Saturday, October 31, 2009

Egret

Egrets are white or milky white herons. This photo is taken from a moving local train on the way to Howrah fr0m Panskura. The egret is wading through the water logged paddy field on the side of the train line for food.


Photo: Arunangshu Sinha, Salt Lake, Kolkata.

Friday, October 30, 2009

The Bat

The bat is here seen eating a ripe guava at night. They eat insects and fruits. There are different kinds of bats, some love to drink nectar like butterflies and bees, some others are fruit eating bat (like this in pic.), some bats eat fish and so on. Bats are mammals like us; the only kind of mammal that can fly. Bats come out at night (nocturnal animal).



Photo: Shankar Sinha, Panskura

Thursday, October 29, 2009

The Green Bee Eater

The green bee-eater: this is known as 'banspati' in Bengal.
This nice green cloured bird is a bee-eater that usually eats various insects, especially bees and dragonflies. They also eat wasps. The bee-eaters are generally found in the open areas, rice field and farmlands. This is seen to be sitting on an electrical wire.
This has been captured in the rural area of Panskura, East Midnapore, West Bengal.

For more detail:

Photo: Shankar Sinha, Panskura.

Wednesday, October 28, 2009

Blue Throated Barbet

This beautiful bird was calling continuously and hopping from one tree to another in the hot sun. This we spotted at our village home at Ruppur in Nadia district, West Bengal.
These barbet birds eat fruits and insects.





Photo: Abhijit Kar Gupta, Kolkata

For more details:

Snow Leopard

Watching us! This snow leopard is resting inside its enclosure at the zoological park in Gangtok, Sikkim.
The snow leopards are found in Himalayan region, western China, in some parts of central Asia and in Russia.
For more details:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snow_Leopard



Photo: Abhijit Kar Gupta, Kolkata

Goral

The goral is sitting on the top of an elevated place. We found this in Gnagtok zoological park, Sikkim.

The Himalayan Civet

We captured this at the zoological park at Gangtok, Sikkim when we went to Sikkim last year.

Monday, October 26, 2009

The Drongo and the Goat

The drongo ('fingey') is peacefully riding over the goat and the goat does not mind! Beautiful friendship. Drongo is very commonly seen if you go to rural areas. They are found in open areas, around the paddy field, around the lands of cultivation. They are also often seen sitting on the overhead electric wires.
We have taken this photo near Kolaghat Railway station, East Midnapore, WB.

Sunday, October 25, 2009

The Cuckoo (female)

We spotted this female cuckoo (the Asian Koel) at our backyard at the end of last summer. We used to hear the nice call from cuckoos very often in the middle of the day. But usually they are not seen. They generally do not come out in the hot sun and they hide among the leaves and the branches of a tree.

Click the following for more detail:

Friday, October 23, 2009

The Dove

The Dove ('ghughu' in Bengali). This is sitting on a peepul tree at Panskura. This is a very common bird all over.


Photo: Dr. Arunangshu Sinha, Kolkata

Wednesday, October 21, 2009

Red Panda

We found this red panda at the zoological park at the outskirts of Gangtok, Sikkim. The red pandas are found in the sub Himalayan region of north east of India and Sikkim. Outside India, it is found in China and Mayanmar. We learnt that red panda is the state animal of Sikkim (a small hill state of India). This is an endangered species now.
For more info:

Tuesday, October 20, 2009

The Discus Fish

The discus fish. These colourful fishes are originally from Amazon river or many of its tributaries in South America.



Photo: Dr. Arunangshu Sinha, Salt Lake, Kolkata.

For more info click the following:

The Discus Fish

The Discus fish is from an aquarium. These fishes are originally from Amazon river and its associated tributaries in South America.

Photo: Dr. Arunangshu Sinha, Salt Lake, Kolkata.

The Discus Fish

The Discus Fish in the aquarium. These fishes are originated in the Amazon river or many of its tributaries in South America. This photo is sent by our friend Arunagshu (Doro's 'Arunangshu jethu' ), the shot taken from his aquarium.

Photo: Dr. Arunangshu Sinha, Salt Lake, Kolkata

Sunday, October 18, 2009

Nilgiri Tahr (young)

WOW!
A young Nilgiri Tahr. Nilgiri Tahr is an endangered species, found in the Annamalai hills (close to Munnar, Kerala). 'This baby tahr looks cute, with a face so extraordinarily beautiful', said our friend Kallol (Doro's 'kallol uncle') who has sent this photo for our blog. Kallol, with his family recently visited Kerala, extreme south of India. (Photo: Dr. Kallol Bhattacharya, Kolkata)

Nilgiri Tahr (adult)

Nilgiri Tahr. The previous photo was of young one. This picture is taken by 'Ging dada', Kollol uncle's son. They recently visited Kerala, the south most state of India.
As we have learned, this is an endangered species, found in Annamali Hills (near Munnar, Kerala).


Photo: Ging (Souradeep Bhattacharya), Kolkata


Indian Cormorant - II

Another cormorant. We call this 'pankouri'. This picture is sent by our friend Kallol (Doro's 'Kallol uncle'). Recently they visited Kerala, extreme south of India. This bird is seen to be sitting on some log (seems to be from coconut tree) in the backwaters of Aleppi (Aleppuza), Kerala.

Photo: Dr. Kallol Bhattacharya
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Saturday, October 17, 2009

Indian Cormorant ('Pankouri')

We found this bird, sitting over the pond in our backyard. This is probably after it came out from water where it dived inside for fish.

Friday, October 16, 2009

White Throated Kingfisher

This kingfisher with grey head is seen in our backyard very often. Yesterday it was sitting over there on the dead branches fallen over the pond. It sat there for more than an hour...perhaps looking for fish or tadpoles. Unfortunately, we did not see it capturing one!
We think this is White throated (or White breasted kingfisher). For more info:

Dove ('Ghughu')

The dove seen sitting on a bottlebrush tree inside our campus. A group of pigeons and doves stay most of the time in this area around our house.

White Breasted Waterhen ('Dahuk')

We see a family of them in our backyard almost everyday. They are always on the water or around for their food. They look happy after rain.
For more information click the following:

Thursday, October 15, 2009

Chipmunk ('kathberali')

We found this and many of its friends while we were visiting the central park at Salt Lake, Kolkata. They were so busy climbing up and down the trees that it was difficult to take a photo. Some visitors in the park offered them some nuts, biscuits and cakes. They had a great fun.

Wednesday, October 14, 2009

Sun Bird ('Moutusi')

Black breasted sun bird. We call this 'Moutusi' here. Tiny bird, sitting over a branch of a banyan tree on a hot summer day. This was found jumping from one branch to other constantly.

Place: Panskura, Midnapore (East), West Bengal, India.

Night Heron

This night heron was spotted only once in the middle of the day in our backyard, over there on the pond. It waited there for long time but was a little away from our balcony. The night heron bird eats fish, frogs and the insects living in water (aquatic insects). You can see these birds waiting next to the water body for a long time for their catch. They usually live in nests made of sticks over trees.


Photo: Abhijit Kar Gupta, Kolkta.

Heron

This heron is seen almost regularly over the pond behind our apartment. This photo is captured from our room just after a good rain.

Indian Roller ('Nilkantha' in Bengali)

This is found to be sitting on overhead railway tracks near Kolaghat Railway station, Midnapore (East), West Bengal. These birds are rarely seen nowadays in this area. Usually they are spotted around vast green field or grass lands, in the rural areas.

The Small Blue Kingfisher (Common Kingfisher)

This is common kingfisher. This one is different from the earlier 'stork billed kingfisher', which was much bigger in size. This is also found in our backyard. Now it is sitting over the pond and watching fish movements.

Tuesday, October 13, 2009

Leopard

Common leopard found in the zoological garden at Gangtok, Sikkim. He was taking rest in the huge area covered by high net. We were very close!

Monday, October 12, 2009

Stork Billed Kingfisher ('Machhranga' in Bengali)

The kingfishers are blue coloured birds that live in our backyard and they eat fishes, tadpoles and insects. My father tries to capture the big common kingfisher but it dosen’t like to sit in one place. Here is the stork billed kingfisher in our backyard.

For more information click the site below:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kingfisher

Black-rumped Flameback Woodpecker ('Kaththokra' in Bengali)

This woodpecker did not sit at one place for long, always flying from one tree to another. This was found on a tree at Panskura, East Midnapore, WB.
I know three kinds of woodpeckers: green woodpecker, great spotted woodpecker and lesser spotted woodpecker. This one is a different kind.

Saturday, October 10, 2009

White Wagtail ('Khanjan' in Bengali)

This is White Wagtail. Two of them come everyday on the lawn of our complex. They eat insects, worms from the grass and wag their tail. When someone comes near to them they fly away and sit over the tall building nearby.