2023 for better or worse _ Soukous

[Kitsafari]

@Soukous beautiful shots.  I first knew the Indochinese roller as the Burmese roller and somewhere along the way some smarter person renamed it Indochinese Roller, and history was made... or not. I find the Indian roller more colourful actually.

We get the Chinese, Indian and Javan pond herons over here during migration season and they are all in non-breeding colours, which means we can make all the herons into Chinese or Indian or Javan as  much as we like, and we can never be wrong.  

[BRACQUENE]

Stunning photos Martin : the Stork-billed Kingfisher hasn't stolen his name  

[Soukous]

A quick break from India to share a couple of recent sightigs closer to home.

 

#81 - Mandarin Duck - Aix galericulata

Suffolk, UK. April 2023

 

 

 

 

and the female Mandarin

 

# 82 - Wood Duck or Carolina Duck - Aix Sponsa

 

Suffolk, UK. April 2023

 

 

 

Edited April 17, 2023 by Soukous

[Tdgraves]

Where did these ducks escape from Martin?

[PeterHG]

Spectacular ducks, Martin!

[Galana]

7 hours ago, TonyQ said:

said it is almost impossible to tell the difference between Indian and Chinese pond heron in non breeding plumage

My Field guide which works well without batteries (NOT Merlin) says exactly what Tony's guide told him.

I vote you count half of each.

Great collection building rapidly. I love the way one of your pics of OpenBills casually shows two Rhino in the background as though they were as common as domestic cows.

[Soukous]

14 hours ago, Tdgraves said:

Where did these ducks escape from Martin?

 

No Idea, they just arrived in Suffolk, close to the Norfolk border a short while ago and seem to like it.

[Soukous]

11 hours ago, Galana said:

I love the way one of your pics of OpenBills casually shows two Rhino in the background as though they were as common as domestic cows.

 

In Kaziranga there are more One Horned Rhinos than any other mammal, 2700 of them. They did look a bit like cattle out grazing.

[Galana]

4 hours ago, Soukous said:

No Idea, they just arrived in Suffolk, close to the Norfolk border a short while ago and seem to like it.

I blame Border Force.

[Soukous]

On 4/14/2023 at 5:04 PM, Tdgraves said:

Where did these ducks escape from Martin?

 

OK, I've done some asking around. I contacted the land owner on whose property I saw the ducks. He told me that one of his neighbours breeds them, and exotic pheasants.

I cant count them  but I'll leave the pictures as they are very pretty ducks.

Edited April 16, 2023 by Soukous

[Galana]

1 hour ago, Soukous said:

I cant count them  but I'll leave the pictures as they are very pretty ducks.

Why not? Free winged and not restrained and the title of your thread covers the sighting..

[Soukous]

14 minutes ago, Galana said:

Why not?

 

It just doesn't feel right to include birds that were bred a mile from where I saw them. Free-winged for sure, but they don't stray far from home.

[Galana]

Cos they do occur in the wild.

By sheer chance I was watching a video about Stourport on Severn and there they were on the river.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2cIIhB94Ho0

No need to watch it all. FF to 8.42.

[Soukous]

# 81 - Common Myna - Acridotheres tristis

Assam, India. March 2023

 

 

# 82 - Black Drongo - Dicrurus macrocercus

Kaziranga, India. March 2023

 

 

# 83 - Citrine Wagtail - Motacilla citreola

Kaziranga NP. India. March 2023

 

 

 

# 84 - Ruddy Shelduck - Tadorna ferruginea

Kaziranga NP India. March 2023

 

 

# 85 - Grey-backed Shrike - Lanius tephronotus

Kaziranga NP, India. March 2023

 

 

 

# 86 - Common Snipe - Gallinago gallinago

Kaziranga NP India. March 2023

 

 

# 87 - Rose-ringed Parakeet - Psittacula krameri

Kaziranga NP India. March 2023

 

 

# 88 - Lineated Barbet - Megalaima lineata

Kaziranga NP India. March 2023

 

 

 

 

# 89 - Pied Kingfisher - Ceryle rudis

Kaziranga NP India. March 2023

 

 

 

# 90 - Striated Grassbird - Megalurus palustris

Kaziranga NP India. March 2023

 

 

 

Edited April 19, 2023 by Soukous

[Soukous]

# 91 - Black-headed Ibis - Threshkiornis melanocephalus

Kazirange NP India. March 2023

 

 

# 92 - Woolly-necked Stork - Ciconia episcopus

Kaziranga NP, India. March 2023

 

 

 

# 93 - Asian Pied Starling - Gracupica contra

Kaziranga NP, India. March 2023

 

 

# 94 - River Tern - Sterna aurantia

Kaziranga NP, India. March 2023

 

 

# 95 - Asian Barred Owlet - Glaucidium cuculoides

Manas NP, India. March 2023

 

 

 

# 96 - Green Imperian Pigeon - Ducula aenea

Manas NP, India. March 2023

 

 

 

# 97 - Paddyfield Pipit - Anthus rufulus

Manas NP, India. March 2023

 

 

# 98 - Great Hornbill - Buceros bicornis

Kaziranga NP, India. March 2023

 

We only found this because we heard the female drumming from inside the nest hole.

 

having found the female we figured it was worth waiting around for a while to see it the male turned up. 10 minutes later he did arrive, bringing food for his mate.

 

 

 

which he proceeded to feed her. before flying off again

 

 

# 99 - Scarlet Minivet - Pericrocotus (flammeus) speciosus

Manas NP, India. March 2023

 

We saw several MInivets in Kaziranga & Manas but apart from this one, they were very camera shy

 

 

 

the female was close by

 

# 100 - White-throated Bulbul - Alophoixus flaveolus

Manas NP, India. April 2023

 

 

 

[Galana]

Congratulations on your Century. for better or worse.

[Zim Girl]

Congratulations on the century.  Love the hornbill pictures!

 

[pedro maia]

Congrats on the first century, the hornbill sequence is great.

[Tdgraves]

“Liked” but didn’t notice the count - congrats 

[PeterHG]

Congrats on the century. Beautiful photos again in your last batches. Great flight shots of the Kingfisher and I love the Hornbills as well.

[michael-ibk]

Congrats on #100, really beautiful photos. Especially love the Hornbill! 

[Peter Connan]

Congratulations!

Beautiful!

[xelas]

My congratulations, and what a beautiful bird you have chosen for #100!

[TonyQ]

Well done on an excellent 100. Very enjoyable 

[BRACQUENE]

Excellent century : Congratulations !