Season birding commence : Winter 23 (Part I)

  Well, the winters are here, along with our amazing visitors friends in the beautiful grasslands of Banni with its hidden lakes, seasonal wetlands and marshes (to read in detail about Banni and its lakes and marshes, read my earlier post here).

   The wetlands of Banni keep shifting their location every season, and this time a lake has come up just next to the national highway with sizeable number of birds in it and rather close to Bhuj. Got an update of the presence of birds from a birder friend and set course for it on a weekend morning. We set course from the house about 1/2 an hour before sunrise and the pic details reveal that we had started clicking pics 05 mins before sunrise, so it was just a 25 min ride from home.

   A Great Egret (old world Great White Egret) with its

- long, black legs and feet

- long thin neck with characteristic S shape (more angular and pronounced kink)

- and long, all-yellow bill

A Great Egret

ID: Great Egret

Gear: Nikon D7200 with AF-S Nikkor 200 - 500mm F/5.6E ED VR
Exif: 500mm, f/5.6, 1/1250 sec, ISO 8000
DoP: Oct 23
Loc: Banni Grasslands, Bhuj Khavda Road, Kutch, Gujarat, India

    Three is a crowd; these Painted Stork definitely believe so as they squabbled for feeding territory. The Painted Stork are classified as Near Threatened and found only in the Indian subcontinent and the Indochina region. Interestingly, the Indus forms the western boundary of their range. To know more interesting facts about the Painted Storks, read my previous post here. 

Three's a crowd : Painted Storks squabbling over feeding territory 

ID: Painted Storks

Conservation Status: Near Threatened

Gear: Nikon D7200 with AF-S Nikkor 200 - 500mm F/5.6E ED VR
Exif: 500mm, f/5.6, 1/1250 sec, ISO 8000
DoP: Oct 23
Loc: Banni Grasslands, Bhuj Khavda Road, Kutch, Gujarat, India

   Saw a wedge of ibises flying past us. The Black-headed Ibis is also known as the Indian White Ibis. The species is suspected to be in moderately rapid decline owing to hunting, egg collecting, disturbance at breeding colonies, drainage and agricultural conversion, and is thus categorized as Near Threatened.

A wedge of Near Threatened Indian White Ibises flying past

ID: Indian White Ibis

Conservation Status: Near Threatened

Gear: Nikon D7200 with AF-S Nikkor 200 - 500mm F/5.6E ED VR
Exif: 500mm, f/5.6, 1/1250 sec, ISO 8000
DoP: Oct 23
Loc: Banni Grasslands, Bhuj Khavda Road, Kutch, Gujarat, India

   An Indian Spot-billed Duck. Its endemic to the Indian subcontinent and the Indochina region. To know more and see more pics of the Indian Spot-billed Duck, read my previous post here.

An Indian Spot-billed Duck

ID: Indian Spot-billed Duck

Gear: Nikon D7200 with AF-S Nikkor 200 - 500mm F/5.6E ED VR
Exif: 500mm, f/5.6, 1/1250 sec, ISO 5000
DoP: Oct 23
Loc: Banni Grasslands, Bhuj Khavda Road, Kutch, Gujarat, India

   A couple of Grey-headed Swamphen. Earlier called the Purple Swamphen, it has now been split into six separate species.

A pair of Grey-Headed Swamphen

ID: Grey-Headed Swamphen

Gear: Nikon D7200 with AF-S Nikkor 200 - 500mm F/5.6E ED VR
Exif: 500mm, f/5.6, 1/1250 sec, ISO 5600
DoP: Oct 23
Loc: Banni Grasslands, Bhuj Khavda Road, Kutch, Gujarat, India

   The Eurasian Spoonbill (Platalea leucorodia), or Common Spoonbill, is a wading bird of the ibis and spoonbill family. The genus name Platalea is from Latin and means "broad", referring to the distinctive shape of the bill, and leucorodia is from Ancient Greek leukerodios "spoonbill", itself derived from leukos, "white" and erodios "heron". It is called as the 'Chamcha' in Hindi and 'ચમચો' (Chamcho), which transliterates into Spoon.

   It has a crest in the breeding season. Unlike herons, spoonbills fly with their necks outstretched. They are mostly silent. Even at their breeding colonies the main sounds are bill snapping, occasional deep grunting and occasional trumpeting noises.

An Eurasian Spoonbill in breeding plumage showing off its crest

ID: Eurasian Spoonbill

Gear: Nikon D7200 with AF-S Nikkor 200 - 500mm F/5.6E ED VR
Exif: 500mm, f/5.6, 1/1250 sec, ISO 2800
DoP: Oct 23
Loc: Banni Grasslands, Bhuj Khavda Road, Kutch, Gujarat, India

   Eurasian spoonbills show a preference for extensive, shallow wetlands; including marshes, rivers, large waterbodies and flooded areas. Those that forage in salt or brackish water appear to feed almost entirely on shrimps and small fish.

   Species forages in small flocks, less often alone; wades methodically in shallow water, sweeping bill from side to side. They use sideways sweeps of their beaks to filter out the tiny fish and shrimps. Significance of the shape of the bill is controversial with conflicting hypotheses that it serves to minimize drag and turbulence during sweeping, hence not alarming potential prey and that it generates suction effects.

Eurasian Spoonbills foraging frantically in wetlands of Banni, Kutch

      A Great White Pelican with the rising sun.

Great White Pelican in sunrise

ID: Great White Pelican

Gear: Nikon D7200 with AF-S Nikkor 200 - 500mm F/5.6E ED VR
Exif: 270mm, f/5.6, 1/1250 sec, ISO 1100
DoP: Oct 23
Loc: Banni Grasslands, Bhuj Khavda Road, Kutch, Gujarat, India

   The great white pelican is a huge bird - the wingspan measures 226 to 360 cm (7 ft 5 in to 11 ft 10 in), the latter measurement being the highest among extant flying animals outside of the great albatross.

Greater Flamingos foraging

in wetlands of Banni Grasslands, Kutch

   In soft substrates, Greater Flamingos will employ a stamping or pit foraging behavior, turning in a circle around their bill to create a pit. 

That's all folks in this post, stay tuned for more...