Great Thick-knee

The Great Thick-knee (Esacus recurvirostris) is a very large wader which is a resident breeder in tropical southern Asia from India and Sri Lanka into South-east Asia.
This is a species of gravel banks along rivers or near lakes, and also beaches. A single egg is laid in a bare scrape on the open shingle.
It is mainly nocturnal or crepuscular like other stone-curlews, but can frequently be seen foraging by daylight, moving slowly and deliberately, with occasional short runs. It tends to be wary and fly off into the distance ahead of the observer, employing powerful, rather stiff wingbeats.
The Great Thick-knee is a very large wader at 49–55 cm, and has a massive 7 cm upturned bill. It has unstreaked grey-brown upperparts and breast, with rest of the underparts whitish. The face has a striking black and white pattern, and the bill is black with a yellow base. The eyes are bright yellow and the legs a duller greenish-yellow.
In flight, the Great Thick-knee shows black and white flight feathers on the upperwing, and a mainly white underwing. Sexes are similar, but young birds are slightly paler than adults.
The call is a wailing whistle, given mainly at night, as with other birds in this family. The Great Thick-knee eats crabs, large insects, and other animal prey.

Bronze-winged Jacana

The Bronze-winged Jacana, Metopidius indicus, is a jacana. It is the only member of the genus Metopidius. The jacanas are a group of waders in the family Charadriidae, which are identifiable by their huge feet and claws which enable them to walk on floating vegetation in the shallow lakes that are their preferred habitat. They are found worldwide within the tropical zone.
The Bronze-winged Jacana breeds in India and southeast Asia. It is sedentary apart from seasonal dispersion. It lays four black-marked brown eggs in a floating nest. The males, as in some other wader families like the phalaropes, take responsibility for incubation.
These are conspicuous and unmistakable birds. They are 29cm long, but the females are larger than the males. They are mainly black, although the inner wings are very dark brown and the tail is red. There is a striking white eyestripe. The yellow bill extends up as a red coot-like head shield, and the legs and very long toes are grey.
Young birds have brown upperparts. Their underparts are white, with a buff foreneck.
The Bronze-winged Jacana's feeds on insects and other invertebrates picked from the floating vegetation or the water's surface.
Call is a wheezy piping seek-seek-seek given mostly in alarm.
When forced they sometimes choose to hide by submerging themselves. The male may carry chicks between the wings and body.
Measurements (from Rasmussen and Anderton, 2005) Length 280-310 mm Wing 150-197 mm (males 150-180mm , females 167-187 mm) Bill from tip to top of frontal shield 34-46 mm (adults) 32-38 (juveniles) Tarsus 61-76 mm Tail 40-52 mm

White Stork

The White Stork (Ciconia ciconia) is a large wading bird in the stork family Ciconiidae, breeding in the warmer parts of Europe (north to Estonia), northwest Africa, and southwest Asia (east to southern Kazakhstan). It is a strong migrant, wintering mainly in tropical Africa, down to the south of South Africa, and also in the Indian Subcontinent.
It is a huge bird, 100-125 cm (40-50 in.) tall, with a 155-200 cm (61-79 in) wingspan and a weight of 2.3-4.5 kg (5-10 lbs). It is completely white except for the black wing flight feathers, and its red bill and legs. It walks slowly and steadily on the ground. Like all storks, it flies with its neck outstretched.

Great Indian Bustard

The Great Indian Bustard (Ardeotis nigriceps) is a bustard found in India and possibly Pakistan. It is a large, brown-and-white bird, the male is about 122 cm (48 in) in length and the female 92 cm (36 in). It lives in arid and semi-arid grasslands.
The current population is estimated at less than 1,000. The main threat to its existence is habitat loss. The bird is found in Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh states of India. Ghatigaon and Karera santuaries in Madhya Pradesh had sizeable population earlier but now there is no Great Indian Bustard seen in Karera wildlife sanctuary in Shivpuri district. The Great Bustard was identified in 1978 at Nanaj 18 Kms from solapur by Mr B.S. Kulkarni nealry 24 bustards are now seen in Nanaj sanctuary near Solapur in Maharashtra.There has been some assults recenlty on the habitat of the bird.and one bird was found injured condition which eventually died.

Red-billed Tropicbird

The Red-billed Tropicbird, Phaethon aethereus, also known as the Boatswain Bird is a tropicbird, one of three closely related seabirds of tropical oceans. It occurs in the tropical Atlantic, eastern Pacific and Indian Oceans.
The Indian Ocean race of the Red-billed Tropicbird, P. a. indicus, was at one time considered a full species, the Lesser Red-billed Tropicbird.
The Red-billed Tropicbird breeds on tropical islands laying a single egg directly onto the ground or a cliff ledge. It disperses widely when not breeding, and sometimes wanders far, including an amazing record from Great Britain. They feed on fish and squid, but are poor swimmers.
The adult is a slender mainly white bird, 48cm long excluding the very long central tail feathers, which double the total length. The wingspan is about 1 metre, and the long wings have black markings on the flight feathers. There is black through the eye. The bill is red.
Sexes are similar, although males average longer tailed, but juveniles lack the tail streamers, are greyer-backed, and have a yellow bill.
P. a. indicus has a reduced black eyestripe, and a more orange-tinted bill.

Cream-coloured Courser

The Cream-coloured Courser, Cursorius cursor, is a wader in the pratincole and courser family, Glareolidae.
Although classed as waders, these are birds of dry open country, preferably semi-desert, where they typically hunt their insect prey by running on the ground.
These coursers are found in Canary Islands, north Africa and southwest Asia. Their two eggs are laid in a ground scrape. They are partially migratory, with northern and northwestern birds wintering in India, Arabia and across the southern edge of the Sahara.
They are rare north of the breeding range, but this species has occurred as far away as Finland, Ireland and Great Britain.
These birds have long legs and long wings. They have slightly downcurved bills. The body plumage is sandy in colour, fading to whitish on the lower belly. The upperwing primary feathers and the underwings are black. The crown and nape are grey, and there is a black eyestripe and white supercilium.
In flight this species resembles a pratincole, with its relaxed wingbeats, pointed wings and dark underwings.

Sarus Crane

The Sarus Crane, Grus antigone is an all-year resident breeding bird in northern Pakistan and India (especially Central India and the Gangetic plains), Nepal, Southeast Asia and Queensland, Australia. It is a very large crane, averaging 156 cm (5 ft) in length, which is found in freshwater marshes and plains.

Tawny Eagle

The Tawny Eagle, Aquila rapax is a large bird of prey. It is about 62-72 cm in length and has a wingspan of 165-185cm. Like all eagles, it belongs to the family Accipitridae. It was once considered to be closely related to the migratory Steppe Eagle, Aquila nipalensis, and the two forms have previously been treated as conspecific. They were split based on pronounced differences in morphology and anatomy (Clark, 1992; Olson, 1994; Sangsteret al., 2002); molecular analysis[citation needed] indicates that these birds are not even each other's closest relatives.
It breeds in most of Africa both north and south of the Sahara Desert and across tropical southernwestern Asia to India. It is a resident breeder which lays 1-3 eggs in a stick nest in a tree, crag or on the ground.
Throughout its range it favours open dry habitats, such as desert, semi-desert, steppes, or savannah.
This is a large eagle with tawny upperparts and blackish flight feathers and tail. The lower back is very pale. This species is smaller and paler than the Steppe Eagle, although it does not share that species' pale throat.
Immature birds are less contrasted than adults, but both show a range of variation in plumage colour.
The Tawny Eagle's diet is largely fresh carrion of all kinds, but it will kill small mammals up to the size of a rabbit, reptiles and birds up to the size of guineafowl. It will also steal food from other raptors.
The call of the Tawny Eagle is a crow-like barking, but it is rather a silent bird except in display.

Red-crowned Crane

The Red-crowned Crane (Grus japonensis), also called the Japanese Crane is a large crane and is the second rarest crane in the world. In East Asia, it is known as a symbol of luck and fidelity. At 55 inches high, the crane does not make easy prey, for all that it stands out in its natural habitat of marshes and swamps. When it matures, the Red-crowned Crane is snow white with a patch of red skin on its head. This patch of skin becomes bright red when the crane becomes angry or excited. An exceptional male weighed 15 kg (33 lbs.), making this the heaviest crane on record, although large Sarus Crane are taller.

Closeup of the crane's head
In the spring and summer, the Red-crowned Crane lives in Siberia, where their eggs hatch. Normally the crane lays 2 eggs, with only one surviving. Later, in the fall, it migrates in flocks to Korea, Japan, China, and other countries in E Asia to spend the winter. All Red-crowned Cranes migrate, except for a flock that stays in Hokkaidō, Japan, year long.
The crane eats small amphibians, aquatic invertebrates, insects, and plants that grow in marshes and swamps.
Habitat: Marshes, river banks, rice fields, and any place with water, standing dead vegetation, and food.

Red-billed Tropicbird

The Red-billed Tropicbird, Phaethon aethereus, also known as the Boatswain Bird is a tropicbird, one of three closely related seabirds of tropical oceans. It occurs in the tropical Atlantic, eastern Pacific and Indian Oceans.
The Indian Ocean race of the Red-billed Tropicbird, P. a. indicus, was at one time considered a full species, the Lesser Red-billed Tropicbird.
The Red-billed Tropicbird breeds on tropical islands laying a single egg directly onto the ground or a cliff ledge. It disperses widely when not breeding, and sometimes wanders far, including an amazing record from Great Britain. They feed on fish and squid, but are poor swimmers.
The adult is a slender mainly white bird, 48cm long excluding the very long central tail feathers, which double the total length. The wingspan is about 1 metre, and the long wings have black markings on the flight feathers. There is black through the eye. The bill is red.
Sexes are similar, although males average longer tailed, but juveniles lack the tail streamers, are greyer-backed, and have a yellow bill.