 12-07-25

​Synoicus is a genus species of Old World quail. The King Quail (Synoicus chinensis) is also known as the Blue-breasted Quail or Asian Blue Quail, Chinese painted quail, or Chung-Chi, is a species of Old World quail in the family Phasianidae.

Synoicus chinensis is a small quail species found across South and Southeast Asia, and parts of Oceania. They are the smallest of the "true quails" and are known for their vibrant blue and cinnamon plumage in males, and cryptic brown coloration in females.

King Quails naturally exhibit a range of colors and patterns, including brown, grey, and reddish-brown.

Male king quail occur in many colors, including blue, brown, silver, maroon, dark brown, and almost black. 

They have orange feet that are hard and able to withstand a continuous life on the ground like many other game birds.

Females are similar to the males, but do not occur in shades of blue. They can live up to 13 years in captivity but typically only 3–6 years. In the wild, they may live only 1.5 years.

The appearance of Male is Blue head and breast, deep cinnamon belly, black and white throat markings. Whereas Female is Brown with a paler belly and a plain face.

Its Habitat is Typically found in grasslands, grassy hillsides, and farmland and are often difficult to spot as they prefer to stay hidden in dense vegetation and are usually only seen when they flush out from underfoot.

This species is the smallest "true quail", ranging in the wild from southern China, South and Southeast Asia to Oceania, south to southeastern Australia, with 9 different subspecies.

Leucistic King Quail (Synoicus chinensis) are uncommon but not extremely rare, particularly in aviculture.

The primary difference between leucism and albinism lies in the presence of melanin, the pigment that gives skin, hair, and eyes their color.

Albinism is characterized by a complete or near-complete lack of melanin production, resulting in very pale skin, hair, and eyes often with pinkish or reddish hues due to visible blood vessels.

Leucism, on the other hand, is a condition where there is a reduction in pigmentation, leading to white or pale patches on an animal's body, but the eyes typically retain their normal coloration and Leucism doesn't generally cause the vision problems associated with albinism.

In the wild, the diet of king quail consists of small bugs, grass seeds, rape seeds, and vegetation that is available.

Phylum : Chordata

Class : Aves

Order : Galliformes

Family : Phasianidae

Genus : Synoicus

Species : S. chinensis

Binomial name : Synoicus chinensis

Linnaeus, 1766

Synonyms :

Tetrao chinensis Linnaeus, 1766

Coturnix chinensis (Linnaeus, 1766)

Excalfactoria chinensis Linnaeus, 1766

Frasers Hill : 24-28-05-25

The Anthipes flycatchers are a genus of Old World flycatchers.

The Rufous-browed Flycatcher, scientifically known as Anthipes solitaris, is a small, unique-looking flycatcher found in Southeast Asia.

It is a species of bird in the family Muscicapidae native to Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam.

It is a small, distinctive flycatcher with a bright white throat and rusty-orange brow and forehead. These birds are commonly found in foothill and montane forests, where they forage close to the ground in lower vegetation.

The Rufous-browed Flycatcher inhabitat subtropical or tropical moist montane forests, it forages close to the ground in lower vegetation, flycatching and gleaning for prey. It was formerly placed in the genus Ficedula.

A vocal species known for a high, thin series of whistles, with additional phrases added to the "tee-tee-tew" call, as well as harsh rattles, chips, and chiks often seen flying and gleaning for prey.

Phylum : Chordata

Class : Aves

Order : Passeriformes

Family : Muscicapidae

Genus : Anthipes

Species : A. solitaris

Binomial name : Anthipes solitaris

Müller, 1836

Synonyms :

Digenea solitaris

Ficedula solitaris

LCK Lane 6 : 13-03-25

Lanius, the typical shrikes, are a genus of passerine birds in the shrike family Laniidae.

The majority of the family's species are placed in this genus. The genus name, Lanius, is derived from the Latin word for "butcher", and some shrikes are also known as "butcher birds" because of their feeding habits. The common English name "shrike" is from Old English scríc, "shriek", referring to the shrill call.

The brown shrike (Lanius cristatus) is a bird in the shrike family that is found mainly in Asia. It is closely related to the red-backed shrike (L. collurio) and isabelline shrike (L. isabellinus).

Like most other shrikes, it has a distinctive black "bandit-mask" through the eye and is found mainly in open scrub habitats, where it perches on the tops of thorny bushes in search of prey.

Several populations of this widespread species form distinctive subspecies which breed in temperate Asia and migrate to their winter quarters in tropical Asia. They are sometimes found as vagrants in Europe

and North America.

The brown shrike is a migratory species and ringing studies show that they have high fidelity to their wintering sites, often returning to the same locations each winter.

During their winter period, they go through a premigratory moult. Their song in the winter quarters is faint and somewhat resembles the call of the rosy starling and often includes mimicry of other birds.

They begin establishing wintering territories shortly after arrival and their loud chattering or rattling calls are distinctive.

The beak remains closed when singing and only throat pulsations are visible although the bird moves its tail up and down while singing.

The breeding season is late May or June and the breeding habitat includes the taiga, forest to semi-desert where they build a nest in a tree or bush, laying two to six eggs.

They feed mainly on insects, especially Lepidoptera. Like other shrikes, they impale prey on thorns. Small birds and lizards are also sometimes preyed upon.

Phylum : Chordata

Class : Aves

Order : Passeriformes

Family : Laniidae

Genus : Lanius

Species : L. cristatus

Binomial name : Lanius cristatus

Linnaeus, 1758

T15 : 23-3-24

Leaf warblers are small insectivorous passerine birds belonging to the genus Phylloscopus.

Leaf warblers were formerly included in the Old World warbler family but are now considered to belong to the family Phylloscopidae, introduced in 2006.

The family originally included the genus Seicercus, but all species have been moved to Phylloscopus in the most recent classification.

Leaf warblers are active, constantly moving, often flicking their wings as they glean the foliage for insects along the branches of trees and bushes.

They forage at various levels within forests, from the top canopy to the understorey. Most of the species are markedly territorial both in their summer and winter quarters.

Most are greenish or brownish above and off-white or yellowish below. Compared to some other "warblers", their songs are very simple. Species breeding in temperate regions are usually strongly migratory.

The species are of various sizes, often green plumaged above and yellow below, or more subdued with greyish-green to greyish-brown colours, varying little or not at all with the seasons.

The tails are not very long and contain 12 feathers (unlike the similar Abroscopus species, which have 10 tail feathers). Many species are more easily identified by their distinctive songs than their dull plumage.

Its members occur in Eurasia, ranging into Wallacea and Africa with one species, the Arctic warbler, breeding as far east as Alaska.

Many of the species breed at temperate and high latitudes in Eurasia and migrate substantial distances to winter in southeastern Asia, India, or Africa.

The family Phylloscopidae comprises many small tree-loving warbler species that feed by gleaning insects from leaves or catching food on the wing.

The Arctic warbler (Phylloscopus borealis) is a widespread leaf warbler in birch or mixed birch forest near water throughout its breeding range in Fennoscandia and the northern Palearctic.

It has established a foothold in North America, breeding in Alaska.

This warbler is strongly migratory, the entire population winters in southeast Asia. It therefore has one of the longest migrations of any Old World insectivorous bird.

The nest is on the ground in a low shrub. Like most Old World warblers, this small passerine is insectivorous.

This is a typical leaf warbler in appearance, greyish-green above and off-white below. Its single wing bar distinguishes it from most similar species except the greenish warbler, Phylloscopus trochiloides.

It is larger than that species and has a heavier, dagger-like bill, with a dark tip to the lower mandible. Its song is a fast trill.

The genus name Phylloscopus is from Ancient Greek phullon, "leaf", and skopos, "seeker" (from skopeo, "to watch"). The specific borealis is from Latin and means "northern".

Phylum : Chordata

Class : Aves

Order : Passeriformes

Family : Phylloscopidae

Genus : Phylloscopus

Species : P. borealis

Binomial name : Phylloscopus borealis

Blasius, JH, 1858

Cicinnurus is a genus of sickletail birds-of-paradise, all three species are sexually dimorphic and have bright blue legs and feet. Members of this genus are found in Papua New Guinea or Indonesia, primarily on the island of Irian Jaya and nearby islands.

The birds-of-paradise are members of the family Paradisaeidae of the order Passeriformes. The majority of species are found in eastern Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, and eastern Australia.

The family has 45 species in 17 genera. The members of this family are perhaps best known for the plumage of the males of the species, the majority of which are sexually dimorphic.

Males of these species tend to have very long, elaborate feathers extending from the beak, wings, tail, or head. For the most part, they are confined to dense rainforest habitats. The diet of all species is dominated by fruit and to a lesser extent arthropods. The birds-of-paradise have a variety of breeding systems, ranging from monogamy to lek-type polygamy.

The king bird-of-paradise (Cicinnurus regius) is a passerine bird of the Paradisaeidae (bird-of-paradise) family. It is considered by the IOC checklist to be the only member of the genus Cicinnurus, although the genus Diphyllodes is closely related and is subsumed under Cicinnurus by many other authorities.

The king bird-of-paradise is a common and wide-ranging species, distributed throughout lowland forests of New Guinea and western satellite islands. Some populations range quite high into the hills and lower mountains, and these are poorly known as yet.

The first captive breeding of this species was by Sten Bergman of Sweden in 1958. He was awarded a commemorative medal by the Foreign Bird League to mark this achievement.

This so-called "living gem" is the smallest and most vividly colored among birds-of-paradise.

The king bird-of-paradise is small, measuring approximately 6.3–7.5 inches (16–19 cm) long, but 12.2 inches (31 cm) if central rectrices of adult males included.

Females weigh about 0.08–0.13 pounds (36–59 g), males 0.10–0.14 pounds (45–64 g).

The adult male has an overall metallic crimson color, slightly orange under certain lights, and more particularly so in the crown. They have a narrow, dark green iridescent breast band with whitish lower breast, and green-tipped fan-like plumes on the shoulder.

The feathers of the undertail and mantle are olive-brown, with iridescent green tips, and violet legs. Bills are ivory-yellow. Females have dull olive heads and upperparts with yellowish underparts and violet legs.

The king bird-of-paradise is distributed throughout the majority of lowland New Guinea mainland, and on the surrounding islands, including Aru, Salawati, Missol, and Yapen, inhabiting mostly lowland rainforests, gallery forests, forest edges, and disturbed and tall secondary forests.

There is little information available about this species’ behavior. They are inconspicuous and may be hard to locate, except for males at their display trees.

The species is polygynous, with the promiscuous adult males displaying in isolation at exploded leks and in groups at traditional arboreal courts. They are perhaps more persistent callers than any other birds of paradise.

Courtship involves complex vocalizations, feather manipulations, and a variety of body posturing and movements, including hanging fully inverted and pendulum-like swinging.

An extraordinary courtship display is performed by the male with a series of tail swinging, fluffing of the white abdominal feathers that makes the bird look like a cotton ball, and acrobatic movements of their elongated tail wires.

Breeding occurs at least during March through October. The open cup nest is built into a tree cavity (unique within the family), within which two eggs are laid. The female builds the nest and cares for the young without male assistance. In captivity, incubation lasted 17 days and the nestling period was 14 days.

The diet consists mainly of fruits and arthropods. Foraging occurs at all forest levels, where birds often join mixed-species foraging flocks to seek arthropods in the lower forest.

The species is tentatively assessed as being in decline due to habitat loss and unsustainable levels of hunting.

However, despite the fact that the population trend appears to be decreasing, being a widespread and abundant species throughout their large habitat range, the king bird-of-paradise is evaluated as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. It is listed in Appendix II of CITES.

Phylum : Chordata

Class : Aves

Order : Passeriformes

Family : Paradisaeidae

Genus : Cicinnurus

Vieillot, 1816

Species : C. regius

Binomial name : Cicinnurus regius

Linnaeus, 1758

Synonyms :

Paradisaea regia Linnaeus, 1758

The common sandpiper (Actitis hypoleucos) is a small Palearctic wader. This bird and its American sister species, the spotted sandpiper (A. macularia), make up the genus Actitis.

They are parapatric and replace each other geographically; stray birds of either species may settle down with breeders of the other and hybridize.

Hybridization has also been reported between the common sandpiper and the green sandpiper, a basal species of the closely related shank genus Tringa.

The common sandpiper was formally described by the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus in 1758 in the tenth edition of his Systema Naturae under the binomial name Tringa hypoleucos. The species is now placed together with the spotted sandpiper in the genus Actitis that was introduced in 1811 by the German zoologist Johann Karl Wilhelm Illiger.

The genus name Actitis is from Ancient Greek aktites meaning "coast-dweller" from akte meaning "coast". The specific epithet hypoleucos combines the Ancient Greek hupo meaning "beneath" with leukos meaning "white". The The species is monotypic: no subspecies are recognised.

The adult is 18–20 cm (7.1–7.9 in) long with a 32–35 cm (13–14 in) wingspan. It has greyish-brown upperparts, white underparts, short dark-yellowish legs and feet, and a bill with a pale base and dark tip. In winter plumage, they are duller and have more conspicuous barring on the wings, though this is still only visible at close range. Juveniles are more heavily barred above and have buff edges to the wing feathers.

This species is very similar to the slightly larger spotted sandpiper (A. macularia) in non-breeding plumage. But its darker legs and feet and the crisper wing pattern (visible in flight) tend to give it away, and of course they are only rarely found in the same location.

The common sandpiper breeds across most of temperate and subtropical Europe and Asia, and migrates to Africa, southern Asia and Australia in winter.

The eastern edge of its migration route passes by Palau in Micronesia, where hundreds of birds may gather for a stop-over. They depart the Palau region for their breeding quarters around the last week of April to the first week of May.

It is a gregarious bird and is seen in large flocks, and has the distinctive stiff-winged flight, low over the water, of Actitis waders.

Its Breeding nests on the ground near freshwater. When threatened, the young may cling to their parent's body to be flown away to safety.

The common sandpiper forages by sight on the ground or in shallow water, picking up small food items such as insects, crustaceans and other invertebrates; it may even catch insects in flight.

It is widespread and common, and therefore classified as a species of least concern on the IUCN Red List but is a vulnerable species in some states of Australia. 

The purple sandpiper is one of the species to which the Agreement on the Conservation of African-Eurasian Migratory Waterbirds (AEWA) applies.

In the Nukumanu language of the Nukumanu Islands (Papua New Guinea), this species is usually called tiritavoi. Another Nukumanu name for it, matakakoni, exists, but this is considered somewhat taboo and not used when children and women are around. 

The reason for this is that matakakoni means "bird that walks a little, then copulates", in reference to the pumping tail and thrusting head movements the Actitis species characteristically perform during foraging.

Phylum : Chordata

Class : Aves

Order : Charadriiformes

Family : Scolopacidae

Genus : Actitis

Species : A. hypoleucos

Binomial name : Actitis hypoleucos

Linnaeus, 1758

The Asian brown flycatcher (Muscicapa dauurica) is a small passerine bird in the flycatcher family Muscicapidae.

The word Muscicapa comes from the Latin musca, a fly and capere, to catch. The specific dauurica refers to Dauria, an area of south-eastern Siberia named after a local nomadic tribe.

This is an insectivorous species which breeds in Japan, eastern Siberia and the Himalayas. It is migratory and winters in tropical southern Asia from southern India and Sri Lanka east to Indonesia.

The correct specific epithet for this species is disputed. This species is 13 cm (5.1 in) long, including the cocked tail. It is similar in shape to the larger spotted flycatcher, but is relatively longer-tailed.

The dark bill is relatively large and broad-based. The adult has grey-brown upperparts, which become greyer as the plumage ages, and whitish underparts with brown-tinged flanks. Young birds have scaly brown upperparts, head and breast.

Asian brown flycatcher is a common bird found in open woodland and cultivated areas. It nests in a hole in a tree, laying four eggs which are incubated by the female.

The male Asian brown flycatcher sings a simple melodic song during courtship. This bird is parasitised by the chewing louse Philopterus davuricae.

Other name : (In Thai: นกจับแมลงสีน้ำตาล)

Malay Name : Sambar-Kusam Biasa

Chinese Name : 北灰鹟

Phylum : Chordata

Class : Aves

Order : Passeriformes

Family : Muscicapidae

Genus : Muscicapa

Species : M. dauurica

Binomial name : Muscicapa dauurica

A sea eagle or fish eagle (also called erne or ern, mostly in reference to the white-tailed eagle) is any of the birds of prey in the genus Haliaeetus in the bird of prey family Accipitridae.

The genus Haliaeetus was introduced in 1809 by French naturalist Marie Jules César Savigny in his chapter on birds in the Description de l'Égypte.

Haliaeetus is possibly one of the oldest genera of living birds.

The grey-headed fish eagle (Haliaeetus ichthyaetus) is a fish-eating bird of prey from South East Asia.

H. ichthyaetus is a large stocky raptor with adults having dark brown upper body, grey head and lighter underbelly and white legs.

Juveniles are paler with darker streaking. It is often confused with the lesser fish eagle (Haliaeetus humilis) and the Pallas's fish eagle.

The lesser fish eagle is similar in plumage but smaller and the Pallas's fish eagle shares the same habitat and feeding behaviour but is larger with longer wings and darker underparts. Is often called tank eagle in Sri Lanka due to its fondness for irrigation tanks.

The grey-headed fish eagle is included in the order Accipitriformes and the family Accipitridae, which includes most birds of prey except for the ospreys and falcons.

The grey-headed fish eagle has a body length of 61–75 cm. Females are heavier than males at 2.3–2.7 kg compared to 1.6 kg. The tail measures between 23–28 cm and the tarsus 8.5–10 cm. The wingspan measure between 155–170 cm.

Adults are grey-brown with a pale grey head and pale iris, belly and tail are white with the having a broad black subterminal band. Breast and neck are brown, with the wings on top dark brown with blacker primaries and below brown.

Juveniles the head and neck are brown, greyer on the ides of throat, with buff supercilia and whitish streaks. The rest of the upperparts are darker brown, edged with grey and secondaries and tertials faintly barred. 

Tail black and white marbled with broader dark subterminal band and white tip. Belly and thighs white, while breast and flanks brown streaked with white. Iris is darker than adult. As juveniles mature subterminal band becomes more prominent, head becomes greyer and loses streaking becoming uniformly brown.

The grey-headed fish eagle has a wide distribution (38˚ N to 6˚ S) that encompasses India and South-East Asia to Malaysia, Western Indonesia and Philippines.

It is generally uncommon but can be rare or local. In North and East India it is found in Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Assam. It is uncommon in North and East Sri Lanka, rare and local in Nepal and uncommon and local in Bangladesh.

It is rare and local in South Thailand and rare in Laos; scarce in Vietnam, Cambodia and Malaysia to Sumatra; very rare in Java and Sulawesi except for a small local population and scarce in Borneo and the Philippines.

Grey-headed fish eagles live in lowland forest up to 1,500 m above sea-level. Their nests are close to bodies of water such as slow-moving rivers and streams, lakes, lagoons, reservoirs, marshes, swamps and coastal lagoons and estuaries.

It is a sedentary bird that can be solitary or occur in pairs. It is non-migratory. Juveniles disperse from the breeding areas, presumably in search of mates or another food source.

The grey headed fish eagle spends much of its time perching upright on bare branches over water bodies, occasionally flying down to catch fish. Flight is heavy looking with sharp and full wing-beats on flattish wings. Spends little time in the air soaring possibly due to habitat it lives in and no other aerial displays have been described.

The breeding season of the grey-headed fish eagle usually takes place between November and May across most of its mainland range, but changes from December to March in Sri Lanka, November to January in India. Nests have been found in January–March in Burma, April in Sumatra and August in Borneo, it is unclear whether these nest were old or being used for breeding.

Breeding in the Prek Toal protected area of the Tonlé Sap follow the flood regimes that begin in September, with eggs near hatching or hatching at peak flood waters in October–November.

The grey-headed fish eagle builds a huge stick nest, up to 1.5 metres across and, with repeated use, up to 2 metres deep. The nest is lined with green leaves and were situated in tall trees (8–30 m) on or near the top of the tree with an open crown structure, which can be in a forest or a standalone tree. 

Nest sites were always near or by a water source with the avoidance of human habitations and is consistent with other fish eagles due to ease of access and food abundance.

The clutch size can be between 2 and 4 eggs but usually 2 unmarked white eggs are laid per couple. Little is known about the level of parental care employed by the grey headed fish eagle, the evidence points towards monogamy and shared parental care duties.

Both incubation, foraging and fledgling feeding are carried out by the male and female, with incubation lasting 45–50 days and the fledgling period 70 days.

As the common name suggests the grey-headed fish eagle is a specialist piscivore, which preys upon live fish and scavenges dead fish and occasionally reptiles and terrestrial birds and small mammals.

The calls of the grey-headed fish eagle include a gurgling awh-awhr and chee-warr repeated 5–6 times, an owlish ooo-wok, ooo-wok, ooo-wok, a nasally honking uh-wuk and a loud high pitched scream. 

These begin as subdued low short notes each succeeding one more strongly upturned and more strident then previous then dying away again and are uttered from a perch or on the wing.

Fledglings give a longer nasal uuuw-whaar that starts low and subdued then becomes, louder and higher and strident. During the breeding season becomes quite vocal, with calls being loud and far carrying, often calling also at night.

Although not currently considered to be threatened with extinction, the population of grey-headed fish eagles is declining, the result of numerous and varied threats. The loss of suitable wetland habitat, deforestation, over-fishing, siltation, persecution, human disturbance and pollution resulting in a loss of nesting sites and reduced food supply.

The grey-headed fish eagle is currently listed as Near-Threatened on the IUCN Red List.

The population is estimated to be between 10,000–100,000 mature individuals on the basis that it may not exceed a five figure total. This estimate was completed in 2001 with poor data quality, combined with a marked decrease in populations is would be reasonable to assume that the number is closer to 10,000 and bordering on being classified Vulnerable.

The population is spread out over 5 million km² and is now thought be only common locally, with moderate rapid population decline throughout its range.

Phylum : Chordata

Class : Aves

Order : Accipitriformes

Family : Accipitridae

Genus : Haliaeetus

Species : H. ichthyaetus

Binomial name : Haliaeetus ichthyaetus

Horsfield, 1821

The red-crowned barbet (Psilopogon rafflesii) is a species of bird in the family Megalaimidae. It is found in Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, Singapore, and Thailand.

Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical moist lowland forests and plantations. It is threatened by habitat loss.

The red-crowned barbet is medium-large, at 24.5–27 cm (9.6–10.6 in) in length and 99–150 grams (3.5–5.3 ounces) in weight.

It is primarily green, with a red crown and spots below the eyes, black and yellow face, and a blue throat and eyebrow.

​Females resemble males, but are duller. The prey of red-crowned barbet include land snails of the genus Amphidromus.

Phylum : Chordata

Class : Aves

Order : Piciformes

Family : Megalaimidae

Genus : Psilopogon

Species : P. rafflesii

Binomial name : Psilopogon rafflesii

Lesson, 1839

The oriental dwarf kingfisher (Ceyx erithaca), also known as the black-backed kingfisher or three-toed kingfisher, is a pocket-sized bird in the family Alcedinidae.

This tropical kingfisher is a partial migrant that isendemic across much of the Indian Subcontinent and Southeast Asia.

It resides in lowland forests, typically near streams or ponds, where it feeds upon insects, spiders, worms, crabs, fish, frogs, and lizards. This small bird is easily distinguishable from other birds in its range due to its red bill, yellow-orange underparts, lilac-rufous upperparts, and blue-black back.

The oriental dwarf kingfisher is one of the smallest known kingfisher species. It is only slightly larger than a medium-sized hummingbird and measures 12.5–14 cm in length (including bill and tail).

Females typically weigh 14-16g and males 14-21.5g, making the males slightly larger. The two sexes are otherwise alike and sexual dimorphism is not present.

Both males and females have a black spot on the forehead; blue and white patches on the side of the neck; a lilac-rufous crown, rump, and tail; a dark blue back and wings; a white chin and throat; pale yellow-orange underparts; a dark brown iris; and red legs, feet and bill.

Juveniles are duller and have less lilac colouring, a white chin, throat and belly, yellow-orange bill with pale tip, and blue scapulars and wing coverts.

This species of kingfisher has three toes, explaining why it is sometimes called the three-toed kingfisher, however, there are other kingfishers which also have three toes.

The toe-count in these kingfisher species does not appear to be adaptive.

Kingfishers (Alcedinidae) are a family of approximately 114 species belonging to the pantropical avian order Coraciiformes.

Members of this family range in size from the 9g African dwarf kingfisher (Ceyx lecontei) to the 500g laughing kookaburra (Dacelo novaeguinea).

Despite their name, members of this family are not all piscivorous and many are found far from water and are predators to terrestrial invertebrates and small vertebrates.

This family is largely tropical, however, there are a few species which have adapted to temperate regions.

This family can be further divided into the three subfamilies: Halcyoninae, Cerylinae, and Alcedinidae (the pygmy kingfishers).

The subfamily Alcedinidae is distributed across tropical Africa and Asia, south into northern Australia and Melanesia, and north into Europe and temperate Asia. As implied by their name, pygmy kingfishers are relatively tiny compared to other kingfishers.

Other than their size, kingfishers in this subfamily are also characterized by their bright colours. Their habitats range from dense forest to woodland-savannah, and they can also be found along waterways in both wooded and open terrain.

Within the Alcedinidae subfamily is the genus Ceyx. Species in this genus are characterized by their terrestrial habitats, their diet which consists mostly of insects, their dorso-ventrally flattened orange bills and their more rufous upperparts.

Within this genus, molecular data indicates that C. erithaca forms a well-supported clade of three-toed pygmy kingfishers that includes C. melanurus, C. lepidus, C. argentatus and C. cyanopectus.

C. erithaca comprises two principal colour morphs: the black morph, the black-backed kingfisher or oriental dwarf kingfisher, and the rufous morph, which is sometimes designated as a separate species, the rufous kingfisher, C. rufidorsa.

A recent study has revealed genetic differences between C. erithaca and C. rufidorsa, suggesting that they are not morphs, but two distinct lineages.

The study suggests that the extensive colour polymorphism may have resulted from introgressive

hybridization that occurred in the distant past, when the two morphs were diverging from one another.

The oriental dwarf kingfisher is a forest and wetland-dwelling species that is endemic across much of the Indian subcontinent and Southeast Asia.

Populations have been found in Bangladesh, Bhutan, Brunei, Cambodia, China, India, Indonesia, Laos,

​Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Sri Lanka and Vietnam.

It is most commonly found in deciduous and evergreen primary and secondary forests, but also in alluvial forests, mangroves, overgrown rubber gardens, or in dense aggregations of palms, bamboos, or shrubs.

Their preferred habitat, they tend to keep near to forest streams and ponds in densely shaded forest lowland and the lowlands they are present in typically do not exceed 1000-1300m in elevation, but their nests are often well away from water.

They keep low to the ground and are known to perch and fly within 1-2m of the forest floor.

The northern populations winter in the southern parts of the breeding range and the species is defined as a partial migrant.

They often migrate south towards peninsular Malaysia from August to September and return north in March.

Large numbers of night-flying migrants are reported from August to December at Maxwell's Hill and at Fraser's Hill in Malaysia, as well as at light stations on many islands up to 60 km off the western coast.

It is still uncertain whether the most northerly parts of the species' range are vacated during the winter.

The oriental dwarf kingfisher is also a breeding visitor across much of the range in India, but its movements here are still uncertain.

Egg laying occurs from July to September in southwest india, February to July in Sri Lanka, April to May in northeast India, March to July in peninsular Malaysia, March in Sumatra, and from December to May in Java.

Nests are built in stream banks, road cuttings, terrestrial termitariums, or in soil near roots of a fallen tree, often well away from water. Together, the male and female excavate a horizontal tunnel that is 15–100 cm long, 3.8-4.5 cm in diameter, and ends in an unlined egg chamber.

The unlined chamber is 10–15 cm wide and 5–7 cm high. Both the tunnel and egg chamber are inclined upwards, which is thought to minimize water entry into the chamber and to help the flow of waste material out of the nest.

The generation time is approximately 4.2 years. A typical clutch size is 3-7 eggs, averaging to around 5 eggs per clutch.

The eggs are laid in the morning with a one day interval in between. Incubation begins after the final egg is laid and the incubation period lasts 17–18 days.

Both the male and female incubate the eggs, however, the female has a larger role in the incubation period because she is responsible for incubating the eggs at night. The fledging period is 18–20 days and chicks typically fledge out in the morning.

Their diet consists primarily of insects, including mantises (Mantodea), grasshoppers (Orthoptera), flies (Diptera), water beetles (Dytiscidae), winged ants (Formicidae), mayflies (Ephemeroptera); but also includes spiders; worms (Oligochaeta); and small crabs, fish, frogs and lizards.

Oriental dwarf kingfishers forage solitarily and perch in low vegetation or on rocks before flying out to capture prey from the ground or from among foliage.

They can take spiders from their webs and catch insects in fligh, they can also dive into water for prey at or just below the surface, without submerging themselves.

Larger prey are typically brought back to a perch, where the bird will strike it repeatedly with its beak before swallowing.

It's vocalisations is high pitched, shrill "tsriet-tsriet" or soft "tjie-tjie-tjie" in flight.

C. erithaca is classified as a "Least Concern Species" under the IUCN Red List and it is not globally threatened.

The population trend, however, is decreasing and the number of mature individuals is unknown. It is widely distributed, but in the northern parts of the range, it is often reported as scarce.

This scarcity could be due to the species being overlooked, and/or a result of its movement patterns.

There are conservation sites identified over the species' entire range. The main threat being faced by the oriental dwarf kingfisher is the clearing of their forest habitat.

Population levels are likely to decrease due to the continued loss of critical breeding habitats due to human activities.

Oriental dwarf kingfishers may also face other threats common to kingfishers and other migrating bird species, such as : Pollution, Drying of ponds and streams, Public dislike for kingfishers (fishermen) /illegal human persecution, Electric lines, Climate-induced changes in timing of migration and breeding, Collisions with artificial obstacles, like buildings, in their flight path, Exhaustion, starvation and dehydration and Erosion of stream banks.

Phylum : Chordata

Class : Aves

Order : Coraciiformes

Family : Alcedinidae

Subfamily : Alcedininae

Genus : Ceyx

Species : C. erithaca

Binomial name : Ceyx erithaca

Linnaeus, 1758

Subspecies :

C. e. erithaca - (Linnaeus, 1758)

C. e. macrocarus - Oberholser, 1917

C. e. motleyi - Chasen & Kloss, 1929

The blue-crowned hanging parrot (Loriculus galgulus) is a parrot species endemic to southern Burma and Thailand, Malaya, Singapore, and Indonesia (Sumatra, Java, Borneo).

These parrots are 12cm in height and weight 28g and have a longevity of 14 years. They are recognized by their green plumage, black beak and characteristic blue feathers arranged like a crown on their head.

The blue-crowned hanging parrot was formally described in 1758 by the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus in the tenth edition of his Systema Naturae.

Blue crowned parrot was placed by Carl Linnaeus with all the other parrots in the genus Psittacus and coined the binomial name Psittacus galgulus.

The type locality is the Malaysian state of Malacca. The blue-crowned hanging parrot is now one of 14 hanging parrots placed in the genus Loriculus that was introduced in 1849 by the English zoologist Edward Blyth.

The genus name is a diminutive of the genus Lorius that was introduced by Nicholas Aylward Vigors for the lorys in 1825.

The specific epithet galgulus is an unidentified small bird described by the Roman author Pliny the Elder as hanging by its feet. The species is monotypic: no subspecies are recognised.

Blue-crowned hanging parrots have green plumage and adults have black beaks. There is sexual dimorphism between males and females of the species.

Adult males have a characteristic blue "crown" patch on their head and a red mark on their throat as well as a red rump bordered by a yellow lower back.

Adult females plumage is duller green in color compared to the males, they do not have the red throat mark and have a less apparent or absent blue crown on the head and lack yellow feathers on their lower back.

Juveniles' plumage is dull green, they also have little to no blue crown patch, they have a little to no blue crown visible and their bills are light in color.

The calls these birds make when flying are shrill and squeaky. When flying in flocks, the calls can be described as rapid and ringing. As they forage, they utter shrill two-syllable calls.

The blue crowned hanging parrot is distributed throughout southern Thailand, western Malaysia, Singapore, Sumatra, Borneo and other nearby island.

The parrot inhabits forests, forest edges, swamps, riverine forest, bamboo patches, mangrove wooded gardens, and coconut groves, as well as plantations.

Throughout its range, Sulawesi is the only area where more than one Loriculus species is found because intraspecific competition usually prevents other closely related species from overlapping.

The hanging parrot can be observed travelling alone, in pairs, or in parties of 150 individuals in the canopy. During the mating season, bonded pairs will remain together and the male will chase off any other male that approaches.

Characteristic of hanging parrots, the blue crowned hanging parrot sleeps upside down by hanging from tree branches. The birds climb or fly up tall trees and will hang by either both feet or only one foot and will fluff their feathers and tuck their head and neck into their body.

This behaviour evolved in order to limit nighttime predation. The parrot's green plumage and hanging sleeping position imitates leaves among trees to camouflage themselves among the foliage. This behaviour was likely evolved from a common ancestor of Loriculus and Agapornis parrots endemic to Africa.

Young and sick birds are unable to hang and will perch sitting upright to sleep with their head turned to one side while tucked into the back feathers. Young birds have undeveloped modifications necessary for hanging but develop these rapidly as they fledge.

The blue-crowned hanging parrot forms bonded pairs during January to July for the breeding season. In order to court a female, the male will display by strutting; where the red rump, tail coverts, and red throat feathers are fluffed up.

The male will erect his body and spread his tail and bob its head while running across a branch or perch. With wings held low, he makes soft twittery “jeet jeet” call while showing off his red and gold rump on his lower back to nearby females.

In response, a female who is not impressed by the male will react aggressively by chasing him away, or she may act indifferently. If the female is interested in the male, she will actively encourage him and accept food from him. The pair's bond is maintained in this species through courtship feeding where the male will regurgitate food and offer it to a female. The female who accepts the food will perch close to the male and spend most of their time together.

The parrots will carry nesting material in their contour feathers by tucking them with their beaks. The nests are built by the bird in natural cavities like open tree branches and made out of substrate like bark and leaves the bird finds in its habitat.

​The females have a gestation period of 20 days where she will incubate her eggs inside the nest. A single clutch can have up to 4 eggs and the chicks leave the nest about 33 days after hatching.

Hanging parrots eat mainly fruits in the wild but will also feed on palm oil nuts, seeds, nectar, and fresh flowers.

The blue-crowned hanging parrot employs different feeding methods. Young birds usually use their mandibles to nibble and break off pieces of food when perching and will flick their heads rapidly to remove the pulp after extracting its juice.

Adults use their feet or bills to carry food and will feed when perching. Feeding usually occurs away from the food source after being carried to a perch. The bird can bring the food held up by the foot to its beak to feed and they can also hold up their foot and lower their head to feed.

Other methods involve holding the food between its claws on the perch and lowering the head completely to feed. Its diet usually includes flowers, buds, fruits, nuts, and seeds. They eat Southeast Asian fruit such as papaya and rambutan in the wild.

This species is commonly called Serindit Melayu in the Riau province and are typically kept as pets. The blue-crowned hanging parrot are important to the flora and Riau identity. Its name is used in "Hulu Keris," an important symbol of the province as part of the traditional clothing of Riau symbolizing courage, wisdom when upholding truth and justice.

Riau folklore stories of the faunal world, the hanging parrot is referred to as Panglima Hijau. In Malay literature, the blue crowned hanging parrot symbolically represents love and is considered a love bird. It is also commonly referred to in rhymes and poetry and is used in ritual activities.

Phylum : Chordata

Class : Aves

Order : Psittaciformes

Family : Psittaculidae

Genus : Loriculus

Species : L. galgulus

Binomial name : Loriculus galgulus

Linnaeus, 1758

The grey-rumped treeswift (Hemiprocne longipennis) is a species of bird in the Hemiprocnidae family.

Currently, four extant species are placed in the family. Like the other members of the Hemiprocnidae, this species is closely related to true swifts, but unlike true swifts, the treeswifts are arboreal in nature, often seen perched on trees and high-tension power transmission lines, and on pylons.

When perched, the wing tips cross over the tail. This species is commonly found in peninsular Malaysia, but has an extremely large range with limited information about the population trend.

Adult males have a distinct dark grey throat and chest contrasting with a white belly. Ear coverts are dull orange red/chestnut colored.

Adult females lack the dull orange-red/chestnut coloration on the ear coverts. When perched, the wing tips cross over across the tail. Both sexes have a greenish sheen to the upper parts.

It is found in Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, and Thailand. Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical moist lowland forests, subtropical or tropical mangrove forests, and subtropical or tropical moist montane forests.

The birds occasionally catch insects in flight by sallying from perches. They build nests on tree branches.

The half-saucer-shaped nest is made from hardened saliva interspersed with feathers, mosses, and/or flakes of tree bark.

The single egg is reportedly attached to nest surface with saliva. Owing to the fragile nature of the nest, it is attached only on one side to the branch. Thus, the bird does not sit directly on the nest for incubation. 

Similarly, the parent birds reportedly brooded by perching on the branch above the nest and fluffing their breast feathers out to cover it.

Both sexes help incubate the egg. During the shifting of parental care, the partner perches near the incubating adult and carefully slides over the nest.

Phylum :Chordata

Class :Aves

Order :Apodiformes

Family :Hemiprocnidae

Genus :Hemiprocne

Species : H. longipennis

Binomial name : Hemiprocne longipennis

Rafinesque, 1802

The greater green leafbird (Chloropsis sonnerati) is a species of bird in the family Chloropseidae.

It is distinguished from the lesser green leafbird (Chloropsis cyanopogon) by its powerful beak, yellow throat and eye ring of the female; and lack of a yellow border along the black throat patch found in the male

C. cyanopogan.

C. Sonnerati is a Vivid green bird of lowland evergreen forest canopy where it joins mixed flocks.

Male has all green plumage, black mask black throat and stout bill.

Female resembles male but has green face and sharply demarcated yellow throat and eyering.

Juvenile looks like female but has yellowish submoustachial band.

Generally smaller than the Lesser Green Leafbird, but the two can be maddeningly difficult to tell apart.

On the male Greater Green Leafbirds, look for a more extensive black mask and no traces of yellow on the forehead, while on the female, look for a yellow (not green) throat.

It is found in Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, ​Singapore, and Thailand.

In Indonesia, it is found in Sumatra, Borneo, Natuna Islands, Java and Bali. Its natural habitats are

subtropical or tropical moist lowland forest and subtropical or tropical mangrove forest, mainly old-growth forest but also secondary forest and edges.

It moves quite conspicuously at the canopy level, jumping between branches and flying from tree to tree. It often visits fruiting fig trees, but also takes insects and small invertebrates.

The greater green leafbird has a loud voice, consisting of an ascending whistle chee-zi-chee.

The species is threatened by trapping for the cage bird trade and has become rare or even disappeared in large parts of its range.

Phylum : Chordata

Class : Aves

Order : Passeriformes

Family : Chloropseidae

Genus : Chloropsis

Species : C. sonnerati

Binomial name : Chloropsis sonnerati

Jardine & Selby, 1827

The hooded pitta (Pitta sordida) is a passerine bird in the family Pittidae. It is common in eastern and southeastern Asia and maritime Southeast Asia, where it lives in several types of forests as well as on plantations and other cultivated areas.

Pitta sordida is a green bird, its body and wings are green with a black head and chestnut crown. It forages on the ground for insects and their larvae, and also eats berries.

In the breeding period, which lasts from February to August, they build nests on the ground; both parent take care of the eggs and the fledglings. They are highly territorial and their fluty double-noted whistle calls ("qweeek-qweeek") can be constantly heard from their territories, sometimes throughout the nights.

Incubation and care of the fledglings is done by both parents. The bird has a wide range, and the International Union for Conservation of Nature has assessed its conservation status as being of "least concern".

Hooded pittas can reach a length of 16 to 19 cm (6.3 to 7.5 in) and a weight of 42 to 70 g (1.5 to 2.5 oz). Its diet consists of various insects (including their larvae), which they hunt on the ground, and berries.

The International Union for Conservation of Nature is concerned in particular about the ongoing loss of habitat that this bird suffers, which is reducing its numbers, but has rated it as being a "least concern species" because the rate of population decline is insufficient to warrant a threatened category.

In captivity, hooded pittas mix well with other species although they may be aggressive toward other pittas when breeding.

Phylum : Chordata

Class : Aves

Order : Passeriformes

Family : Pittidae

Genus : Pitta

Species : P. sordida

Binomial name : Pitta sordida

Statius Müller, 1776

The crested honey buzzard (Pernis ptilorhynchus) is a bird of prey in the family Accipitridae, which also includes many other diurnal raptors such as kites, eagles, and harriers. This species is also known as the Oriental honey buzzard.

Despite its name, this species is not related to Buteo buzzards, and is taxonomically closer to the kites. It appears long-necked with a small head (resembling that of a pigeon), and soars on flat wings.

The head lacks a strong superciliary ridge, giving it a facial appearance very unlike a raptor. It has a long tail and a short head crest. It is brown above, but not as dark as European honey buzzard, and paler below. A dark throat stripe is present. Unusually for a large bird of prey, the sexes can be distinguished.

The male has a blue-grey head, while the female's head is brown. She is slightly larger and darker than the male. The male has a black tail with a white band.

It breeds in Asia from central Siberia east to Japan. It is a summer migrant to Siberia, wintering in tropical Southeast Asia. Elsewhere, it is more-or-less resident. It is a specialist feeder, living mainly on the larvae of social bees and wasps, and eating bits of comb and honey; it takes other small insect prey such as cicadas.

The crested honey buzzard breeds in woodland, and is inconspicuous except in the spring, when the mating display includes wing-clapping. The display of roller-coasting in flight and fluttering wings at the peak of the ascent are characteristic of the genus Pernis.

The similarity in plumage between juvenile crested honey buzzards and the Nisaetus hawk-eagles may have arisen as a partial protection against predation by larger raptors.

The eagles have stronger bills and talons, and are likely to be less vulnerable than the Pernis species. Similar mimicry is shown by the juveniles of the European honey buzzard, which resembles the common buzzard.

Although the northern goshawk is capable of killing both species, it is likely to be more cautious about attacking the better protected Buteo species.

Phylum : Chordata

Class : Aves

Order : Accipitriformes

Family : Accipitridae

Genus : Pernis

Species : P. ptilorhynchus

Binomial name : Pernis ptilorhynchus

Temminck, 1821

Jerdon's baza (Aviceda jerdoni) is a moderate sized brown hawk with a thin white-tipped black crest usually held erect. It is found in South-east Asia. It inhabits foothills in the terai and is rarer in evergreen forests and tea estates.

It is about 46 cm long. It is confusable with crested goshawk or the changeable hawk-eagle in flight, but can be distinguished by the longer upright crest, very broad and rounded paddle-shaped wings and mostly plain and pale underparts. It has a white chin and a bold black mesial stripe.

Several subspecies are recognized within its large distribution range.

It is resident in the terai of North India and foothills of the Eastern Himalayas from Eastern Nepal and Bengal duars to the Assam valley, Western Ghats in Southern India, southern Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Burma, Thailand, Sumatra, Singapore and Philippines.

The bird is typically seen in pairs making aerial sallies; crest held erect. Occasionally, the birds may be seen in small family parties of 3 to 5 seen in flight near edge of forests. The birds indulge in 'soaring and undulating' display flights near the nest.

Breeding season varies locally but the bird is known to breed almost the entire year with the exception of a few months around April and May. 

Food includes lizards, grasshoppers and other large insects. The stomach contents of a specimen collected in present-day Kurseong included agamid lizard, Japalura variegata, several longicorn beetles and mantises.

Phylum : Chordata

Class : Aves

Order : Accipitriformes

Family : Accipitridae

Genus : Aviceda

Species : A. jerdoni

Binomial name : Aviceda jerdoni

Blyth, 1842

The spiderhunters are birds of the genus Arachnothera part of the sunbird family Nectariniidae. The genus contains thirteen species found in the forests of south and southeastern Asia. They are large representatives of the sunbird family, with drab plumage and long strongly curved bills. They feed on both nectar and a range of small arthropods.

Unlike the rest of the family, which is more widespread, the spiderhunters are confined to the Oriental zoogeographic region, occurring from India east to the Philippines and from the Himalayas south to Java; they reach their greatest species diversity in the Thai-Malay peninsula, Sumatra and Borneo.

The spiderhunters are mostly forest birds, occupying a wide range of forest types including true rainforest, dipterocarp forest, swamp forest, bamboo forest, secondary forest, forest edge and other highly degraded forest. In addition several species occur in human-created habitat such as gardens or plantations. Most species are lowland species.

The spiderhunters are amongst the largest of their family, measuring between 13 and 22 cm in length. 

The spectacled spiderhunter is the heaviest of the sunbirds, weighing as much as 49g. 

The bills of the spiderhunters are long, at least twice the length of the head, and are decurved and stout. 

The tongue forms a complete tube for most of its length.

The plumage is much drabber than the other brightly coloured sunbirds, is the same for both sexes, and contains no iridescence.

The uppersides of most species are olive-green and the undersides dull white or yellow, in half the species the undersides are streaked. The most atypical spiderhunter plumage is that of the Whitehead's spiderhunter, which is dark brown with white streaking on the undersides and back and a yellow rump.

The calls of the spiderhunters are very simple, typically a metallic chip which is repeated multiple times to form the song. The song of the little spiderhunter is described as an "incessant squeaky whistle".

The spiderhunters are thought to be monogamous like most of the rest of the family. They vary from the other sunbirds in the nature of their nest, which is suspended underneath a large leaf, usually a banana leaf but sometimes a palm frond or even a branch.

The style of nest can be quite variable, a simple cup in the case of the streaked spiderhunter, an elongated tube for the yellow-eared spiderhunter and a bottle shape for the long-billed spiderhunter. The nests are suspended from the leaf by using spider web or by pushing plant fibres through the leaf. 

The nests are made of grasses and leaves and lined with soft materials. Nest construction, as is typical of the family, is carried out by the female alone. Unlike the other sunbirds, however, both the male and female incubate the eggs. The spiderhunters lay two or three eggs. Their nests are sometimes parasitised by cuckoos.

The little spiderhunter (Arachnothera longirostra) is a species of long-billed nectar-feeding bird in the family Nectariniidae found in the moist forests of South and Southeast Asia. Unlike typical sunbirds, males and females are very similar in plumage. They are usually seen in ones or twos and frequently make a tzeck call and are most often found near flowering plants, where they obtain nectar.

The distinctive long beak set it apart from other sunbirds. The sexes are alike except for a paler base to lower mandible in the female. Male has all black beak. They are found close to their favourite nectar bearing trees, often species of wild Musaceae or flowers in gardens.

They have a buzzy zick-zick call that is made regularly when disturbed or when foraging. The song is series of rapid chipping notes and these can go on for long periods.

The genus name Arachnothera means "spider hunter" and the species epithet refers to the long beak. About thirteen geographic races are recognized. Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical moist lowland forests, subtropical or tropical mangrove forests, and subtropical or tropical moist montane forests. It is usually found below the canopy. They are also found in gardens, attracted especially by flowers that yield nectar.

They have been noted as good pollinators of wild banana species and several species of the ginger family and often visit Loranthus sp. (= Dendrophthoe sp.), Indian silk cotton tree and Indian coral tree for nectar. They are often seen in plantations in forest areas.

Although they are more often seen in secondary forests or in clearings and appear to be tolerant of human activities, they have become extinct in some forest fragments. In Singapore they have gone locally extinct within the botanical garden.

Phylum : Chordata

Class : Aves

Order : Passeriformes

Family : Nectariniidae

Genus : Arachnothera

Species : A. longirostra

Binomial name : Arachnothera longirostra

Latham, 1790

The Blue-throated bee-eater (Merops viridis) is a species of bird in the bee-eater family. They are found throughout southeast Asia in subtropical or tropical mangrove forests.

Their diet consists mostly of bees, wasps, and dragonflies. Blue-throated bee-eaters are small with colorful plumage consisting of a red nape, dark green wings, light green breast, and their signature blue throat.

Juvenile plumage contain dark green head and wings and light green breasts, only developing their full plumage in adulthood. They have a rich variety of songs and calls, including longcalls which allow them to communicate long distances in the forest.

Blue-throated bee-eaters have a generation rate of around 6.2 years and it practice asynchronous

brooding, which means that chicks hatch at different times, often pairing with siblicide.

The eggs hatch over a period of ten days with an average spread of 4.43 ±12.15 days. The sequence and timing of the hatching of chicks is correlated with size, with the first-born chick having the greatest mass.

Older chicks are not only larger and able to withstand larger wounds from other siblings, but also have the ability to monopolize the food they are fed by parents.

There has been several observations of migration between islands in southeast Asia or onto mainland of Asia. One notable seasonal spring migration occurs from Sumatra, across the Strait of Malacca, and ending on the west coast of Malaysia. They also migrate from southeast Asia to breeding grounds in western China during breeding season.

Conservation status of the blue-throated bee-eaters is of "least concern" due to their large distribution and stability of its population as of 2016. However, deforestation may be its biggest threat, destroying its habitat and decreasing other bird diversities.

Blue-throated bee-eaters are part of the family Meropidae, which are the bee-eaters, including 27 other birds. Another alternate common name they have is the chestnut-headed bee-eater.

Adult blue-throated bee-eaters grow to around 21 cm, with an additional 9 cm including tail streamers. They weigh around 34 to 41 grams. Adults have spectacular plumage with a red crown and nape, dark green wings, blue tail, light green breast, white belly, and the signature blue throat.

Juveniles develop their full plumage later, with mostly green coloration all over their body. They have a dark green head and wings and light green breast. Both adults and juveniles have black eye patches. Eye color can range between red and brown, or a combination.

Blue-throated bee-eaters make a combination of vocalizations characterized as longcalls, alarm calls, chirps, low chirps, purrs, sharp coos, trills, and feeding calls. Longcalls have been observed to communicate long distances and are recognizable by their volume and intensity.

A longcall is performed either during flight or on a perch by stretching and pointing their bill upwards, known as a “longcall” posture. Chirps are short and sharp with regular intervals, often used during digs.

They have a wide distribution ranging from southeastern China to the Greater Sundas Islands. The most concentrated distribution is found in Singapore, Malaysia, southern Cambodia, and southern Thailand. Other locations with greater dispersal include Borneo and Java.

They live in lower elevations between 0–670 meters. Their habitat includes a wide variety of flat plains, such as farmland, suburban gardens, riversides, dunes, and sandy clearings.

​In the winter, some blue-throated bee-eaters move to forest canopies and saltwater channels of mangrove forests. They often dig burrows horizontally into flat ground, allowing easier access compared to burrows in sand cliffs of other bee-eaters. Colony sizes range from 50 to 200 pairs or living completely solitary in the open country.

Phylum : Chordata

Class : Aves

Order : Coraciiformes

Family : Meropidae

Genus : Merops

Species : M. viridis

Binomial name : Merops viridis

Linnaeus, 1758

The grey heron (Ardea cinerea) is a long-legged predatory wading bird of the heron family, Ardeidae, native throughout temperate Europe and Asia and also parts of Africa.

It is resident in much of its range, but some populations from the more northern parts migrate southwards in autumn. A bird of wetland areas, it can be seen around lakes, rivers, ponds, marshes and on the sea coast. It feeds mostly on aquatic creatures which it catches after standing stationary beside or in the water or stalking its prey through the shallows.

They have a white head and neck with a broad black stripe that extends from the eye to the black crest. The body and wings are grey above and the underparts are greyish-white, with some black on the flanks. The long, sharply pointed beak is pinkish-yellow and the legs are brown.

The birds breed colonially in spring in "heronries", usually building their nests high in trees. A clutch of usually three to five bluish-green eggs is laid. Both birds incubate the eggs for around 25 days, and then both feed the chicks, which fledge when 7-8 weeks old. Many juveniles do not survive their first winter, but if they do, they can expect to live for about 5 years.

The grey heron is a large bird, standing up to 100 cm (39 in) tall and measuring 84–102 cm (33–40 in) long with a 155–195 cm (61–77 in) wingspan.

The body weight can range from 1.02–2.08 kg (2.2–4.6 lb). The plumage is largely ashy-grey above, and greyish-white below with some black on the flanks.

Adults have the head and neck white with a broad black supercilium that terminates in the slender, dangling crest, and bluish-black streaks on the front of the neck. The scapular feathers are elongated and the feathers at the base of the neck are also somewhat elongated.

Immature birds lack the dark stripe on the head and are generally duller in appearance than adults, with a grey head and neck, and a small, dark grey crest. The pinkish-yellow beak is long, straight and powerful, and is brighter in colour in breeding adults. The iris is yellow and the legs are brown and very long.

The main call is a loud croaking "fraaank", but a variety of guttural and raucous noises is heard at the breeding colony. The male uses an advertisement call to encourage a female to join him at the nest, and both sexes use various greeting calls after a pair bond has been established.

A loud, harsh "schaah" is used by the male in driving other birds from the vicinity of the nest and a soft "gogogo" expresses anxiety, as when a predator is nearby or a human walks past the colony. The chicks utter loud chattering or ticking noises.

Herons are members of the family Ardeidae, and the majority of extant species are in the subfamily Ardeinae and known as true or typical herons.

This subfamily includes the herons and egrets, the green herons, the pond herons, the night herons, and a few other species. The grey heron belongs in this subfamily and is placed in the genus Ardea, which also includes the cattle egret and the great egret.

The grey heron was first described in 1758 by the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus, who gave it the name Ardea cinerea. The scientific name comes from Latin ardea "heron", and cinerea , "ash-grey" (from cineris ashes).

Within its range, the grey heron can be found anywhere with suitable watery habitat that can supply its food. The water body needs to be either shallow enough, or have a shelving margin in it, which it can wade.

Although most common in the lowlands, it also occurs in mountain tarns, lakes, reservoirs, large and small rivers, marshes, ponds, ditches, flooded areas, coastal lagoons, estuaries, and the sea shore. It sometimes forages away from water in pasture, and it has been recorded in desert areas, hunting for beetles and lizards.

Breeding colonies are usually near feeding areas, but exceptionally may be up to 8 km (5 mi) away, and birds sometimes forage as much as 20 km (12 mi) from the nesting site.

The grey heron has a slow flight, with its long neck retracted (S-shaped). This is characteristic of herons and bitterns, and distinguishes them from storks, cranes, and spoonbills, which extend their necks.

It flies with slow wing-beats and sometimes glides for short distances. It sometimes soars, circling to considerable heights, but not as often as the stork. In spring, and occasionally in autumn, birds may soar high above the heronry and chase each other, undertake aerial manoeuvres or swoop down towards the ground.

The birds often perch in trees, but spend much time on the ground, striding about or standing still for long periods with an upright stance, often on a single leg.

Fish, amphibians, small mammals, and insects are taken in shallow water with the heron's long bill. It has also been observed catching and killing juvenile birds such as ducklings, and occasionally takes birds up to the size of a water rail. It may stand motionless in the shallows, or on a rock or sandbank beside the water, waiting for prey to come within striking distance.

Alternatively, it moves slowly and stealthily through the water with its body less upright than when at rest and its neck curved in an "S". It is able to straighten its neck and strike with its bill very quickly.

Small fish are swallowed head first, and larger prey and eels are carried to the shore where they are subdued by being beaten on the ground or stabbed by the bill. They are then swallowed, or have hunks of flesh torn off.

For prey such as small mammals and birds or ducklings, the prey is held by the neck and either drowned, suffocated, having its neck snapped with the heron's beak or by being bludgeoned against the ground or a nearby rock, before being swallowed whole.

The bird regurgitates pellets of indigestible material such as fur, bones and the chitinous remains of insects. The main periods of hunting are around dawn and dusk, but it is also active at other times of day. At night it roosts in trees or on cliffs, where it tends to be gregarious.

This species breeds in colonies known as heronries, usually in high trees close to lakes, the seashore, or other wetlands. Other sites are sometimes chosen, and these include low trees and bushes, bramble patches, reed beds, heather clumps and cliff ledges.

The same nest is used year after year until blown down; it starts as a small platform of sticks but expands into a bulky nest as more material is added in subsequent years. It may be lined with smaller twigs, strands of root or dead grasses, and in reed beds, it is built from dead reeds.

The male usually collects the material, while the female constructs the nest. Breeding activities take place between February and June. When a bird arrives at the nest, a greeting ceremony occurs in which each partner raises and lowers its wings and plumes. In continental Europe, and elsewhere, nesting colonies sometimes include nests of the purple heron and other heron species.

Courtship involves the male calling from his chosen nesting site. On the arrival of the female, both birds participate in a stretching ceremony, in which each bird extends its neck vertically before bringing it backwards and downwards with the bill remaining vertical, simultaneously flexing its legs, before returning to its normal stance.

The snapping ceremony is another behaviour where the neck is extended forward, the head is lowered to the level of the feet, and the mandibles are vigorously snapped together. This may be repeated 20-40 times.

When the pairing is settled, the birds may caress each other by attending to the other bird's plumage. The male may then offer the female a stick, which she incorporates into the nest. At this, the male becomes excited, further preening the female and copulation takes place.

The clutch of eggs usually numbers three to five, though as few as two and as many as seven eggs have been recorded. The eggs have a matt surface and are greenish-blue, averaging 60 mm × 43 mm (2.36 in × 1.69 in). The eggs are normally laid at two-day intervals and incubation usually starts after the first or second egg has been laid.

Both birds take part in incubation and the period lasts about 25 days. Both parents bring food for the young. At first, the chicks seize the adult's bill from the side and extract regurgitated food from it. Later, the adult disgorges the food at the nest and the chicks squabble for possession. They fledge at 7-8 weeks. Usually, a single brood is raised each year, but two broods have been recorded.

The oldest recorded bird lived for 23 years, but the average life expectancy in the wild is about 5 years. Only about a third of juveniles survive into their second year, many falling victim to predation.

Being large birds with powerful beaks, grey herons have few predators as adults, but the eggs and young are more vulnerable. The adult birds do not usually leave the nest unattended, but may be lured away by marauding crows or kites.

Phylum : Chordata

Class : Aves

Order : Pelecaniformes

Family : Ardeidae

Genus : Ardea

Species : A. cinerea

Binomial name : Ardea cinerea

Linnaeus, 1758

Pittas are a family, Pittidae, of passerine birds found in Asia, Australasia and Africa. There are thought to be 40 to 42 species of pittas, all similar in general appearance and habits.

The pittas are Old World suboscines, and their closest relatives among other birds are in the genera Smithornis and Calyptomena. Initially placed in a single genus, as of 2009 they have been split into three genera : Pitta, Erythropitta and Hydrornis.

Pittas are medium-sized by passerine standards, at 15 to 25 cm (5.9–9.8 in) in length, and stocky, with strong, longish legs and long feet. They have very short tails and stout, slightly decurved bills. Many have brightly coloured plumage.

Most pitta species are tropical; a few species can be found in temperate climates. They are mostly found in forests, but some live in scrub and mangroves. They are highly terrestrial and mostly solitary, and usually forage on wet forest floors in areas with good ground cover. They eat earthworms, snails, insects and similar invertebrate prey, as well as small vertebrates.

Pittas are monogamous and females lay up to six eggs in a large domed nest in a tree or shrub, or sometimes on the ground. Both parents care for the young.

The pittas are small to medium-sized passerines, ranging in size from the blue-banded pitta at 15 cm (5.9 in) to the giant pitta, which can be up to 29 cm (11 in) in length. In weight they range from 42 to 210 g (1.5–7.4 oz). Pittas are stout-bodied birds with long, strong tarsi (lower leg bones) and long feet. 

The colour of the legs and feet can vary dramatically even within a species. This may be a characteristic used by females in judging the quality of a prospective mate. The wings have ten primaries that are generally rounded and short; those of the four migratory species are more pointed.

Anatomically, pittas have large temporal fossae in the skull unlike typical perching birds. The syrinx is tracheo-bronchial and lacks a pessulus or intrinsic muscles. Pittas are behaviourally reluctant to fly, but are capable and even strong fliers. The tails range from being short to very short, and are composed of twelve feathers.

Unlike most other forest-floor bird species, the plumage of pittas is often bright and colourful. Only one species, the eared pitta, has entirely cryptic colours in the adults of both sexes.

In the same genus, Hydrornis, are three further species with drabber than average plumage, the blue-naped pitta, blue-rumped pitta and rusty-naped pitta. Like the other Hydrornis pittas they are sexually dimorphic in their plumage, the females tending towards being drabber and more cryptic than the males. 

In general the sexes in the family tend to be very similar if not identical. Across most of the family the brighter colours tend to be on the undersides, with patches or areas of bright colours on the rump, wings and uppertail coverts being concealable. Being able to conceal bright colours from above is important as most predators approach from above; four species have brighter upperparts.

The pittas are generally birds of tropical forests, semi-forests and scrub. Most species need forests with much cover, a rich understory, and leaf litter for feeding, and they are often found near waterways as well. Some species inhabit swamps and bamboo forests.

The blue-winged pitta (Pitta moluccensis) is a passerine bird in the family Pittidae and Southeast Asia. It forms a superspecies with three other pittas, the Indian pitta (P. brachyura), the fairy pitta (P. nympha) and the mangrove pitta (P. megarhyncha).

A colourful bird, it has a black head with a buff stripe above the eye, a white collar, greenish upper parts, blue wings, buff underparts and a reddish vent area. Its range extends from India to Malaysia, Indonesia, southern China and the Philippines. 

Its habitat is moist woodland, parks and gardens and it avoids dense forest. It feeds mainly on insects and worms. It breeds in the spring, building an untidy spherical nest on the ground, often near water and between tree roots. A clutch of about five eggs is laid and incubated by both parents, hatching after about sixteen days. Alternate common names include: lesser blue-winged pitta, the little blue-winged pitta, the Moluccan pitta.

Measuring 180 to 205 mm (7.1–8.1 in) in length, the blue-winged pitta has a black head with a buff-coloured supercilium, white chin and buff underparts. The shoulders and mantle are greenish, the wings are bright blue, and the vent is reddish. 

The bill is black, eyes are brown and the legs pale pink. It has a very short tail. Juveniles have similar patterned plumage but are duller. It resembles the mangrove pitta but can be distinguished by its shorter bill. The loud call has been transcribed as taew-laew taew-laew.

The blue-winged pitta mostly feeds on worms and insects, hunting them on the ground or from a low branch or perch. They also eat hard-shelled snails.

At breeding time, the blue-winged pitta builds a large nest, usually on the ground, made of twigs, roots, grasses, leaves and mosses. The spherical and untidy nest has a side entrance and is often found between tree roots near water. 

In its breeding range in peninsular Malaysia, the blue-winged pitta lays eggs between early May and late July each year. The female lays 4-6 white or cream-coloured eggs with purple markings, and both parents take turns incubating the eggs for 15–17 days.

Phylum : Chordata

Class : Aves

Order : Passeriformes

Family : Pittidae

Genus : Pitta

Species : P. moluccensis

Binomial nameb : Pitta moluccensis

Statius Müller, 1776

Nightjars are medium-sized nocturnal or crepuscular birds in the family Caprimulgidae and order Caprimulgiformes, characterised by long wings, short legs, and very short bills.

They are sometimes called goatsuckers, due to the ancient folk tale that they sucked the milk from goats (the Latin for goatsucker is caprimulgus), or bugeaters, their primary source of food being insects.

Some New World species are called nighthawks. The English word "nightjar" originally referred to the European nightjar.

Nightjars are found all around the world, with the exception of Antarctica and certain island groups such as the Seychelles.

They can be found in a variety of habitats, most commonly the open country with some vegetation. They usually nest on the ground, with a habit of resting and roosting on roads.

The subfamilies of nightjars have similar characteristics, including small feet, of little use for walking, and long, pointed wings.

Typical nightjars, though, have rictal bristles, longer bills, and softer plumage. The colour of their plumage and their unusual perching habits help conceal them during the day.

Previously, all members of the orders Apodiformes, Aegotheliformes, Nyctibiiformes, Podargiformes, and Steatornithiformes were lumped alongside nightjars in the Caprimulgiformes.

In 2021, the International Ornithological Congress redefined the Caprimulgiformes as only applying to nightjars, with potoos, frogmouths, oilbirds, and owlet-nightjars all being reclassified into their own orders.

Traditionally, nightjars have been divided into two subfamilies - the Caprimulginae, or typical nightjars with 79 known species, and the Chordeilinae, or nighthawks of the New World, with 10 known species.

The groups are similar in most respects, but the typical nightjars have rictal bristles, longer bills, and softer plumage.

Their soft plumage is cryptically coloured to resemble bark or leaves, and some species, unusual for birds, perch along a branch rather than across it, helping to conceal them during day.

Some species of nightjars are threatened with extinction. Road-kills of this species by cars are thought to be a major cause of mortality for many members of the family because of their habit of resting and roosting on roads.

They also usually nest on the ground, laying one or two patterned eggs directly onto bare ground. Nightjars possibly move their eggs and chicks from the nesting site in the event of danger by carrying them in their mouths.

​The grey nightjar (Caprimulgus jotaka) is a species of nightjar found in East Asia. It is sometimes treated as a subspecies of the jungle nightjar (C. indicus), its South Asian relative.

​

Phylum : Chordata

Class : Aves

Order : Caprimulgiformes

Family : Caprimulgidae

Genus : Caprimulgus

Species : C. jotaka

Binomial name : Caprimulgus jotaka

Temminck & Schlegel, 1845

The anhinga is placed in the darter family, it is sometimes called snakebird, darter, or water turkey, is a water bird species found all over the world in warm shallow waters.

The word anhinga comes from the Brazilian Tupi language and means "devil bird" or "snake bird". The origin of the name is apparent when swimming: only the neck appears above water so the bird looks like a snake ready to strike. They do not have external nares (nostrils) and breathe solely through their epiglottis.

The Oriental darter (Anhinga melanogaster) is a water bird of tropical South Asia and Southeast Asia. It has a long and slender neck with a straight, pointed bill and, like the cormorant, it hunts for fish while its body is submerged in water. It spears a fish underwater, bringing it above the surface, tossing and juggling it before swallowing the fish head first. 

The body remains submerged as it swims, and the slender neck alone is visible above the water, which accounts for the colloquial name of snakebird. Like the cormorants, it has wettable feathers and it is often found perched on a rock or branch with its wings held open to dry.

The Oriental darter is like all other anhingas, a cormorant-like species that has a very long neck. The structure of the neck is as in other species of darter with strongly developed muscles about a kink in the neck at the 8th and 9th vertebrae that allows it to be flexed and darted forward with rapid force to stab fish underwater. The edges of the commissures of the mandible tips have minute inward pointing serrations that hold impaled fish.

The adult plumage above is black and the wing coverts and tertials having silvery streaks along the shaft. The crown and neck are brown shading to black towards the back of the neck. The underparts are blackish brown. A pale line over the eye and throat and a line running along the sides of the neck gives it a striped appearance. 

The iris is white with a yellow ring (brighter yellow in breeding birds) around it. The tip of the upper mandible is dark while the base is pale brown bill while the lower mandible is yellowish. The legs and webbing on the foot are yellow in immatures and non-breeding birds while breeding birds have darker grey tarsi and toes with yellow webbing.

The sexes are not easily distinguishable but males tend to have black speckles that coalesce on the white throat. Adult females have a shorter bill and tend to have the black at the base of neck and chest separated from the hind neck by a wide buff band that ends at the shoulder. This pattern however is also found in immatures whose neck is lighter and lack the long pointed scapulars. In flight the long and slender neck, wide wing and wedge shaped tail make it distinctive.

Young birds have a pale brown neck and appear whitish on the underside and lack the white streak along the side of the neck. The inner secondaries or tertials and the central tail feathers appear wavy or corrugated. The tail is long and made up of twelve stiff feathers which are dragged along the ground when the bird attempts to walk or hop on land.

The Oriental darter is found mainly in freshwater lakes and streams. They usually forage singly, with the entire body submerged, swimming slowly forward using their webbed feet while the head and neck is moved jerkily above the water. It darts its neck to impale fish and then brings them out of water, tossing them into the air before swallowing the fish head first. 

They may sometimes be found along with cormorants which share the habit of spreading out their wings to dry when perched on a waterside rock or tree. They sometimes soar on thermals during the warm part of the day but will alternate flapping and gliding in normal flight.

They nest in mixed species heronries where they build a stick platform on the nest tree which is usually surrounded by water. Several pairs may nest close to each other. The branch is flattened by the birds prior to the placement of the sticks that form the nest platform. The nest sites are defended from other birds with posturing and thrusts of the neck. 

The breeding season is June to August (during the rainy season) in northern India, April–May in southwestern India and in winter in southeastern India (during the northeast monsoon). The usual clutch consists of three to six spindle shaped bluish-green eggs with a white chalky covering that gets soiled over time. Both parents incubate the eggs, beginning after the first egg is laid which leads to asynchronous hatching of the young. 

The newly hatched chicks are bare and covered with some down on the head. As they grow, they become covered in white down. The chicks feed by thrusting their heads down the throat of their parents.

Adults go through a synchronous moult of their flight feathers after the breeding season, resulting in the loss of flying ability for a brief period. 

When disturbed from their perches during this period, they dive into the water below and attempt to escape underwater. This escape behaviour is also employed by chicks at the nest. They are very silent except at the nest where they produce grunts and croaks and a disyllabic chigi-chigi-chigi. Chicks are noisy when begging for food. Adults roost communally in trees close to or over water.

Chicks, especially those more than half grown are sometimes preyed on by raptors such as Pallas's fish eagle (Haliaetus leucoryphus). The long scapular feathers were once popular for use in decorating hats. A number of parasites have been recorded from adult birds including Schwartzitrema anhingi (Trematoda), Petasiger nicolli, Mesorchis pendulus, and Echinorhynchotaenia tritesticulata (Cestoda:Dilepididae).

Phylum : Chordata

Class : Aves

Order : Suliformes

Family : Anhingidae

Genus : Anhinga

Species : A. melanogaster

Binomial name : Anhinga melanogaster

Pennant, 1769

Uraeginthus is a genus of small seed-eating birds in the family Estrildidae that are found in Sub-Saharan Africa. The genus was introduced by the German ornithologist Jean Cabanis in 1851. 

The type species was subsequently designated as the red-cheeked cordon-bleu. The name Uraeginthus combines the Ancient Greek words oura "tail" and aiginthos for an unknown bird, perhaps a finch.

The red-cheeked cordon-bleu or red-cheeked cordonbleu (Uraeginthus bengalus) is a small passerine bird in the family Estrildidae.

This estrildid finch is a resident breeding bird in drier regions of tropical Sub-Saharan Africa. Red-cheeked cordon-bleu has an estimated global extent of occurrence of 7,700,000 km2.

Like other members of its genus, the red-cheeked cordon-bleu is a very small finch, measuring only 12.5–13 cm (4.9–5.1 in) in length and It weighs 9.9 g (0.35 oz) on average, with known extremes in wild populations ranging from 8.9–11 g (0.31–0.39 oz).

The adult male has uniformly brown upperparts, pale blue breast, flanks and tail and a yellow belly. There is a red patch on each cheek, but this can rarely appear orange or even yellow.

Females are similar but duller, and lack the cheek spot. Immature birds are like the female, but with blue restricted to the face and throat.

It is frequently seen at open dry grassland and savanna habitats as well as around human habitation.

The red-cheeked cordon-bleu is a granivore, feeding principally on grass seeds, but also on millet and other small seeds. It is also known to feed sporadically on beeswax.

The nest is a large domed grass structure with a side entrance in a tree, bush or thatch into which 4–5 white eggs are laid.

The red-cheeked cordon-bleu is reported to be "among the most popular exotic finches". While it has no special housing requirements, its habit of roosting on open branches (rather than in a nest or other protected area) makes it sensitive to low temperatures. 

During the breeding season, captive males become very aggressive towards each other, and birds disturbed during incubation will typically leave the nest.

The red-cheeked cordon-bleu is common and widespread across much of central and eastern Africa. Its range stretches from the West African countries of Senegal, Gambia and southwestern Mauritania east through southern Mali, southern Niger, southern Chad and southern Sudan to Ethiopia and northwestern and southwestern Somalia, and then south to southern Democratic Republic of the Congo, eastern Angola, northern and western Zambia, southern Tanzania and northern Mozambique. It has also been introduced to the Hawaiian Islands of Hawaii and Oahu. 

Phylum : Chordata

Class : Aves

Order : Passeriformes

Family : Estrildidae

Genus : Uraeginthus

Species : U. bengalus

Binomial name : Uraeginthus bengalus

Linnaeus, 1766

Lonchura is a genus of the estrildid finch family, and includes munias (or minias) and mannikins. They are seed-eating birds that are found in South Asia from India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka east to Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, and the Philippines. 

The name mannikin is from Middle Dutch mannekijn 'little man', and also the source of the common name of the family Pipridae, manakin.

Some of the Lonchura species were formerly placed in Spermestes. Others have been placed in a genus of their own, Euodice. The genus Lonchura was introduced by the English naturalist William Henry Sykes in 1832.

They are small gregarious birds which feed mainly on seeds, usually in relatively open habitats, preferring to feed on the ground or on reeds of grasses. Several species have been noted to feed on algae such as Spirogyra.

The nest is a large domed grass structure into which four to ten white eggs are laid. Some species also build communal roosting nests for overnight rest. The species in this genus are similar in size and structure, with stubby bills, stocky bodies and long tails. Most are 10–12 cm in length. Plumage is usually a combination of browns, black and white, with the sexes similar, but duller and less contrasted for immature birds.

The white-headed munia (Lonchura maja) is a small passerine bird belonging to the estrildid finch family. This species is often confused with, and referred to as, the Pale-headed munia (Lonchura pallida) which can be differentiated by tan coloured flanks which are lighter than the brown wings and also by the absence of the black belly.

The white-headed munia (Lonchura maja) is a species of estrildid finch found in Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. This species is also introduced to Portugal. It is found in wetlands habitat. 

The White-headed munia has a distinctive chocolate-brown body and a contrasting white head and throat. They are typically 11 cm in length and weigh around 11 grams. Adult birds have chestnut brown upperparts, flanks and wings, an entirely white head, throat, and upper breast which is tinged with buff. The tail is black-brown and the belly is black. The bill and legs are light grey.

There is very subtle sexual dimorphism in adult birds, with the head of the male being whiter than that of the female and getting whiter with age. This often causes young male birds to be confused with females. Additionally, the definition line between the breast and the flanks is more pronounced in the male.

Juvenile birds are more cinnamon coloured above with a buff face and underparts, a brown iris, grey bill and blue-grey feet. They are practically impossible to differentiate from juveniles of other species such as the White-capped munia (Lonchura ferruginosa), Pale-headed munia (Lonchura pallida), Chestnut munia (Lonchura atricapilla) or the Scaly-breasted munia (Lonchura punctulata).

The White-headed munia are social birds and are usually seen in flocks, it frequents marshes and reedbeds, its diet mainly consists of seeds, especially grass seeds and rice grains. 

Like other munias it form large flocks during rice harvest but spread out in pairs during breeding season. General behaviour similar to other munias. 

The breeding season of the White-headed munia usually coincides with the availability of food, often during or after the rainy season. This can vary depending on the specific location.

During breeding season both the male and female participate in nest construction. They build a dome-shaped nest, typically low in vegetation, often near or over water. The nest is made from woven grass, leaves, and other plant fibers. It's a fairly bulky structure with a side entrance.

The female lays a clutch of 4 to 7 white eggs. Both parents incubate the eggs. The incubation period lasts for about 11-13 days. The status of the species is evaluated as Least Concern.

Phylum : Chordata

Class : Aves

Order : Passeriformes

Family : Estrildidae

Genus : Lonchura

Species : L. maja

Binomial name : Lonchura maja

Linnaeus, 1766

The red junglefowl (Gallus gallus) is a tropical bird in the family Phasianidae. It ranges across much of Southeast Asia and parts of South Asia.

Red junglefowl are the primary ancestor of the domestic chicken (Gallus gallus domesticus); the grey junglefowl, Sri Lankan junglefowl and green junglefowl have also contributed genetic materials to the gene pool of the chicken.

The nominate race of red junglefowl has a mix of feather colours, with orange, brown, red, gold, grey, white, olive and even metallic green plumage. The tail of the male roosters can grow up to 28 centimetres (11 in), and the whole bird may be as long as 70 centimetres (28 in).

There are 14 tail feathers. A moult in June changes the bird's plumage to an eclipse pattern, which lasts through October. The male eclipse pattern includes a black feather in the middle of the back and small red-orange plumes spread across the body. Female eclipse plumage is generally indistinguishable from the plumage at other seasons, but the moulting schedule is the same as that of males.

Compared to the more familiar domestic chicken, the red junglefowl has a much smaller body mass (around ​2 1⁄4 lbs (1 kg) in females and ​3 1⁄4 lbs (1.5kg) in males) and is brighter in coloration. Junglefowl are also behaviourally different from domestic chickens, being naturally very shy of humans compared to the much tamer domesticated subspecies.

Male junglefowl are significantly larger than females and have brightly coloured decorative feathers. The male's tail is composed of long, arching feathers that initially look black, but shimmer with blue, purple, and green in direct light. He also has long, golden hackle feathers on his neck and on his back.

The female's plumage is typical of this family of birds in being cryptic and adapted for camouflage. She alone looks after the eggs and chicks. She also has a very small comb and wattles (fleshy ornaments on the head that signal good health to rivals and potential mates) compared to the males.

During their mating season, the male birds announce their presence with the well known "cock-a-doodle-doo" call or crowing. Within flocks, only dominant males crow.

Male red junglefowl have a shorter crowing sound than domestic roosters; the call cuts off abruptly at the end. This serves both to attract potential mates and to make other male birds in the area aware of the risk of fighting a breeding competitor. A spur on the lower leg just behind and above the foot serves in such fighting. 

Their call structure is complex and they have distinctive alarm calls for aerial and ground predators to which others react appropriately.

Red junglefowl prefer disturbed habitats and edges, both natural and human-created. Apparently the forage and thick cover in these sorts of areas are attractive to junglefowl, especially nesting females. Junglefowl use logged and regenerating forests and often are found near human settlement and areas regenerating from slash-and-burn cultivation.

Red junglefowl regularly bathe in dust to keep the right balance of oil in their plumage. The dust absorbs extra oil and subsequently falls off. Flight in these birds is almost purely confined to reaching their roosting areas at sunset in trees or any other high and relatively safe places free from ground predators, and for escape from immediate danger through the day.

Dominant male junglefowl appear to defend a territory against other dominant males, and the size of the territories has been inferred based on the proximity of roosts.

Red junglefowl are attracted to areas with ripe fruit or seeds, including fruit plantations, fields of domestic grain, and stands of bamboo. Although junglefowl typically eat fallen fruits and seeds on the ground, they occasionally forage in trees by perching on branches and feeding on hanging fruit. Fruits and seeds of scores of plant species have been identified from junglefowl crops, along with leaves, roots, and tubers.

In addition, red junglefowl capture a wide variety of arthropods, other invertebrates, and vertebrates such as small lizards. Even mammalian feces may be consumed. Many of these items are taken opportunistically as the birds forage, although some arthropods, such as termites, are taken in large quantities; about 1,000 individual termites have been found in a single crop. 

Plant materials constitute a higher proportion of the diet of adult red junglefowl than do arthropods and other animals. In contrast, chicks eat mostly adult and larval insects, earthworms, and only occasional plant material.

Phylum : Chordata

Class : Aves

Order : Galliformes

Family :Phasianidae

Genus : Gallus

Species : G. gallus

Binomial name : Gallus gallus

Linnaeus, 1758

The blue-tailed bee-eater (Merops philippinus) is a near passerine bird in the bee-eater family Meropidae.

It is widely distributed across South and Southeast Asia where many populations are strongly migratory, and seen seasonally in many parts but breeding colonially in small areas across their range, mostly in river valleys, where the nest by tunneling into loamy sand banks. 

They are seen mostly in open habitats close to water. This species, like other bee-eaters, is a richly coloured, slender bird. It is predominantly green; its face has a narrow blue patch with a black eye stripe, and a yellow and brown throat; the tail is blue and the beak is black. The three outer toes are united around their bases. It can reach a length of 23–26 cm, including the two elongated central tail feathers which can jut two inches more than the remaining ten feathers. Sexes are alike. 

This species is usually found near water and like other bee-eaters it predominantly eats flying insects, especially bees (as large as the Xylocopa sp.), wasps and hornets, which are caught in the air by sorties from an open perch. 

They may also forage in flight over estuaries, backwaters and even over the sea but not far from the coast. This species probably takes bees and dragonflies in roughly equal numbers. The insects that are caught are beaten on the perch to kill and break the exoskeleton. 

This habit is seen in many other members of the order Coraciiformes. They call mainly in flight with a rolling chirping whistling teerp. The only confusable species within its range is the blue-cheeked bee-eater which however tends to be found in drier areas. 

The blue-tailed differs in having the rump and tail blue rather than green and black. The undertail feathers are bluish rather than green in the blue-cheeked. The blue cheek patch is much smaller while the chestnut on the throat and breast darker and covering a larger area.

They breed in April to May in India nesting colonially with closely placed nest holes in a vertical mudbank or even burrowing into gently sloping land. They tend to choose sandy and sandy clay loams but avoid heavier clay loams. They also prefer clear mud banks without any vegetation cover.

In Sri Lanka, they have been noted to breed in artificial sand dunes created by dredging of sea sand. The nest tunnel can run nearly 2 metres deep. About 5 to 7 near spherical eggs are laid. Both the male and the female take care of the eggs. The parents guard the nest to prevent intraspecific brood parasitism and extra pair copulation. 

These birds also feed and roost communally. One or two helpers may join the breeding pair after incubation begins. Although males and females appear similar to the human eye, males tend to have longer central tail feather extensions and UV reflectance studies demonstrate that healthy males had darker chestnut throats and brighter green body plumage while females showed brighter blue rumps and yellow chins.

Class : Aves

Order : Coraciiformes

Family : Meropidae

Genus : Merops

Species : M. philippinus

Binomial name : Merops philippinus

Linnaeus, 1766

Fantails are small insectivorous songbirds of the genus Rhipidura in the family Rhipiduridae, native to Australasia, Southeast Asia and the Indian subcontinent.

The Sunda pied fantail (Rhipidura javanica), also known as the Malaysian pied fantail, is a species of bird in the fantail family. It is locally referred to as murai gila, literally "crazy thrush" in the Malay language. It was previously considered conspecific with the Philippine pied fantail.

The Sunda pied fantail (Rhipidura javanica) is a small, insectivorous bird native to Southeast Asia. This medium-sized bird reaches about 19 cm in length. Adults have dark gray upperparts, a white belly, white eyebrows, a black chest band, and white-tipped black tail feathers. Juveniles show reddish upper tail coverts and a less distinct chest band. The iris is brown, and both the beak and legs are black.

Rhipidura javanica is highly active, often bobbing and fanning its tail. It is insectivorous, catching insects in flight and sometimes following large mammals to feed on insects they disturb. It frequently joins mixed-species flocks and can be observed alone, in pairs, or with family groups. Its natural habitat is subtropical or tropical moist lowland forests.

It breeds from January to August, varying across its range. It constructs a cup nest from fibers and grasses held together with spiderweb.

Rhipidura javanica is found in Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam. It inhabits a wide variety of forest and scrub, including parks, agricultural lands, and other degraded habitat. It resides in lowland areas, sometimes up to 800m in elevation, and is usually found near water.

Phylum : Chordata

Class : Aves

Order : Passeriformes

Family : Rhipiduridae

Genus : Rhipidura

Species : R. javanica

Binomial name : Rhipidura javanica

Sparrman, 1788

The milky stork (Mycteria cinerea) is a medium, almost completely white plumaged stork species found predominantly in coastal mangroves in parts of Southeast Asia.

This medium stork stands 91–97 cm tall, making it slightly smaller than the closely related painted stork. The adult plumage is completely white except for black flight feathers of the wing and tail, which also have a greenish gloss. Wing length measures 435–500 mm and the tail measures 145–170 mm. 

The extensive white portion of the plumage is completely suffused with a pale creamy yellow during the breeding season, hence the term “milky”. This creamy tint is absent from the plumage during breeding. The wing coverts and back feathers are paler and have an almost white terminal band.

The bare facial skin is greyish or dark maroon; with black, irregular blotches. During breeding, the bare facial skin is deep wine red with black markings on the lores by the bill base and gular region, with a ring of brighter red skin around the eye. Soon after courtship, the facial skin fades to paler orange-red. Breeding birds also show a narrow pinkish band of bare skin along the underside of the wing.

The downcurved bill is dull pinkish yellow and sometimes tipped white. The culmen length measures 194 – 275mm. The legs are a dull red-flesh colour, with the tarsi measuring 188 – 225mm. It has long thick toes that probably serve to increase surface area of its feet and therefore reduce pressure from standing and walking on the soft mud of its foraging area, so that the bird does not sink considerably when foraging and feeding.

During courtship, the bill turns deep yellow, with a greyish tan on the basal third; and the legs become deep magenta. The sexes are similar, but the average male is slightly larger with a longer, thinner bill.

The adult is readily recognisable in the field by its white head feathers, yellow-orange bill and pink legs. It is distinguished from other waders such as egrets and lesser adjutants by its extensively white body plumage and black wing coverts.

The milky stork usually soars on thermals to travel between areas. Flocks of up to a dozen birds can be seen soaring on thermals at great heights between 10:00 and 14:00. At breeding colonies and feeding grounds, flight is contagious in that take-off by one bird is quickly followed by others. Average flapping rate has been estimated at 205 beats per minute.

The milky stork is predominantly a lowland coastal species throughout its range; where it inhabits mangrove, freshwater and peat swamps, and estuaries. The only proven breeding records however are reported from mangroves bordering the feeding grounds. It forages on tidal mudflats, in shallow saline or freshwater pools, freshwater marshes, fishponds, rice fields; and on backswamps along river floodplains up to 15 km from the coast.

The milky stork's breeding habitat requirements are extensive and undisturbed mangrove (and probably also riverine or dryland) forest with tall, outstanding trees behind it; and shallow pools within the forest for juveniles to forage in. The tall trees are also used for resting, and there should be sufficient individual limbs from which to take off.

The milky stork probably undertakes short seasonal migration outside the breeding season, but little is known of the timing and path of such movements. Local migrations by milky storks (and several other wader species) may be caused by onset of drought in the dry season.

Breeding typically occurs after the rains during the dry season that can last from April to November. The onset of breeding can vary in timing throughout the species’ range, but usually lasts for three months and probably coincides with maximum fish stocks and density following fish reproduction in the rainy season.

The milky stork breeds colonially in mangrove swamps, with breeding colonies ranging in size from 10–20 to a few hundred nests. The nests are sturdy, bulky structures measuring about 50 cm in diameter and predominantly comprising medium live sticks of Avicenna species on which many leaves are still attached.

Clutch sizes range from 1–4 eggs, but 2–3 eggs are typical. Egg dimensions measure 59.0–74.5 mm in length and 43.0–48.0 mm in width, are relatively small compared to the adult body size, and resemble those of Leptoptilos javanicus, but are slightly paler.

The incubation period is estimated at 27–30 days. Several days can elapse between the hatching of the first and last egg, so that the oldest and youngest chicks differ considerably in size. The clutch is alternately brooded by the male and female. 

When parents exchange nest duties, the returning parent and brooding parent greet each other with loud, rapid bill clattering, accompanied by deep head bowing and neck stretching. Courtship consists of repeated bowing and bill-raising from both partners, who stand opposite each other and perform this display in a mirror action.

Phylum : Chordata

Class : Aves

Order : Ciconiiformes

Family : Ciconiidae

Genus : Mycteria

Species : M. cinerea

Binomial name : Mycteria cinerea

Raffles, 1822

The Eurasian whimbrel (Numenius phaeopus) is a wader in the large family Scolopacidae. It is one of the most widespread of the curlews, breeding across much of subarctic Asia and Europe as far south as Scotland. 

This species and the Hudsonian whimbrel have recently been split, although some taxonomic authorities still consider them to be conspecific.

The Eurasian whimbrel is a migratory bird wintering on coasts in Africa, and South Asia into Australasia.

​It is also a coastal bird during migration. It is fairly gregarious outside the breeding season.

The usual call is a rippling whistle, prolonged into a trill for the song. This species feeds by probing soft mud for small invertebrates and by picking small crabs and similar prey off the surface. Before migration, berries become an important part of their diet. It has also been observed taking insects.

Phylum : Chordata

Class : Aves

Order : Charadriiformes

Family : Scolopacidae

Genus : Numenius

Species : N. phaeopus

Binomial name : Numenius phaeopus

Ardea is a genus of herons. These herons are generally large in size, typically 80–100 cm or more in length. These large herons are associated with wetlands where they prey on fish, frogs, and other aquatic species. Most members of this almost worldwide group breed colonially in trees, building large stick nests.

Northern species such as great blue, grey, and purple herons may migrate south in winter, although the first two do so only from areas where the waters freeze.

These are powerful birds with large spear-like bills, long necks and long legs, which hunt by waiting motionless or stalking their prey in shallow water before seizing it with a sudden lunge. They have a slow steady flight, with the neck retracted as is characteristic of herons and bitterns; this distinguishes them from storks, cranes, flamingos, and spoonbills, which extend their necks.

Some members of Ardea are clearly very closely related, such as the grey, great blue, and cocoi herons, which form a superspecies. However, the great egret, in particular, has been placed in other genera by various authors as Egretta alba and Casmerodius albus. Nevertheless, this species closely resembles the large Ardea herons in everything but color, whereas it shows fewer similarities to the smaller white egrets.

The white-bellied heron (Ardea insignis), also known as the imperial heron or great white-bellied heron, is a species of large heron known from the foothills of the eastern Himalayas in India and Bhutan to northeastern Bangladesh and Burma.

It is mostly solitary and occurs in undisturbed riverside or wetland habitats. It has been listed as Critically Endangered on the IUCN Red List since 2007, because the global population is estimated at less than 300 mature individuals and threatened by disturbance and habitat degradation.

This large heron is plain dark grey above with a long neck. The crown is dark and there are no black stripes on the neck as in the grey heron.

In breeding plumage, it has a greyish-white nape plume and elongated grey breast feathers with white centers. The bill is black, greenish near the base and tip and the face is greenish grey. The bill is large and solid, with the culmen measuring 15.2–17.6 cm (6.0–6.9 in). 

The chin and central portion of the underside are whitish in color (per the common name), contrasting strongly against the dark grey color on the back. The legs are blackish with scale-like texture on the tarsus which measures 17.1 to 21.6 cm (6.7 to 8.5 in).

​In flight, it has a uniform dark grey upperwing and white underwing-coverts contrasting with dark grey flight feathers. The rump appears paler grey. At 127 cm (50 in) in height, it is the second largest heron on earth, after the Goliath heron. Included in the length, the mid-sized tail measures 19.9 to 21.6 cm (7.8 to 8.5 in). 

The wing chord measures 54.6 to 57.2 cm (21.5 to 22.5 in), with an estimated wingspan of 2 m (6.6 ft) or more. When disturbed, the white-bellied heron calls with a deep croak, "ock ock ock ock urrrrrr". 

It prefers foraging in shallow river sections with multiple about 200 m (660 ft) wide channels, in shallow ponds and pools within river islands, and on island edges. It feeds mostly on Schizothorax carps all year through, but also on brown trout (Salmo trutta) in spring and Garra fish species during the summer. 

The white-bellied heron is found in the wetlands of tropical and subtropical forests. This species is rarer than previously believed. Indeed, it appears close to extinction. It has therefore been uplisted from endangered to critically endangered status in the 2007 IUCN Red List.

Phylum : Chordata

Class : Aves

Order : Pelecaniformes

Family : Ardeidae

Genus : Ardea

Species : A. insignis

Binomial name : Ardea insignis

Hume, 1878

Cisticola is a genus of small insectivorous birds formerly classified in the Old World warbler family Sylviidae, but now usually considered to be in the separate family Cisticolidae, along with other tropical and southern warbler genera. The name is used as both the scientific and vernacular names; it can be pronounced either kis-ti-cola (classical Latin) or sis-tic-ola (ecclesiastical Latin).

Genetic data suggests the family is quite closely related to the swallows and martins, the bulbuls, and the white-eyes. The genus contains over 50 species, of which only two are not found in Africa, one in Madagascar and the other from Asia to Australasia. They are also sometimes called fan-tailed warblers due to their habit of conspicuously flicking their tails, or tailor-birds because of their nests.

The zitting cisticola or streaked fantail warbler (Cisticola juncidis), is a widely distributed Old World warbler whose breeding range includes southern Europe, Africa (outside the deserts and rainforest), and southern Asia down to northern Australia.

A small bird found mainly in grasslands, it is best identified by its rufous rump; as well, it lacks any gold on the collar and the brownish tail is tipped with white. During the breeding season, males have a zigzagging flight display accompanied by regular "zitting" calls that have been likened to repeated snips of a scissor. They build their pouch nest suspended within a clump of grass.

Across their wide distribution range, several variations in populations have been noted and as many as 18 subspecies are recognized. They differ slightly in calls, plumage and size and some have been considered full species in some taxonomic treatments.

The zitting cisticola is 10 to 12 cm (3.9 to 4.7 in) in length. It is brown above, heavily streaked with black markings. The underparts are whitish, and the tail is broad, white-tipped and flicked frequently, giving rise to the alternative name for the species. The adult males have less crown streaking and more back marking than the females, but there are no great difference between the sexes or the eighteen geographical races.

The absence of a nuchal collar separate it from the golden-headed cisticola (Cisticola exilis). In the non-breeding season, they tend to skulk within the grass and can be hard to spot. This species is found mainly in grassland habitats, often near water.

Zitting cisticolas are very small insectivorous birds, sometimes found in small groups. The breeding season is associated with the rains. Two broods a year occur in many regions. Males are polygynous but some are monogamous the male builds the initial nest structure deep in the grasses, and invites females using a special display. Females that accept the male complete the nest.

The nest is made by binding living leaves into the soft fabric of felted plant-down, cobwebs, and grass. 

The zitting cisticola's nest is a cup shape with a canopy of tied-together leaves or grasses overhead for camouflage; 3–6 eggs are laid. 

The female incubates the egg. The eggs hatch after about 10 days. More than one brood may be raised. Females change their mates frequently and rarely stay within the same territory, while males are less mobile, maintaining non-overlapping song-territories which shifted from day to day. Females can sometimes breed in their first year.

Phylum : Chordata

Class : Aves

Order : Passeriformes

Family : Cisticolidae

Genus : Cisticola

Species : C. juncidis

Binomial name : Cisticola juncidis

Rafinesque, 1810

Shot at Harvest Link 4th Oct 2020

Rails (avian family Rallidae) are a large, cosmopolitan family of small- to medium-sized terrestrial or semi-amphibious birds. The family exhibits considerable diversity in its forms, and includes such ubiquitous species as the crakes, coots, and gallinules; other rail species are extremely rare or endangered. Many are associated with wetland habitats, some being semi-aquatic like waterfowl (such as the coot), but many more are wading birds or shorebirds.

The ideal rail habitats are marsh areas, including rice paddies, and flooded fields or open forest. They are especially fond of dense vegetation for nesting. The rail family is found in every terrestrial habitat with the exception of dry desert, polar or freezing regions, and alpine areas (above the snow line).

Members of Rallidae occur on every continent except Antarctica. Numerous unique island species are known. The rails have suffered disproportionally from human changes to the environment, and an estimated several hundred species of island rails have become extinct because of this. Several island species of rails remain endangered, and conservation organisations and governments continue to work to prevent their extinction.

The white-browed crake (Poliolimnas cinereus) is a species of bird in the family Rallidae. It is found in Australia, Brunei, Cambodia, Fiji, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Japan, India, Malaysia, Micronesia, New Caledonia, Palau, Papua New Guinea, the Philippines, Samoa, Singapore, Solomon Islands, Thailand, and Vanuatu.

This species inhabits densely vegetated wetlands, including subtropical and tropical mangrove forests, marshes, and swamps. It is highly secretive, moving among floating plants and stems of standing vegetation. The white-browed crake is more likely to run than fly when disturbed, making it a challenging bird to observe.

Birdwatchers often rely on its distinctive call and movement patterns to locate it, as it is highly secretive. Field identification is aided by its white facial stripes and gray underparts, which contrast with the brown upperparts. Poliolimnas cinereus is an important component of wetland ecosystems, contributing to insect control and serving as prey for larger predators, highlighting its ecological role in maintaining biodiversity.

Phylum : Chordata

Class : Aves

Order : Gruiformes

Family : Rallidae

Genus : Poliolimnas Sharpe, 1893

Species : P. cinereus

Binomial name : Poliolimnas cinereus

Vieillot, 1819

The orange-cheeked waxbill (Estrilda melpoda) is a common species of estrildid finch native to western and central Africa, with an estimated global extent of occurrence of 3,600,000 km2.

The orange-cheeked waxbill lives in small family parties or flocks of thirty of more individuals. Their high-pitched peeps are the best clue of their presence. Like most estridids, they are very acrobatic in their movements on twigs and grass stems, "climbing" up and down verticals and hanging upside down while feeding.

Males usually have brighter orange patches on the abdomen. They feed on tiny grass seeds, which they collect from the ground or, more often, directly from grass panicles. They hang on the stems and harvest the ripe or green seeds, sometimes while hanging upside down. Small insects such as termites, aphids, and gnats are taken during the breeding season.

This species prefers to nest close to or directly on the ground in tangled clumps of tall grass. They will collect the surrounding grass stems together, especially old seed heads (panicles), helping to camouflage the structure. Fine white feathers line the interior where three to six tiny white eggs will be incubated for 13 days. Fledglings leave the nest after around 23 days looking similar to their parents but sporting duller orange ear coverts for the first few months.

Orange cheeks like a lot of grass. They eat the seed heads, forage at roots for tiny insects, and build their nests directly in grass. Some open tall shrubbery and dead, scraggly branches should be provided for roosting. The floor should be composed of a good, dry substrate. Otherwise, the enclosure should have stands of clump and or runner grasses and reeds which grow 40 cm or taller.

Care should be taken to establish walkways through the grass for maintaining the habitat so nests will not be stepped on. Small green and ripe millets form the primary seed diet. They usually harvest these directly from the ripening heads; placing bundles of gathered seeding grasses in the enclosure not only adds to the enjoyment of the keeper but helps provide variety in the diet as well. 

Any species growing locally is acceptable; be sure to collect from sources free of contaminants such as pesticides. They enjoy spray millet and fresh fruits and vegetables as well.

Additionally, small mealworms, fruit flies, and pinhead crickets (which some will take and others will not) should be offered, especially during breeding. Some pairs will learn to take soft food substitutes, others will not but most will raise young on seed alone, if no other offerings are made. 

A gentle species, they will be easily bullied at the feeding station if only one is provided and they share their enclosure with more aggressive species.

Orange cheeks will nest in colonies or as single pairs. As noted, they usually prefer a location in a dense clump of grass or other very low vegetative growth. Nests may even be placed directly on the ground, which is why it should be kept as dry as possible. 

This location also begs invasion by vermin such as mice and rats, so rodent control is imperative. A feather pillow provides a good supply of fine feathers for lining.

Class : Aves

Order : Passeriformes

Family : Estrildidae

Genus : Estrilda

Species : E. melpoda

Binomial name : Estrilda melpoda

Vieillot, 1817

The scaly-breasted munia or spotted munia (Lonchura punctulata), known in the pet trade as nutmeg mannikin or spice finch, is a sparrow-sized estrildid finch native to tropical Asia. It is a species of the genus Lonchura, it was formally described and named by Carl Linnaeus in 1758. Its name is based on the distinct scale-like feather markings on the breast and belly. The adult is brown above and has a dark conical bill.

The species has 11 subspecies across their range and differ slightly in size and colour. This munia consume mainly grass seeds apart from berries and small insects. They forage in flocks and communicate with soft calls and whistles. The species is highly social and may sometimes roost with other species of munias. This species is found in tropical plains and grasslands. Breeding pairs construct dome-shaped nests using grass or bamboo leaves.

The species is endemic to Asia and occurs from India and Sri Lanka east to Indonesia and the Philippines (where it is called mayang pakíng). It has been introduced into many other parts of the world and feral populations have established in Puerto Rico and Hispaniola as well as parts of Australia and the United States of America. The bird is listed as of least concern by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).

The scaly-breasted munia is about 11–12 centimetres (4.3–4.7 in) long and weighs 12–16 grams (0.026–0.035 lb). The adult has a stubby dark bill typical of grain eating birds, brown upperparts and a dark brown head. The underparts are white with dark scale markings. The sexes are similar, although males have darker markings on the underside and a darker throat than females.

Inmature birds have pale brown upperparts, lack the dark head found in adults, and have uniform buff underparts that can be confused with juveniles of other munia species such as the tricolored munia (Lonchura malacca) across the Asian and island populations and the black-throated munia (Lonchura kelaarti) in parts of India or Sri Lanka. Populations within their wide distribution range show variations in plumage color and size.

Along with other Estrildines, these species are thought to have originated in Asia. The species has been introduced to other parts of the world due to its popularity as a cage bird and populations have established in the wild. 

The breeding season is during the summer rainy season (mainly June to August in India) but can vary. Laboratory studies have found that long day illumination and high humidity trigger gonadal growth. The song of the male is very soft but complex and variable, audible only at close range. This song described as a jingle consists of a series of high notes followed by a croaky rattle and ending in a slurred whistle. When singing the male sits in what is called the slope posture—erect with the head feathers raised.

There are two types of slope posture, a pre-copulatory one and an ordinary one. The pre-copulatory behavior of scaly-breasted munia includes a sequence of actions. The first involves either the male or female playing with nest-material. As soon as a bird has arranged the nest material in its bill, it begins to fly around in a zigzag path. Once a bird lands close to its partner, the male bends towards the female and wipes its bill. The male then sings with movements of the body. The female invites mounting with tail quivering.

The nest is a large domed structure loosely woven from blades of grass, bamboo or other leaves with a side entrance and is placed in a tree or under the eaves of a house. A study in southern India found the preferred nesting trees to be Toddalia asiatica, Gymnosporia montana and Acacia chundra, especially short and bushy ones in areas with low canopy cover. 

The nest opening is located to face downwind of the most frequent wind direction. In northern India, they preferred isolated Acacia nilotica in non-urban areas but used Thuja orientalis and Polyalthia longifolia in urban gardens.

Scaly-breasted munia clutches usually contain 4 to 6 eggs, but can contain up to 10. Both sexes build the nest and incubate the eggs, which hatch in 10 to 16 days.

The scaly-breasted munia feeds mainly on grass seeds, small berries such as those of Lantana and insects. Although the bill is suited for crushing small grains, they do not show lateral movements of the lower mandible which help European greenfinches in dehusking seeds. Like some other munias, they may also feed on algae, a rich protein source, prior to the breeding season.

The ease of maintaining these birds in captivity has made them popular for studying behavior and physiology. Feeding behavior can be predicted by the optimal foraging theory, where animals minimize time and energy spent to maximize food intake. 

This theory has been tested by studying the strategies used by scaly-breasted munias to increase their feeding efficacy. Scaly-breasted munias are found in a range of habitats but are usually close to water and grassland.

Class : Aves

Order : Passeriformes

Family : Estrildidae

Genus : bLonchura

Species : L. punctulata

Binomial name : Lonchura punctulata

Linnaeus, 1758

The white-bellied sea eagle (Haliaeetus leucogaster), also known as the white-breasted sea eagle, is a large diurnal bird of prey in the family Accipitridae.

Originally described by Johann Friedrich Gmelin in 1788, it is closely related to Sanford's sea eagle of the Solomon Islands, and the two are considered a superspecies.

A distinctive bird, the adult white-bellied sea eagle has a white head, breast, under-wing coverts and tail. The upper parts are grey and the black under-wing flight feathers contrast with the white coverts.

The tail is short and wedge-shaped as in all Haliaeetus species. Like many raptors, the female is slightly larger than the male, and can measure up to 90 cm (35 in) long with a wingspan of up to 2.2 m (7.2 ft), and weigh 4.5 kg (9.9 lb). 

Immature birds have brown plumage, which is gradually replaced by white until the age of five or six years. The call is a loud goose-like honking. The male's call is higher-pitched and more rapid than that of the female.

The white-bellied sea eagle breeds and hunts near water, and fish form around half of its diet.

A young white-bellied sea eagle in its first year is predominantly brown, with pale cream-streaked plumage on their head, neck, nape and rump areas. The plumage becomes more infiltrated with white until it acquires the complete adult plumage by the fourth or fifth year. The species breeds from around six years of age onwards. The lifespan is thought to be around 30 years.

The white bellied sea eagle is generally sedentary and territorial and it usually chooses tall trees or man-made pylons to nest in. The nest is a large deep bowl constructed of sticks and branches, and lined with such materials as grass or seaweed. Yearly renovations result in nests getting gradually bigger. Nests are generally sited in the forks of large trees overlooking bodies of water.

A breeding pair, with the male being more active, spends three to six weeks building or renovating the nest before laying eggs. Normally a clutch of two dull, white, oval eggs are laid. Measuring 73×55 mm, they are incubated over six weeks before hatching. 

The young are semi-altricial, and covered in white down when they emerge from the egg. Initially, the male brings food and the female feeds the chicks, but both parents feed the chicks as they grow larger. Nestlings have been recorded fledging when 70 to 80 days old, and remaining around the parents' territory for up to six months or until the following breeding season.

White-bellied sea eagles are resident along coasts and major waterways, with populations in both inland and coastal regions. They are found throughout Southeast Asia, ranging from India and southern China to New Guinea, Indonesia, the Philippines, and Australia, including Tasmania.

The White-bellied sea eagles are closely associated with large bodies of water, including oceans, bays, inlets, estuaries, lagoons, rivers, lakes, swamps, and reservoirs. They hunt primarily for fish, turtles, and other aquatic animals, often perching near water or soaring above it to spot prey. They can also be found near saltmarshes, mangroves, and tidal flats, which provide abundant feeding opportunities.

While primarily linked to water, white-bellied sea eagles also utilize forested areas, open woodlands, grasslands, heathlands, and coastal dunes. Breeding typically occurs in mature tall open forests, tall woodlands, or swamp sclerophyll forests close to foraging areas. Nests are usually built in large emergent trees, often eucalypts, or occasionally on the ground or rocks if trees are unavailable.

Most white-bellied sea eagles are found at elevations around 900 meters, with some recorded up to 1,700 meters. The White-bellied sea eagles are adaptable, inhabiting both coastal and inland waterways, and can tolerate a range of terrestrial habitats so long as theres water sources nearby.

Habitat loss in this species are due to land clearing, coastal development, and removal of large nesting trees that poses a threat to breeding success. In some regions, such as southeastern Australia, populations are considered Vulnerable or Threatened due to human disturbance and habitat degradation.

In summary, the White-bellied sea eagles Haliaeetus leucogaster thrives in aquatic-rich environments with nearby forests or open woodlands for nesting, demonstrating flexibility across coastal, inland, and island habitats throughout its Southeast Asian and Australian range.

Class:  Aves

Order : Accipitriformes

Family : Accipitridae

Genus : Haliaeetus

Species : H. leucogaster

Binomial name : Haliaeetus leucogaster 

The coppersmith barbet (Psilopogon haemacephalus), also called crimson-breasted barbet and coppersmith, is an Asian barbet with crimson forehead and throat, known for its metronomic call that sounds similar to a coppersmith striking metal with a hammer. 

It is a resident bird in the Indian subcontinent and parts of Southeast Asia. It carves out holes inside a tree to build its nest. It is predominantly frugivorous, but has been observed eating insects, especially winged termites.

​

The coppersmith barbet is green with a red head, yellow cheeks and a yellow throat. Its underparts are streaked in grey and black. During the nesting season, the wear and tear on the feathers can cause the plumage of the upper back to appear bluish. It is 15–17 cm (5.9–6.7 in) long and weighs 30–52.6 g (1.06–1.86 oz).

Throughout its range, it inhabits gardens, groves and sparse woodland. Habitats with dead wood suitable for excavation of nests are important.

The coppersmith barbet lives solitary or in small groups; larger parties have occasionally been sighted in abundantly fruiting Ficus trees. It appears to be fond of sunning in the morning on bare top branches of tall trees, often flitting about to sit next to each other. Its flight is straight, with rapid flaps.

The nest holes are also used for roosting and some birds roost alone in cavities and these often roost during part of the day. Immatures will roost with the parents but often return to roost early so as not to be prevented by the parents from entering the roost cavity.

The call is a loud rather metallic tuk…tuk…tuk (or tunk), reminiscent of a copper sheet being beaten, giving the bird its name. Repeated monotonously for long periods, starting with a subdued tuk and building up to an even volume and tempo, the latter varying from 108 to 121 per minute and can continue with as many as 204 notes. They are silent and do not call in winter.

The beak remains shut during each call - a patch of bare skin on both sides of the throat inflates and collapses with each tuk like a rubber bulb and the head is bobbed.

The coppersmith barbet prefers banyan, peepul, and other wild figs, various drupes and berries, and the occasional insect, caught in aerial sallies. It also feeds on flower petals. It eats nearly 1.5 to nearly 3 times its own body weight in berries each day.

Courtship involves singing, puffing of the throat, bobbing of the head, flicking of the tail, ritual feeding and allopreening. Birds nest and roost in cavities.

It breeds through much of the year with local variation. The breeding season is mainly February to April in India and December to September in Sri Lanka. Both sexes excavate the nest on the underside of a narrow horizontal branch. 

They also roost inside the nest holes. The female lays three or four eggs. Both sexes incubate. The Incubation period is not well known, but has been estimated to be about two weeks. Often two broods are raised in quick succession.

Class : Aves

Order : Piciformes

Family : Megalaimidae

Genus : Psilopogon

Species : P. haemacephalus

Binomial name : Psilopogon haemacephalus

Statius Müller, 1776

The common waxbill (Estrilda astrild), also known as the St Helena waxbill, is a small passerine bird belonging to the estrildid finch family. It is native to sub-Saharan Africa but has been introduced to many other regions of the world. It is popular and easy to keep in captivity.

It is a small bird, 4 to 5 inches in length with a wingspan of 4 1/2 inches and a weight of 3/5 to 3/4 ounce. It has a slender body with short rounded wings and a long graduated tail. The bright red bill of the adult is the colour of sealing wax giving the bird its name. 

The plumage is mostly grey-brown, finely barred with dark brown. There is a red stripe through the eye and the cheeks and throat are whitish. There is often a pinkish flush to the underparts and a reddish stripe along the centre of the belly depending on the subspecies. The rump is brown and the tail and vent are dark.

Females are similar to the males but are paler with less red on the belly. Juveniles are duller with little or no red on the belly, fainter dark barring and a black bill.

The common waxbill has a variety of twittering and buzzing calls and a distinctive high-pitched flight-call. The simple song is harsh and nasal and descends on the last note.

Common waxbills inhabit open country with long grass and rank vegetation. They are often found near water in marshes and among reeds. They can be tame and will enter gardens, parks and farmland.

The nest is a large ball of criss-crossed grass stems with a long downward-pointing entrance tube on one side. It is built in a cavity, usually low down amongst dense vegetation. A rudimentary second nest ("cock's nest") may be built on top where the male sleeps. 

Four to seven white eggs are laid. They are incubated for 11 to 13 days and the young birds fledge 17 to 21 days after hatching. Both parents take part in incubating the eggs and feeding the chicks. The timing of the breeding season varies in different parts of the world. 

Nests may be parasitized by the pin-tailed whydah which lays its eggs in the nests of estrildid finches. In captivity they will breed in an aviary and can raise four broods in a year.

​

The diet consists mainly of grass seeds but insects are also eaten on occasions, especially during the breeding season when more protein is needed. The waxbills typically forage in flocks which may contain hundreds or even thousands of birds. 

They usually feed by clinging to the stems with their long, spindly claws and picking from the flower heads but they will also search for fallen seeds on the ground. They need to drink regularly as the seeds contain little water.

Class : Aves

Order : Passeriformes

Family : Estrildidae

Genus : Estrilda

Species : E. astrild

Binomial name : Estrilda astrild

Linnaeus, 1758

Vidua is a genus of passerine birds in the family Viduidae. The genus was introduced by the French naturalist Georges Cuvier in 1816. The type species was subsequently designated as the pin-tailed whydah. The name Vidua is a Latin word meaning "widow". The genus contains 19 species.

The pin-tailed whydah (Vidua macroura) is a small songbird with a conspicuous pennant-like tail in breeding males. It is a resident breeding bird in most of Africa south of the Sahara Desert.

The pin-tailed whydah occurs in much of sub-Saharan Africa, favouring grassland, scrubs and savannah, also coming into parks and gardens. In Portugal it is established in the region around Aveiro, with observations occurring north and south of it.

It has been introduced to southern California, with a sizable population existing there, as well as Puerto Rico and Singapore. It can be kept as a domesticated pet in the United States. It is also widely kept as a cage bird elsewhere, with occasional escapes and releases.

The pin-tailed whydah is 12–13 cm in length, although the breeding male's tail adds another 20 cm to this. The adult male has a black back and crown, and a very long black tail. The wings are dark brown with white patches, and the underparts and the head, apart from the crown, are white. The bill is bright red.

​The female and non-breeding male have streaked brown upperparts, whitish underparts with buff flanks, and a buff and black face pattern. They lack the long tail extension, but retain the red bill. Immature birds are like the female but plainer and with a greyish bill.

The species is a brood parasite which lays its eggs in the nests of estrildid finches, especially waxbills. Unlike the common cuckoo, it does not destroy the host's eggs. Typically, 2–4 eggs are added to those already present. The eggs of both the host and the whydah are white, although the whydah's are slightly larger. The nestling whydahs mimic the gape pattern of the fledglings of the host species.

The male pin-tailed whydah is territorial, and one male often has several females in his small group. He has an elaborate courtship flight display, which includes hovering over the female to display his tail. The song is given from a high perch, and consists of rapid squeaking and churring. The diet of this species consists of seeds and grain.

Class : Aves

Order : Passeriformes

Family : Viduidae

Genus : Vidua

Species : V. macroura

Binomial name : Vidua macroura

Pallas, 1764

Lonchura is a genus of the estrildid finch family, and includes munias (or minias) and mannikins. They are seed-eating birds that are found in South Asia from India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka east to Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, and the Philippines.

The name mannikin is from Middle Dutch mannekijn 'little man', and also the source of the common name of the family Pipridae, manakin.

Some of the Lonchura species were formerly placed in Spermestes. Others have been placed in a genus of their own, Euodice.

The chestnut munia (Lonchura atricapilla), formerly considered as a subspecies of the tricolored munia, is also known as black-headed munia.It is a small passerine bird. 

This estrildid finch is a resident breeding bird in Bangladesh, Brunei, Cambodia, China, India, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Burma, Nepal, Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand, Vietnam and Hawaii.

The chestnut munia is a small gregarious bird which feeds mainly on grain and other seeds. It frequents open grassland and cultivation. The nest is a large domed grass structure in a bush or tall grass into which 4-7 white eggs are laid.

The chestnut munia is 11–12 cm in length. The adult has a stubby pale grey-blue bill, black head, and brown body, with a brick red patch on the lower back, visible only when it flies. Some races also have a black belly.

The sexes are similar, but immature birds have uniform pale brown upperparts, lack the dark head and have white to pale buff underparts.

Class : Aves

Order : Passeriformes

Family : Estrildidae

Genus : Lonchura

Species : L. atricapilla

Binomial name : Lonchura atricapilla

Vieillot, 1807

Pycnonotus is a genus of frugivorous passerine birds in the bulbul family Pycnonotidae.

The cream-vented bulbul (Pycnonotus simplex) is a member of the bulbul family of passerine birds. It is found in south-eastern Asia from the Malay Peninsula to Borneo. Its natural habitat is subtropical or tropical moist lowland forests.

The cream-vented bulbul is known for its striking whitish eyes, cold brown upperparts, washed greyish-brown breast and flanks, and creamy-whitish throat, belly, and vent. Juveniles resemble adults but have pale brown eyes. 

The song of the cream-vented bulbul is high-pitched, somewhat halting, and liquidly squeaky: “krr-bick-krr-kih-bick!”

Class : Aves

Order : Passeriformes

Family : Pycnonotidae

Genus : Pycnonotus

Species : P. simplex

Binomial name : Pycnonotus simplex

Lesson, 1839

The pipits are a cosmopolitan genus, Anthus, of small passerine birds with medium to long tails. Along with the wagtails and longclaws, the pipits make up the family Motacillidae.

The genus is widespread, occurring across most of the world, except the driest deserts, rainforest and the mainland of Antarctica.

They are slender, often drab, ground-feeding insectivores of open country. Like their relatives in the family, the pipits are monogamous and territorial. Pipits are ground nesters, laying up to six speckled eggs.

The genus has more than 40 species, making it the largest genus in terms of numbers in its family. The exact species limits of the genus are still a matter of some debate, with some checklists recognising only 34 species.

The pipits are active terrestrial birds that usually spend most of their time on the ground. They will fly in order to display during breeding, while migrating and dispersing, and also when flushed by danger. A few species make use of trees, perching in them and flying to them when disturbed.

Low shrubs, rocks and termite nests may also be used as vantage points. Like their relatives the wagtails, pipits engage in tail-wagging. The way in which a pipit does this can provide clues to its identity in otherwise similar looking species. 

Upland pipits, for example, flick their tails quite quickly, as opposed to olive-backed pipits which wag their tails more gently. In general pipits move their tails quite slowly.

The American pipit wags its tail both up and down and from side to side. The exact function of tail-wagging is unclear; in the related wagtails it is thought to be a signal to predators of vigilance.

The diet of the pipits is dominated by small invertebrates. Insects are the most important prey items; among the types taken include flies and their larvae, beetles, grasshoppers and crickets, true bugs, mantids, ants, aphids and particularly the larvae and adults of moths and butterflies.

Outside of insects other invertebrates taken include spiders and, rarely, worms and scorpions. They are generally catholic in their diet, the composition of their diet apparently reflecting the abundance of their prey in the location (and varying with the season). The diet consumed by adults may vary to that of the young birds; for example adult tree pipits take large numbers of beetles but do not feed many to their chicks.

Species feeding on the seashore are reported to feed on marine crustaceans and molluscs. A few species have been reported to feed on small fish, beating them in the manner of a kingfisher having caught them. Rock pipits have also been observed feeding on fish dropped by puffins. These fish, which include sand eels and rocklings, were dropped by puffins being harassed by gulls. A few species also are reported as consuming berries and seeds.

The paddyfield pipit or Oriental pipit (Anthus rufulus) is a small passerine bird in the pipit and wagtail family. It is a resident (non-migratory) breeder in open scrub, grassland and cultivation in southern Asia east to the Philippines. 

Although among the few breeding pipits in the Asian region, identification becomes difficult in winter when several other species migrate into the region. The taxonomy of the species is complex and has undergone considerable changes.

A widespread species found in open habitats, especially short grassland and cultivation with open bare ground. It runs rapidly on the ground, and when flushed, does not fly far.

The paddyfield pipit breeds throughout the year but mainly in the dry season. It builds its nest on the ground under a slight prominence, a tuft of grass, or at the edge of a bush. The nests are woven out of grass and leaves and are normally cupshaped. 

Exposed nests are sometimes domed or semi-domed, the long grass at the back and sides extending over the top. Nests are lined with finer grass or roots and sometimes with a little dry moss, bracken or other material at the base of the nest. The usual clutch is three or four eggs with greenish ground colour and numerous small brown specks at the larger.

It feeds principally on small insects but consumes larger beetles, tiny snails, worms etc. while walking on the ground, and may pursue insects like mosquitoes or termites in the air.

Class : Aves

Order : Passeriformes

Family : Motacillidae

Genus : Anthus

Species : A. rufulus

Binomial name : Anthus rufulus

A coucal is one of about 30 species of birds in the cuckoo family. All of them belong in the subfamily Centropodinae and the genus Centropus. 

Unlike many Old World cuckoos, coucals are not brood parasites, though they do have their own reproductive peculiarity : all members of the genus are (to varying degrees) sex-role reversed, so that the smaller male provides most of the parental care.

Male pheasant coucals (Centropus phasianinus) invest in building the nest, incubate for the most part and take a major role in feeding the young. At least one coucal species, the black coucal, is polyandrous. 

The lesser coucal (Centropus bengalensis) is a species of cuckoo in the family Cuculidae. It has a wide distribution range that overlaps with several other similar species.

​The habitat in which it is found is often marshy land with grass and tree cover. It is distinguished by its smaller size, less prominent bill, pale shaft streaks on the feathers of the head and back. 

It has a much longer claw on its hind toe and a distinct call. It is also among the few coucals that show season plumage differences but like in other coucals, the sexes cannot be distinguished in the field.

This slightly smaller-sized and shorter-billed coucal has a very long hind claw, the longest within the genus. The overall plumage, as in many other coucals, is of a blackish bird with a long tail and rufous wings. They have two plumages, a breeding plumage in which the head and upper back are glossy with dark shafts to the feather and a duller non-breeding plumage in which the feather shafts on the head and back are whitish.

The wing coverts also have pale shafts showing as whitish streaks on the brown feathers. The central upper tail coverts are barred and very long. The iris is darker brown and not the crimson red as in the greater coucal. Juveniles have black spots, bars and have a browner colour.

The lesser coucal is found singly or in pairs low in the undergrowth in marshy or grassy areas adjoining forest. They appear to be found mainly in lowlands. Like other coucals, they are not brood-parasitic cuckoos. They nest from May to September building a dome of grass blades on a low tree. Coucals generally make nests inside dense vegetation and they usually have the top covered but some species have the top open. 

The usual clutch is 2 in Southeast Asia and the calls of the lesser coucal include a series of low double "whoot-woot" or "kurook" notes that increase in tempo and descend in pitch. The Indonesian name of dudut is onomatopoeic.

The species is widely distributed west from the Indian subcontinent (but not in Sri Lanka despite an old report of a skin of doubtful provenance) extending east across Southeast Asia.

Class : Aves

Order : Cuculiformes

Family : Cuculidae

Genus : Centropus

Species : C. bengalensis

Binomial name : Centropus bengalensis

Gmelin, 1788

The oriental pied hornbill (Anthracoceros albirostris) is an Indo-Malayan pied hornbill, a large canopy-dwelling bird belonging to the family Bucerotidae. Two other common names for this species are sunda pied hornbill (convexus) and Malaysian pied hornbill.

The species is considered to be among the smallest and most common of the Asian hornbills. It has the largest distribution in the genus and is found in the Indian Subcontinent and throughout Southeast Asia. Its natural habitat is subtropical or tropical moist lowland forests. The oriental pied hornbill's diet includes fruit, insects, shellfish, small reptiles and, sometimes, small mammals and birds including their eggs.

The Oriental hornbill, of the family Bucerotidae, belongs to the genus Anthracoceros, which consists of five species. Species in this genus are divided into two groups, Indo-Malayan pied hornbills and black hornbills. 

A. albirostris is grouped under the Indo-Malayan pied hornbills, based on plumage similarities, along with the Indian pied hornbill (A. coronatus) and the Palawan hornbill (A. marchei). 

The black hornbills include A. malayanus and A. montani. A. albirostris can be further categorized into two subspecies, A. a. albirostris and A. a. convexus.

The oriental pied hornbill is a medium size frugivore with a head-to-tail length of 55–60 cm and a wingspan of 23–36 cm. The bill measures 19 cm for males and 16 cm for females. It can weigh between 600 g and 1,050 g, averaging 900 g for males and 875 g for females.

The plumage of the head, neck, back, wings and upper breast is black with a slight green sheen. The tail is black with white tips on all the feathers except the central feathers (rectories). The plumage of their lower breast, lower abdomen, thighs, under-wing and all the tips of the wings except the three basal secondaries and two outer primaries is white, as is the circumorbital skin around the eyes and on the throat skin. 

A blue tinge can sometimes be noticed on the throat of adults. Casques of mature A. albirostri are laterally flattened “cylinders”, which may form a protruding horn.

Males and females are similar in coloration. Males can be distinguished from females by their larger body size, yellow bill, which has a black base, and bright red eyes. Females have a slightly smaller body size, a yellow bill and casque with a partly black, browned patched mandible, and grayish-brown eyes. 

Juvenile A. albirostris resemble the adults, but have an undeveloped casque and a smaller bill. Their black plumage lacks the green gloss found on adults.

Hornbills are predominantly frugivores. The oriental pied hornbill's diet consists of wild fruits such as figs (Ficus spp.), melanoxylon berries, rambutans, palm fruit, papaya and fruits of liana plants. It will also take large insects (grasshoppers), small birds (finches) small reptiles (lizards and snakes), amphibians such as frogs, and fish. Its diet differs slightly between the breeding and non-breeding season.

During the non-breeding season, oriental pied hornbills feed more on non-fig fruit such as small sized berries, drupes, arillate capsules and lianas (woody vines), however the availability of these food items is lower in the breeding season, which suggests that the species increases its habitat range during that time. 

They also tend to feed in flocks during the non breeding season. When foraging for food, they tend to select a few common species of fruit trees. They show a preference towards trees belonging to the families Annonaceae, Meliaceae and Myristicaceae. 

Other target species include Rourea minor, Polyalthia viridis, Cinnamomum subavenium, Trichosanthes tricuspidata, and many others. Feeding on a diversity of fruits ensure that nutritional requirements are met. In the non-breeding season fruits that are selected for are generally sugar rich, while lipid-rich fruits and invertebrates are highly selected for during the breeding season.

Oriental pied hornbills are important large seed dispersers, promoting seedling recruitment by translocating the seeds of the fruits they feed on. Few other bird species outside the hornbill family have large enough gape widths to allow them to disperse large seeds to special microsites or open habitats. 

Seed dispersal behavior of hornbills thus helps shape forest communities, and disruption of this animal-plant interaction may have significant impacts on the reshaping of forest communities.

Hornbills are generally monogamous and breed between January and June; oriental pied hornbills typically commence breeding in February. This coincides with the onset of rain depending on geographic location, and peak abundance of fruit.

Hornbills are secondary cavity nesters, meaning that they typically do not excavate their own nesting sites but use those created by other birds or by branches breaking off. Because hornbills rely on pre-excavated cavities, selection of suitable nest-sites within their environment has major impacts on breeding success. 

When females have selected and entered their nest, they seal the cavity with a mixture of saliva, mud, fruit, droppings and tree bark, leaving only a small opening through which food may be passed in. The male forages for the female and chicks, and the female feeds the nestlings. 

Chicks remain inside the nest with the female for several months until there are ready to fledge. Oriental pied hornbills have shown to return to their previous nest for subsequent nesting seasons.

Hornbills select nest sites based on the availability and type of fruiting trees, as well as on the availability and quality of nest site cavities in their particular habitat. Some oriental pied hornbills have demonstrated tree species preferences for nest site selection.

In Rajaji National Park in India, oriental pied hornbills nest in a variety of tree species such as Bombax ceiba, Careya arborea, Cordia myxa, Lagerstroemia parviflora, Mitragyma parviflora, Terminalia belerica, Shorea robusta, and Syzigium cumini.

The main difference in the structural characteristics of nest cavities between hornbill species is cavity size, which is highly correlated with body size. Cavities preferred by the oriental pied hornbill are elongate and may be located at a height between 1–18 m or more. 

Cavity entrance shape is rounder than for other hornbills. Oriental pied hornbills tend to select nesting sites in close proximity to rivers or other bodies of water. Compared to other hornbill species such as the great pied hornbill and wreathed hornbill, the oriental pied hornbill demonstrates tolerance to disturbed habitats. 

Nests have been found in disturbed, secondary forest areas such as plantations, degraded forests and logging sites, while other hornbill species tend to avoid such sites. Nests found in human disturbed areas are however often unsuccessful or abandoned; in general, hornbills prefer undisturbed forest areas.

Because oriental pied hornbills inhabit various habitats, nest structural characteristics may vary from one habitat to another, and may also vary between hornbill species, which have overlapping habitats. 

Habitat overlap among hornbill species may lead to intra & inter specific competition, whereby hornbills compete for limited nest-sites. Competition for nest-sites with other species such as squirrels, lizard and other cavity nesting birds can also have critical impacts on breeding success.

The calls of the oriental pied hornbill have been described as crowlike sounds, braying sounds or harsh crackles and screeches.

Class : Aves

Order : Bucerotiformes

Family : Bucerotidae

Genus : Anthracoceros

Species : A. albirostris

Binomial name : Anthracoceros albirostris

Shaw & Nodder, 1807

The paradise flycatchers (Terpsiphone) are a genus of birds in the family Monarchidae. The genus ranges across Africa and Asia, as well as a number of islands. A few species are migratory, but the majority are resident. 

The most telling characteristic of the genus is the long tail streamers of the males of many species. In addition to the long tails the males and females are sexually dimorphic and have rufous, black and white plumage.

Blyth's paradise flycatcher (Terpsiphone affinis), also called the oriental paradise flycatcher, is a species of bird in the family Monarchidae. This species occupies evergreen broadleaf forests and forest edges, including secondary growth, gardens, and plantations, typically in lowland and foothill regions. Some populations undertake migratory movements.

It is native to northeast India, Indochina, Sumatra and Borneo. Formerly, it was considered a subspecies of the Asian paradise flycatcher until elevated to species rank by the IOC in 2015.

Blyth's paradise flycatcher is a typical paradise flycatcher, with a striking plumage. It is characterized by a dimorphic male, exhibiting both rufous and white plumage variations. Both morphs share a dark head, a small, triangular crest, and a blue eye-ring. 

The breeding male is distinguished by elongated central tail streamers, nearly twice the length of its body. Females bear resemblance to non-breeding rufous males, but usually show a less vibrant blue eye-ring and a slightly paler head. White morphs display dark wing and central tail feather shaft streaks.

Identification can be challenging due to similarities with the Amur paradise flycatcher, Indian paradise flycatcher, and female black paradise flycatcher where their ranges overlap. 

Distinguishing features include the short, rounded crest of Blyth's paradise flycatcher (contrasting with the longer, pointed crest of the Indian paradise flycatcher), a pale rufous undertail in rufous morphs (versus the white undertail of the Amur paradise flycatcher and black undertail of the black paradise flycatcher), and a gradual transition to grey on the underparts of rufous morphs, lacking the sharp contrast observed in other species.

Phylum : Chordata

Class : Aves

Order : Passeriformes

Family : Monarchidae

Genus : Terpsiphone

Species : T. affinis

Binomial name : Terpsiphone affinis

Blyth, 1846

Lanius, the typical shrikes, are a genus of passerine birds in the shrike family Laniidae. The majority of the family's species are placed in this genus. The genus name, Lanius, is derived from the Latin word for "butcher", and some shrikes are also known as "butcher birds" because of their feeding habits. The common English name "shrike" is from Old English scríc, "shriek", referring to the shrill call.

Lanius shrikes are birds of open habitats typically seen perched upright on a prominent perch like a treetop or a telephone pole. They sally out for prey, taken in flight or the ground. These species primarily take large insects, but will also take small birds, reptiles and mammals. For large northern species such as the great grey, the majority of the prey will be vertebrates, especially in winter.

Despite their diet, these are not true birds of prey, and lack the strong talons of the raptors. Though they use their feet to hold smaller insects, larger prey items are impaled upon a sharp point, such as a thorn or the barbs of barbed wire. Thus secured they can be ripped open with the hooked bill.

The tiger shrike or thick-billed shrike (Lanius tigrinus) is a small passerine bird which belongs to the genus Lanius in the shrike family, Laniidae.

​The tiger shrike or thick-billed shrike (Lanius tigrinus) is found in wooded habitats across eastern Asia. It is a shy, often solitary bird which is less conspicuous than most other shrikes. Like other shrikes it is predatory, feeding on small animals. 

​

It derives its name from the tiger-like pattern of its upperparts which are reddish-brown with dark bars.

It is a fairly small, stocky shrike, 17–19 cm long.​

​Males weigh 27-29 grams and have a wing length of 77.8-83.9 mm, a tail length of 66.9-75.0 mm and a bill length of 14.1-15.9 mm. The thick bill is blue-black with a black tip and the legs are grey-black. Adult males have white underparts and a grey head with a black mask. The adult male's back, rump and shoulders are reddish-brown with blackish bars creating a tiger-like pattern. It has a black forehead and mask and grey crown and nape. The wings and tail are brown and the underparts are white, sometimes with faint barring on the flanks.

Females weigh 29-37 grams and have a wing length of 79.5-85.3 mm, a tail length of 66.3-79.1 mm and a bill length of 14.8-16.7 mm. Females and young birds are duller and browner and young birds lack the grey and black on the head.

Females are also duller and browner than the males with a less extensive black mask, less grey on the head, a narrow white stripe above the eye, pale patch between the bill and eye and buff-white flanks with black barring. Young birds are also duller and browner and young birds lack the grey and black on the head.

Juvenile birds have dark scale-like markings on the head, back and underparts and lack the grey and black on the head. Their bill has a pale base and the eye appears large due to a pale ring around it.

It feeds mainly on insects, particularly grasshoppers, crickets, beetles, bugs, butterflies and moths. It also takes other arthropods and small birds and lizards. It typically hunts from a perch at the forest edge, perching less conspicuously than many other shrikes. It also forages among branches and leaves to find prey.

The breeding season lasts from May to July. Pairs form during northward migration or soon after arrival on the breeding grounds and are monogamous. The cup-shaped nest is built by both sexes, usually 1.5 to 5 metres above the ground on a branch in a deciduous tree but sometimes low down among bushes. It is made of stems, twigs, roots and other vegetation and is lined with grasses.

Three to six eggs are laid with five being most common. They are variable in colour with dark markings on a whitish, pinkish or blue-green background. They measure 21.2-24.1 mm by 15.3-17.8 mm. They are incubated by the female for 14–16 days. The young birds fledge after about two weeks and remain close to the nest for another two weeks. Usually one clutch of eggs is laid in a year but a second clutch is laid if the first one is destroyed. Strong winds and predation by common magpies result in the loss of many eggs.

The Tiger Shrike (Lanius tigrinus) is found in wooded habitats across eastern Asia. Its breeding habitats are in temperate Asia, while its wintering grounds are in tropical areas. The species prefers open woods, forest edges, and scrubland with scattered trees, and landscapes with cover and perches are preferred, but there must also be openings for the bird to ambush and spot its prey.

During the winter or non-breeding months, the species migrates south, spending most of the winter in Malaysia and tropical Southeast Asia. It can be found in subtropical and tropical woodlands, secondary forest, forest edges, and plantations. Its ecology is heavily reliant on its migration between tropical and temperate zones.

Lanius tigrinus (Tiger Shrike) breeds in temperate East Asia—mainly northeast China, Japan, Korea, and the Russian Far East—and winters in tropical Southeast Asia, especially Malaysia, Sumatra, Java, and Borneo. It inhabits forest edges, open woods, secondary growth, and wooded farmland.

Phylum : Chordata

Class : Aves

Order : Passeriformes

Family : Laniidae

Genus : Lanius

Species : L. tigrinus

Binomial name : Lanius tigrinus

Drapiez, 1828 

A drongo is a member of the family Dicruridae of passerine birds of the Old World tropics. The 28 species in the family are placed in a single genus, Dicrurus.

Drongos are mostly black or dark grey, short-legged birds, with an upright stance when perched. They have forked tails and some have elaborate tail decorations. They feed on insects and small birds, which they catch in flight or on the ground. 

Some species are accomplished mimics and have a variety of alarm calls, to which other birds and animals often respond. They are known to utter fake alarm calls that scare other animals off food, which the drongo then claims.

The crow-billed drongo (Dicrurus annectens) is a species of bird in the family Dicruridae. It is native to moist tropical forests of southeastern Asia where its range extends from India to the Philippines and Indonesia. 

This bird, which is similar to the black drongo, is jet-black in color and has a stout bill. It has a forked tail. This species inhabits dense evergreen forests and moist-deciduous forests. The nesting season is from April to June. 

The nest is usually a small cup made of grass that is held together by cobwebs. The nests can be found in the fork of a slender branch. The female incubates the eggs. However, both the male and female birds build the nest. Its diet consist of insects and other small animals.

It is found in Bangladesh, Bhutan, Brunei, Cambodia, China, India, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Nepal, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam. Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical moist lowland forests and subtropical or tropical mangrove forests.

Phylum : Chordata

Class : Aves

Order : Passeriformes

Family : Dicruridae

Genus : Dicrurus

Species : D. annectens

Binomial name : Dicrurus annectens

Hodgson, 1836

Psittinus is a genus of parrot in the family Psittaculidae. It was formerly considered to include a single species, the blue-rumped parrot (Psittinus cyanurus), but the Simeulue parrot (P. abbotti) was split as a distinct species by the IOC in 2021.

A 2019 genetic analysis found that the genus Psittacula is paraphyletic with respect to Psittinus, indicating that Psittacula may have to be split into different genera in order to maintain Psittinus as a distinct genus.

The blue-rumped parrot (Psittinus cyanurus) In Thai: นกหกใหญ่ , is a parrot found in the very southern tip of Myanmar, peninsular Thailand, Malaysia, Borneo, Sumatra and nearby islands. It is a small parrot (18 cm) and is primarily green with bright red underwing coverts, a reddish shoulder patch, and yellowish margins on the wing coverts. It is sexually dimorphic. The female has a grey-brown head. The male has a black mantle, red upper mandible, and blue head and rump.

It was formerly considered the only member of the genus Psittinus, but BirdLife International recognised the subspecies abbottii as a separate species, the Simeulue parrot, and the IOC later followed suit, supporting it as a distinct species.

It is found in lowland forests, generally below 700 m, in forest, open woodland, orchards and plantations, mangroves, dense scrub, and coconut groves. It occurs in flocks up to 20 birds. They eat seeds, fruit and blossoms.

Phylum : Chordata

Class : Aves

Order : Psittaciformes

Family : Psittaculidae

Genus : Psittinus

Species : P. cyanurus

Binomial name : Psittinus cyanurus

Forster, JR, 1795

The greater racket-tailed drongo (Dicrurus paradiseus) is a medium-sized Asian bird which is distinctive in having elongated outer tail feathers with webbing restricted to the tips.

They are placed along with other drongos in the family Dicruridae. They are conspicuous in the forest habitats often perching in the open and by attracting attention with a wide range of loud calls that include perfect imitations of many other birds.

One hypothesis suggested is that these vocal imitations may help in the formation of mixed-species foraging flocks, a feature seen in forest bird communities where many insect feeders forage together.

These drongos will sometimes steal insect prey caught or disturbed by other foragers in the flock and another idea is that vocal mimicry helps them in diverting the attention of smaller birds to aid their piracy.

They are diurnal but are active well before dawn and late at dusk. Owing to their widespread distribution and distinctive regional variation, they have become iconic examples of speciation by isolation and genetic drift.

In most of its range in Asia, this is the largest of the drongo species and is readily identifiable by the distinctive tail rackets and the crest of curled feather that begin in front of the face above the beak and along the crown to varying extents according to the subspecies.

Like other drongos, these feed mainly on insects but also eat fruit and visit flowering trees for nectar. Having short legs, they sit upright and are often perched on high and exposed branches. They are aggressive and will sometimes mob larger birds especially when nesting and they are often active at dusk.

Their calls are extremely varied and include monotonously repeated whistles, metallic and nasal sounds as well as more complex notes and imitations of other birds.

D. paradiseus have an ability to accurately mimic alarm calls of other birds that are learnt through interactions in mixed-species flocks. This is quite unusual, as avian vocal mimicry has hitherto been believed to be ignorant of the original context of the imitated vocalization.

The greater racket-tailed drongo (D. paradiseus) is a resident breeder throughout its range. Their courtship display may involve hops and turns on branches with play behaviour involving dropping an object and picking it in mid air.

Their cup nest is built in the fork of a tree, often a smooth-boled tree with an isolated canopy, The nesting pair may even remove bits of bark on the trunk to make it smooth. The usual clutch is three to four eggs. The eggs are creamy white with blotches of reddish brown which are more dense at the broad end.

Phylum : Chordata

Class : Aves

Order : Passeriformes

Family : Dicruridae

Genus : Dicrurus

Species : D. paradiseus

Binomial name : Dicrurus paradiseus

Linnaeus, 1766

The magpie-robins or shamas (from shama, Bengali and Hindi for C. malabaricus) are medium-sized insectivorous birds (some also eat berries and other fruit) in the genus Copsychus. They were formerly in the thrush family Turdidae, but are now treated as part of the Old World flycatcher family Muscicapidae. They are garden- and forest-dwelling species found in Africa and Asia.

The white-rumped shama (Copsychus malabaricus) is a passerine bird in the Old World flycatcher family Muscicapidae. Native to densely vegetated habitats in the Indian subcontinent and Southeast Asia, its popularity as a cage-bird and songster has led to it being introduced elsewhere.

They typically weigh between 28 and 34 g (1.0 and 1.2 oz) and are around 23–28 cm (9–11 in) in length. Males are glossy black with a chestnut belly and white feathers on the rump and outer tail. 

Females are more greyish-brown, and are typically shorter than males. Both sexes have a black bill and pink feet. Juveniles have a greyish-brown colouration, similar to that of the females, with a blotchy or spotted chest.

The white-rumped shama is shy and somewhat crepuscular but very territorial. The territories include a male and female during the breeding season with the males defending the territory averaging 0.09 ha in size, but each sex may have different territories when they are not breeding.

In South Asia, they breed from January to September but mainly in April to June laying a clutch of four or five eggs in a nest placed in the hollow of a tree. During courtship, males pursue the female, alight above the female, give a shrill call, and then flick and fan out their tail feathers. This is followed by a rising and falling flight pattern by both sexes. If the male is unsuccessful, the female will threaten the male, gesturing with the mouth open.

The nest is built by the female alone while the male stands guard. The nests are mainly made of roots, leaves, ferns, and stems, and incubation lasts between 12 and 15 days and the nestling period averaged 12.4 days. Both adults feed the young although only the female incubates and broods. The eggs are white to light aqua, with variable shades of brown blotching, with dimensions of about 18 and 23 mm (0.7 and 0.9 in).

They feed on insects in the wild but in captivity they may be fed on a diet of boiled, dried legumes with egg yolk and raw meat. The songs of this species is rich and melodious which makes them popular as cage birds in South Asia with the tradition continuing in parts of Southeast Asia. It is loud and clear, with a variety of phrases, and often mimics other birds. They also make a 'Tck' call in alarm or when foraging.

They are native across scrub and secondary forests in South and Southeast Asia, but have been introduced to Kauai, Hawaii, in early 1931 from Malaysia (by Alexander Isenberger), and to Oahu in 1940 (by the Hui Manu Society). Their popularity as a cage bird has led to many escaped birds establishing themselves. They have been introduced to Taiwan where they are considered an invasive species, eating native insect species and showing aggression towards native bird species.

The species is widely poached for the cagebird trade, leading to population declines or local extirpation in some areas. Its popularity as a songbird has also facilitated its introduction to non-native regions, where it can impact local ecosystems.

The white-rumped shama remains a remarkable example of a small passerine with complex vocal abilities, territorial behavior, and adaptability to both native and introduced habitats.

In Asia, their habitat is dense undergrowth especially in bamboo forests. In Hawaii, they are common in valley forests or on the ridges of the southern Koolaus, and tend to nest in undergrowth or low trees of lowland broadleaf forests.

Phylum : Chordata

Class : Aves

Order : Passeriformes

Family : Muscicapidae

Genus : Copsychus

Species : C. malabaricus

Binomial name : Copsychus malabaricus

Scopoli, 1786

The Oriental magpie-robin (Copsychus saularis) is a small passerine bird that was formerly classed as a member of the thrush family Turdidae, but now considered an Old World flycatcher. 

The males are distinctive black and white birds with a long tail that is held upright as they forage on the ground or perch conspicuously. Occurring across most of the Indian subcontinent and parts of Southeast Asia, they are common birds in urban gardens as well as forests.

They are particularly well known for their songs and are popular as cagebirds. The oriental magpie-robin is considered the national bird of Bangladesh. This species is 19 centimetres (7.5 in) long, including the long tail, which is usually held cocked upright when hopping on the ground.

When they are singing a song the tail is normal like other birds. It is similar in shape to the smaller European robin, but is longer-tailed. The male has black upperparts, head and throat apart from a white shoulder patch. The underparts and the sides of the long tail are white.

Females are greyish black above and greyish white under. Young birds have scaly brown upperparts and head. It is mostly seen close to the ground, hopping along branches or foraging in leaf-litter on the ground with a cocked tail. Males sing loudly from the top of trees or other high perches during the breeding season.

This magpie-robin is a resident breeder in tropical southern Asia from Nepal, Bangladesh, India, Sri Lanka and eastern Pakistan, eastern Indonesia, Thailand, south China, Malaysia, and Singapore.

The Oriental magpie-robin is found in open woodland and cultivated areas often close to human habitations. Magpie-robins breed mainly from March to July in India and January to June in south-east Asia. Males sing from high perches during courtship. The display of the male involves puffing up the feathers, raising the bill, fanning the tail and strutting.

They nest in tree hollows or niches in walls or building, often adopting nest boxes. They line the cavity with grass. The female is involved in most of the nest building, which happens about a week before the eggs are laid. 

Four or five eggs are laid at intervals of 24 hours and these are oval and usually pale blue green with brownish speckles that match the color of hay. The eggs are incubated by the female alone for 8 to 14 days. The nests are said to have a characteristic odour.

Females spend more effort on feeding the young than males. Males are quite aggressive in the breeding season and will defend their territory. They respond to the singing of intruders and even their reflections. Males spend more time on nest defense.

Studies of the bird song show dialects with neighbours varying in their songs. The calls of many other species may be imitated as part of their song. This may indicate that birds disperse and are not philopatric.

Females may sing briefly in the presence of a male. Apart from their song, they use a range of calls including territorial calls, emergence and roosting calls, threat calls, submissive calls, begging calls and distress calls. The typical mobbing calls is a harsh hissing krshhh.

The diet of magpie-robins includes mainly insects and other invertebrates. Although mainly insectivorous, they are known to occasionally take flower nectar, geckos, leeches, centipedes and even fish. This species is considered one of "least concern" globally, but in some areas it is declining.

In Singapore they were common in the 1920s, but declined in the 1970s. Poaching for the pet bird trade and habitat changes have also affected them and they are locally protected by law.

This species has few avian predators. Several pathogens and parasites have been reported. Avian malaria parasites have been isolated from the species, while H4N3 and H5N1 infection has been noted in a few cases. Parasitic nematodes of the eye have been described.

Aside from being recognized as the national bird of the country, in Bangladesh, the oriental magpie-robin is common and known as the doyel or doel (দোয়েল). Professor Kazi Zakir Hossain of Dhaka University proposed to consider the magpie robin as the national bird of Bangladesh.

The reasoning behind this is the magpie robin be seen everywhere in towns and villages across the country. 

In that context, the magpie robin was declared as the national bird of Bangladesh. It is a widely used symbol in Bangladesh, appearing on a currency note, and a landmark in the city of Dhaka is named as the Doel Chattar (meaning : Doel Square).

In Sri Lanka, this bird is called Polkichcha. In southern Thailand, this bird is known locally as Binlha (Thai: บินหลา — with another related bird, the white-rumped shama). They are frequently mentioned in contemporary songs.

Phylum : Chordata

Class : Aves

Order : Passeriformes

Family : Muscicapidae

Genus : Copsychus

Species : C. saularis

Binomial name :  Copsychus saularis

Linnaeus, 1758

Synonyms :

Gracula saularis 

Linnaeus, 1758

The banded woodpecker (Chrysophlegma miniaceum) or the banded red woodpecker is a species of bird in the family Picidae.

It is found in Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, Singapore, and Thailand. Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical moist lowland forests and subtropical or tropical mangrove forests.

The upper parts of the banded woodpecker are predominantly rufous-brown. The mantle is dull olive scaled with buff and the rump is yellow. The tail is chocolate-brown. The head is mostly rufous-brown with a shaggy yellowish nape. The chin, neck and throat are reddish-brown, the breast reddish barred with olive and the belly whitish, heavily barred with brownish-black.

The sexes differ slightly; the male has a redder face and throat while the female's face and throat are browner, flecked with white. Both sexes have a dark beak, a chestnut eye with a bluish orbital ring, and greenish legs. Adult birds are about 26 cm (10 in) long.

The species is native to tropical southeastern Asia. Its range extends from southern Myanmar through the Malay Peninsula, Sumatra and Borneo to Java. It is a sedentary, non-migratory species and is mainly found in the lowlands. 

Its main habitat is primary rainforest with vines, epiphytes, tangled shrubs and fallen trees, but it also inhabits secondary forest, plantations, coastal scrub, mangroves, parks, wooded suburbs and overgrown gardens.

The banded woodpecker feeds singly or in pairs, foraging unobtrusively among vines and dense cover as well as higher in the canopy, probing into crevices, moss and epiphytes. The main items of diet are ants, their eggs and larvae, as well as other small invertebrates.

​Breeding takes place at different times of year in different parts of the range. In the Malay Peninsula, nesting activities have been seen in January, with nestlings being present between February and August.

Chrysophlegma miniaceum has a very wide range and is described as common in some areas and uncommon in others. The population has not been quantified, but in the absence of evidence to the contrary, is believed to be steady, especially as this bird has adapted to the use of man-made habitats. 

The International Union for Conservation of Nature has assessed its conservation status as being of "least concern".

​

Phylum : Chordata

Class : Aves

Order : Piciformes

Family : Picidae

Genus : Chrysophlegma

Species : C. miniaceum

Binomial name : Chrysophlegma miniaceum

Picus is a genus of birds in the woodpecker family. The are 13 species in this genus. It has representatives in Europe, Asia and North Africa. The genus name is Latin for "woodpecker". The genus Picus was erected by the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus in 1758 in the tenth edition of his Systema Naturae.

Picus are large woodpeckers, typically with green upperparts. They are found in forests or more open woodland, and lay their white eggs in a tree hole nest, typically on a bed of wood chips. Picus woodpeckers are primarily insect eaters, with several species specialising in taking ants or termites.

Some species will also consume fruit or eggs. Insects are captured by a rapid outward flick of the long tongue and gummed to its tip by sticky saliva. This genus is less completely arboreal than some other woodpecker groups, and its members often feed on the ground, attacking anthills or termitaries.

The laced woodpecker (Picus vittatus) is a species of bird in the family Picidae. Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical dry forest, subtropical or tropical moist lowland forest, subtropical or tropical mangrove forest, and subtropical or tropical moist montane forest.

The laced woodpecker is known for its olive-green upperparts, red crown to nape, and black submoustachial stripe. It is a common resident in Singapore and is listed as Least Concern by BirdLife International. 

The diet of Picus vittatus (Laced Woodpecker) primarily consists of wild fruits, nectar, and seeds from field crops such as maize and sorghum. This woodpecker is known to forage in various habitats, including subtropical or tropical dry forests and mangrove forests.

It is found throughout Southeast Asia in the countries of Cambodia, China, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. A sole specimen recorded for Bangladesh has since been reidentified as a streak-breasted woodpecker.

Phylum : Chordata

Class : Aves

Order : Piciformes

Family : Picidae

Genus : Picus

Species : P. vittatus

Binomial name : Picus vittatus

Vieillot, 1818

The rufous woodpecker (Micropternus brachyurus) is a medium-sized brown woodpecker found in South and Southeast Asia. It is short-billed, foraging in pairs on small insects, particularly ants and termites, in scrub, evergreem, and deciduous forests and is noted for building its nest within the carton nests of arboreal ants in the genus Crematogaster.

It was for sometime placed in the otherwise Neotropical genus Celeus but this has been shown to be a case of evolutionary convergence and molecular phylogenetic studies support its placement in the monotypic genus Micropternus.

The rufous woodpecker is about 25 cm long, overall dark brown with dark bands on the feathers of the wing and tail giving it a black-barred appearance. The head appears paler and underparts are of a darker shade. The bill is short and black with a slight curvature of the culmen. At the nostrils the bill is narrow. The tail is short and rufous with narrow black bars but in subspecies badiosus the tail is dark with narrow rufous bars. Feather margins are pale in squamigularis and annamensis. Feathers on the neck, ears and lore are unmarked.

Males have red-tipped feathers under eyes, between eye and ear coverts and on malar region sometimes forming a patch. Females and young lack the red feather tips. A weak but erectile crest is present. Juveniles appear streaked on the throat but some subspecies also have streaked throat feathers.

In the field, birds can appear soiled and smell of ant secretions. Crematogaster ants are unique in having a spatulate tip to the sting that is used merely to spray fluid forward at intruders from a raised gaster due to their foraging or nesting activities.

Rufous woodpeckers forage in pairs on ant nests on trees, fallen logs, dung heaps, ant and termite hills. They have been noted to feed on ants of the genera Crematogaster and Oecophylla. Apart from insects, it has been seen taking nectar from flowers of Bombax and Erythrina and taking sap from the bases of banana fronds.

The most common call is a sharp nasal, three-note, keenk-keenk-keenk but they have other calls including a long wicka and a series of wick-wick notes. They also have a distinctive drumming note which starts rapidly and then slows down in tempo.

Drumming occurs through the year but increases in frequency in winter in southern India and peaking around March-April in Nepal. A display of unknown function between two birds facing each other involved swaying the head with bill held high and tail splayed.

The breeding season is in the pre-Monsoon dry period from February to June. The rufous woodpecker is most well-known for building its nest within the nest of acrobat ants Crematogaster.

Both the male and female take part in the excavation of the nest. Their feathers, particularly when nesting are said to be covered in a dark and smelly sticky fluid on which dead ants are often found sticking. Two white, matt, thin-shelled, translucent eggs are laid.

The incubation period is 12 to 14 days. Both parents feed the young at nest although a 19th century observer reported that his Indian field assistants who called the bird "lal sutar", meaning red carpenter, believed that the adults left the young to obtain ants to feed themselves. The moult occurs mainly from September to November.

​Bird lice of the species Penenirmus auritus have been recorded from this species in Thailand. The species has a wide habitat range and in Malaysia they have been found to persist even in places where swamp forests have been removed and replaced by oil palm plantations. Their habitat is mainly in the plains and lower hills mostly below 3000 m. This bird is not considered threatened by the IUCN.

​

Phylum : Chordata

Class : Aves

Order : Piciformes

Family : Picidae

Genus : Micropternus

Blyth, 1845

Species : M. brachyurus

Binomial name : Micropternus brachyurus

Yungipicus is a genus of woodpeckers in the family Picidae native to Asia. The species in this genus were previously placed in the genus Dendrocopos.

The Sunda pygmy woodpecker (Yungipicus moluccensis), also known as the Sunda woodpecker, ​is a species of bird in the family Picidae. 

It is found in Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, and Singapore. Some taxonomic authorities continue to place this species in the genus Dendrocopos or Picoides.

The Sunda pygmy woodpecker (Yungipicus moluccensis) is a small sized woodpecker range between 11.5 cm to 12.5 cm.  It has a Greyish brown capped head; ear covers dark brown with two rather broad whitish grey bands narrowing towards neck. Upper parts greyish brown with white wings tipped with white thus appearing striped. Tail short and blackish with white bands. Lores and throat white leading into dirty white underparts. Upper breast streaked with brown reducing towards vent. Whitish underwing coverts with pale brown. 

​Males have a reddish orange crown which is absent in females. The Sunda pygmy woodpecker's diet primarily consists of invertebrates and insects. They are known to forage by gleaning and probing bark on slender dead branches and twigs, often moving slowly. 

The food items they consume include various invertebrates such as worms, larvae, crickets, and insects like flies and winged insects. They also occasionally consume small berries and fruit.

The woodpeckers are careful in their approach to feeding, often landing on nearby branches to observe for predators before landing near the nesting hole to feed their young. Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical moist lowland forest, subtropical or tropical mangrove forest, and subtropical or tropical moist montane forest.

The Sunda pygmy woodpecker (Yungipicus moluccensis) is distributed across Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, and Singapore. It is a resident species found in various habitats, including mangrove areas, coastal regions, parks, and gardens.

​

Phylum : Chordata

Class : Aves

Order : Piciformes

Family : Picidae

Genus : Yungipicus

Species : Y. moluccensis

Binomial name : Yungipicus moluccensis

Phaenicophaeus is a genus of seven species of cuckoos in the family Cuculidae that are found in South and Southeast Asia.

The chestnut-bellied malkoha (Phaenicophaeus sumatranus) is a species of cuckoo in the family Cuculidae. 

It is found in Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, Singapore, and Thailand. Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical moist lowland forest, subtropical or tropical mangrove forest, and subtropical or tropical swampland. It is threatened by habitat loss.

The plumage on its mantle is dark green and glossy, while that of its throat, breast, and crown are gray. The underside of its wings are green and yellow.

The chestnut-bellied malkoha feeds on fruit, seeds, flowers, and leaf buds. Despite being a member of the cuckoo family, the chestnut-bellied malkoha does not lay its eggs in the nests of other birds but instead constructs its own nests and raises its own chicks.

The breeding period of Phaenicophaeus sumatranus involves both parents caring for the young. They build a crude nest of twigs lined with leaves, typically located 3–20 meters above ground. The clutch consists of 2–3 white eggs, which are incubated by both adults, and the chicks are fed with large arthropods and small vertebrates until they fledge around 7–8 days post-hatching.

The chestnut-bellied malkoha is listed as Near Threatened by the IUCN due to a suspected moderate decline in its population size over three generations. The species is primarily found in lowland forests, mangroves, and swamps, and is threatened by habitat loss. Conservation efforts are necessary to protect this species and its habitats from further decline.

Phylum : Chordata

Class : Aves

Order : Cuculiformes

Family : Cuculidae

Genus : Phaenicophaeus

Species : P. sumatranus

Binomial name : Phaenicophaeus sumatranus

Raffles, 1822

Gracula is a genus of mynas, tropical members of the starling family of birds found in southern Asia and introduced to Florida in the United States.

The common hill myna (Gracula religiosa), sometimes spelled "mynah" and formerly simply known as the hill myna or myna bird, is a species of starling found in the hills of South and Southeast Asia. 

The common hill myna is a popular talking bird. Its specific name religiosa may allude to the practice of teaching mynas to repeat sacred prayers, it is one of the most commonly spotted birds in Asian aviculture where it is often simply referred to by the latter two names. It is a member of the starling family (Sturnidae), resident in hill regions of South Asia and Southeast Asia.

This is a stocky jet-black myna, with bright orange-yellow patches of naked skin and fleshy wattles on the side of its head and nape. At about 29 cm length, it is somewhat larger than the common myna (Acridotheres tristis).

It is overall green-glossed black plumage, purple-tinged on the head and neck. Its large, white wing patches are obvious in flight, but mostly covered when the bird is sitting. The bill and strong legs are bright yellow, and there are yellow wattles on the nape and under the eye.

These differ conspicuously in shape from the naked eye-patch of the common myna and bank myna (A. ginginianus), and more subtly vary between the different hill mynas from South Asia. 

In the common hill myna, they extend from the eye to the nape, where they join, while the Sri Lanka hill myna has a single wattle across the nape and extending a bit towards the eyes. In the Southern hill myna, the wattles are separate and curve towards the top of the head. The Nias and Enggano hill mynas differ in details of the facial wattles, and size, particularly that of the bill.

​Sexes are similar; juveniles have a duller bill. With the Southern, Nias and Enggano hill mynas as separate species, the common hill myna, Gracula religiosa, has seven or eight subspecies which differ only slightly.

The common hill myna is often detected by its loud, shrill, descending whistles followed by other calls. It is most vocal at dawn and dusk, when it is found in small groups in forest clearings high in the canopy. Both sexes can produce an extraordinarily wide range of loud calls – whistles, wails, screeches, and gurgles, sometimes melodious. 

The common hill myna (Gracula religiosa) can learn to reproduce many everyday sounds, particularly the human voice, and even whistled tunes, with astonishing accuracy and clarity.

This myna is almost entirely arboreal, moving in large, noisy groups of half a dozen or so, in tree-tops at the edge of the forest. It hops sideways along the branch, unlike the characteristic jaunty walk of other mynas. Like most starlings, the hill myna is fairly omnivorous, eating fruit, nectar and insects.

The common hill myna  build a nest in a tree hole. The usual clutch consists of two or three eggs. There is no sexual dimorphism, which limits the selection of potential mates.

The hill mynas are popular cage birds, well known for their ability to imitate speech. The widely distributed common hill myna is the one most frequently seen in aviculture. Unlike other domesticated birds kept as pets, the mynas are often caught from the wild and sold via traders.

The species is quite common throughout its wide geographical range, with a rapid generation time. The Common Hill Myna remains one of Asia’s most recognizable and vocal starling species.

Phylum : Chordata

Class : Aves

Order : Passeriformes

Family : Sturnidae

Genus : Gracula

Species : G. religiosa

Binomial name : Gracula religiosa

Linnaeus, 1758

The straw-headed bulbul (Pycnonotus zeylanicus) is a species of songbird in the bulbul family, Pycnonotidae. It is found from the Malay Peninsula to Borneo.

​Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical moist lowland forest, subtropical or tropical mangrove forest, subtropical or tropical moist shrubland, arable land, plantations, and rural gardens. It is threatened by habitat loss and poaching.

The straw-headed bulbul is prized for its singing ability and is a highly sought-after species by bird enthusiasts in Southeast Asia, especially Indonesia.

​This trade is causing population reductions across the species' range and is a major barrier to its conservation. Trapping has been facilitated in recent years by the spread of logging roads across its forest habitat. Due to this, the straw-headed bulbul was uplisted from endangered to critically endangered on the IUCN Red List in 2018.

The straw-headed bulbul was originally described in the genus Sturnus. Alternate names for the straw-headed bulbul include the star-crowned bulbul, straw-crowned bulbul and yellow-crowned bulbul. 

Key identifying features include a yellowish-orange, straw-like crown, dark cheek stripes resembling a moustache and eyeliner, a whitish throat, bold streaks on the brownish breast, and olive-green wings and uppertail coverts. Juveniles have duller, browner heads.

The straw-headed bulbul is highly vocal, especially at dawn and dusk, and is known for its melodious, bubbling song. It is gregarious and arboreal, often perching on ow branches overlooking water. The species builds a flimsy cup nest high in trees, typically laying two eggs, and breeds from December to August.

Pycnonotus zeylanicus the straw-headed bulbul is a highly threatened, iconic songbird whose survival depends on strict protection, habitat management, and anti-poaching measures. Its unique song and striking appearance make it a species of high conservation priority across Southeast Asia.

This species is found from the Thai-Malay Peninsula to Sumatra, Java, and Borneo, inhabiting subtropical or tropical moist lowland forests, mangroves, shrublands, plantations, and rural gardens. 

In Singapore, populations are concentrated in Pulau Ubin, Bukit Timah Nature Reserve, Dairy Farm Nature Park, Bukit Batok Nature Park, and Central Catchment Forest, often near water bodies.

The species is critically endangered due to habitat loss and heavy poaching for the illegal songbird trade, particularly in Indonesia and other parts of Southeast Asia.

Phylum : Chordata

Class : Aves

Order : Passeriformes

Family : Pycnonotidae

Genus : Pycnonotus

Species: P. zeylanicus

Binomial name : Pycnonotus zeylanicus

Gmelin, JF, 1789

Caprimulgus is a large and very widespread genus of nightjars, medium-sized nocturnal birds with long pointed wings, short legs and short bills. The common name "nightjar", first recorded in 1630, refers to the nocturnal habits of the bird, the second part of the name deriving from the distinctive churring song.

Caprimulgus nightjars are found around Afro-Eurasia and Australasia, and like other nightjars they usually nest on the ground. They are mostly active in the late evening and early morning or at night, and feed predominantly on moths and other large flying insects.

Most have small feet, of little use for walking, and their soft plumage is cryptically coloured to resemble bark or leaves. Some species, unusually for birds, perch along a branch, rather than across it, which helps to conceal them during the day. Temperate species are strongly migratory, wintering in the tropics. Caprimulgus species have relatively long bills and rictal bristles. Many have repetitive and often mechanical songs.

The large-tailed nightjar (Caprimulgus macrurus) is a species of nightjar in the family Caprimulgidae. The large-tailed nightjar (Caprimulgus macrurus) is a species of nightjar known for its distinctive long, broad tail and cryptic plumage that allows it to blend into its surroundings.

Caprimulgus macrurus, the large-tailed nightjar is found along the southern Himalayan foothills, eastern South Asia, Southeast Asia and northern Australia. This species is a resident of the countries of Australia, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Brunei, Cambodia, China, India, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Timor-Leste and Vietnam.

This species commonly inhabits secondary forests, forest edges, plantations, and wooded parks. It has also been observed in agricultural landscapes, where its presence may be of significant economic interest to farmers, as large-tailed nightjars are believed to play a role in the biological control of insect pests.  

The large-tailed nightjar's remarkable camouflage and nocturnal lifestyle pose significant challenges for studying their behaviour and ecology. Similar to other nightjar species, they depend primarily on acoustic communication rather than visual cues for inter-specific and intra-specific communication.

Large-tailed nightjars are aerial insectivores. Their diets are primarily composed of beetles, moths, and other flying insects consumed while the bird is in flight. Little is known about the large-tailed nightjar's nesting and roosting behaviour.

The breeding season most likely extends from mid-March to late September. The female does not build a nest and instead lays 1-2 eggs in a shallow depression of leaf litter on the ground. The eggs are pinkish-buff to pale yellow in colour and chicks have mealy brown feathers that ensure good camouflage in their nest site. Nightjar chicks emerge with downy feathers and may be moved from the nest site 1–2 days after hatching.

Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical moist lowland forest, subtropical or tropical mangrove forest, and subtropical or tropical moist montane forest. In Malaysia it is known to frequent cemeteries at night, hence its rather macabre common name burung tukang kubur ("graveyard nightjar").

Phylum : Chordata

Class : Aves

Order : Caprimulgiformes

Family : Caprimulgidae

Genus : Caprimulgus

Species : C. macrurus

Binomial name : Caprimulgus macrurus​

The lineated barbet (Psilopogon lineatus) is an Asian barbet native to the Terai, the Brahmaputra basin to Southeast Asia. 

It was previously classified under the genus Megalaima as M. lineata but is now placed in Psilopogon lineatus (del Hoyo & Collar, 2014)

Psilopogon lineatus commonly known as the lineated barbet, is a large, frugivorous Asian barbet notable for its bright green plumage, streaked head, and cavity-nesting behavior. 

The lineated barbet is approximately 29 cm in length and has a large head with a thick-set body. Its beak is short, heavy, beige to pinkish, and not laterally compressed, equipped with short bristles at the base.

The head, nape, and breast are cream with light to dark brown streaks, extending slightly to the belly. The eyes are black, surrounded by a bright yellow eye ring, and the rest of the plumage is predominantly bright green. Its feet are also bright yellow.

This species is native to South and Southeast Asia, including the Terai, Brahmaputra basin, Eastern India, SW China, Southeast Asia, and Java. The lineated barbet (Psilopogon lineatus) is commonly found in wooded areas, forest edges, gardens, and parks particularly where fruiting trees are available. It prefers trees with sufficient dead wood for excavating nesting cavities.

Psilopogon lineatus is primarily frugivorous, feeding on fruits, flowers, buds, insects, and small animals. It typically forages in small flocks within the forest canopy. After feeding, it often perches in an exposed location to call before resuming foraging. Its nesting behavior involves excavating holes in tree trunks or branches, where it lays 3–4 eggs. Brooding can last up to 11 hours, especially during cool or rainy days.

Breeding occurs mainly between February and May. Its frugivorous diet, distinctive appearance, and adaptability to various habitats make it an important species for forest ecosystems and a familiar bird in some urban areas.

Phylum : Chordata

Class : Aves

Order : Piciformes

Family : Megalaimidae

Genus : Psilopogon

Species : P. lineatus

Binomial name :  Psilopogon lineatus

Vieillot, 1816

Synonyms : 

Megalaima lineata

Larvivora is a genus of small passerine birds belonging to the Old World flycatcher family Muscicapidae that occur in central and eastern Asia.

The Siberian blue robin is a small passerine bird that was formerly classified as a member of the thrush family, Turdidae, but is now more generally considered to belong to the Old World flycatcher family, Muscicapidae. 

It and similar small European species are often called chats.

Recent research suggests that this species and some other East Asian members of Luscinia should be classified in a new genus, together with the Japanese and Ryūkyū robins. The genus name Larvivora comes from the new Latin larva meaning caterpillar and -vorus meaning eating (vorace to devour), and cyane is Latin for "dark-blue".

​This bird is a migratory insectivorous species breeding in eastern Asia across to Japan. It winters in southern and south-eastern Asia and Indonesia.

The breeding habitat is coniferous forest with dense undergrowth, often beside rivers or at woodland edges. It feeds on the ground but is very 'skulking'. In winter, this bird also tends to stay in dense vegetation.

This species is larger than the European robin. The breeding male is unmistakable with blue upperparts and white underparts. The female is much drabber, with brown upperparts and whitish underparts. Her dark eye stands out against the paler brown face.

This species is a very rare vagrant to Europe, and has vagrant status even as far east as Pakistan.

​

The Siberian blue robin was previously placed in the genus Luscinia. A large molecular phylogenetic study published in 2010 found that Luscinia was not monophyletic. The genus was therefore split and several species including the Siberian blue robin were moved to the reinstated genus Larvivora.

​

Phylum : Chordata

Class : Aves

Order : Passeriformes

Family : Muscicapidae

Genus : Larvivora

Species : L. cyane

Binomial name : Larvivora cyane

Pallas, 1776

Synonyms : 

Luscinia cyanea (lapsus)

Luscinia cyane