Profiling Bushchat, Pipit, Moorhen with SX60

SX60, shot JPEG with little PP
All at max optical zoom, handheld while sitting in my car (I find the birds are less scared this way than getting out)

The pied bush chat (Saxicola caprata) is a small passerine bird found ranging from West Asia and Central Asia to the Indian subcontinent and Southeast Asia. About sixteen subspecies are recognized through its wide range with many island forms.

It is a familiar bird of countryside and open scrub or grassland where it is found perched at the top of short thorn trees or other shrubs, looking out for insect prey. The female is drab brown and slightly streaked. Juveniles have a scaly appearance on the underside but dark above like the females.

The male is black except for a white rump, wing patch and lower belly.

The Purple Moorhen keeps almost exclusively to weedy lakes and swamps, where it wanders about feeding on aquatic vegetation and on insects and small mollusca. It is fond of clambering about on the reeds, climbing them hand over hand like a clumsy Heed-Warbler.

Lores and upper part of the head are pale dingy grey-brown changing into deep purple-blue on the rest of the upper plumage; tail black with green reflections; exposed portions of the wings and scapulars are greenish-blue; vent blackish-brown; under tail-coverts white. Iris deep blood-red.

The main threats to this species are habitat loss through wetland drainage, habitat degradation through the introduction of exotic species and direct mortality from pesticide and waste contamination.

Paddyfield pipit (Anthus rufulus) is a relatively larger pipit at 15 cm, but is otherwise an undistinguished looking bird, mainly streaked grey-brown above and pale below with breast streaking. It is long legged with a long tail and a long dark bill. Sexes are similar.

A widespread species found in open habitats, especially short grassland and cultivation with open bare ground.

It runs rapidly on the ground, and when flushed, does not fly far.

cattle egret (babulcus ibis)

White-throated kingfisher (Halcyon smyrnensis) has a bright blue back, wings and tail. Its head, shoulders, flanks and lower belly are chestnut, and the throat and breast are white. The large bill and legs are bright red.

House crow - No detail necessary on this omnivorous scavenger which eats almost anything.

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