About
The Pied Kingfisher (Ceryle rudis) is a water kingfisher and is found widely distributed across Africa and Asia. Their black and white plumage, crest and the habit of hovering over clear lakes and rivers before diving for fish makes it distinctive. Males have a double band across the breast while females have a single gorget that is often broken in the middle. They are usually found in pairs or small family parties. When perched, they often bob their head and flick up their tail.
Description
This kingfisher is about 17 cm long and is white with a black mask, a white supercilium and black breast bands. The crest is neat and the upperparts are barred in black. Several subspecies are recognized within the broad distribution. The nominate race is found in sub-Saharan Africa, extending into West Asia. A former subspecies syriaca is considered as merely a larger northern bird of the nominate species (following Bergmann's rule). Subspecies leucomelanura is found from Afghanistan east into India, Sri Lanka, Thailand and Laos. The subspecies travancoreensis of the Western Ghats is darker with the white reduced. Subspecies C. r. insignis is found in Hainan and southeastern China and has a much larger have a narrow second breast-band while females have a single broken breast band.bill. Males
About the Species
The Sarus Crane (Grus antigone) is the only resident crane of India.. Being tall, ca. 155 cm, it is the largest of Indian cranes. It is grey in colour with a naked scarlet-red head and upper neck. There is no clear sexual dimorphism.
Significance
Although it is not true, cranes have been documented as a species that pairs for life and this feature has earned respect for the birds in the range of their distribution. Cranes can also serve as an indicator species, indicating at a given point of time the availability of suitable habitats and health of the wetlands on which their very existence depends.
Distribution and Habitat:
Sarus inhabit open, cultivated, well-watered plains, marshlands andjheels and are well known for their ability to live in association with humans. They have been reported to nest in flooded paddy fields and marshes and are distributed in Nepal terai, and the Indian states of Bihar, West Bengal, Assam, Rajasthan, Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh.
Population
Although widespread previously, recent changes in the habitat have reduced the range and population of the species. World Conservation Union (IUCN) and Birdlife International have placed this species under the category 'Vulnerable' . In India, this species is included in Schedule IV of the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972. Of the estimated 8,000 to 10,000 birds in the country, 2,500 to 3,000 are found in Uttar Pradesh which has adopted it as the State Bird.
Threats
Changes in land use, e.g. extensive cultivation of sugar cane rather than paddy, and loss of wetlands are the major reasons for the decline of the species. Other threats include high-tension electric cables criss-crossing the habitat leading to collision and death, indiscriminate use of pesticides, poaching of adult birds for meat, egg stealing, capture of adult birds for pet trade and disturbance by the farmers in the fields during the nesting period Free ranging dogs, domestic cats and rhesus macaques can be a threat to the species.
(By WWFIndia.org)
Out of the world's 8650 species of birds more than 1230 are available in india. With subspecies included it may double the total number. Indian region with variety of climate and habitat zones (from sea level to Himalayan Everest peak ( Sagarmath in Nepali ), from deserts to rain forests) provide lot of food and shelter whole year in the shape of plant and insect growth which is main source of survival for avians. These features make India the paradise for bird watchers, and naturalists. Several thousand Kilometers of coastline and small to medium village tanks, riverbeds, jheels or bheels in Assam, unnatural dam created jheels all provide most suitable habitats for waterbirds...
