Posted by Steve Boyes of National Geographic Expeditions in Explorers Journal on April 8, 2014
“Perfect display!” Woodland kingfishers are a widespread cavity-nesting tree kingfishers in tropical Africa S of the Sahara and from the N part of South Africa N throughout subtropics. (Chris Krog)
“Taking off to the heavens” African fish eagles are a common feature around healthy water bodies and rvers across SubSaharan Africa, punctuating African cunsets with their enigmatic call. (Stacey Farrell)
“More than a mouth full” Coppersmith barbets are a well-known cavity-nester distributed across the Indian Subcontinent and parts of SE Asia. (Akshay Jadhav)
“Forest gold!” Indian golden orioles are a vibrant forest specialist found across most of the Indian Subcontinent, as well as in Pakistan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Afghanistan and Nepal. (Akshay Jadhav)
“Punk nest-builder” Asian paradise flycatchers are a well-known resident of thick forests and well-wooded habitats (e.g. riverbanks) from Turkestan to Manchuria, as well as much of India and Sri Lanka with populations on the Malay Archipelago. (Ashish Inamdar)
“Together is more effective!” Painted storks are closely related to the yellow-billed storks of Africa and are found in the wetlands of tropical Asia S of the Himalayas on the Indian Subcontinent and across SE Asia. (Ashish Inamdar)
“Watch my back while I am drinking!” Fischers lovebirds have a restricted distributional range between 1,100-2,200m in E-central Africa, S and SE of Lake Victoria in N Tanzania centred around the Serengeti National Park. (Markus Lilje / www.rockjumperbirding.com)
“Water mirror” Grey wagtails are widely distributed across the Palearctic region from Iran, Turkey and the Caucasus) all the way to the main populations in W Europe in the British Isles, Scandinavia and Mediterranean. (Jignesh Minaxi)
“Perfect duck” Spot-billed ducks feed mainly at night in freshwater lakes and marshes in fairly open country in the southern part of its range from Pakistan and India to S Japan. (Jignesh Minaxi)
“Inquisitive little catcher” Red-breasted flycatchers breed in E Europe and central Asia, migrating in winter to S Asia. (Jignesh Minaxi)
“Perfect fan” Great egrets have a wide distribution across the globe. They were killed in large numbers in N America around the end of the 19th century so that their plumes could be used to decorate hats. (Jenny Alvarado)
“Splashing action!” Indian yellow tits are resident secondary cavity-nesters in the open tropical forests of the Indian subcontinent. (Kedar Potnis)
“Low-level flyer” Indian peafowls have been in Europe for over 1500 years and have established feral populations across the globe. They are resident breeders across the Indian subcontinent and drier lowland of Sri Lanka. (Satyam Dave)
“Quick pose before lunch” Brown-headed gulls breed on the high plateaus of central Asia from Tajikistan to Inner Mongolia, .wintering on the coasts and large inland lakes of tropical S Asia and the Indian Subcontinent. (Guruprasad M Kambar)
“Symbol of the savanna” Grey-headed bushshrikes prefer the savanna of SubSaharan Africa and are not found in the lowland forests of central Africa and W Africa. (Richard & Eileen Flack / www.theflacks.co.za)
“Never miss anything” Streaked laughingthrushes are a common sighting in the N regions of the Indian Subcontinent, as well as adjoining areas in Afghanistan, Bhutan, India, Nepal, Pakistan, Russia, and Tajikistan. (Koushik Sreedhar)
“Little lawn specialist” Little corellas avoid thick forests and prefer the arid deserts of central Australia to the eastern coastal plains and are found in N, central, E and SE Australia, the W Cape York Peninsula, and New Guinea. (Lennart Hessel)
“Proud song” Little wattlebirds are a little-known honeyeater found in coastal and sub-coastal SE Australia. (Lennart Hessel)
“Purest color” Long-tailed broadbills form loud, sociable flocks in the Himalayas with a distrobutional range that extends E through NE India all the way to SE Asia. (Debapratim Saha)
“Camouflage hunter” 虎鶇 Dusky thrushes breed in the mountainous and tundra-edge habitats E from central Siberia and are strongly migratory, wintering S in SE Asia with core populations in China and neighbouring countries. (Louis Yeh)
“Dust bath!” Blue-tailed bee-eaters breed throughout SE Asia, but migrate seasonally SW to peninsular India. (Nithya Purushothaman)
“Man’s best cormorant” Great cormorant are one of the most widespread members of the cormorant family, and are also known as the “Great black cormorant” across the N Hemisphere, the black cormorant in Australia, the “large cormorant” in India, and the “black shag” further south in New Zealand. (Pramod CL)
“Little beauty” Rufous-bellied niltavas prefer the subtropical or tropical moist lowland and montane forests of Bangladesh, Bhutan, China, India, Laos, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan, and Thailand. (Vijay Sachan)
“Lord of the forest” Cape parrots are the most endangered parrot in Africa and have a global population of 800 – 1,500 individuals in four small, isolated populations in the remaining Afromontane forests of South Africa. (Rodnick Clifton Biljon)
“Nothing like the city” Rock dove prefer open and semi-open habitat with nearby cliffs and rock ledges for roosting and breeding. This adequatekly describes the cities they have occupied across the globe. (Gurum Ekalavya)