Indian River Tern  River Tern  (Sterna aurantia) Pictures and Detail  During my last visit to the Harike wetland in Punjab, which is situated on the bank of the confluence of Satlej and Beas river, I found that a bird is flying around me like he was asking me to take his pictures. Later, I found that it is a River tern, a bird which lives around fresh water rivers. The scientific name of this bird is Sterna Aurantia and it is also called Indian river tern. I also got encouraged by the movements of river tern around me and clicked a few of his flying action. River Tern  River Tern is a bird of tern family and it is a resident breeder. River tern as the name suggests is found near rivers and we can find this bird from Iran to Thailand. We can easily spot this bird in India; therefore it is called Indian river tern. River Tern from Back River Tern make their nest on bare rocks or on the sand near river banks. Their breeding season is from March to May. The best w

Laughing Dove Laughing Dove (Spilopelia senegalensis ) Pictures and Detail  I am seeing Laughing Doves from my Childhood. They have always lived around me and it is common to find a single laughing dove or a pair of them. Unlike Pigeons, they don't move in big groups. When we spread grains on the roof for Piegon, then one or two laughing doves also come to eat the grains. Laughing Dove is a small pigeon and it is found in Africa, the Middle East, and the Indian Subcontinent. The scientific name of  Laughing dove is Spilopelia senegalensis and it is also known by names of Palm dove and Senegal dove . In these birds, we can notice a black colored necklace with embedded Rofous beats on it. Laughing Dove from Back The laughing doves are very silent and peaceful birds. Mostly big pigeons try to move them away so that they can't eat grains. I have never noticed them retaliating. This is a common bird and we can notice it with some search. It is common to fi

Grey Wagtail  Grey Wagtail Picture and Detail (Motacilla cinerea) We can find many wagtail birds around us and Grey Wagtail is also one them which we sometimes see around. Recently, I became confused between a Grey Wagtail and Grey -headed Yellow Wagtail , Though after reading lots about these birds, I succeeded in identifying them. Anyone can easily confuse Grey Wagtail and Grey -headed Yellow Wagtail because of many similarities between them. The main difference which we can find in them is a black colored throat in Grey  Wagtail while Grey -headed wagtail has a yellow-whitish throat. The other method to identify the Grey Wagtail is to notice the white line crossing just above the eye, which is missing in  Grey -headed Yellow Wagtail.  Grey Wagtail is a small bird of the wagtail bird family (a family of birds which has habit of wagging their tail). The scientific name of this bird is Motacilla cinerea. This bird is found in Europe, Asia and Africa. They do

The Greater Coucal The Greater Coucal Or Crow Pheasant (Centropus sinensis) Pictures and Detail  I first time came across this bird on the roadside when I was driving. It is common to find Greater Coucal in all parts of Punjab state of India. This bird is also known as Crow Pheasant and its scientific name is Centropus sinensis . Download our App Beautiful Indian Birds   (Update 28/01/16 - Now, I often Greater_Coucal (Crow Pheasant) around because we can find this bird in good numbers. The picture below, I took a few days back when I was travelling to the fields. In this picture, I found a clear shot of Crow Pheasant with a few more pics. Though, I have lost my Greater_Coucal friend because of relocation to a new city; however, I still miss him.) Greater Coucal in Outdoor The first thing I noticed about this bird is its big size and shy nature. Later I found that a few Greater Coucal (Crow Pheasant) lives near my home too and they sometimes come home to eat lef

A Grey -headed Yellow Wagtail Grey -headed Yellow Wagtail or Dark-headed Yellow Wagtail  The most difficult thing is to find the exact name of wagtail because we can find many wagtails and their subspecies. It took me 5 hours to reach at this conclusion that this a Grey -headed or Dark-headed yellow wagtail. In Punjab, India, Grey -headed Yellow Wagtail is mentioned in a list of birds found in Punjab.  This bird is a subspecies of Western Yellow Wagtail; therefore, many people commonly refer it as a Yellow Wagtail and its scientific name is Motocilla Flava thunbergi . In the tiny birds, we can find many varieties of birds and their subspecies make your job even tougher.  Grey -headed Wagtail These birds are Dark Grey or Grey  headed till the cheeks. We find white color on checks in females which may be missing in male Dark-headed yellow wagtails. They have olive color above and yellow color on the bottom and in some cases we can find presence of some white

House Sparrow Female House Sparrow Male House Sparrow  (Passer Domesticus) Pictures and Detail  Up to a few years back, House Sparrows never needed any special introduction in India because it was very common to see these tiny beautiful birds around the human habitats in cities and villages. However, within the last five-six years, they almost disappeared from most Indian cities and villages.  I know these birds very well because many of the House Sparrows were visiting our home since my childhood. They used to come very close to my mother when she was cleaning rice or other grains so that they can catch the rice or grain which is thrown out by her.  ------- Support this Blog and my Bird Photography ------ Group of House Sparrow eating Left away Rice We are also starting to feed these birds with rice or leftover food and they become daily visitors to our home. Everything was fine till 10 years back when House sparrows were visiting our home; however, then

Asian Koel (male) Asian Koel (Eudynamys scolopaceus) Picture and Detail It is common to find people who are aware of the sweet voice of Koels because, during the mating season, Koels give very sweet calls " Koo -Ooo". We can easily hear their sweet calls of Koo-ooo- koo -ooo in the morning and evening hours. However, the number of people who have seen it always remains less because the  Asian Koel is a very shy bird and it always hides well in dense trees. ` ------ Support this Blog and my Bird Photography ------- I am also aware of the sweet voice of Koel  from my childhood time; however, I got a chance to see it a few days back only. I followed the voice of Koel and found it on a tree. Thankfully, the tree was not very dense and I got a few  pictures of Koel .  Asian Koel from Bottom  The scientific name of the  Asian Koel is Eudynamys Scolopacieus and it is a bird of the Cuckoo order bird family. This bird is mainly found in Asia and China. Though

Brown Rock (Indian) Chat  Brown Rock (Indian) Chat Pictures and Detail Brown Rock Chat is one of the common birds, we can observe these small brown birds even in urban areas. Brown Rock Chat is also called I ndian Chat because it is mainly found in central and northern India. The scientific name of the Indian chat is Cercomela fusca and it belongs to the chat (Saxicolinae) subfamily of birds.  ------Download our app Beautiful Indian Birds --------- A small Brown Rock Chat or Indian chat   My encounter with Brown Rock Chat is very common because a pair of these birds live near my home and I constantly get a chance to see them. I mostly see them in pairs and they don't mind coming close to me. They also enjoy me capturing their pictures and allow me to come close to them. Sometimes, we even find this bird making sweet calls as shown in the picture below. These small brown birds are capable of making eight different types of calls like threat call, territor