Indian songbird portraits – week 1
Jan 13th, 2012 by andrew skeoch
During our recent trip to India, I uploaded a collection of images of India’s songbirds. I posted a picture a day to our Listening Earth Facebook page for three weeks, and here I’m archiving them all in one place.
Here we go! – week 1.
Three Plain Prinias cuddle up in the morning sunlight.
Irridescent – the male Purple Sunbird.
Red-vented Bulbul, its beautiful bubbling song is heard in many of India’s gardens. Bulbuls are a common species, but I’m very fond of them, and this is a nice shot with the flowers out of focus behind.
A Black Drongo scans the forest, making aerial forays out to chase insects. I love the little white dot at the base of the bill, characteristic of this species. Their fish tails are also distinctive, and they are easily recognisable as they sit upright on branches looking for their next beakful.
Jungle Babblers after indulging in a mutual preening session. Jungle Babbs are very social birds, often mobbing noisily through the forest in groups of a dozen or more. This pair had just finished preening each other, involving some very fluffed feathers!
Brown Rock Chat, nonchalantly perched on a 2000 year old pillar at Sanchi. We’ve encountered these confiding little birds at many of the archaeological sites we’ve visited recently in central India. Old monuments seem to make great vantage points to look for a tasty morsel. Maybe they are the guardians of these heritage sites!
Yellow-eyed Babbler peers out from among marigolds. What I LOVE about this image, is the way the bird’s yellow eye wattle matches the marigolds.
Established in 1993 by nature sound recordist Andrew Skeoch and photographer Sarah Koschak, Listening Earth offers a range of beautiful nature sound recordings from around the world.
"Our albums feature only the sounds of nature as you would hear in the wild - no music or other distractions. Recorded in often remote and pristine locations, they bring you the relaxing and beautiful sounds of our living planet. Listen, and let our recordings take you there."
