6 Facts About Cetti's Warbler

1. Identification

CETTI’S WARBLER (Cettia cetti)is fairly large but very skulking warbler of dense waterside undergrowth with broad, rounded tail and often slightly ‘untidy’ appearance. The unstreamed dark reddish-brown above, with pale greyish-washed sides of head and breast contrasting somewhat with more rufous flanks and under tail coverts and fairly weak greyish-white supercilium.

This old-world warbler is 13 to 14cm bill to tail with an average weight is 14 to 15g. The strong legs are reddish-brown. Compared with unstreaked Acrocephalus warblers are relatively chunkier, with greyer-toned underparts and strongly rufous-toned, darker brown upperparts, more rounded head and smaller and weaker bill.

However, the tail is broader and more rounded and is frequently cocked. In good view, under tail coverts can be seen to be short and broad, with weak pale scalloping (in Acrocephalus they are rather longer, narrower and more uniform).

Savi’s Warbler has similar skulking behavior and similar calls (but not song) but has a longer, fuller tail with longer, broader under tail coverts, flat or peaked crown shape, stronger bill, buffer-toned underparts, and paler legs. Presence almost invariably revealed by loud, distinctive, explosive bursts of the song (given virtually throughout the year). Hops in wren-like fashion, flicking wings and rounded tail, through tangled undergrowth.

2. Cetti’s Warbler Song

Cetti’s Warbler Song includes an abrupt, sharp ‘chip’ or ‘chich’, a loud, sharp ‘tsuk’ (recalling mobbing call of Common Blackbird). And a prolonged rattle (recalling Winter Wren, but higher and more metallic) when intensely alarmed.

The song unmistakable and an astonishingly loud, explosive, liquid, staccato series of notes which might be rendered as ‘PWIT-piti-chewit-chewitchewit’ or ‘CHIP-pip-chetchetchetchet’.

The Song is given virtually throughout the year; appears to double as a contact-alarm call. It is usually singing from the inside cover but often climbs into view when singing near top of the thicket. Quite inquisitive but nervous: often goaded into vocal activity by a sudden noise.

3. Geographical Variation

Race orientalis of C Turkey and Transcaucasia southwards and eastwards is slightly greyer above and whiter on the breast than in nominate race.

4. Status and Habitat

Locally common. Has spread northwards in recent decades to colonize S Britain and Belgium. (In addition to mapped range, has bred Switzerland, Netherlands, Germany.)

Tangled thickets by lakes, marshes, rivers, streams, and ditches; also patches of willows or brambles among reedbeds. This is a small old-world warbler, breeds in Europe, Africa, and Asia.

5. Diet

The Cetti’s Warbler prefers damp areas like lakes, ponds, rivers, and marshes. This is an insectivorous bird, so like to eat soft-bodied insects and larvae, because they can digest them very quickly.

6. Moult

Moreover, the complete post-breeding moult, usually finished early   September.   But partial post-juvenile moult including body feathers, lesser and median coverts, inner greater coverts and some tertial.

Also, some specimens can moult all the greater coverts and a variable number of flight feathers. But the primary coverts are always retained; usually finished in September. Some specimens have a pre-breeding moulting wing coverts and some tertial.

Also Read: 
The Orange-Breasted Bunting / The fire-tailed myzornis / The Bar-tailed Desert Lark / Dusky Naumann’s Thrush (Turdus eunomus)
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Dusky Naumann’s Thrush (Turdus eunomus)

Identification

Asian vagrant (breeds in Siberia central from eastwards). Recalls Redwing in structure, but substantially larger with stouter bill and relatively long tail. The two subspecies appear distinctly different in the field and are best considered separately.

The medium size Dusky Naumann’s Thrush adult male bird is dull dark brown above with blackish feather centers, giving the mottled appearance (with wear upperparts appear blacker). Hence, becoming blacker on the crown and ear-coverts which contrast with conspicuous white supercilium and throat, latter extending across the side of the neck to form half-collar as in Redwing.

Moreover, the feathers of rump and upper tail coverts broadly fringed rufous, and wings largely rufous-chestnut. The whitish underparts are heavily mottled and scaled blackish, forming ill-defined breast bands that contrast with cleaner throat. The underwing is almost entirely rufous.

Unlikely to be confused, but occasional variant individuals lacking rufous-chestnut in wings could perhaps be confused with female Black-throated Thrush. Adult females’ bird and 1st-years are usually duller overall, with duller rufous-buff area in wings, and are less intensely scaled and mottled than adult males. These birds are most likely to be confused with smaller Redwing.

Which is also shows paler areas on the wing, prominent pale supercilium and collar, and diffuse breast streaking forming chest band. But Redwing has rufous flanks, is browner above, has rich buff ground color to breast and buff wash to supercilium, and has darker rufous underwing (duller rufous in Dusky).

Therefore, some Dusky have rufous scaling mixed with black on underparts, especially on flanks, and others are intermediate between Dusky and Naumann’s. All kinds of apparent intermediate plumages can be seen.

Naumann’s Thrush (nominate race)! Upperparts lack the blackish mottling of Dusky, being greyish-brown overall, while underpart markings are rufous-chestnut instead of black, often being more diffuse and thus producing almost wholly rufous breast and flanks, mixed with whitish scaling in fresh plumage.

Some black speckling and scaling usually present at sides of the throat and on breast, and rufous scaling present on upperparts. The bright rufous outer tail feathers are obvious in flight, less striking on the ground (were partially obscured by browner central feathers).

The throat and supercilium are off-white, washed rusty-buff. Upperwing lacks strong rufous tones of Dusky, but the underwing is darker rufous. Adult females and 1styears average duller, but the pattern and color distinctive and not matched by any other thrush of our region.  

Although red-throated race of Dark-throated Thrush also has a bright rufous tail. Both forms feed more in open than most other Asian thrushes, perching freely on tops of bushes and trees and feeding on the ground in the manner of Fieldfare.

Sex and Age

As already discussed under the Identification section. Some adult male Dusky is duller than usual and so sexing not always straightforward. However, adult females generally have less blackish feather centers above and below, often have more distinct malar stripe and primary coverts appear duller, less strongly rufous, with less distinct, brownish (rather than blackish) tips.

Adult Naumann’s often hard to sex, but females average duller below (especially on the throat, which is often paler), tend to show more distinct malar stripe and usually have less rufous on scapulars. The juveniles of both forms are heavily pale-spotted above and dark-spotted below.

The 1^st-years maybe aged by more distinct whitish or pale buff tips to greater coverts than in adults. 1st-year male Dusky usually resembles adult males in having blacker feather centers on both upperparts and underparts, but primary coverts are closer to those of adult females (although dark tips are blacker and more distinct).

Some 1st-year female Naumann’s may be separated by obvious dark spotting on the breast (and sometimes flanks), but many inseparable from 1styear males.

Voice                                                                        

The bird simple flute calls include a harsh chattering ‘chak-chakchak’ of alarm, recalling Fieldfare, a shrill, wheezy ‘spirr’, recalling Common Starling, a loud, shrill, nasal ‘cheeh-cheeh’ and many other high-pitched calls. The whistling song, unlikely to be heard consists of several clear, descending notes followed by a faint twitter and recalls Redwing.

Taxonomy

Intermediates between Dusky and Naumann’s Thrushes are not infrequent. But as the area of hybridization appears to be quite limited Dusky Thrush is sometimes accorded full species status as T. eunomus.

Geographical Variation

Differences discussed under Identification. Race eunomus (Dusky Thrush) breeds further north than nominate race (Naumann’s Thrush). Both occur as rare vagrants, with most of northern records being of Dusky whereas less frequent Naumann’s has predominated among records from the south.

Status / Habitat

The vagrant birds found in Europe, Cyprus, and Middle East. In natural range breeds in rather open deciduous or coniferous forests and in willow scrub at the southern edge of the tundra. In winter quarters, favors groves, orchards, and open fields. 

Also Read: The Orange-Breasted Bunting / The fire-tailed myzornis 

Bar-tailed Desert Lark

Bar-tailed Desert Lark (Ammomanes cinctura) is like typical forms of Desert Lark, but smaller, with a slightly shorter tail, thinner legs, smaller and more domed head and shorter, weaker and more pointed bill. 

It is also called The Bar-Tailed Lark, that is almost uniform sandy buff but has greyish wash above, slightly darker breast sides and pale cinnamon-rufous wings.

It lacks any form of streaking (easily differentiating it from short-toed larks of the genus Calandrella), but in very close views weak darker mottling may be visible on the center of breast. The bar-tailed desert lark is a species of lark in the family Alaudidae found from Morocco to Pakistan.

During the flight, the pale rufous flight feathers contrast well with the otherwise mainly sandy plumage, especially on the underside. However, the outer primaries have dusky tips that form a dark trailing edge. But the distinctive tail pattern (rump and tail pale rufous, latter with the clear-cut blackish terminal band) can be difficult to discern, and best seen if bird spreads tail when alighting. 

This Bar-tailed Desert Lark natural habitat is hot deserts and many places it is considered as a common species, but elsewhere rather less common. Bar-tailed Desert Lark plumage can be closely matched by some forms of Desert. But latter has a relatively larger head, with flatter crown and longer, almost thrush-like bill (bill of Bar-tailed more bunting like, and often yellower). 

Typical forms of Desert has whitish throat and upper breast, with diffuse darker streaking on breast, and rest of underparts pinkish- or rufous-buff. Moreover, Bar-tailed has whitish belly as well as throat, with breast and flanks washed with buff and little or no streaking on the breast.

Further, Desert Lark usually has greyish-brown centers to tertials, while in Bar-tailed are usually pale rufous, although there is some overlap. Several forms of Desert have rufous in wings and tail, and some of these are smaller and shorter-billed than is typical, so caution is required.

Further, the tail the pattern always differs, however, with Desert never showing clear-cut blackish a terminal band like Bar-tailed but instead a broad, diffuse dark triangle, pointing towards the tail base (while dark reaches almost to tail base on central feathers in Desert, it is restricted to terminal third in Bar-tailed).

Additionally, Bar-tailed appears to be daintier, with more spindly legs, and holds forebody higher off ground than Desert, which typically adopts a more crouched posture, with legs less conspicuous. Runs well, but jerkily. Flight jerky and bounding. Generally shyer and less approachable than Desert, with a marked preference for flat desert, Desert preferring hilly or rocky slopes. See also female Black-crowned Sparrow-lark and Dunn’s Lark.

SEX/AGE

Sexes similar. Juvenile has narrow pale fringes to feathers of upperparts and narrow dark tips to crown feathers, which are lost at post-juvenile moult. Dark tips to outer primaries are often indistinct or lacking.

VOICE

Occasionally utters a short, soft chirruping ‘jupp’, a more buzzing ‘prreet’ or a thin, high ‘see-ou’ in flight. Song distinctive: one or two weak, short ‘zik’ notes followed by a prolonged, penetrating, squeaky, rising ‘st’eeeeeeeee’.

The latter being the most audible part of song unless bird close and sounding not unlike a squeaky gate being slowly opened. Uttered from the ground, or in strongly undulating yo-yo-like song flight. Alternatively, at least in some areas, a longer, three-part ‘turr-ree tre-le tree-tree-you’.

GEOGRAPHICAL VARIATION

Nominate race confined to Cape Verde Is, is rather darker and sandier-more rufous than race arenicolor, which occupies the remainder of the range in our region.

STATUS/HABITAT

Relatively local but not uncommon in suitable habitats. Seemingly more localized in east of our region than in Sahara. Flat stony or sandy desert or semi-desert, with sparse low vegetation.

Also Read: The Orange-Breasted Bunting / The fire-tailed myzornis 

Rose-breasted Grosbeak

Some outdoor enthusiasts believe that no thrush can hold a candle to the rich singing of the rose-breasted grosbeak, and that the latter is perhaps the handsomest bird in the woods. 

The male has a blackhead, a massive ivory-colored bill (“grosbeak” means “big beak”), white patches on black wings that flash like semaphore signals when the bird flies, and a triangular bright red patch on the white breast. 

(The patch varies somewhat in size and shape from one individual to the next.) The female looks like a gargantuan brown sparrow. The song, given by both sexes, is robin-like but quicker, mellower, and full of life. Adults are about eight inches long. Rose-breasted grosbeaks breed from Nova Scotia to western Canada and south in the Appalachians to Georgia.

The species is found statewide in Pennsylvania: scarce in the developed and agricultural southeast, abundant across the northern tier. Grosbeaks favor second-growth deciduous or mixed woods and can also be found in old orchards, parklands and suburban plantings. They eat insects (about half the diet in summer), seeds (easily crushed by that formidable bill), tree buds and flowers and fruits. 

Males arrive on the breeding grounds in April and May, about a week ahead of the females. Males sing to proclaim a two- to three-acre breeding territory and may attack other males who intrude. When courting a female, the male takes a low perch or lands on the ground, then droops his wings and quivers them, spreads and lowers his tail, and slowly rotates his body from side to side while singing.

Rose-breasted grosbeaks often nest in thickets along the edges of roads, streams or swamps. The nest, built mostly by the female, is loose, bulky and made almost entirely of twigs. It is usually 10 to 15 feet above the ground in a small tree or shrub. Since both members of the pair do much calling (a short, metallic chink is often given) and singing in the vicinity, the nest is fairly easy to find. The three to five eggs (typically four) are pale greenish-blue, blotched with browns and purples. Both parents share in incubating them, and the eggs hatch after about two weeks.

Both parents feed the young, which leave the nest 9 to 12 days after hatching. Should a female start a second brood, she may leave the young while they’re still in the nestling phase; the male assumes care of the first offspring while the female starts building a second nest, often less than 30 feet away from the first. 

Adults molt in August, and the male’s new plumage includes brown and black streaks on the head, neck, and back. In September rose-breasted grosbeaks start the migratory trek southward to wintering grounds in Central and South America.

Blue Grosbeak (Guiraca caerulea) — Like the cardinal, this is a southern species that has expanded northward over the last century. In the 1980s blue grosbeaks were found nesting in southern Fulton, Lancaster, and Chester counties and along the border of Delaware and Philadelphia counties near the Tinicum National Environmental Center. Males are a deep dusky blue; females are brown and sparrow-like. 

Blue grosbeaks inhabit open areas with scattered trees, fencerows, roadside thickets, reverting fields, brush and forest edges. They often feed on the ground and eat many insects, as well as the seeds of weeds, grasses and other plants. Breeding males sing from treetops and utility wires. The female builds the nest, a compact open cup, three to 10 feet above the ground, in a shrub, tree or vine tangle. The usual brood is four. Cowbirds often parasitize this species. Blue grosbeaks winter mainly in Mexico and Central America.

 Also Read: Lilac Breasted Roller, Most Attractive Bird / Indian Roller Bird  / Yellow Cardinal – One in Million Birds

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Dickcissel (Spiza americana)

The dickcissel is a bird of the prairies and a common resident of the Midwest. A rare breeding species in Pennsylvania, it has recently been found nesting in Clarion, Westmoreland, Somerset, Fayette, Franklin, and York counties, mainly on reclaimed strip-mine sites, but also on cut hayfields, especially in years when drought stunts the regrowth of grasses. Nests are on or near the ground, hidden in dense grass, weeds or a shrub.

Indigo Bunting (Passerina cyanea)

The indigo bunting breeds throughout the East and in parts of the Midwest and Southwest. The species is statewide and common in Pennsylvania. Adults are about five and a half inches long, slightly smaller than a house sparrow. The male is bright blue, although he may look almost black in deep shade; the female is drab like a sparrow. Indigo buntings find food on the ground and in low bushes. 

They eat many insects, including beetles, caterpillars, and grasshoppers, supplemented with grass and weed seeds, grains and wild fruits. Males migrate north in late April and May, with older males, preceding younger ones and returning to their territories of past years.

The two to six-acre territories are in brushy fields, clearings in woods, woods edges and along roadsides and powerline rights-of-way. Males make moth-like display flights along territorial boundaries, flying slowly with their wings fanned and tail and head held up, using rapid, shallow wing beats while sounding a bubbly song. They also perch and broadcast a more complicated territorial/courtship song, a series of high, whistled notes described as sweet-sweet-chew-chew-seer-seer-sweet. Females, by contrast, are so shy and retiring that it’s often hard to determine when they’ve arrived on the breeding range. The male spends much time singing from prominent places, and little time helping with brood-rearing.

The female builds a neat cup-shaped nest out of leaves, dried grasses, bark strips, and other plant materials, one and a half to 10 feet up (usually no higher than three feet) in a dense shrub or a low tree, often aspen. She lays three to four eggs, which are white or bluish-white and unmarked. She incubates the clutch for 12 to 13 days, until the eggs hatch over a one- to two-day period. 

Some observers report that the male helps feed nestlings, while others say that he does not or that he gives food to the female who then carries it to the nest. Sometimes a male will have more than one mate nesting in his territory. Young indigo buntings leave the nest 10 to 12 days after hatching. In some cases, males take over the feeding of newly fledged young while females start a second brood.

Males keep singing well into August. Most pairs raise two broods. Brown-headed cowbirds often parasitize the nests, and various predators — particularly the blue jay — eat eggs and nestlings. Some researchers believe that only 30 to 50 percent of indigo bunting nests are successful. The adults molt in August. 

The male in his winter plumage looks much like the female, but he still has blue streaks in his wings and tail. Buntings migrate south from late August through October. Many individuals cross the Gulf of Mexico, reversing their spring passage. Indigo buntings winter in loose flocks in southern Florida, Central America, and northern South America. The longevity record is 10 years.

 Also Read: Lilac Breasted Roller, Most Attractive Bird / Indian Roller Bird  / Yellow Cardinal – One in Million Birds

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Northern Cardinal - All Red Most Beautiful Bird in the World

Northern Cardinal (Cardinalis cardinalis) — Adults are eight to nine inches long, slightly smaller than a robin. Both sexes have an orange-red bill and a prominent head crest. The male’s plumage is an overall bright red; the female is yellowish-brown with red tints on her wings, tail, and crest. The cardinal is a common bird in the The Southeastern United States. Before 1900, the species was rare in Pennsylvania, but over the last century, cardinals have spread as far north as Maine and southern Canada.

They now inhabit all of the Keystone State, except for areas of unbroken forest on the Allegheny High Plateau. Cardinals also breed across the Midwest and in Central America from Mexico to Guatemala. They are year-round residents throughout their range. Cardinals live in thickets, hedgerows, brushy fields, swamps, gardens and towns , and cities. They need dense shrubs for nesting; these can range from multiflora rose tangles sprawling between woodlots and fields, to hedges of privet and honeysuckle on shady streets. Hawthorns, lilac, gray dogwood and dense conifers also provide nesting cover. Mated pairs of cardinals use territories of three to 10 acres.

Northern Cardinals eat caterpillars, grasshoppers, beetles, bugs, ants, flies and many other insects; fruits of dogwood, mulberry and wild grape; and seeds of smartweeds and sedges, grains scattered by harvesting equipment, and sunflower seeds at birdfeeders. Cardinals are not particularly fearful of humans. One day a cardinal landed on a log about three feet from where I was. It furiously crushed a black beetle between its mandibles, discarded with a shake of its head the beetle’s wing sheaths and spiny legs, swallowed the beetle, defecated and flew off: not just a flash of pretty color, I found myself thinking, but a fearsome predator in its own right. Cardinals begin calling in February and March, signaling the onset of the breeding season. Males and females sing equally well.

The song is a series of clear whistled notes, whoit whoit whoit (like a kid learning to whistle) or wacheer wacheer. Cardinals often countersing: males on adjacent territories, or pairs within their own territory, alternately match songs. As a part of courtship, the male will pick up a bit of food (such as a sunflower kernel at a feeder) in his bill and sidle up to his mate; the two touch beaks as she accepts the morsel. It takes the female three to nine days to build the nest, a loose cup woven out of twigs, vines, leaves, bark strips, and rootlets, lined with fine grasses or hair. Nests, rarely higher than six feet, are often placed in the thickest, thorniest scrub on the pair’s territory.

The female lays two to five eggs (commonly three or four), which are whitish and marked with brown, lavender and gray. She does most of the incubating, and the male brings her food. The young hatch after about 12 days. Their parents feed them regurgitated insects at first, then whole insects. The young fledge after 10 days; the male may continue to feed them for a few days while the female builds another nest and begins a second clutch. Cardinals can produce up to four broods per year. Nest predators include snakes, crows, blue jays, house wrens, squirrels, chipmunks , and domestic cats. Brown-headed cowbirds often lay their eggs in cardinal nests, and the cardinals rear the cowbird nestlings.

Cardinals compete with gray catbirds for food and nest sites; catbirds usually dominate in these interactions and may force cardinals to the fringe of usable habitat. In fall the pair bond weakens between males and females. They stay together, however, and may join with other cardinals to form feeding groups that usually number 6 to 20 birds. 

In winter, white-footed mice sometimes move into old cardinal nests, stuff the cups with plant matter, and set up housekeeping. Cardinals are preyed on by hawks and owls, as well as foxes and other ground predators. The longevity record is 15 years.

Cardinal populations rose steadily in Pennsylvania through the 20th century. Several factors may have helped Cardinalis cardinalis overspread the state during that period: an increase in edge habitats caused by rural development; a period of warm winters in the early l900s; a similar warming trend in recent years; and an increase in backyard feeding stations dispensing high-energy seeds that help cardinals and other birds survive frigid weather.

 Also Read: Lilac Breasted Roller, Most Attractive Bird / Indian Roller Bird  / Yellow Cardinal – One in Million Birds

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The Indian Birds of Prey

The Birds of Prey is a large family is composed of birds which bear so strong a family likeness that it is almost impossible to describe them in such a way as to enable the reader to identify them at sight. As with the owls, birds of prey are easily recognized as such, but to name any species baffles even professed ornithologists.

To try to make out the raptors by their color is, to use the words of Eha, “at the best a short road to despair. Naturalists learn to recognize them as David’s watchman recognized the courier who brought tidings of the victory over Absalom. ‘His running is like the running of Ahimaaz, the son of Zadok.’

Every bird of prey has its own character, some trick of flight, something in its figure and proportions which serves to distinguish it decisively.” What precisely this bird is something not in most cases able to state. Mr. C. H. Donald, or some other Indian falconer, will give us a little handbook on the birds of prey of this country.

The Indian Tawny Eagle (Aquila vindhiana)

In coloring, this bird is very like the common kite but has not so long a tail. Its legs are feathered right down to the toe. This is the sign-manual of all the true eagles. A bird that looks like a kite with feathered legs is probably a tawny eagle the commonest eagle in India, abundant everywhere save on the Malabar coast. The big Tawny Eagle is belonging to family Accipitridae.

It has 25 to 30 in length with the 64 to 75 in wingspan. The eagle mainly relies on carrion as a food source. Although, it is considered as a quiet bird, sometimes Kow-Kow noise which is loud and far traveling. The underparts are mainly black, however, the lower back is pale and range of variation in plumage color.

The white-eyed buzzard (Butastur teesa)

This bird of prey is about the size of the common house crow. Eha writes A Buzzard is idea of life is to sit upon a pole, or on top of a small tree commanding a good expanse of grassland, and to watch for a field mouse, or a lizard, or even a fat grasshopper.

If you see a biggish, untidy hawk, of a sandy brown color, more or less dashed with whitish, spending In the morning in this way, you may put it down as Butastur teesa. The sign-manual of this common bird is its white eye, and if you cannot get near enough to make this out with the aid of field glasses.

You may still identify this species by the conspicuous white patch on the nape of the neck. The White-eyed buzzard is very common in N. India; but rare in the south. This bird has a rufous tail, white iris, and white throat with a distinctive dark mesial stripe bordered, and brown head.

Pallas's fish eagle (Haliaeetus leucoryphus)

This Pallas Fish Eagle is nearly half as big as the kite. A large brown bird with the whitish forehead, chin, and throat, and a broad white band (4 inches wide) across the tail, about three inches from the tip. This is the sign-manual of this species, and on this account, Jerdon calls it “The Ring-tailed Fish Eagle.” Not found in S. India.

All the fish-eagles, writes C. H. Donald in The Indian Field, have loud resonant calls, anything but melodious, and each and all seem to love hearing their own voices. H. leucoryphus in the plains of Punjab may often be heard long before he is seen, particularly when soaring, and though he himself may only appear a wee a speck in the heavens, his call will be distinctly heard.

This bird frequents found near rivers and marshes and is inland rather than a seashore bird. This bird is also known as Pallas's sea eagle or band-tailed fish eagle. The Pallas eagle preferred food is fish. During food-collecting, it often faces predates from graylag geese.

The White-bellied Sea-Eagle (Haliaëtus leucogaster)

White-bellied The sea-eagle bird is a little larger than the kite. Its, head, neck, lower parts, and nearly the whole of the tail white; other parts dark grey or brown. Jerdon calls this species the Grey-backed Sea-Eagle. This species is very seldom seen inland and is easily distinguished from by having the lower parts white instead of brown.

Col. Cunningham describes this species as one of the most splendid of large raptorial birds. Owing to the brilliant contrast of the snowy whiteness of the head and under surface, with the deep ashy tints of the wings and back. There are few more striking objects than one of them as he sits on a bare branch overhanging a tidal channel, glancing around with his bold black eyes.

The eagle with all his beautiful plumage gleaming in the bright sunlight. This is a very noisy species, especially at the breeding season. This beautiful bird normally breeds and hunts near water. It prefers food is fish but also consumes carrion and other variety of animals.

The white-tailed eagle (Haliaëtus albicilla)

The White-tailed Sea-Eagle is half of a big kite. A large brown bird with a white tail, of which the middle feathers are considerably longer than the outer ones. By this character and by its loud cries may this bird be identified. It is only a winter visitor to India to the Punjab, Sind, and the U. P. Sometimes, it is known as gray sea eagle and Eurasian sea eagle.

Due to human activities this bird is often scarce and very spottily distributed as a nesting species. This eagle usually lives near open water, including both coastal saltwater areas and inland freshwater.  It requires plentiful food supply and old-growth trees or ample sea cliffs for nesting.

The Brahminy Kite. (Haliastur indus)

Of all the birds of prey, this is perhaps the easiest to identify in its adult state. The head, neck, breast, and upper abdomen are white, the shaft of each white feather being black. The remainder of the plumage is a rich chestnut, almost maroon.

The young birds are alike to the common kite in appearance. But maybe distinguished when on the wing by the fact that the tail of the Brahminy is always rounded, while that of the kite is more or less forked. This species is rare in the Punjab, common everywhere else. In Madras it sometimes swoops down and carries off a snipe that has been shot by a sportsman. Its cry is a peculiar squeaking wail.

The Black Kite (Milvus govinda)

This is a Common Pariah Kite. His long tail slightly forked at the tip, suffices to distinguish him at a glance from all other raptorial birds. It is believed to be the most abundant species in the world approximately more than 6 million population.

The pale or pallid harrier (Circus macrourus)

This is a migratory bird belongs to the harrier family. This medium sized raptor rarely seen in India. It breeds on open plains, bogs, of eastern Asia and southern Europe. The bird normally hunts small mammals, lizards, and birds, and drift low over fields and moors.

Surprisingly the nest is found on the ground, containing six to eight eggs. The other harrier species are, Montagu’s Harrier (Circus cineraceus), The Hen Harrier (Circus cyaneus), The Pied Harrier (Circus melanoleucus), and The Marsh Harrier (Circus æruginosus).

The hens are so alike that to distinguish them is no easy matter. The ordinary man will doubtless be satisfied to call them all harriers. Harriers are cold-weather visitors to India. They are striking-looking birds with long wings.

They fly low, only a few inches above the level of the ground, ever on the lookout for a lizard, a mouse, an insect, or even a small bird. They are larger than crows and smaller than kites. They hunt over fields and marshes and are not seen in towns, but those who shoot must be familiar with them.

The Shikra (Astur badius)

This is one of the most familiar birds of prey. It is considerably smaller than the common house crow. Its upper plumage is ashy grey. The tail is of the same hue, but with broad black crossbars. The breast is pale rust color, with a number of thin wavy white crossbars.

The eye is bright yellow, as is the cere or base of the beak. It is very like the Brain-fever Bird in appearance. It often hunts for its quarry in the neighborhood of trees. Its method is to make a short quick dash. Natives of India very frequently train this bird to hawk quail and mynas. Its note is a sharp double whistle.

The Sparrow-Hawk (Accipiter nisus)

This species, which is a cold-weather visitor to India, is very like No. 158 in habits and appearance. It is, however, characterized by having long legs. It is bolder and swifter in its movements.

The Laggar Falcon (Falco jugger)

Several species of falcon occur in India. This one is, the commonest. It is a brownish bird barred and spotted all over with white. It looks like a large sparrow-hawk with long pointed wings.

But it does not make one dash at its prey after the manner of the sparrow-hawk; it is a strong flier and settles down to a long chase in the open country. Its eyes are dark. Natives call falcons dark-eyed hawks and sparrow-hawks light-eyed hawks.

The Turumti, or Red-headed Merlin (Æsalon chicquera)

The Head and a stripe on the cheek chestnut. Back and tail grey barred with dark brown; underparts whitish with black streaks and bars. This species lives largely on small birds and often hunts in couples.

Tinnunculus alaudaris: The Kestrel; the English “Windhover.”

Normally the head, neck, and tail grey, back, and wings brick-red. The lower parts are cream-colored spotted with brown. The redback makes the bird easy to identify, as does its method of hunting its quarry.

It flies over the open country, and every now and then hovers on rapidly vibrating wings over some spot where it thinks it espies some lizard or other animals. If there is an animal there it drops quietly on it, otherwise, it passes on and hovers elsewhere. It is a winter visitor to the plains of India.

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Shrikes – How They Get Their Nam

William Turner, in a Short and “Succint History of Birds” in 1544, called the red-backed shrike “a nyn murder” because the bird was believed to murder and collect nine victims a day. Its German name was Nuen- m'order, now Neuntöter. The name “shrike” comes from “shriek,” describing the bird’s alarm call, although these birds also sing sweetly and can mimic other birds.

Shrikes are the only passerines that prey on vertebrate animals, often impaling the carcasses on thorns to store for future use. This habit gave them the family name Laniidae, from the Latin lanius, “a butcher.” They are sometimes called butcher birds in English. The common French name for the red-backed shrike was once l’ecorcheur, or “flayer,” from the bird’s habit of tearing apart or skinning small mammals before eating them.

The two shrikes found in North America are the loggerhead shrike, Lanius ludovicianus (“from Louisiana”), and the northern shrike, L. excubitor. The loggerhead shrike gets its common name quills. Quill pens, however, are still the preferred tools of some artists, and they are made only from certain feathers of certain large birds, including swans, geese, and crows (but not secretary birds).

The secretary bird is the only member of its family, Sagittari- idae, because although it is similar to several other birds, it doesn’t fit into any of their families: It flies and soars as well as an eagle; it is over three feet tall and runs like an ostrich; it nests like a stork; some of its faces are bare, like a vulture’s. It partly digests and regurgitates food for its young, and it’s a raptor.

The secretary bird has short stubby toes, which it can’t use to carry prey but with which it literally stomps its victims to death. It has such a powerful kick that it can shatter a turtle’s shell, and it kills snakes by kicking or dropping them from a height. Its scientific name, Sagittarius serpentarius, means “a bowman hunting snakes,” and the bird’s head plumes are also like arrows sticking out of a quiver. Most bowhunters, though, would hunt more sportingly! 

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