Top 25 Wild Bird Photographs of the Week #106

Posted by Steve Boyes of National Geographic Expeditions

The Bar-headed Goose is particularly distinctive with the black bands on the back of the head. This goose is native to the highland wetlands of China and Mongolia but spends its winter in the comparatively warmer India. Photo by Ayan Guin

 

Souvik Pal captured this female Black-headed Bunting foraging. Male Black-headed Buntings have a bright yellow plumage with a black head but as is the case with most bird species, the female is comparatively drab.

 

The impact of cats predating on wild birds  will vary between species. In the case of the Black Redstart population of Sweden, cat predation is estimated to reduce productivity by 12%. Photo by  Tushar Tripathi T T

 

The Eurasian Hoopoe’s claim to fame is its status as National Bird of Israel. Photo by Ganesh Rao

 

The Cyprus Warbler has a very restricted range and breeds only in Cyprus. With  such species there is always concern that they could become vulnerable to extinction. For this reason Birdlife International has designated ‘Endemic Bird Areas’ (EBA) to prioritize conservation efforts for these areas. The Cyprus Warbler falls within one of these EBAs. Photo by Antonis Tsaknakis

 

Greater Flamingoes have a varied diet, ranging from aquatic insects, to plant matter and crabs. Sometimes flamingoes will even ingest mud so as to digest the bacteria within it. Photo by Harish Kumar Kohli

 

Greater Yellow-naped Woodpeckers breed in cavities which are excavated by both the male and female. The female will lay between two and four eggs which will be incubated by both parents. Photo by Momita Bhattacharya

 

Both male and female Rufous Hummingbirds are strongly territorial. Males push females out of patches with denser flower density which is why females tend to hold larger territories with sparser flower densities. Photo by Jola Charlton

 

Here we have an Oriental Dwarf Kingfisher with prey. These vibrant birds feed mostly on insects but will also take lizards, frogs and fish. Photo by Nitin A Chavan

 

Pacific Golden Plovers breed in the Arctic tundra and then undertake a migration to south Asia and Australasia for the winter. One bird with a tracker was found to do a non stop flight of 4800km over 3 days! Photo by Carlo Galliani

 

The Purple-rumped Sunbird is endemic, that is to say unique, to the Indian Sub-continent. Within its range it is fairly common and is even thought to be increasing in parts of it. Photo by Sushil Khekare

 

Purple Sunbirds are usually seem foraging in pairs or small groups, in some cases larger groups of 45 to 50 individuals may form. Photo by Hemant Chhatre

 

Red-chested Pochard are known to occur naturally in Great Britain but captive releases have also contributed to the numbers of this species on the island. Photo by Sandipan Ghosh

 

The Rock Bush Quail’s is thought to be in decline, mainly due to high levels of hunting and habitat destruction. Photo by Chandrashekhar Shirur

 

The Rufous-gorgetted Flycatcher prefer forests and scrubby habitats where they can be found foraging for insects in the undergrowth. Amit Kumar Srivastava photographed this one in Sattal, India

 

The Sarus Crane is one of the many waterbird species which is threatened by the loss of wetland habitat. This species has declined to such an extent that it is now listed as vulnerable on the IUCN redlist. Photo by Dipak Marfatia

 

Contrary to its name, the Siberian Stonechat’s range extends much further than Siberia, it breeds in much of temperate Asia and spends the winter further south. This one was photographed in central India by Goutam Mitra

 

Small Niltava nests are parasitised by much larger birds like Asian Lesser Cuckoos, Large Hawk-cuckoos and Hodgson’s Hawk-cuckoos. Photo by Amit Kumar Srivastava

 

The Small Pratincole is most active at twilight where they form large foraging flocks, these flocks catch insects on the wing, performing zig-zag flights much like swallows. Photo by  Souvik Pal

 

Spot-billed Pelicans need to eat about a kilogram a day, their diet has not been well documented but is thought to consist mainly of fish. Photo by Sathya Vagale

 

The Tickell’s Blue Flycatcher is quite common in India and Sri Lanka. This beautiful male was photographed in Ganeshgudi, India by Vidya Vijay Kulkarni

 

A Whiskered Tern captured spectacularly in low light by Prasenjit Sarkar

 

The White-bellied Blue Flycatcher occurs only along the western Ghats of India, an area renowned for its avian biodiversity. Photo by Ram Vaidyanathan

 

This charming little White-cheeked Bushtit is native to Afghanistan and Pakistan. Photo by Wajahat Malik

 

While urbanization is threatening many species across the globe, the Peregrine Falcon has found a way to use the city to their advantage and are doing very well in one of the largest cities in the world, New York. Photo by Leslie Reagan

 

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