Aditya's Photography

The  changeable hawk-eagle or crested hawk-eagle is a large  bird of prey . More informal or antiquated English common names include the  marsh hawk-eagle or Indian crested hawk-eagle. It is a typical “hawk-eagle” in that it is an agile forest-dwelling predator and like many such eagles readily varies its prey selection between  birds ,  mammals  or  reptiles  as well as other  vertebrates . The changeable hawk-eagle is a largish but slender eagle. Adult changeable hawk-eagles are typically dark brown above and boldly streaked below with a strong bill, a variably sized, often floppy crest or no crest, rather short wings, a quite long, thinly-barred tail and long feathered legs. In flight, the changeable hawk-eagles is a large raptor with a prominent head, rather short rounded and broad wings, long squarish or rounded tail, but has somewhat slenderer wings and straighter trailing edges than sympatric species of...

  An Adult Crested Serpent Eagle The C rested Serpent Eagle  is a medium-sized  bird of prey  that is found in forested habitats across  tropical   Asia . Its presence ranges across the  Indian Subcontinent ,  Southeast Asia  and  East Asia. A Juvenile Crested Serpent Eagle  This medium-large, dark brown eagle is broad and has a sturdy built, with rounded wings and a short tail. Its short black and white fan-shaped nuchal crest gives it a thick-necked appearance. The bare facial skin and feet are yellow. The underside is spotted with white and yellowish-brown. In soaring flight, the broad and paddle-shaped wings are held in a shallow V. The tail and underside of the flight  feathers  are black with broad white bars. Young birds show a lot of white on the head. A close up The crested serpent eagle is a  reptile  eater which hunts over forests, often close to wet grassland, for  snakes  and  lizards...

The  Himalayan bulbul or white-cheeked bulbul, is a species of  songbird  in the  bulbul  family found in Central and South Asia.   The Himalayan bulbul is about 18 cm in length, with a wingspan of 25.5–28 cm and an average weight of 30 g. Its head, throat, and crest are black and white. The back, side, and lengthy tail are brown, the underside is pale yellow. Sexes have similar plumage. The song is a beautiful 4-piece whistle, which resembles an accelerated oriole  whistle.   The species occurs in the northern regions of the Indian subcontinent and some adjoining areas. It is found in and near the Himalayas. They are usually found in forests and shrubland and also comes into gardens and parks. They feed on insects and other small invertebrates, as well as berries, fruits, seeds, buds and nectar.  

  The   black francolin belongs to  the  pheasant  family . It was formerly known as the Black Partridge. It is the state bird of  Haryana . It is known as Kaala Teetar locally.  The head of the black francolin is curved with brown iris eyes color and unique pattern of brown color crown and the throat color is black. It has a length ranging from 33 to 36 cm and weight approximate about 453 g and the size of black francolin is 9 to 16 inches. The primary color is black with black breast rufous belly, white spots on flanks, and golden brown spots at the back of the body. The flight pattern of the black francolin is short, direct flight punctuated by glides with rounded wings, rounded tail narrow black and white bars. Black francolin male The male black francolin is black with a white patch on the cheek, a chestnut collar, and white spots on the flanks. The back and wings are scalloped with shades of golden brown with sub-terminal tawny-buff bands an...

  This  minivet  is found in tropical southern  Asia  from  India ,  Sri Lanka  to southern  China ,  Indonesia , and the  Philippines . They are common resident breeding birds in forests and other well-wooded habitats including gardens, especially in  hilly  country. While the male  is scarlet to orange with black upperparts, the females are usually yellow with greyish olive upperparts.  The scarlet minivet is 20–22 cm long with a strong dark  beak  and long wings. The male has black upperparts and head, and  scarlet  underparts, tail edges, rump, and wing patches. The shape and colour of the wing patches and the shade of orange in the male vary across populations.  The female is grey above, with yellow underparts, including the face, tail edges, rump and wing patches. This minivet catches  insects  in trees by flycatching or while perched. It flushes insects out of foliag...

The  dusky eagle-owl  is an  owl  species that is widespread in  South and  Southeast Asia. The dusky eagle-owl occurs from India, Nepal, and Bangladesh to Myanmar, Thailand, Malaysia. Peninsular Malaysia, it has been recorded in oil palm plantations during surveys carried out between autumn 2009 and 2010 in the states of Selangor, Perak, Pahang, and Negeri Sembilan. Its preferred habitats are wetlands with dense tree cover. The dusky eagle-owl is a large greyish-brown owl with prominent ear tufts. Its underparts are greyish-white with some dark brown streaks, and its dark brown wings have some whitish streaks. It is about 58 cm in size. The dusky eagle-owl is usually active at night and emerges from its roost shortly before sunset. In cloudy weather, it sometimes also hunts during the day. The nesting season is from November to April. The nest is made o...

  The  brown fish owl is a  fish owl  species in the family known as typical owls. It is native from Turkey to South and Southeast Asia.  It inhabits forests and wooded wetlands. Of the four living species of fish owl, it is the most widely distributed, most common, and best-studied. It occupies a range of over 7,000 km. The brown fish owl is an all-year resident throughout most tropical and subtropical parts of the  Indian Subcontinent to Southeast Asia and adjoining regions. The brown fish owl has prominent ear tufts and rufous-brown upperparts that are heavily streaked with black or dark brown. Its underparts are whitish, with wavy dark brown streaks and finer brown barring. Its throat is white and conspicuously puffed. Its facial disk is indistinct, the bill dark and the  iris golden yellow. Its featherless feet are yellow. Two-year-old brown fish owls are somewhat paler than adults. Females an...

The B ar-headed Goose  breeds in  Central Asia  in colonies of thousands near mountain lakes and during winters they usually breed in South Asia , as far south as peninsular India. It lays three to eight eggs at a time in a ground nest. It is known for the extreme altitudes it reaches when migrating across the Himalayas.   The bird is pale grey and is easily distinguished from any of the other grey geese because of the black bars on its head. It is also much paler than the other geese in its family. In-flight, its call is a typical goose honking.   The Bar-headed Goose has an extremely large range and can be found in Afghanistan, Bangladesh Bhutan, China, India, Mongolia, Myanmar, Nepal, Russia, Thailand, and Vietnam. They have also been introduced to Canada and Spain. These birds prefer high altitude mountain lakes.  Their powerful and constant flight helps generate body heat, which is retained by their down feathers. Such heat helps keep ice from...

This large stork has a heavy yellow beak with a down-curved tip that gives it a resemblance to an Ibis . The head of the adult is bare and orange or reddish in colour.  There is a distinctive black breast band with white scaly markings on them.  The rest of the body is whitish in adults.  The legs are yellowish to red  and t heir short tail is black with a green gloss.  Males and females appear alike but the males of a pair are usually larger than the female.  The young ones are mainly whitish with grey bills and blackish facial skin. The juveniles assume a brownish plumage and like most other storks reach breeding conditions after two to three years. Painted storks feed in groups in shallow wetlands, crop fields, and irrigation canals.  They feed mainly on small fish which they sense by touch while slowly sweeping their half-open bill from side to side while it held submerged.  They also take frogs and the occasional snake.  Image 1 - Adult...

  The Indian Scops Owl  is a resident species of  South Asia .  The Indian scops owl is a small owl of 23 to 25cm in height, although it is one of the largest of the scops owl . Like other scops owls, it has small ears . The upperparts are grey or brown  with faint brownish-yellow  spotting. The underparts are  brownish-yellow  with fine darker streaking. The facial disc is  brownish-yellow  and the eyes are orange or brown.   The Indian scops owl is nocturnal . Through its natural camouflage , it is very difficult to see in the daytime, but may sometimes be located by the trees with smalls birds resting in it. It feeds mainly on insects .

  The K alij Pheasant  is a  pheasant  found in forests and thickets, especially in the  Himalayan  foothills, from  India to western  Thailand . The majority of this birds diet is made up of seeds however it will also feed on leaves, buds and a small number of insects. They nest in burrows . In the above image the blue one is the male whereas the brown one is the female . There life expectancy is 10 - 15 years. Note for bird watchers - They are mainly found in dense forests of Sattal , Uttrakhand.  

BLUE WINGED SIVA  A brightly colored bird of lowland and foothill forests. Usually travels in large groups, and is often a chief component of mixed-species feeding flocks. Adult is a powdery gray-blue overall with blue highlights on the wings and tail. The face and sides are tinged soft gray-brown. Varies considerably over range; birds in southern Southeast Asian portion of range are very gray, lacking bright colors. Sexes alike. Acrobatic, often hanging upside down on branches to probe for invertebrates and fruit hidden by foliage.   Image Location -  Sattal , Uttrakhand , India . 

We all have urbanized, we all have embraced urbanisation but at what cost ?  This beautiful bird is known as The Oriental White Eye . In 2014 when I was still learning the basics of photography , I would often spot this bird in my garden hopping from tree to tree and basking in the morning summer sun . But today in 2020 this bird has disappeared from our gardens , our homes and our cities . Recently I had visited a reserved bird habitat where after 3 years I saw an oriental white eye . We all have destroyed the habitats of these birds and now not many places are left for them to take refuge . Today I leave you with this thought to ponder over , we often in a joking manner ask - " Why did the chicken cross the road ?" Well I think the poor creature had to cross a road because we barged into it's home and destroyed it's habitat .