Munias Bird

Munias

Munias comprise the genus Lonchura, part of the family Estrildidae. These are finch-like birds of modest size with short, powerful bills which have evolved to pluck and crush grass seed and other small grains.
Many munias are strikingly patterned, albeit with various shades of brown, plus black and white.
They are mainly open-country, marshland or forest edge birds. Many species are able to survive in semi-urban or cultivated areas where long grass and other vegetation is left untended, for example along roadsides and railway lines.
They generally congregate in small flocks of less than 10 individuals, and sometimes in mixed flocks with other munia species. Some species may congregate in large flocks when food is particularly abundant.
Spherical nests are constructed amongst tangles of open vegetation or discretely hidden amongst dense vegetation : the entrance to the nest is from the side. Such nests may be vulnerable to predation from tree climbing snakes.
Munias are distributed from Africa, through South Asia and Southeast Asia to the western Pacific (especially New Guinea). Around 20 species of munia occur within Southeast Asia.
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Asian Crested Ibis

Asian Crested Ibis

 This species is the only member of the genus Nipponia.
They make their nests at the tops of trees on hills usually overlooking their habitat. Crested Ibises usually eat frogs, small fish, and small animals.
At one time, the Crested Ibis was widespread in Japan, China, Korea, Taiwan, and Russia. It has now disappeared from most of its former range. The last wild Crested Ibis in Japan died in October 2003, with the remaining wild population found only in Shaanxi province of China until reintroduction of captive bred birds back into Japan in 2008. They were previously thought to be extinct in China too, until 1981 when only seven ibises were seen in Shaanxi, China.
Extensive captive breeding programs have been developed by Japan and China to conserve the species. They were put on the State Protection List in China. Also, for the past 23 years, China has bred and protected the species. In 2002, there was a total of 130 colonies in China. Northwest Shaanxi province's research center has a history of 26 Crested Ibis fledglings including artificial, and natural incubation. On July 31, 2002, five out of seven Crested Ibis chicks hatched at an incubation center in northwest Shaanxi province. This was one of the latest records and highest record ever recorded of chicks that hatched. The parents of the chicks were chosen from 60 ibis pairs raised at that research center.
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Forest Owlet

Forest Owlet

The Forest Owlet is small (23 cm) and stocky. It is a typical owlet with a rather unspotted crown and heavily banded wings and tail. They have a relatively large skull and beak. Unlike the Spotted Owlet, the Forest Owlet has the fewer and fainter spots on the crown and back. The upperparts are dark grey-brown. The upper breast is almost solid brown and the sides are barred with a white central wedge in the lower breast that is sometimes unmarked, especially in males. The primaries are darker and distinct. The wings and tail are banded with white trailing edges. A dark carpal patch on the underwing visible in flight. The facial disc is pale and the eyes are yellow.
The species epithet commemorates F. R. Blewitt, the collector of the first specimen that was obtained in December 1872 from Busnah-Phooljan near Basna on the Phuljar highway in eastern Madhya Pradesh. The specimen was sent to Allan Octavian Hume who described it in 1873.
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Kakapo Parrot

Kakapo

The kakapo is one of the largest species of parrot in the world with the average adult kakapo growing to around 60 cm in height. The kakapo is the heaviest species of parrot in the world and it is due to this weight that the kakapo is one of the few bird species that is unable to fly.

The kakapo is native to the forests of New Zealand and the kakapo is not found in the wild anywhere else in the world. The flightless kakapo is thought to have once thrived in it's New Zealand habitat due to the fact that there were no mammals that would hunt the kakapo, and this is thought to be another reason as to why the kakapo has evolved to be a ground dwelling bird.

Like many other animal species found on New Zealand's islands, the kakapo was of great importance to the local tribes people and the kakapo appears in many local tales and folklore. The native people would hunt the kakapo for it's meat and it's feathers which the local tribesmen would use to make clothes.

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Brazilian Merganser

Brazilian Merganser

The Brazilian merganser is one of the ten most threatened waterfowl in the world, with possibly fewer than 250 birds thought to remain . This dark, slender duck has a shiny dark-green hood with a long crest, which is usually shorter and worn-looking in females . Upperparts are dark grey while the breast is light grey, getting paler towards the whitish belly, and a white wing patch (speculum) is particularly noticeable in flight . The bill is long and dark , shorter in the female , and the legs are pink to orange-red.
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Great Indian Bustard

Indian Bustard

The Great Indian Bustard is a large ground bird with a height of about a metre. It is unmistakable with its black cap contrasting with the pale head and neck. The body is brownish with a black patch spotted in white. The male is deep sandy buff coloured and during the breeding season has a black breast band. The crown of the head is black and crested and is puffed up by displaying males. In the female which is smaller than the male, the head and neck are not pure white and the breast band is either rudimentary, broken or absent.
Males have a well-developed gular pouch which is inflated when calling during display and helps produce the deep resonant calls.Among bustards, this species is smaller only than the Kori Bustard and the Great Bustard in size. It is also the largest land bird in its native range. The Great Indian Bustard stands at about 1 m (3.3 ft) tall, having a somewhat long neck and quite long legs. The female as in most members of the bustard family are typically considerably smaller.
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Jungle Babbler Bird

 Jungle Bbbler of Asia

The Jungle Babbler's habitat is forest and cultivation. This species, like most babblers, is non-migratory, and has short rounded wings and a weak flight. The sexes are identical, drably coloured in brownish grey with a yellow-bill making them confusable only with the endemic Yellow-billed Babblers of peninsular India and Sri Lanka. The upperparts are usually slightly darker in shade and there is some mottling on the throat and breast. The race somervillei of Maharastra has a very rufous tail and dark primary flight feathers.The Jungle Babbler can be separated from the White-headed Babbler by the dark loreal zone between the bill and the eye as well as the lack of a contrasting light crown. The calls of the two species are however distinct and unmistakable. The Jungle Babbler has harsh nasal calls while the White-headed Babbler has high pitched calls. Another babbler that is similarly found in urban areas is the Large Grey Babbler, however that species has a distinctive long tail with white outer tail feathers.
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