By Ashwin Viswanathan Indian Bushlark and Singing Bushlark are very similar species that share many morphological features. Identification can be a real challenge. Luckily, one feature has often served as a shortcut out of this identification conundrum - the...
By Kaushik Sarkar and Ashwin Viswanathan Presented here is an easy guide to help identify the four most common Swallow species in India. You can also download just the photographic guide to this article: PDF format (345 KB). In India, there are 15 species of...
By Anand Krishnan Barbets are some of the most ubiquitous of India’s fruit-eating birds, even occupying most major cities where fruiting trees remain. These sluggish, largely green birds are often heard before they are seen, their loud, repetitive calls betraying...
Blyth's and Richard's Pipits winter across the region and are easily confused with Paddyfield Pipits. Here's how to ID them.
The Paddyfield Pipit is resident across most parts of the country and this is an excellent time of the year to familiarise oneself with the most common pipit of the region.
This article focusses on the two species of a group of very small shorebirds known as Stints (Calidris sp) - the Little Stint and the Temminck's Stint.
In the first part of the series related to identifying waders, we try and tackle an often misidentified group consisting of the Tringa sandpipers.
The guide to identifying the 7 species of turdoides babblers found in India
By Ramit Singal The previous article focussed on the 4 regularly occurring white egrets from India. In this follow-up post, the attention will shift to egrets that happen to be dimorphic, i.e., they have a dark morph as well as a white morph. The Reef-Egrets are...
By Ramit Singal Egrets are beautiful and elegant birds to watch. You'll often see them standing still over water and, in a flash, using their long, pointed bills to stab a fish or pick out an insect. No matter where you are in India, it is common to see one or many...
The eBird Data Quality and Review Process Summary (tl;dr) As eBird data is made publicly available for use in research and conservation it is important to ensure data accuracy as far as possible. To accomplish this, eBird uses a review process comprising...
By Ramit Singal Ever seen a V-shaped flock of black birds flying purposefully in the sky near a water body? Or a black bird sitting still with its wings spread out in a small village pond? Or a bird's head sticking out of the water at a lake or pond? Did you notice...
