Top 25 Wild Bird Photographs of the Week #110

Posted by Steve Boyes of National Geographic Expeditions

An Asian Barred Owlet captured beautifully in its preferred woodland habitat. Photo by Amit Srivastava

 

You will often hear the distinctive call of the Bald Eagle in American films. Photo by Leslie Reagan

 

Collared Kingfishers will usually raise two broods each breeding season. This kingfisher was photographed in India by Ambar Chakraborty

 

Common Kingfishers have a wide range over Europe and Asia. Birds living in the temperate regions do not migrate but those living in areas which regularly reach freezing point, will migrate south for the winter. Photo by Kuntal Das

 

The Dark-eyed Junco is distributed across North America and Canada. This curious bird was photographed in Washington state by Tim Nicol

 

The Eurasian Hobby will mostly catch insects and occasionally birds and bats. One particularly skilful Eurasian Hobby was observed catching 6 bats from a colony in flight in a space of 10 minutes. Photo by Sanjay Dutt Sharma

 

The Flame-throated Bulbul can only be found in the Western Ghats of India, a region renowned for its avian biodiversity. Photo by Shyam Sundar Nijgal

 

Juvenile Greater Flamingoes, like this one, are grey but they will develop rich pink plumage as they mature. This colouration comes from the carotenoid pigments within the algae and crustaceans that they eat.  Photo by Zafer Tekin

 

The Grey Bushchat will often have their nests parasitized by the Common Cuckoo. Photo by Sandipan Ghosh

 

A Greater Flamingo scouting for food, they have a varied diet consisting of aquatic invertebrates, algae and plant matter. Photo by Irtiza Bukhari

 

The Loten’s Sunbird is known to ‘steal’ nectar from flowers. This means that they puncture the base of the flower to get the nectar rather than reaching into the flower’s opening. This is considered ‘stealing’ as the flower does not get the benefit of pollination when the sunbird feeds from it in this way. Photo by Saswat Mishra

 

The Northern Lapwing inhabits a wide variety of open habitats, including wetlands and agricultural land. Photo by Irtiza Bukhari

 

An Osprey captured in action. Ospreys have powerful talons and spiny foot pads which help them to catch slippery fish. Photo by Amitava Ganguly

 

Painted Francolins seem to time their breeding with the rainy season. The females lay their eggs in a scrape on the ground. Photo by Narahari Kanike

 

Palm Tanagers are often found in areas with a high density of palms. Photo by Owen Deutsch

 

The Pied Avocet has a distinctly up-curved bill. Photo by Irtiza Bukhari

 

Pine Siskins often have their nests parasitized by Brown-headed Cowbirds. Photo by Tim Nicol

 

The vibrant Purple-rumped Sunbird occurs only in India. They are very active birds, fleeting from bush to bush to feed on nectar and insects. Photo by Sushil Khekare

 

A female Purple Sunbird about to probe a flower for nectar. Photo by Kuntal Das

 

During the non-breeding season, Red-rumped Swallows roost in reed beds. Photo by Ganesh Rao

 

During the winter Rock Ptarmigans have completely white plumage and during the summer their plumage is brown, this allows them ample camouflage in the tundra habitats they inhabit. Photo by Michal Richter

 

A male Rufous Hummingbird in flight. Females look quite different to the males, with a paler breast and a green back. Photo by Tim Nicol

 

The Sarus Crane is considered vulnerable to extinction due to the extent to which their wetland habitats have been transformed. Photo by Suketu Purohit

 

A Terek Sandpiper foraging in the sand for invertebrates and crustaceans. Photo by Aravind Venkatraman

 

The Yellow-bellied Prinia is fairly common in reedbed and grassy habitats of south-east Asia. Photo by Souvik Pal

 

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