Indian peafowls are the national bird of India and are distributed across the subcontinent. Feral populations are distributed across the world with the European population thought to be introduced by “Alexander the Great”. (Sangram Vilas Govardhane)

Eared pygmy-tyrants are found in the subtropical or tropical moist lowland forests and heavily degraded former forest of Argentina, Brazil and Paraguay. (Carlos Henrique)

Ruddy shelducks are disitributed on waterbodies across SE Europe and central Asia all the way to SE Asia with most wintering in the Indian Subcontinent. (Bhavya Joshi)

Southern grey shrike are distributed across S Europe and N Africa. (Jignesh Minaxi Patel)

Black-eared shrike babblers are found in the subtropical or tropical moist montane forests of Bhutan, China, India, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Nepal, Thailand, and Vietnam. (Amit Rane)

Red-billed leiothrixes are found in India, Bhutan, Nepal, Burma and Tibet. They are common in captivity in Japan and have established several feral populations giving the mpression that they are indigenous to the islands. (Amit Rane)

Common hoopoes have a wide distribution across Africa and Asia where several subspecies are recognised, all with the characteristic fanned out crest. (Ashish Inamdar)

Coppersmith barbets are found predominantly on the Indian SubContinent and parts of SE Asia, where they are known for their metronomic call that mimics the action of a coppersmith beating metal. (Bhavik Thaker)

Thick-billed flowerpeckers have a wide distribution across tropical S Asia from India all the way E to Indonesia and Timor. (Ashish Inamdar)

Rufous treepies have a distribution centred on the Indian Subcontinent and parts of SE Asia. (Balaji Pg)

Nanday parakeets are resident breeders in the Pantanal from SE Bolivia to SW Brazil, central Paraguay and N Argentina. (Wild Pantanal Eco Tours)

Greater coucals are found from the Indus Valley through the sub-Himalayan and Gangetic plains to Nepal, Assam and the Bhutan foothills into S China. (Valentine Fernandez)

Indian coursers are found across S Asia (restricted to mainland) and prefer the dry, open semi-desert habitat associated with the Ganges and Indus Rivers. (Suresh Kumar Rathod)

The little-known blue-throated or blue-cheeked barbet is distributed across the Indian Subcontinent and SE Asia. (Shishir Saksena)

Purple grenadiers are a common sighting in Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia, Sudan, Tanzania and Uganda. (Raj Dhage Wai)

Ocellated turkeys have a restricted range on the Yucatán Peninsula in Mexico, including Quintana Roo, Campeche, Yucatán, Tabasco, and Chiapas, as well as the N parts of Belize and Guatemala. (Owen Deutsch / owendeutsch.com)

Snowy owls breed across the Arctic tundra of N Alaska, Canada, and Eurasia, wintering in Canada and N Eurasia. (Michael Snow)

Lichtenstein’s sandgrouse are found across Africa (Algeria, Chad, Djibouti, Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Libya, Mali, Mauritania, Morocco, Niger, Senegal, Somalia, Sudan and Uganda) and Asia (Asia it is also found in Iran, Iraq, Jordan, Oman, Pakistan, Palestine, Saudi Arabia, Israel, the United Arab Emirates and Yemen). (Markus Lilje / www.rockjumperbirding.com)

Golden eagles are distributed across most of the northern hemisphere from Siberia to W Europe and North America. (Lennart Hessel / www.lensman.se)

Black-winged kites (or black-shouldered kites as they are known in Africa) are best known for the ability to hover over hunting grounds like the much smaller kestrels. (Krzysztof Olejniczak)

Saw-whet owls are a small owl indigenous to the coniferous forests of North America, (Joshua McCullough)

Spotted owlets are well adapted to living in urban and peri-urban environments across tropical Asia from India to SE Asia. (Jishnu Satheesh Babu)

Golden-tailed sapphires prefer the subtropical or tropical moist lowland, montane and heavily degraded former forests in Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Trinidad and Tobago and Venezuela. (Jonathan Rossouw)

Paradise flycatchers are a common sight in their summer breeding plumage across most of SubSaharan Africa. (Chris Krog)

Comb ducks are found throughout tropical wetlands in sub-Saharan Africa, Madagascar and S Asia (from Pakistan to Laos and S China), as well as E Paraguay, SE Brazil and NE Argentina in South America. (Chaitanya Solanki)