A squat, cryptically-plumaged shorebird with a very long bill. It inhabits a wide range of wetland habitats, from damp meadows to salt marshes. Mostly inconspicuous, it feeds in muddy ground by probing with its bill, usually near reeds or other grassy cover. Often not seen until flushed, when it usually rises from fairly close range with a rough rasping call. In Asia, beware of the extremely similar Pin-tailed, Swinhoe's, and Latham's Snipes, all of which lack the white trailing edge of Common and have a slower, less erratic flight.

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The Old World Babblers are a family of passerine birds diverse in size and coloration, characterised by soft fluffy plumage. These are birds of tropical areas, with the greatest variety in Southeast Asia and the Indian subcontinent. This group is among those Old World bird families with the highest number of species still being discovered.

The ferruginous babbler is a species of bird in the family Pellorneidae. It is found in Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, and Thailand. Its natural habitat is subtropical or tropical moist lowland forests. It is a reddish-brown babbler with white underparts. It forages in small flocks in the lower and middle levels of lowland and lower foothill forests.

#wildartworks, #Canon, #Babbler, #birdinginthewild, #birdphotography, #Pellorneidae, #ferruginousbabbler, #Malaysia, #Congkak, #HuluLangat, #Lanchang, #KrauWildlifeReserve, #conservationphotography

The Old World Babblers are a family of passerine birds diverse in size and coloration, characterised by soft fluffy plumage. These are birds of tropical areas, with the greatest variety in Southeast Asia and the Indian subcontinent. This group is among those Old World bird families with the highest number of species still being discovered.

The near threatened Black-throated Babbler (Stachyris nigricollis) is a species of bird in the Timaliidae family. It is found in Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, and Thailand. Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical moist lowland forests and subtropical or tropical swamps. It is threatened by habitat loss.

#wildartworks, #Canon, #Babbler, #birdinginthewild, #birdphotography, #Timaliidae, #Malaysia, #blackthroatedbabbler, #nearthreatened, #Malaysia, #Congkak, #HuluLangat, #Lanchang, #KrauWildlifeReserve, #conservationphotography

The Mottled Wood Owl is a medium-sized patchy-looking owl with dark eyes. It has exquisite densely-marked orange-and-gray coloration and typically gives single hoots, but also gives an odd, mellow tremolo vocalisation in the breeding season. It is a lowland species, favouring groves and clusters of trees in open plains and on the edges of cultivated areas.

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In general, a rural area or a countryside is a geographic area that is located outside towns and cities. The word rural is defined as encompassing "...all population, housing, and territory not included within an urban area. Whatever is not urban is considered rural."

Typical rural areas have a low population densities and small settlements or villages. Agricultural areas too are commonly categorised as rural, as are other types of area such as forests. Different countries have varying definitions of rural for statistical and administrative purposes.

About a 100 kilometers from the capital city of Hyderabad, Zaheerabad is one such industrial town and Municipal Council in the Sangareddy district of the Indian state of Telangana. It is the base for visitors of ancient sacred religious sites like the Ketaki Sangameshwara Swamy Devasthanam (a temple) at Jharasangam, Siddhhi Vinayaka Temple at Rejinthal and Hazrath Multani Baba Dargah (A dargah is a shrine built over the grave of a revered religious figure, often a Sufi saint or dervish) at Metalkunta.

The Zaheerabad area has many diverse areas for birding and in some instances wildlife watching and observation. In close proximity are the Manjira Wildlife Sanctuary, Gottamgutta, Karanja Reservoir and the Chandrampally Dam and Chincholi Wildlife Sanctuary just over the border in Karnataka. I have had the good fortune to spend a fair bit of time at all these locations and have obtained some beautiful photos with the help of the Forest Officers and Rangers.

Some of these locations are home to migrants and seasonal visitors and every experience of seeing a new bird provides a rush that one can only feel by doing something they love. As I mentioned in my last blog, bird and wildlife watching is a great form of recreation for people of all ages and always provides an opportunity to learn something new.

This is an extended video and some photos from a recent visit to the rural countryside surrounding Zaheerabad.

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Somewhere deep within the Kushiro-shitsugen National Park, in the Kottaro wetlands along the banks of the Kushiro, I found the elusive Ural Owl. Named for the Ural Mountains of Russia which is part of their natural range and where the first specimen was collected, these owls are threatened by humans eliminating the hollow trees they nest in. #WildArtWorks, #UralOwl, #Hokkaido, #BirdPhotography, #Birdinginthewild, #raptor, #owl

Lake Kussharo, an inland lake in the west of Hokkaido, is a caldera lake, a remnant of a long-ago erupted volcano. Its violent, seismic past is evident even today, with natural hot springs bubbling up along its shoreline, heating both the water and gravelly shores. It is here where the Whooper Swans gather to find refuge from Hokkaido’s brutally cold winters.

The red-crowned crane (Grus japonensis), also called the Manchurian crane or Japanese crane (Japanese: 丹頂鶴 or タンチョウヅル; rōmaji: tanchōzuru), is a large East Asian crane among the rarest cranes in the world. In some parts of its range, it is known as a symbol of luck, longevity, and fidelity.