Posted by Steve Boyes of National Geographic Expeditions on May 30, 2013Black-hooded orioles are resident breeders in tropical S Asia from India and Sri Lanka E to Indonesia, preferring open woodland and cultivated lands. (Subramanian Chockalingam)Blue-tailed bee-eaters breed in SE Asia and are strongly migratory with seasonal sightings along much of peninsular India. (Subramanniyan ManiBlue-tailed bee-eaters eat flying insects, especially bees, wasps and hornets. Research, however, demonstrates that this species probably takes bees and dragonflies in roughly equal numbers. (Subramanya Madhyastha)Capercaillies are also known as wood grouse and heather cock. They are the largest member of the grouse family and are found across Europe and Asia. They are renowned for their mating displays. Photographed here in Kuusamo (Finland). (Antero Topp)Coppersmith barbets are resident breeders in the Indian Subcontinent and parts of SE Asia. They are primary excavators that chisel out holes in tree trunks to create suitable nest cavities. Photographed here in Pune (India). (Srinivas Popuri)Cuban amazons are found in woodlands and dry forests of Cuba, the Bahamas and Cayman Islands in the Caribbean. (Cuba Birding)Flamebacks are resident breeders in tropical S Asia. These woodpeckers derive their English names from their golden or crimson backs. (Dhritiman Hore)Dark-eyed juncos are common across much of temperate North America and in summer ranges far into the Arctic. Photographed here with nesting material in New York. (Melissa Penta)Southern ground hornbills have a loud, booming voice and large body that have made them into focal points in many traditional African cultures. Historically, there were strong taboos against killing ground hornbills, but these have been weakened with the modernisation of Africa. (Trevor Kleyn / www.trevorkleyn.com)Sharp-tailed grouses were historically in eight Canadian provinces and 21 U.S. states pre-European settlement after which they were extirpated from California, Kansas, Illinois, Iowa, Nevada and New Mexico. Photographed here in Canada Grasslands National Park. (Markus Lilje / www.rockjumperbirding.com)Red-billed blue magpies ranges from the W Himalayas E to Myanmar, Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam, preferring evergreen forest and scrub in predominantly hilly or mountainous country. (Anantha Murthy)Painted storks are widely distributed over the open plains and waterways of Asia, and are found S of the Himalayan ranges and are restricted to the W by the Indus river system where they are rare and extend only E into SE Asia. (Yogi Badri)Oriental magpie robins are resident breeders in tropical S Asia from Bangladesh, interior India, Sri Lanka and eastern Pakistan east to Indonesia, Thailand, south China, Malaysia, and Singapore.[3] They have been introduced to Australia. (Rohit Singh)Little spotted kiwis were released on Kapiti Island and then also moved to Red Mercury Island, Hen Island, Tiritiri Matangi Island, and Long Island in the Queen Charlotte Sound. In 2000, about 20 Little Spotted Kiwis were released in to Karori Wildlife Sanctuary. This was the first time since about 1900 that Little Spotted Kiwis could be found on the mainland of New Zealand. (David Shackelford / www.rockjumperbirding.com)Lesser birds-of-paradise are distributed throughout forests of N New Guinea, and the nearby islands of Misool and Yapen. They are widespread and common throughout its large range, the Lesser Bird-of-paradise is evaluated as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. (Ken Chuah)Green jays are distributed from S Texas south into Mexico and Central America with a break after which the species reappears in the Andean highlands of South America in Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador, Peru and Bolivia. (Adam Riley / www.rockjumperbirding.com)White-crested helmetshrikes are found in Angola, Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ivory Coast, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Kenya, Malawi, Mali, Mauritania, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Somalia, South Africa, Sudan, Swaziland, Tanzania, Togo, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. (Felix Reinders / www.felixreinders.com)Wire-crested thorntails are one of the smallest birds on earth with a mature adult weight of around 2.5 g. (Owen Deutsch / owendeutsch.com)Wire-tailed manakins are found upriver in the W Amazon Basin and the neighboring countries of N Peru, E Ecuador and Colombia, and S and W portions of Venezuela. (Owen Deutsch / owendeutsch.com)White-cheeked barbet are found throughout S India with their main range along the W Ghats S from the Surat Dangs and associated hills of S India. (Vinayak Yardi)White-bellied antpittas are found in Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru and prefer subtropical or tropical moist montane forests and heavily degraded former forest. (Owen Deutsch / owendeutsch.com)Purple sunbirds are distributed widely from W Asia through the Indian Subcontinent and into SE Asia. (Ashish Inamdar)Common hoopoes are widespread in Europe, Asia, and North Africa, Sub-Saharan Africa and Madagascar. They are monogamous, although the pair bond apparently only lasts for a single season. (Dharuman Nanjan)Pilated woodpeckers are found in deciduous forests in E North America, the Great Lakes, the boreal forests of Canada, and parts of the Pacific coast. They are the largest woodpecker in the United States. Photographed here in the Everglades (Florida). (J. Bernardo Sanchez)Blue-capped rock-thrushes are a summer visitor in parts of Afghanistan and along the Himalayas from Pakistan to Arunachal Pradesh. Photographed here in Bangalore (India). (Kamal Hari Menon)
