Grey Francolin

I saw this small flock of Grey Francolins by the road side during our drive from Jodhpur to Osiyan in October 2011. The bird looks simply awesome. They are very vocal. However, they routinely become victims of road kills on the highways of Rajasthan.

Purple Swamphen

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Went to Barkul to witness the hatching of Olive Ridley turtles. Had driven down from Calcutta on Friday, 5th April 2013 and Saturday was a free day when we went to Manglajodi. Recorded the Purple Swamphen's interesting calls and here it is for a listen. The image was taken from an earlier trip to Manglajodi.  

Black-tailed Godwit

Went to Barkul to witness the hatching of Olive Ridley turtles. Had driven down from Calcutta on Friday, 5th April 2013 and Saturday was a free day when we went to Manglajodi. There recorded the calls of the flagship bird of Manglajodi. This photograph was taken at Barkul on Chilika though. This particular bird, though very commonly found in Manglajodi, is a "near-threatened" species as per IUCN red list. Here are two particular vocalisations of the bird.

Greater Racket-tailed Drongo

This is one of the most ubiquitous birds in Goa's Bhagwan Mahabir WLS and they are very loud and garrulous. It doesn't take any special talent to record them. You just hold the microphone in their direction :-) When I was recording this bird I didn't have the external microphone. This image and the call is of the same individual bird. 

Black-hooded Oriole

I love the Bengali name of the black-hooded oriole. Bene Bou. It means the goldsmith's wife. Traditionally they wear a lot of gold ornaments. With its golden colour the bird is quite aptly named. These birds have a wide repertoire of calls. Here are three of them from my collection. 

I recorded the first one at Shyamkhola on a quiet morning. One of those rare occasions when there was no loudspeaker playing in the distance blaring some religious song. 

This is another type of vocalisation recorded at Dhakuria Lake And this is yet another different vocalisation.  CKBS.

Oriental Pratincole

As we were coming back from Kharibari (31st March, 2013) through Rajarhat we decided to check out if the Oriental Pratincoles could be seen. Construction activity in Rajarhat has increased considerably and we weren't too hopeful. Suddenly one of our friends spotted a flock of them swoop down on an open grassland. We immediately got out from our car for a good sighting. With the recorder on I was lucky to get the vocalisation of a lone bird that was encircling a small area overhead. Later, while uploading on Xeno-Canto I was surprised to find that this is the first recording of the species from India !!!
Incidentally this photograph was taken in Manglajodi in January 2012.
To listen to the recording click here

Wood Sandpiper

Went to Kharibari on Sunday, 31st March and made a number of recordings. This species offered both - an opportunity for a good photograph and a decent sound recording that I uploaded today (the pic and the vocalisation is not of the same individual) on Xeno-Canto. I must confess that when I saw and heard the bird in flight I couldn't identify it but knew it was some sandpiper - from the shape of its body. Later, while matching the calls I realised I had recorded a Wood Sandpiper :) That's the beauty of internet and modern technology. 

To listen to the recording click here or the embedded file below