Happy Holidays

Hi All,

I just thought I'd wish all of you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

I'm away on holidays at the moment and will not be able to post any new images on the blog as I do not have access to Photoshop. However, expect a whole lot of new posts from mid January covering  Flycatchers, Drongos Indian Rollers and a whole lot more.

Cheers,
Dev

White-rumped Munia

The White-rumped Munia or White-rumped Mannikin (Lonchura striata), sometimes called Striated Finch in aviculture, is a small passerine bird from the family of waxbill "finches". More info inside.
The White-rumped Munia is about 10-11cm in length with a stubby grey bill and a long black pointed tail. Adult birds are brown above and on the breast and lighter below. Sexes are almost impossible to distinguish in all subspecies.

The bird is a resident breeder ranging from South Asia, to Southern China, East to Taiwan and South to Sumatra. It frequents open woodland, grassland and scrub and adapts well to agricultural land use. It is a gregarious bird which feeds mainly on seeds, moving through the undergrowth in groups. The nest is a large domed grass structure in a tree, bush or grass into which 3-8 white eggs are laid. It is a common and widespread species across a large range and is not considered a threatened species by the IUCN.
Source-http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White-rumped_Munia

I photographed this bird in our garden. It was having a drink in the bird bath when I noticed it and luckily the camera, with the 100-400mm, was with me. I had to push the ISO to 1600 as it was late evening and the light wasn't good. The fact that the birdbath was in the shadow of a tree didn't help matters either. I'm pretty happy that I managed to capture a sharp image of the bird using a shutter of 1/40, handheld.

Red-rumped Parrot

The Red-rumped Parrot is a medium sized slender parrot found in the south-east of Australia. More images and info inside.

The adult male, shown above, is bright green with a blue green head, a red rump and yellow shoulders and belly. The female is a duller olive green with a green rump and faint yellow or light green scales on the belly. Young birds of both sexes are duller in colour. It is similar to the Mulga Parrot.

 

The Red-rumped Parrot is found in open grassland or lightly timbered plains, as well as along watercourses and in mallee farmlands with access to water. These Parrots feed in pairs or small flocks on the ground preferring to feed on seeds and leaves of grasses. They will also feed on fruits and flowers in trees. They can be seen feeding with other Parrots, including Eastern Rosellas and Galahs.

These birds mate for life. The female chooses and prepares the nesting site, usually a hollow in a eucalypt tree or, as shown above, in hollows found in wooden beams of buildings. Eggs are laid on a decayed wood bed and the female incubates the eggs while the male regularly feeds her. The young can be fed for a while after they fledge.
Source- http://birdsinbackyards.net/bird/104

The images in this post were taken at one of our friends farms in the Northern Hunter region of New South Wales. The birds are not easy to approach and I had to use a car as a hide to capture the images above. I was pretty lucky with the light as it was an overcast day. The female was perched in the shade under a roof and, as a result, the highlights in the background were blown.

Scaly-breasted Munia

The Scaly-breasted Munia is a common bird found throughout Sri Lanka, ascending to the highlands where it may be seen in the same habitat as the endemic Black throated Munia. More info after the jump.

The Scaly-breasted Munia, also known as the Nutmeg Manikin or the Spice Finch, is a resident breeder in tropical southern Asia from India and Sri Lanka east to Indonesia and the Philippines. It has also been introduced to Puerto Rico where they are already widespread in lowland agricultural areas. It feeds on seeds and can been seen foraging on grasslands and crops and is therefore considered a pest.

A typical clutch consists of 4 - 10 eggs which are laid in an untidy and dome shaped nest. It will move into gardens to occupy suitable nesting habitats. They move around in restless flocks, seldom staying in one place for long. The sexes are similar, juveniles have light brown upper parts  and have uniform buff under parts.

I found a small flock of these birds near the Thalangama tank one morning. They were moving about in the undergrowth feeding on seeds in the grass when I came across them. They move around a lot and it took a bit of patience to capture the image above. The bird in the image perched on a stick and paused for a little while to look around before disappearing into the undergrowth. Fortunately there was enough time for me to lock focus and capture the image.