India bird close-ups

This White-throated Kingfisher put on a display right next to our car. It was a juvenile, and we watched this display several times as its parent was approaching it with food.





Common Kestrel, hunting on the same mountainside as the kingfisher.




Jungle Owlet. We actually saw two of them, both in Periyar National Park.


Purple Sunbird:


Grey Junglefowl - the progenitor of our domesticated chickens. Or at least, as the studies show, it contributed 10% to its genes.




This woodpecker is known as Lesser Goldenback.


Red-whiskered Bulbul:


These bulbuls are so common that after a few hours, we all but stopped paying any attention to them.


Chestnut-headed Bee-eater.




Indian Roller:


Indian Game Fowl - not a wild bird, but some sort of a supersize breed of domestic chicken. And yes, it was originally bred to be hunted on hunting preserves:


Common Rosefinch:


Ashy Prinia:


Long-tailed Shrike:


Lesser Hill Myna:


Malabar Parakeet:


Intermediate Egret - this was one of the last birds that we saw on the trip:

India Hornbills

One of the most impressive birds inhabiting south India is a Malabar Grey Hornbill. On my first trip there, I didn't see any - but then I heard that they are relatively common and easily seen! So on this trip our friends made a point to find them - and find we did.





But we got the best view of them literally during our last 10 minutes of the trip, when we were on our way to check out from the hotel. There was a mother-and-juvenile pair preening and feeding right next to our rooms:










This is the mother:


And this is its chick (already grown to sub-adult). The eyes stay black until it's fully grown.




Other iconic Indian birds - you can't go to India and not bring back a picture of its wild peacocks. Here is a male roaming through the fields:


And a female about to invade someone's compound:


This is a Chestnut-headed Bee-eater. It plucks bees and wasps out of air with its pointed bill and - after removing their stings - eats them whole.


Ashy Drongo:


Purple Sunbird:


Purple Sunbird - female - in its garden:


Nesting Indian Cormorant in Periyar Lake:


Oriental Darter. It's a cousin to America's anhingas, and both are also called snake-birds in their respective countries, for their tendency to swim with just the neck and head sticking out of the water.


Pied Kingfisher on one of the flooded trees in Periyar Lake:

India wildlife

The only elephant we encountered on our trip:



This is a gaur, or Indian bison:




Sambar deer:




A mongoose:


Wild boars:






Indian river otters:


Muntjac, or barking deer:


A chameleon in Chennai:




Malabar Giant Squirrel:


Poisonous lizard near a cardamom plantation:


Is this a leaf or an insect? It was difficult to tell at first, until I got closer:


Here is another one, with the wings fully outstretched:


Proof that not all butterflies in India are about function only: