BIRDS OF BANDHAVGARH

BLACK DRONGO

Dicrurus macrocercus

WHITE-BELLIED DRONGO

Dicrurus caerulescens

GREATER RACKET-TAILED DRONGO

Dicrurus paradiseus

SPECIES INFORMATION:

Eggs: 3-4
Incubation: days
Fledging: days
Length: 28 cm
Wingspan: cm
Weight: g

SPECIES INFORMATION:

Eggs: 2-4
Incubation: days
Fledging: days
Length: 24 cm
Wingspan: cm
Weight: g

SPECIES INFORMATION:

Eggs: 3-4
Incubation: days
Fledging: days
Length: 32 cm
Wingspan: cm
Weight: g

DESCRIPTION

The adult Black Drongo is mainly glossy blue-black, although the wings are duller. The tail is long and deeply forked, and there is a white spot in front of the eye. Young birds are dull dark brown. It has short legs and sits very upright whilst perched prominently, like a shrike. These are aggressive and fearless birds and will attack much larger species if their nest or young are threatened. There are also some cases of Drongos preying on small birds.

DESCRIPTION

The adult White-bellied Drongo has dark grey upperparts, and the tail is long and deeply forked. The Indian race D. c. caerulescens has a pale grey underparts from the head to the breast, and is white from the belly down. One Sri Lankan race, D. c. leucopygialis, has the white on the underparts restricted to the vent area and undertail coverts. The young bird is duller and have a brownish grey breast. The White-bellied Drongo has short legs and sits very upright whilst perched prominently, like a shrike. These are aggressive and fearless birds and will attack much larger species if their nest or young are threatened.

DESCRIPTION

The adult Greater Racket-tailed Drongo has spangled metallic green-blue plumage, and a large bill. The tail is long and shallowly forked, with the shafts of the two outermost feathers greatly extended and ending in the rackets which give this species its name. There is also a head crest. The young bird is duller and uncrested.

The Greater Racket-tailed Drongo has short legs and sits very upright whilst perched prominently, like a shrike. The species is well-known as a very accurate vocal mimic, and according to Goodale and Kotagama (2006) appears to learn its alarm calls through interactions in mixed-species flocks.

Diet

It eats insects and other small invertebrates.

DIET

Insectivorous

DIET

Insectivorous

HABITAT

The Black Drongo is a common resident breeder in much of tropical southern Asia from southwest Iran through India and Sri Lanka east to southern China and Indonesia. This species is usually found in open forests and similar lightly wooded habitats, including farmland and habitation.

HABITAT

The White-bellied Drongo is a resident breeder in India and Sri Lanka. This species is usually found in open forest and well-wooded habitats.

HABITAT

The Greater Racket-tailed Drongo is a resident breeder in tropical southern Asia from Kashmir, India and Sri Lankaeast to Indonesia. This species is usually found in broadleaved forest.

WHERE TO LOOK

Black drongos can be seen throughout the park, espciallu on the perimiters adjacent to open farmland.

WHERE TO LOOK

White-bellied drongos can be seen throughout the park

WHERE TO LOOK

Althought the beautiful racket-tailed drongo can be seen anywhere in the park, it remains a rare sighting and you will definitely have to keep your eyes peeled. They are often seen in the company of other drongos feeding on the same source within the sal forests.

ROSE-RINGED PARAKEET

Psittacula krameri

INDIAN ROLLER

Coracias benghalensis

SPECIES INFORMATION:

Eggs:
Incubation: days
Fledging: days
Length: 40 cm
Wingspan: 30-35 cm
Weight: g

SPECIES INFORMATION:

Eggs: 4-7
Incubation:
Fledging:
Length: 31 cm
Wingspan: 52-57 cm
Weight: 120-190g

DESCRIPTION

Rose-ringed Parakeet adult males sport black markings under their beaks and a dark band of colors around their necks. In the wild, this is a noisy species with an unmistakable squawking call.

Generally green, face, abdomen and under wing-coverts yellowish-green; nape and back of head variably washed with blue stretching to the back of the head; chin, broad cheek-stripe and narrow line from cere to eye black; narrow band to nape pink; upperside of middle tail-feathers blue with greenish-yellow tips, outer feathers green; underside of outer tail-feathers olive-yellowish, middle feathers blackish; breast and abdomen feathers tinged bluish-grey; upper mandible red, lower mandible black; iris yellowish-white; feet greenish-grey.

DESCRIPTION

Wrongly known as the blue jay, this delightful bird is a collage of colours. The bird is of a striking blue colour with a rufus brown breast and a pail blue abdomen and under tail. But the magnificence of its colours is best exhibited in flight when the dark and light portions show up as brilliant bands on the wings.

It is likely that the beauty of the bird is what inspired the Hindu belief according to which Vishnu (the Preserver of the universe) had once assumed the form of the Blue Jay thus making it sacred. It is caught by some communities in western India only to be released on the festive occasion of Dussehra and at Durga Puja (see Fairs and Festivals).

Another reason why the bird is dear to the human inhabitants of its habitat is because it has served them well as an effective pest controller, ridding the agricultural fields of a variety of injurious insects which form a part of its diet other than frogs and lizards.

Diet

Buds, fruits, vegetables, nuts, berries and seeds.

Diet

Insects, frogs, small lizards

HABITAT

This non-migrating species is one of few parrot species that have successfully adapted to living in 'disturbed habitats', and in that way withstood the onslaught of urbanisation and deforestation.

HABITAT

It is found in the subcontinent from the foothills of the Himalayas down to the south in Sri Lanka and from Pakistan to Myanmar in the open country and light deciduous forest patches. This roller makes a variety of loud jarring noises and indulges in a spectacular courtship display which involves a lot of acrobatic stunts like nose-diving and somersaulting in air. Nests in holes in trees, rock faces or buildings. Feeds in open or semi-open areas often perching on wires.

WHERE TO LOOK

Rose-ringed parakeets can be found throughout the park.

WHERE TO LOOK

The Indian Roller is a common bird throughout the park, but their numbers swell during the mating season of March thru May.

COMMON NAME

Scientific name

COMMON NAME

Scientific name

COMMON NAME

Scientific name

SPECIES INFORMATION:

Eggs:
Incubation: days
Fledging: days
Length: cm
Wingspan: cm
Weight: g

SPECIES INFORMATION:

Eggs:
Incubation: days
Fledging: days
Length: cm
Wingspan: cm
Weight: g

SPECIES INFORMATION:

Eggs:
Incubation: days
Fledging: days
Length: cm
Wingspan: cm
Weight: g

DESCRIPTION

Diet

DIET

HABITAT

WHERE TO LOOK

COMMON NAME

Scientific name

COMMON NAME

Scientific name

COMMON NAME

Scientific name

SPECIES INFORMATION:

Eggs:
Incubation: days
Fledging: days
Length: cm
Wingspan: cm
Weight: g

SPECIES INFORMATION:

Eggs:
Incubation: days
Fledging: days
Length: cm
Wingspan: cm
Weight: g

SPECIES INFORMATION:

Eggs:
Incubation: days
Fledging: days
Length: cm
Wingspan: cm
Weight: g

DESCRIPTION

Diet

DIET

HABITAT

WHERE TO LOOK

INDIAN ROLLER

Coracias benghalensis

RUFOUS TREE PIE

Dendrocitta vagabunda

GREATER COUCAL

Centropus sinensis

SPECIES INFORMATION:

Eggs: 4-7
Incubation:
Fledging:
Length: 31 cm
Wingspan: 52-57 cm
Weight: 120-190g

SPECIES INFORMATION:

Eggs: 3-5
Incubation:
Fledging:
Length: 30-34 cm (50 cm inc. tail)
Wingspan:
Weight:

SPECIES INFORMATION:

Eggs: 3-5
Incubation:
Fledging:
Length: 48 cm
Wingspan:
Weight:

DESCRIPTION

It is slightly smaller than the European Magpie (Pica pica) and has somewhat shorter, more rounded wings and a proportionately longer tail. The bill is shorter and thicker too, and slightly downcurved, and the legs are shorter. The head, neck and breast are a deep slate-grey colour, sometimes slightly brownish. The underparts and lower back are a warm tawny-brown to orange-brown in colour with white wing coverts and black primaries. The tail is a light bluish-grey with a thick black band on the tip. The bill, legs and feet are black.

It is extremely agile while searching for food, clinging and clambering through the branches and will sometimes travel in small mixed hunting parties with unrelated species such as drongos and babblers.

DESCRIPTION

This is a large species at 48 cm. Its head and body are purple black, the wings are chestnut above and black below, and the long tail is dark green. Sexes are similar, but juveniles are duller and heavily barred. It nests in a bush, and the typical clutch is 3-5 eggs. One can easily identify it by its deep, resonant coop-coop-coop in the series of six, seven or even twenty. Sometimes two birds synchronize their call and the entire jungle lightens up with their orchestrated performance. When (probably) not in ‘mood’ the bird also utters a variety of harsh croaks and gurgling chuckles.

Diet

Insects, frogs, small lizards

DIET

This is a typically arboreal species feeding almost completely in trees on fruits, invertebrates, small reptiles and the eggs and young of birds; it has also been known to take flesh from recently killed carcasses.

DIET

caterpillars, large insects, snails, lizards, young mice and eggs of birds.

HABITAT

The range of this species is quite large, covering all of India up to the Himalayas, and southeasterly in a broad band into Burma (Myanmar), Laos, and Thailand in open forest consisting of scrub, plantations and gardens.

HABITAT

It is a widespead resident in southern Asia, from India east to south China and Indonesia. It’s found in a wide range of habitats from jungle to cultivation. The greater coucal frequents forest edge, secondary scrub, reedy riverbanks, and mangroves and often comes to the ground but also hops about in small bushes and trees.

WHERE TO LOOK

The Indian Roller is a common bird throughout the park, but their numbers swell during the mating season of March thru May.

WHERE TO LOOK

The rufous treepie is a common bird throughout the park.

WHERE TO LOOK

Perimiter of the park where the forest borders the cultivated farmlands.

FLAME-BACKED WOODPECKER

Dinopium benghalense

RED JUNGLEFOWL

Gallus gallus murghi

PEAFOWL

Pavo cristatus

SPECIES INFORMATION:

Eggs:
Incubation: days
Fledging: days
Length: 26-29 cm
Wingspan: cm
Weight: g

SPECIES INFORMATION:

Eggs:
Incubation: days
Fledging: days
Length: 70 cm
Tail feather length: 28 cm
Wingspan: cm
Weight: g

SPECIES INFORMATION:

Eggs: 4-8
Incubation: 28 days
Fledging: days
Length: cm
Tail feather length: 90-180 cm
Wingspan: cm
Weight: g

DESCRIPTION

Like other woodpeckers, this species has a straight pointed bill, a stiff tail to provide support against tree trunks, and zygodactyl or “yoked" feet, with two toes pointing forward, and two backward. The long tongue can be darted forward to capture insects.

It is a typical woodpecker shape, and has a golden yellow back, with paler wings. The rump and tail are black. The underparts are white with dark chevron markings. The black throat immediately separates it from other golden backed woodpeckers in the Indian region. The head is whitish with a black nape and throat, and there is a greyish eye patch. Unlike Greater Flameback, Chrysocolaptes lucidus, it has no dark moustache stripe.

The adult male Black-rumped Flameback has a red crown. Females have a dark forecrown, with red only on the rear half. Young birds are like the female, but duller.

DESCRIPTION

The Red Junglefowl (Gallus gallus), a tropical member of the Pheasant family, is the direct ancestor of the domestic chicken. It was first raised in captivity at least 5,000 years ago in India, and the domesticated form has been taken all around the world as a very productive food source for both meat and eggs.

Male and female birds show very strong sexual dimorphism. Males (the most beautiful chicken in the world) are much larger; they have large red fleshy wattles on the head and long, bright gold and bronze feathers forming a "shawl" or "cape" over the back of the bird from the neck to the lower back. The tail is composed of long, arching feathers that initially look black but shimmer with blue, purple and green in good light. The female's plumage is typical of this family of birds in being cryptic and designed for camouflage as she alone looks after the eggs and chicks. She also (unlike female domestic chickens) has no fleshy wattles on the head.

DESCRIPTION

The Indian Peafowl, Pavo cristatus is a species of bird in the genus Pavo of the Phasianidae family. The peacock is the national bird of India and is a resident breeder in both India and Sri Lanka. The peafowl can be a useful indicator when finding a predetaor. Their alarm call is loud and carried far through the forest and sounds distinctlty like and old-fashioned car horn.

The male is called a peacock, the female a peahen. The Indian Peacock is unmistakeable with its beautiful iridescent blue-green plumage. The upper tail coverts are enormously elongated and ornate with an eye at the end of each feather. The female plumage is a mixture of dull green, grey and iridescent blue, with the greenish-grey predominating. In the breeding season, females can be told apart from the lack of the long tail feathers also known as the train. Peahens can be distinguished from males in the non-breeding season by the green colour of the neck as opposed to the blue on the males.

Peafowl are most notable for the male's extravagant tail also known as a train, a result of sexual selection, which it displays as part of courtship. This train is in reality not the tail but the enormously elongated upper tail coverts. The tail itself is brown and short as in the peahen.

Diet

The diet of these birds consists mainly of insects, such as ants and beetles, nuts, seeds, berries, some fruit and sap.

DIET

Gallus gallus is an herbivore and insectivore. Red jungle fowls eat corn, soybean, worms, grass, and different kinds of grains found on the ground.

DIET

It eats mainly seeds, but also some insects, fruits and small reptiles.

HABITAT

The Lesser Golden-backed Woodpecker is a woodpecker which is a widespread and common resident breeder in much of South Asia. This flameback is a species associated with open forest and cultivation.

HABITAT

The range of the true species stretches from NE India (where the pure species has almost certainly been diluted with back-crosses from domestic breeds) eastwards across southern China and down into Malaysia and Indonesia. Red jungle fowl live in thick secondary forest or bamboo scrub. In the morning or evening, the bird can be found in an open area by wide earthen tracts or clearings where the red jungle fowl finds food.

HABITAT

The species is found in dry semi-desert grasslands, scrub and deciduous forests. It forages and nests on the ground but roosts on top of trees.

WHERE TO LOOK

Look for short stubble clearings at the edge of the forests and cultivated fields along the buffer zone

WHERE TO LOOK

Jungle fowl, although abundant throughout the park, are very wary birds and will often scuttle off into the bush before you can have a good look. More often you will here their soft clucking behind a wall of bamboo. If you remain still and quit in your vehicle the jungle fowl may venture out into clearings or onto the grass verges of the jeep tracks.

WHERE TO LOOK

Peafowl can be seen throughout the park but are most noticeable at the edge of the buffer zone, especially around the short scrub and grassland between Sukhi Daiti and Mahaman Pool.

www.gamebird.com/peacock.html members.aol.com/babu/bioproject.html

LITTLE GREEN BEE-EATER

Merops orientalis

BLACK-HEADED ORIOLE

Oriolus larvatus

JUNGLE BABBLER

Turdoides striatus

SPECIES INFORMATION:

Eggs: 4-8
Incubation: days
Fledging: days
Length: cm
Wingspan: cm
Weight: g

SPECIES INFORMATION:

Eggs:
Incubation: days
Fledging: days
Length: 20-21.5 cm
Wingspan: cm
Weight: g

SPECIES INFORMATION:

Eggs: 2-6
Incubation: days
Fledging: days
Length: 25 cm
Wingspan: cm
Weight: g

DESCRIPTION

This species, like other bee-eaters, is a richly coloured, slender bird. It always has green upper parts, but the head and underpart colours vary widely depending on the race. Thus, southeast Asian birds have rufous crown and face, and green underparts, whereas Arabian breeders have a green crown, blue face and bluish underparts. The wings are green and the beak is black. Sexes are alike.

This species often hunts from low perches, maybe only a metre or less high. Before eating its meal, a bee-eater removes the sting by repeatedly hitting the insect on a hard surface.

DESCRIPTION

This bird has a very liquid sounding call which is a common sound in the area. They are a striking yellow colour with a black head. Like the other orioles, it has bright yellow plumage with the difference being the distinctive black head, which makes it a conspicuous bird.

Although it has bright colours, it may still be difficult to spot, because its preferred habitat is among the foliage of high trees and thick bush. It is likely to be heard before being seen.

The black-headed oriole has a slightly swooping, fast-and-direct flight pattern, which takes it on forages for the fruit and insects that it feeds on. Its long, strong bill is good at devouring most insects.

Nests are a loose bag-like affair made and disguised with cobweb, lichen and small twigs and sited at the ends of thin branches high up in the tree canopy

DESCRIPTION

These birds are grey brown below, with some mottling on the throat and breast. The upperparts are a slightly darker shade. The head is grey, and the bill is yellow. This species, like most babblers, is not migratory, and has short rounded wings and a weak flight. It builds its nest in a tree, concealed in dense masses of foliage.

The Jungle Babbler lives in flocks of seven to ten or more. It is a noisy bird, and the presence of a flock may generally be known at some distance by the harsh mewing calls, continual chattering, squeaking, and chirping produced by its members.

Diet

Just as the name suggests, bee-eaters predominantly eat insects, especially bees, wasps and ants, which are caught in the air by sorties from an open perch.

DIET

Forages mainly in tree crowns, hopping and fluttering, for fruits and caterpillars. Food comprises both small, soft native fruits such as figs, grapes, and mulberries, and insects, particularly large haired and hairless caterpillars.

DIET

Babblers feed mainly on insects, but also eats nectar and berries.

HABITAT

It is resident in a belt across sub-Saharan Africa from Senegal and The Gambia to Ethiopia, the Nile valley, western Arabia and Asia through India to Vietnam. This is an abundant and tame bird, familiar throughout its range. Breeds in open country with bushes and can often be found above riverbanks and waterholes, the margins of agricultural land and human habitation.

HABITAT

Central and southeastern Africa, north to Sudan and southwest Ethiopia, south to Cape Province, and west through much of Angola locally to west coast. Acacia and broad-leaved woodlands, especially along streams; also thorn scrub, forest edge, tree plantations, and gardens.

HABITAT

The Jungle Babbler is a resident breeding bird in India and Pakistan. The Jungle Babbler's habitat is forest and cultivation. It is quite common in Indian forests.

WHERE TO LOOK

Trees and scrub surrounding the Chakradhara meadow (especially along Route E) , the Gupalpur waterhole and the waterhole along the Badhaini fireline. Also keep an eye on for the bee-earters perched on over-head powerlines along the road. They appear to wait for insect casualties on the road itself.

WHERE TO LOOK

Throughout the park, especially in the tallest trees close to water and at the park boundries.

WHERE TO LOOK

The jungle babbler can be seen throughout the park’s forests, in small flocks, passing from bush to bush.

COMMON HAWK-CUCKOO

Cuculus varius

INDIAN GREY HORNBILL

Ocyceros birostris

MALABAR PIED HORNBILL

Anthracoceros coronatus

SPECIES INFORMATION:

Eggs:
Incubation: days
Fledging: days
Length: 34 cm
Wingspan: cm
Weight: g

SPECIES INFORMATION:

Eggs: 6
Incubation: 25 days
Fledging: 45 days
Length: 60 cm
Wingspan: cm
Weight: g

SPECIES INFORMATION:

Eggs:
Incubation: days
Fledging: days
Length: 65 cm
Wingspan: cm
Weight: g

DESCRIPTION

The Common Hawk-cuckoo Cuculus varius, also popularly called the Brainfever bird, is a medium sized cuckoo resembling the Shikra in appearance. During summer months it is easily detected by its repeated calls of Brain-fever ... Brain-fever.

Its top part is ashy grey colour and the bottom part is whitish cross barred with brown. Its tail is broad and barred. Both the sexes are alike. It is nest-parasitic.

The call has three notes of equal pitch in the phrase with the stress on the second note. This phrase is repeated at an increasing pitch and intensity until the bird sounds like it is about to explode into an hysterical fit. It then breaks of the song for a short pause and then starts again.
Its nesting season is from March to June. It lays eggs in other birds' nests. Its eggs are blue in colour like that of the host.

DESCRIPTION

The Indian Grey Hornbill (Ocyceros birostris) is the most common hornbill on the Indian subcontinent. It is mostly arboreal and is commonly sighted in pairs. They have grey feathers all over the body with a light grey or dull white belly. The horn is black or dark grey with a casque extending up to the point of curvature in the horn.

Indian Grey Hornbills usually form their nest in tree holes. A peculiar characteristic of this bird is that the female stays inside the nest and the male seals the nest hole leaving only a small hole for feeding the female. In this way they safeguard the eggs and hatchlings.

DESCRIPTION

It has mainly black plumage apart from its white belly, throat patch, tail sides and trailing edge to the wings. The bill is yellow with a large, mainly black casque. Sexes are similar, but immatures have a smaller casque.

During incubation, the female lays two or three white eggs in a tree hole, which is blocked off with a cement made of mud, droppings and fruit pulp. There is only one narrow aperture, just big enough for the male to transfer food to the mother and the chicks. When the chicks and the female are too big to fit in the nest, the mother breaks out and rebuilds the wall, then both parents feed the chicks.

Listed as ‘Near Threatened’ by the 2006 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species due to forest degradation and fragmentation in the past decades through excessive gathering of fuelwood, clearance for permanent agriculture, shifting cultivation, fire, urbanisation and logging.

Diet

It feeds on hairy caterpillars and other insects, berries and wild fig etc.

DIET

These birds usually feeds on Ficus fruits and occasionally on small insects, lizards, small snakes etc.

DIET

This species is omnivorous, taking fruit, fish and small mammals.

HABITAT

The brainfever bird is found throughout the lowlands of India, Sri Lanka and West Burma. It inhabits open scrub and open forest, partial gardens, groves and mango topes near human habitations, and farmlands.

HABITAT

The grey hornbill is fairly abundant where there are plenty of wild-fig trees, upon. Of the 30 species found in India and Southeast Asia, only the Indian grey horn-bill lives in open savanna. Typically grey hornbills favour forest areas with suitable trees for nesting and roosting.

HABITAT

The Malabar Pied Hornbill is a common resident breeder in tropical southern Asia from India and Sri Lanka east to Borneo. Its habitat is open woodland and cultivation, often close to habitation. It is subject to seasonal movements in open moist broadleaved deciduous and evergreen forests, visiting fruit trees in cultivated areas.

WHERE TO LOOK

Heard throughout the park your best chances are around the Mahaman Pool.

WHERE TO LOOK

The Indian grey hornbill can be seen throughout the park flying across the tree tops. Most commonly seen near the ‘Old Fort Road’, on top of Bandhavgarh Fort (This requires a special morning or afternoon excursion), and around Suckhi Patia.

WHERE TO LOOK

Malabar pied hornbills can be found on fruiting trees on top of Bandhavgarh Fort. This requires a special morning or afternoon excursion. They can also be spotted along the Old Fort Road and the track that leads up to the ‘Lying Vishnu’ or Shesh Shaiyya.

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