White-eyed Buzzard
Sylvester Alphonso brings another of his avian sightings from his birding chronicles. A small raptor found in the Indian sub-continent, the white-eyed buzzard. On a trip to a farm house in Karjat, I spotted a bird with white dazzling eyes. This
Red-vented bulbul
A delightful member of the bulbul family of passerines, the Red-vented bulbul (Pycnonotus cafer) are highly vocal with a sweet melodic voice. The red colour of their name is difficult to see hidden beneath their tale. They are classified as “Least Concern”
A Bird with beautiful eyes
Mesmerising eyes and a sharp call, meet the beautiful yet petite hunter in the raptors family - the shikra (Accipiter badius). After a prolonged period of illness, I take this opportunity to write about another beautiful bird spotted in Nhava Sheva
Spotted dove
The spotted doves (Spilopelia chinensis) or spotted turtle doves, denizens of tropical southern Asia, are often found near human habitatation. The year 2020 began with a huge number of birds being spotted in Nhava Sheva. It gives me great pleasure to
Coppersmith Barbet
The Coppersmith Barbet (Psilopogonhae macephalus) owes it’s nomenclature to its metronomic call, similar to the sound of a coppersmith striking metal with hammer. Sometime in 2019, a chef from the cooking department at the Marine Institute in Nhava Sheva, had rescued
Kites
Opportunistic hunters, kites are frequently seen soaring and circling the skies in search of their prey. These diurnal raptors are the subject of the next in the series of bird life in Nhava. One of the oldest marine institutes in India at
Macaws And Cockatoos
A cockatoo is classified as one of the 21 parrot species belonging to the family Cacatuidae, the only family in the super family Cacatuoidea or talking birds. The macaws are colorful parrots from the American continents, often considered to be
Parrots ahoy!
Parrots are tropical birds of roughly 393 species of the order Psittaciformes, that can be further subdivided into three super families: the Psittacoidea, the Cacatuoidea, and the Strigopoidea. I have seen about112 species of birds in Nhava Sheva during my
Cuckoo calling : The Asian Koel
In the next installment of his series on the birds of NhavaSheva, Sylvester Alphonso talks about the Asian koel. While ruminating on my completion of a year with TS Rahaman at Nhava Sheva, I wonder at the beauty around me. The
Rosy Starling or the Pastor bird
In the second of the series of birdlife encountered by the author while posted in NhavaSheva, we present to you the Rosy Starling(Pastor roseus). It has been almost a year since I am at NhavaSheva – a most delightful year whereI